P.E. Overdriver just in, got some questions

[warioblast]

Yesterday morning I received a Prescription Overdriver. I spent some time with it in the afternoon.

My initial thoughts:
_ the bass control doesn't do much
_ I wish the drive control was more progressive. The sound jumps up from clean to fuzz at the very last part of the pot course.
_ it can quickly get noisy with single coils.

Do the Colorsound and the Throbak (or any Overdriver clone) have those characteristics ?

[Grimace]

Throbak user here, sounds about right. The Throbaks pre gain and clipping switches allow for some additional flexibility, but the stock settings are pretty much what you describe.

[SonicVI]

Originally Posted by warioblast

Do the Colorsound and the Throbak (or any Overdriver clone) have those characteristics ?

The Colorsound does. I think the Overdriver was initally intended to be just a booster, not a distortion device, so more volume before the fuzz kicked in was probably their goal. I have an original from '72 and the drive knob acts almost like a switch at around 4 o'clock.

[thedroid]

I've got the Throbak. I wouldn't say the bass knob does nothing, but yeah, the gain turns from mostly volume to fuzz pretty quickly around 3 o'clock. The germanium setting on the Throbak has dirt all through the pot's sweep, but it too comes on heavier at 3.

[Pale Rider]

I've had 2 different P.E. Overdrivers and one had bass and treble controls that were very active and changed the tone and one did as you describe-
as far as the fuzz jump, that's the same on all
enjoy

[warioblast]

Alright, thx guys.

[Trebor Renkluaf]

Wow, it's been years since I plugged into one of those, but you described it exactly how I remember it.

[jgyn]

I haven't noticed any excess noise on any of CO clones, relative to other drive pedals under similar conditions.

[tatter]

I think the Bass control is more noticeable at higher gain settings, some people put a reverse log pot in for the gain control to make the jump from boost to fuzz less pronounced, not sure if the PC does this or not, but it sounds like probably not.

You do get a bit of hiss with the treble maxed but it shouldn't be too bad. It's a GREAT clean boost i think but i only have the Colorsound Power Driver Reissue and a DIY clone.

[warioblast]

Originally Posted by jgyn

I haven't noticed any excess noise on any of CO clones, relative to other drive pedals under similar conditions.

Thank you.

Do you guys recommend using a battery ?