Finally hearing the BBOD like it should be heard.

[cedjazz]

Finally I can hear what everyone has been saying about the baby blue overdrive. I recently took a music man amplifier that I have for about three years and put an electro voice speaker in it. The tone is absolutely unbelievable!! Music man amps are very underrated. I wish I would've done this three years ago.

[musicsoma]

In the right context, there is no other pedal (literally none) that sounds like the BBOD. I had my buddy over again a few weeks ago to play through it. He is the best guitarist I know and a professional musician out in Nashville. He tours with a couple of country artists, but his love is rock. Every time he plugs into my BBOD he confesses it is his absolute favorite dirt pedal.

I use mine with a GVCG 63 Custom Telecaster into either a 1965 Blackface Princeton or 1952 Tweed Deluxe. For lead, I have not found something I like more. It cuts through the mix but carries a tonal complexity, warmth, and voice that are perfect to my ears for certain guitar parts.

It was mentioned on Donnel's recent PPF that there is something about Auditory memory. I believe our ears "change". Sometimes I will dial in a setting in a certain context that I fall in love with. I'll take pictures with my phone so I have the settings stored. The next week I will have everything set up identically, and it will seem to sound different to me.

I played live music weekly, and what I now look for in my "keeper pedals" are two things... consistency and the ability to cut through in a band setting. Consistency is critical as venues change and the density changes. The same room can sound completely different if there are more or less people as sound gets absorbed. Also the bedroom will sound very different than an auditorium. In terms of mix, I have to be able to find my spot in the band setting. If keyboard, guitar 2, and I are all playing in a similar range, I need a sound that will differentiate my guitar's voice without being lost in the mix but still compliment the sound of my mates.

All that to say is the BBOD does an incredible job (especially for lead) in a wide variety of venues. It always seems to retain its unique character without competing with other instruments. If you do not own one of these pedals, seriously be on the lookout. Lastly, give it some time to bond as it will sound different that say a HBOD to which most people instantly latch on.

[hawaii121]

You guys are getting me fired up! I have a BBOD (higher serial number) on it's way as we speak and I am VERY excited at the prospect!

Also, I really think you nailed it on the head with the inclusion of "consistency" in your pedal evaluation criteria. While my gigging life is fully amateur and spread out, I have definitely noticed that the strength of certain favorite pedals more often than not is their ability to sound good anywhere not just the house or the rehearsal studio. I stood in with some guys at an outdoor event last weekend and didn't have my usual dirt selections and was really frustrated. The PPF carried me with grace, but my other lower drive pedals from other makers than my favorites (BJFE and Cornish being my favorites) just wouldn't dial in. For someone like myself, who needs all the help I can get, the last thing I need when playing in front of others is to be spending mental energy being unhappy with my tone.

I jumped on a BBOD hoping to fill the gap that my Model G was held. My favorite pedal set up to date was a combination of Cornish and BJFE - they really work well together. The buffers from the Cornish seem to juice up the BJFE and the BJFE add a rawness and more organic quality to the Cornish. My favorite set up would have the Model G at the end of the chain as my low to med OD pedal and final tonal stage for higher gain drives ahead of it.

From a lot of what I am hearing about the BBOD, sounds like I might be right on target.

[rockeroo]

You guys are getting me fired up! I have a BBOD (higher serial number) on it's way as we speak and I am VERY excited at the prospect!

Also, I really think you nailed it on the head with the inclusion of "consistency" in your pedal evaluation criteria. While my gigging life is fully amateur and spread out, I have definitely noticed that the strength of certain favorite pedals more often than not is their ability to sound good anywhere not just the house or the rehearsal studio. I stood in with some guys at an outdoor event last weekend and didn't have my usual dirt selections and was really frustrated. The PPF carried me with grace, but my other lower drive pedals from other makers than my favorites (BJFE and Cornish being my favorites) just wouldn't dial in. For someone like myself, who needs all the help I can get, the last thing I need when playing in front of others is to be spending mental energy being unhappy with my tone.

I jumped on a BBOD hoping to fill the gap that my Model G was held. My favorite pedal set up to date was a combination of Cornish and BJFE - they really work well together. The buffers from the Cornish seem to juice up the BJFE and the BJFE add a rawness and more organic quality to the Cornish. My favorite set up would have the Model G at the end of the chain as my low to med OD pedal and final tonal stage for higher gain drives ahead of it.

