Amongst these new features you'll find the inclusion of a bass-cut switch under the battery cover, which will allow you to tame the low end by reducing the sub-bass frequencies. It’s a boost, it’s an overdrive, it’s a fuzz. The Chase Bliss Audio Brothers does it all – and exponentially more, thanks to the unique design of this slim stompbox. If you love experimenting with your gear to coax off-kilter sounds from your guitar, the Brothers offers a complex and interactive puzzle to solve.

The Spectrum knob, though, does have a notched center detente position and in an A/B test with that knob in its detented position the sound matches the larger pedal (without its bass cut switch engaged) when that pedal’s Spectrum knob is set to about 4. There are likely a few more viable varieties out there, but this is as good a selection as any really. If you feel I've missed out on any of the usual suspects do let me know by all means.

The best overdrive pedals in 2023 – at a glance:

Both versions of the pedal work really well with a Telecaster; they are a perfect complement to a Fender amp if you play country but there’s also plenty for blues players in a pedal that can push an amp in a very natural way. Specs Battery or electric. stab. power supply 9V..12V DC, min. 100 mA, 2.1mm plug, center negative, (optional) The ODR-1 was first released in 1992, developed by Nobels to contrast with the mid-heavy Ibanez Tube Screamer. According to the pedal’s designer Kai Tachibana, he was inspired by the smooth breakup of a Fender Bassman head, its responsiveness to changes on the guitar’s volume knob, and how it preserved the original sound of his guitar. Not only that, but the pointers on the knobs are now GiTD Glow In The Dark, allowing you to make adjustments on-the-fly on even the darkest of stages. Nobels ODR-1BC Overdrive Pedal Key Features

I’ve long meant to get an example of the Nobels ODR Overdrive - but could never fully settle on which single variant would suit me best - while I’ve come close to acquiring the discontinued Mythos Erlking on at least a couple of occasions. The Nobels circuit remains popular though and has seen recently in new varieties at either end of the scale - courtesy of the Vemuram Shanks ODS-1, and brand new Wampler Belle Overdrive Mini. Hand-built using top-of-the-line components in Hudson Electronics’ Yorkshire workshop, the Broadcast might look like it’s come straight out of a 1960s recording studio, but the ideas displayed within are innovative and original. It’s about time I did a feature on the Other Green Overdrive - which has long since become a firm favourite of Nashville session players. It’s very much a mostly flat-mids overdrive as such where its overall output profile is quite different to the better known TS808 - with quite a bit more low end present and much less in the way of compression - so a somewhat fatter more open-pored sort of overdrive. We think this video may sell a few mini Nobels ODR-1s, as well as the new Pedaltrain Nightlight distortion but we can't wait to see more with delays, reverbs and modulation blind tests. The pedal is capable of a fully driven sound but we liked the magic that happens in the lower reaches of the drive knob where you find early break-up and low-level crunch that can add just the right amount of grit to a clean amp for core tone or as a solo booster. Specs

The other little green overdrive gets a revamp

Both versions of the pedal work really well with a Telecaster; they are a perfect complement to a Fender amp Favoured by countless professional players over the decades, the Nobels ODR-1 is renowned for its clarity and versatility, providing a creamy-sounding natural overdrive sound to the guitar's signal.

The new ODR-1(bc) now offers a bass-cut switch under the battery cover to preset original ODR-1 sound or to preset slightly reduced sub-bass. The whole point of this video is to embarrass Uncle Larry and prove he doesn't know s*** about what he's talking about," laughs Tom. Except he obviously does – he soon recognises the sounds of the Klon and Nobels. But this video isn't really about identifying – it's about reactions based on the sounds in isolation. ODR-1 ON [Drive: Full; Spectrum: Full; Level: Full]The relative increase in intensity is to be expected, but notice the incredible amount of energy in the lows and lower-mids. Again, even at its most maxed-out setting, these frequencies are overwhelmingly emphasized. This is something that we do not see with any of the more typical overdrive pedals, like the Tubescreamer or the SD-1. Further tweaking of the knobs, however, shows that both are capable of the same tonal range and that the mini model cleans up very naturally with guitar volume just like its bigger sibling.

Overdrive vs distortion: what’s the difference?

Level: controls the output level of the pedal. This control has a healthy range, but not nearly the level of headroom as a Klon. Another reason that the ODR-1 is a great option for something to color your signal, but probably not a great first choice if you’re looking for a clean boost.

ODR-1 ON [Drive: 0; Spectrum: 0; Level: Full]You can really see that the circuit of the ODR-1 is naturally inclined towards the lows and low-mids. With the drive and the spectrum controls set at zero, the signal remains relatively unchanged until ~5kHz, at which point the frequencies are drastically cut out.Nobels is a German company that’s not very well-known in the United States. The ODR-1 Natural Overdrive was first released in in 1992 [1]. In 2002 [2], a silver “tenth anniversary” reissue was released, which was the standard for a long time until circa 2011 when the green version was rereleased. In addition to this, you can now operate the pedal with up to 18v DC of power, giving you extra headroom for when you want to take things up a notch or two. When the Wampler Belle first materialised I though that it would likely be my lead contender - in terms of versatility and controllability - and upon completing the review my mind has been further made up to pursue the Belle as my first preference here. This is all useful for something," says Tom. "If we had the right song and the right part, all these pedals would be cool. So this isn't a bash pedals day – we're keeping it positive." Nevertheless, some fare far better with his ears than others. The circuit has never changed and all versions are identical, except for some of the silver versions—the initial run of these had the Drive and Volume pots mistakenly switched during production, so Drive was 50k and Volume was 250k. This severely limited the pedal’s maximum gain. Later productions had this corrected, but many owners had to take out the soldering iron and switch the pots around to correct the factory error.