Nobels ODR-1 vs Nobels ODR mini

[zombiwoof]

I’ve used my original ODR for every gig for the past 2 years, I never turn it off on the main gig I do, just roll down the volume to clean it up but it’s that open, edge of breakup sound that I leave on all the time. I did the same with the mini twice this week just gone - I knew it felt weird and wasn’t sounding right the whole time but it wasn’t until the singer came up to me after the gig and said “whatever you’ve changed, change it back, your tone was horrible” this is after playing in the same band 60+ shows a year for the last 4 years, and he noticed the difference! Best of luck to everyone else with their minis, I’ve already sold mine.

Did you take time to dial it in by ear, or just set it the same as your original?. Maybe a dumb question, but the range and taper of the pots can be very different between the two pedals, so they may have to be set to very different settings to get a similar sound.
Al

 

[AA Kelley]

Run it at 18 volts.

I just got the ODR Mini - and am running it at 18V - It's better, happy so far, pleasing overdrive sound, dynamic. I like it!

 

[GeorgeNada]

I just got the ODR Mini - and am running it at 18V - It's better, happy so far, pleasing overdrive sound, dynamic. I like it!

Yeah I’m really surprised to see such negative reactions to the mini, I like mine a lot. It’s probably been my most used drive pedal over the past few months.

 

[hendrix2430]

I had the mini and now have the ODR-1 BC (bass cut), which has two settings : normal ODR-1 and bass cut. I use the bass cut setting on the ODR-1-BC.

I really liked the mini but found I had to compromise a little bit to balance bridge and neck pickups... the bass was slightly too prominent for me. It is nearly identical to the normal ODR-1, except for a slightly tighter bass response perhaps...

Now, the bass cut has audibly less bass than the ODR-1 setting, which works perfectly for me. It is still an ODR-1 sound but I can now have my spectrum / gain settings set to what I like and have it working with both neck and bridge pickups. Into a bright marshall, I have my spectrum halfway and gain 10:30 O Clock.

 

[Bluesbreaker99]

Just got the mini and don't really like it, too bassy. Sounds ok with bridge pickup on strat but pretty muddy with humbuckers.

 

[haslar]

My Mini has been my main OD since it came out.
It’s perfectly voiced for my Telecaster-style guitar, and for my Strat as well.
That bass comes in handy for those crunchy rhythms Americana tones, it’s different from your average bass cut / boosted mids OD pedal.

It still might not be the best OD for humbuckers, depending on your use case.

 

[John Mark Painter]

Just to add...
Paired with an old DynaComp and a Telecaster was the ‘recipe’

 

[forgivenman]

Digging my mini but have never played the original. It reminds me of Mesa amps in that in order to provide a wide spectrum of tone it has some setting that sound bad in between the good ones.

 

[Millo 4.0]

Hey guys, I got one of the ODR mini’s recently hoping I could retire my original ODR from my gigging board, tried the mini last night on a gig for the first time and just couldn’t get it happening? It felt quite a bit more saturated and compressed as well as even looser and flubbier in the low end than the original ODR - it really put me off all night and I just couldn’t get it my tone happening. I love my original ODR and I pretty much just plug in and the sound is there immediately. Anyone else find their mini doesn’t hold up against the original/reissue ODR-1? Do I ditch the mini?

Had it, although I've never had the original. I also thought it was a bit flubby and I simply couldn't hit lower-range notes without it getting to be too much. I thought it was close to what I wanted from it, liked its dynamics, etc. but nope. Bought the Wampler Belle later on and liked it much better--has a bass knob and in general has a wider range of usable tones, IN MY OPINION, especially on top of the amp's OD channel.

 

[Blurillaz]

I don’t know compared to the original, but I had a mini for about 10 minutes.

Thought it sounded pretty terrible. It was noisy and too dark. I didn’t like the gain structure either.

Still want to try an original.

ODR-1s are basically only used because they are too dark- nashville guys need them to balance out their icepick tele bridges. From what I've been told by friends that use them the normal size reissue is sonically the same as the original. It has a hidden switch in it to cut the bass and make it useful for other guitars/pickups, might be worth a shot.

 

[Blix]

ODR-1's aren't dark at all! But they have a lot of bass, too much for many rigs.

 

[stephen sawall]

ODR-1's aren't dark at all! But they have a lot of bass, too much for many rigs.

Exactly

I have used the mini and own the original. They sound similar but slightly different. Personally I love the pedal with a humbucker. Works just as well with a single coil or P90. Your not going to tighten up a amp with it.

 

[artysan]

I thought the originals had a pretty significant impact on the dry tone

It is literally a trivial task to convert to true bypass. That goes for every pedal ever made.

 

[stephen sawall]

It is literally a trivial task to convert to true bypass. That goes for every pedal ever made.

It is not a easy pedal pedal to convert according to many well known individuals that do pedal modifications.

 

[seiko]

I love mine Full disclosure, I never tried the original...but I think the mini sounds great.

Same for me. I run mine at 18 volts, that does seem to increase the headroom.

 

[artysan]

Well, I’m one of those people. Replacing the footswitch with a quality SPDT is not what I consider rocket surgery. The output is aleady AC coupled for thumpless switching. Tying the two FET circuits’ control points to logic hi and low overrides the original switching. This takes all of two simple jumper wires. Nobels couldn’t have made it much easier. Someone is not being straighforward with you.