The $250-$300 overdrive: Eternity vs. BJF vs. ProAnalog DD vs Xotic....?

[rorschah]

So I'm thinking of trading up from my FDII into the next bracket of glory, for greater responsiveness and dynamics and such.

Can somebody describe the personalities of the major players in this price bracket? I keep seeing individual threads praising certain pedals, but never any direct comparisons. Anybody played more than one of these?

Thinking:

Lovepedal Eternity
BJF Emerald Green
BJF Dyna Red
BJF Blue Boy OD
BJF Little Green Wonder
ProAnalog Dual Drive
Xotic AC Booster and BB Preamp, together (or RC and BB)
Anything else in this range? (The LDO is a big step up in price, yes?)

My own interests are: tubeyness, gigging usability over bedroom stuff, compatability with single coil, hums, *and* P90s, and flexibile usability for everything from country blues to punk to stoner drone noise rock crap. But I'm interested in all takes on this.

I like the FDII for its ability to thicken up my strat, and for its flexibility, but it seems relatively undynamic compared to some other stuff I've been using (Gainster and Karl, for examples)...

-thi

 

[rorschah]

The big question is: what's the personality of these different makers? What's the difference in feel, ya know?

-thi

 

[rewog]

Sorry, haven't tried the others you listed - But.....

Dynamic, responsive (un-compressed) and tubey...... Works EXTREMELY well with P90's - Eternity !!

 

[blueprint]

I have some ODs of your list. And had some others...
It seems that some pedals are amazing with some guitars into some amps, but not so much impressive with the same amp with another axe for example...
Very difficult indeed.
Fortunately, some of them have their own personality and work well in many circumstances.
As strong values pedals, I would quote:
-Eternity because nothing else sounds like it (do a search here, everything has been discussed and told about it)
-Pro Analog Dual Drive, for it's ability to clean up with the guitar's volume pot.
And in a slight higher price range:
-Klon
-Landgraff DO
Both are excellent pedals
Another suggestion would be a simple TS9/808 from Analogman...Great for what it does.
All those pedals are really different than the FDII.
Hope this helped

 

[Rollo Timbre]

I've had both the Eternity and the Dual Drive on my board, at the same time, and basically used them for similar purposes. I've found the Eternity to have a little more string-to-string clarity, whereas the Dual Drive to be a little smoother. I've gone back and forth, but currently the Dual Drive is on my board.

 

[noctilux1]

I agree with the above, like blueprint said, some pedals work well with certain guitars and amps. FOR ME, is mostly about which pedals work with particular amps. What amp are you currently playing? Most pedal dealers have a 24 hr return policy. You might want to try several with your current guitar/amp set-up. That's not alot of time I know, but at least you should be able to tell which ones don't work with your gear. Good Luck!

 

[mprvise]

A few of you have mentioned certain pedals working well only with certain guitar/amp combinations. I currently own six overdrives and only have one that works well with ALL my guitars and amps - the Eternity. I think it would work well for the styles of music you mentioned as well. That said, I have never played the other boxes on your list.

 

[LHanson]

Friend of mine is involved with Tubester. I'm currently using his silver wire option prototype. It's sweet. The unique feature of it is a voltage control to the tube, which softens up the waveform a little when you turn it down.

WWW.tubester.com

 

[rorschah]

Wow! Tons of info; thanks!

My amps: Reverend Hellhound, Ampeg Reverberocket, blackfaced Pro Reverb.

-thi

 

[Don Rusk]

I own everything on your list but the X BB --- and they are all first rate with a differrent application range....

two things jump out --- you want more amp like dynamics and you need to cover a variety of sounds.....

gut reaction - get the FD2 Tenth anniversary with the Mosfet upgrade - this takes the blanket off the FD2 if thats the problem and gives it even more gain and a wider use spectrum --- do you use your FD2 in comp cut mode ever ?? this will make it more dynamic..... between the comp cut option and the vintage/flatmids switch and the mosfet option, it will cover alot of territory.......

Dual drive would be next , dont know if it will have enough distortion for full on stonerstortion but the green channnel will get the lower countryblues stuff.....


IF it was down to just one to stomp Id probably take the Dyna Red, its just a great dynamic ampish Marshally Distortion thats always tasty to play and is still very useful with the Dist turned down most of the way

the Eternity is excellent, but Sean probably has another distortion that might be even more what your looking for....

for a wildcard check the Cusack Screamer Fuzz - it blends a drive with a Fuzz and it really works and is easy to quickly mix them with one hand.....wide range off t ones in there....

 

[LHanson]

Wow! Tons of info; thanks!

My amps: Reverend Hellhound, Ampeg Reverberocket, blackfaced Pro Reverb.

-thi

My understanding is he Tubester is voiced to emulate the BF Pro.