Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

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The_Doc
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by The_Doc » Thu Nov 18, 2021 4:29 pm

Thanks fuzzbuzzfuzz !

The Tremolo is very subtle. It won’t do a really biting / slicer type trem, even on the ‘hard’ settings but it does a kind of background shimmer type of thing. If you want to keep the bulk of your sound unchanged but have a little bit of movement sitting behind it, then this pedal would do it. It wouldn’t be my go to tremolo but it does have its uses.

The only complete collections I have are Boss and possibly the ‘Laurie era DingoTone’ set. I tend to dip my toe into a manufacture’s range and get the pedals I want but never try to collect all of them.

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visserman
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by visserman » Sun Jan 30, 2022 11:32 pm

Pepe wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:16 am
I didn't know that the Nobels ODR-1 was so popular and that it was engineered in Hamburg, Germany in the early '90s. I read a bit about it at the original page. The documentation about this overdrive is almost as thorough as Laurie's documentation of his latest pedal builds. At Reverb is an original version from 1993 with a price tag of over 1,000$.


I did not know that Nobels started out in the mid 80s.
Bought a Fuzz and Tremolo in the early 2000s and used to think they were a company who made budget pedals.
Reading more about it, those pedals were actually a reincarnation of the original 90s pedals in a chrome case.
They even designed some equipment for Fender.
Here a link to the history of the company:

https://nobels.de/history/?lang=en

Luke Drifter
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by Luke Drifter » Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:00 pm

Nordland are making upgraded versions out of Germany these days
https://nordland-electronics.de/en/
Jerem, Jeremy on BAF and SBZ

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fuzzbuzzfuzz
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by fuzzbuzzfuzz » Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:36 am

visserman wrote:
Sun Jan 30, 2022 11:32 pm
Pepe wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:16 am
I didn't know that the Nobels ODR-1 was so popular and that it was engineered in Hamburg, Germany in the early '90s. I read a bit about it at the original page. The documentation about this overdrive is almost as thorough as Laurie's documentation of his latest pedal builds. At Reverb is an original version from 1993 with a price tag of over 1,000$.


I did not know that Nobels started out in the mid 80s.
Bought a Fuzz and Tremolo in the early 2000s and used to think they were a company who made budget pedals.
Reading more about it, those pedals were actually a reincarnation of the original 90s pedals in a chrome case.
They even designed some equipment for Fender.
Here a link to the history of the company:

https://nobels.de/history/?lang=en
Was that the silver fuzz (FZ-1?) and the pink/purple tremolo? How were they? The wobbly pots were slightly off putting but I enjoyed the ODR-1 at the time, until sold. Now they are pricy for originals, isn't it always the way!

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SamXTherapy
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by SamXTherapy » Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:54 pm

The ODR-1 is a firm favourite of many people, even That Pedal Show gave it their seal of approval recently.

I'm not looking for another drive box but if I was, that would be the one.
Coppula eam se non posit acceptera jocularum

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bigtone23
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by bigtone23 » Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:51 am

So I had to jump and get a ODR-1 BC. It's the new version with the bass cut switch. It's a great pedal, I really like how the spectrum control works.

I did the same thing and compared it to many of my other favorite dirt boxes.I first found 'my' sound with the ODR1 (gain around 4, spectrum around 6, level to match) through a clean amp (used the Peavey Special 130 for this). I grabbed about 8 other pedals that are sort of similar, a 3 way daisy chain and compared them 2 at a time with the ODR1. All the other pedals are stored with my go-to settings, too.* It was pretty fun to hear the immediate comparison with no real knob turning necessary. There was the usual and expected steeper mid push/less lows from the OD2, a different upper mid character of the JCM800 DS1 and Plexi Drive mini, a more raw tonality of the BD2...

*it's funny, with amps, like the pedals, regardless of whether it's one of the Boogies, the Marshalls, a Peavey, the V Twin into the Fender, etc... all my amps also tend to get dialed in to a pretty similar tonality.

