Maxon Od808 Overdrive Reviews Prices Equipboard

the quintessential overdrive pedal the maxon od808 overdrive is made by the same japanese company which crafted the original overdrive circuit in a green stompbox that s been obsessed over by guitarists for the past 30 years it uses the identical circuit found in the original employing the same jrc4558 ic chip for smooth natural overdrive similar to a cranked up tube amp the od808 pedal responds to the picking dynamics and nuances of your individual style while also letting the true tone of your instrument shine through originally released in 1979 the maxon od808 pedal was one of the first tube amp overdrive simulators to hit the market its smooth creamy crunch tone caught on quickly and helped to launch a long line of imitators today the od808 design is without a doubt the most used most imitated and most lauded overdrive circuit of all time the reason for this is simple tone simply put the od808 provides the natural mild overdrive of a tube amp without sacrificing your guitar s original tone in addition it can be used as a clean booster to provide increased gain without compromising the sound of your amplifier the secret behind the legendary 808 tone lies in the amplifier section of its circuit rather than having an amplifier stage followed by a clipping stage the od808 uses a signal distorting diode panasonic ma150 that is located in the amplifier stage s negative feedback loop which also contains the jrc4558 ic chip therefore the od808 distorts signal in the amplifier circuit itself which yields a smoother milder more natural sounding distortion than a separate clipping stage this is also the reason that the ic type used in the circuit has such a large impact on the unit s tone maxon developed this unique design more than 20 years ago and while it is commonplace nowadays back then it was an industry first it should be noted that the reissue series od808 uses different output resistors than the original version after the unit s initial release it was discovered t