From a lot of what I am hearing about the BBOD, sounds like I might be right on target.

And if you don't like it, you can sell it to me...

[scottcw]

You guys are getting me fired up! I have a BBOD (higher serial number) on it's way as we speak and I am VERY excited at the prospect!

Curious about the difference between the "higher serial number" that people refer to and say, BBOD #48?

[musicsoma]

One thing important to note about the BBOD (which has been written about on the forum) is that it doesn't play as well with others in the same way a HBOD or Model G would. It is awesome at what it does, but I find it to be a stand-alone pedal.

In terms of the higher vs lower serial numbers, there is additional volume with the later BBODs (v2). I have had both v1 and V2. When I first hunted for a BBOD I almost hesitated in pulling the trigger on the v1 thinking it was inferior. This was hardly the case. The extra room on the V2 was nice, but I ended up keeping the v1. This is the same one Bobby D recently used in a demo video. Either v1 or v2 is great!

[hawaii121]

You guys are getting me fired up! I have a BBOD (higher serial number) on it's way as we speak and I am VERY excited at the prospect!

Curious about the difference between the "higher serial number" that people refer to and say, BBOD #48?

"However, there was a major revision (V2) at serial #219 whereby the circuit was permanently modified to (a) make the output less sensitive to loading and (b) increase the output by 6dB (this change was based on the work done on the Baby Pink Overdrive, which was originally developed as a special gift for BBOD #100). As a result of the work that he did on #209, #210 and #211, BJ thought that the BBOD sounded better with the low impedance output and therefore from BBOD #212 onwards all BBODs have the low impedance modification. From #219 onwards BJ also increased the output by 6dB and hence the V2 circuit change was complete."

From the pedal library...

[musicsoma]

Yes, but if you are out there looking, don't pass on a v1 because of this section in the library. I almost did and would have regretted it. I kept my v1 over my v2. I am sure it is small component or even "cork-sniffing", but I preferred one to the other. Again, VERY small differences in sound.

[cedjazz]

I am the lucky owner of pedal number 219. Several years ago I bought this pedal from a friend of mine who's getting away from pedals and more into amplifier distortion. I kept the pedal for about a year before really started using it on gigs. At one point I was selling another overdrive pedal to the guy who was way more interested in the baby blue overdrive than he was the overdrive pedal that I was selling. Also my amp tech had heard about the baby blue overdrive and when I let him play it one day he was blown away. I also noticed that it sounded better then most overdrive channels on amplifiers that I played . Plain and simple, the baby blue overdrive is the best overdrive pedal I have ever played. More than any other pedal, the baby blue overdrive allows the quality of your guitar to come through. It does not choke your guitar tone. I play a Fender Strat that has a hum bucker in the bridge position. Positions number two and number four sound incredible through the baby blue.

I agree that it does not stack well with other pedals . It can be very finicky. If you want something very close to the baby blue overdrive sound that stacks well with pedals I would suggest getting Dyna red distortion , which is also an incredible sounding pedal.

As I stated in my first post, I'm finally getting to hear that baby blue overdrive through a fender like amplifier. I do have one question though...... Are other pedals like the PPF or the EGDM also meant to be played to a more Fender like amplifier? .

[Donner]

My current guiding principles of guitar sound came about from spending a good deal of the late 80s and 90s not using pedals and looking for THEE amp that would give me everything ..... I love clean Fender and dirty Marshall and Vox tones and theres no amp that would ever give me all of these .... one big reason is the different power tubes and speakers in these amps so I came to the conclusion that its easier to dirty a clean sound than the other way around, so I would find my perfect clean tone in the amp and then go about getting the dirt sounds from pedals ....... SO yes I used for a long time a clean fender and went thru every dirt pedal ( and compressor and EQ) and was much happier with something like a Deluxe Reverb and a DRD, EGDM,HB etc that I could stomp between or turn them off and have my beloved clean.....

And Ive added some other favorite clean tones since, but I havent found any other line that works so consistantly as BJFs ... but yes I think BJs designs work best on clean or edgy setups .... but they can be adjusted of course using the dirt and level controls too also just add more dirt wiht and EQ change....

I still have BBOD #001 and its still one of my favorites for sliding back and forth across the clean/edgy line with pick pressure, and its also one of the best as the first ped in a stack - BBOD > LGWonder is still the best D*mble tone for me.