I could get a couple to sound sort of similar-the SD2 green mode and one of the 3 modes on a Garmopat modified DS1 were in the ballpark. What really surprised me was the '93 Reutz mod RAT. It was straight up in the wheelhouse. My go-to setting on it was pretty much the same sound as the ODR-1. The Reutz mod lowers the gain and boosts bass, which puts the agressive RAT more in overdrive territory. It was easy to do, I just clipped a leg on the 47ohm resistor that is accessed through the battery cover. Once I heard the result, it stayed. Plus, it's a 1 minute, reversible mod without any disassembly!

It almost made me think that I more or less have two different pedals that overlap too much. Almost. They are still unique from each other and both are here to stay! :D
Last edited by bigtone23 on Thu Feb 23, 2023 7:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Pepe
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by Pepe » Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:58 am

bigtone23 wrote:
Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:51 am
The Reutz mod lowers the gain and boosts bass, which puts the agressive RAT more in overdrive territory.
I think that the Turbo RAT is pretty much how you describe the Reutz mod. It works with LED clipping and I like this sound very much. More bass plus the ability to use it as a useful overdrive.
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bigtone23
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by bigtone23 » Thu Feb 23, 2023 7:11 am

Pepe wrote:
Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:58 am
bigtone23 wrote:
Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:51 am
The Reutz mod lowers the gain and boosts bass, which puts the agressive RAT more in overdrive territory.
I think that the Turbo RAT is pretty much how you describe the Reutz mod. It works with LED clipping and I like this sound very much. More bass plus the ability to use it as a useful overdrive.
I have never compared a Turbo to the OG recipe.
I do like my Reutz, the gain never goes over 11 o'clock. When stock, it was set down around 8-9 o'clock and the tone was a little too bass thin.

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fernieite
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by fernieite » Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:09 pm

I really like my Nobels odr-1 reissue (bass-cut) pedal. 8-)

Here's a great article about the original odr-1, from the man who designed it. (Caution: electronics nerd alert! :mrgreen: )
https://nordland-electronics.de/en/blog/odr-1.html

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bigtone23
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Re: Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive

Post by bigtone23 » Sun Feb 26, 2023 6:42 am

The ODR-1 is really great. I totally get it now.

I mostly use amp dirt, and some of my amps deliver just that in an iconic way. The A list is a Marshall DSL50 and Lead 12, Mesa MKIIC+, MKIII red stripe, Rev G Dual Rectifier and a Fender Pro Jr IV turned up right about halfway. All do my crunchy, dynamic dirt perfectly.

However, my B list, a Mesa MKIIA and Peavey Special 130, have inherent dirt tones that sound more like the lower gain/grainy classic rock late 70s thing. No disrespect, they can be dialed in to mostly do my thing, just not quite like the A list above.

My Bassman Ten doesn't dirt up at all, really, as it is rather low gain. That does make it an amazing clean amp that takes most dirt pedals quite well, especially considering the EQ curves that can happen when jumping the channels a la a Marshall 4 holer. I did make it way more guitar friendly with replacing the useless master volume with a variable negative feedback pot (which is usually cranked up for a loose, hairy feel) and replacing the tired Utahs with Celestion G10S-50 speakers. It sounds wondrous with my V Twin in Blues Mode, a BOSS SD2 in both modes, a Wampler Plexi Drive or the DS1 with a Wampler JCM800 mod (among other tweaks).

The ODR-1 works so well to get my crunchy tone with the B list amps with a clean setting and the Bassman Ten. It also sounds great on the A list amp's clean settings. It's the only other pedal since the SD2 that impressed me this much: so compatible with many different amp circuits. The SD2 green mode is pretty similar to the ODR-1 with it's flatter/neutral EQ. Red mode is a little more sculpted, higher gain and mid forward vs the ODR-1.

What a great design!

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