BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

zhivago wrote:It's here...

How does it sound through your Matchless ?

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It sounds very good indeed, the voicing agrees with the Lightning very well. I am very happy to report this, as the Model D 5K that I had just didn't work with the Matchless so I had to sell that on

I spent about three hours with it today in total.

I am quite blown away by it when it is stacked into the Model H...the liquid gain is quite incredible.

I'll get my thoughts together over the coming days. I am very, very happy I managed to get it

Ok, so here we go, my review of the Phone Green Overdrive Distortion.

First of all, what a good looking pedal. The finish on it is just excellent. A very special looking colour. I just love looking at it...

...But enough of looking at it, how does it sound??

Well, the second part of the name really sums it up. You can go from some nice overdriven sounds into heavy OD and Distortionland. The land of tone!

On receiving this pedal, I wanted to see if it was going to be better than my Model H 4K. My curiosity made me twist the dials and try to approximate each other. What I found was that although there is a similarity between the two pedals, the PGOD is more modern sounding than the MH4K. It also has a bit more gain (maybe 15-20% more), which is very cool to have on hand, as I am a bit of a gain junky.

The one surprising thing was that the output of the PGOD isn't as high as other BJFE pedals that I have owned. The Bone Bender for example almost took my head off...and the MH4K wasn't far behind!!. The PGOD gradually puts the volume up. This is great for me as nowadays I play at home mostly.

As it has more gain than the H, I embarked on a 3 hour session, using the PGOD as my main distorted sound, and adding the H as a boost for leads. For that I kept the H's output low to around 1 o' clock and the gain all the way off (although the H still has gain at that position).

The tone control was very effective. With my Fender Jazzmaster I found the EQ sweep to be spot on, allowing some really nice tones. With my P90 Les Paul I found that I occasionally craved more treble when setting the Mids knob past 2 o clock or so.

Hitting the PGOD with the H yielded some awesome sustain for leads, allowing for effortless soloing. Very nice indeed.

The Mids knob is like magic, the amount of different sounds in there is quite staggering. The girth it adds gives it a feel of playing an amp through a 4x12. There's a thickness that never becomes overpowering. It is addictive, and although I was always tempted to max it out, restraining myself and interacting with the Treble knob gave me excellent sounds.

After the first two hours of playing, my ears had gotten used to the sonic signature of the PGOD. I then swapped the H and the PGOD around, and while at first I found their sounds quite similar, when I engaged the H on it's own, the difference was actually quite substantial.

There was my favourite sound again. The H is my favourite OD of all time. It has an in-your-face aggressive nature that is unforgiving. In a way the difference between it and the PGOD is a bit like an amp with a solid state rectifier, and an amp with a saggy valve rectifier.

I found the PGOD's gainier side to be more forgiving than the H.

At this point of course, I was splitting hairs. Either pedal would see me through a whole gig easily, but this was a shoot-out of titanic proportions. I had to be picky!

So two hours in and the H held it's spot as my main driven sound (alongside my HBOD for the lower gain stuff).

I then moved the PGOD in front of the MH as Magnus mentioned. Holy crap, what a combination! Kicking the PGOD (gain - 11 to 12 o' clock, vol: round 1 o' clock) into a maxed out MH was the sound of gods. The key here is tuning the mids knob to get it to literally melt into the H. Keep the mids knob round 9-10 o' clock and there is the sweet spot area...suddenly I found myself playing Black Sabbath riffs.

One monolithic riff after the other with the amplified aggression of the H. This combination is a game changer for me. I was amazed.

Then I rocked the PGOD as a boost int the HBOD. Here again the results where very positive indeed. The HBOD is like the friendliest dog in the world. It loves everyone and everything and the PGOD was no exception.


So all in all, as a stand alone drive, the sweep from low gain to high gain is gradual and could get anyone through most gigs. If I could ask for something more it would be a bit more treble for my Les Paul, but as it is, maxed treble is about right when I fine tune the Mids knob, so personally I am satisfied.

What a way to mark the 10 year anniversary, Bjorn!

Now, if I could get my hands on an Echoverb in the old-style normal box, I will be over the moon and in full time BJFE heaven

Nice review !

Thanks for sharing...

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analoghog wrote:Nice review !

Thanks for sharing...

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No problem at all!!

analoghog wrote:Nice review !

Thanks for sharing...

.

Here Here!

The MH and PGOD have their own thing going on for sure.. in a fantastic way.. what a bonus that they compliment each other so well!

I have been using the PG with single coils for some tasty low gain tones and get blown away every time I gain it up.. amazing! Glad you are enjoying it Zhivago!

ak47 wrote:

analoghog wrote:Nice review !

Thanks for sharing...

.

Here Here!

The MH and PGOD have their own thing going on for sure.. in a fantastic way.. what a bonus that they compliment each other so well!

I have been using the PG with single coils for some tasty low gain tones and get blown away every time I gain it up.. amazing! Glad you are enjoying it Zhivago!

It really is a special combination! I am having a real busy week, getting home late from work, so I've been sticking to playing acoustic in the evenings.

Cannot wait for the weekend to plug in again!

Hi there

Right on demand I'll be making some more PGODs

And thank you all for the feedback

Have fun
BJ

..... Bjorn made a mini batch of 4 PGODs for those that missed out .... they will go up on www.bearfootfx.com tonight

and also a huge batch of many other models and that will be it for awhile ... spring shop cleaning and all

I've only got the scratch for either a AWF 4K or a PGOD. I'd love another AWF especially one with a little more tweakablitity- but I am so darn curious about the PGOD. Can anyone compare the PGOD to other BJFEs (I've owned most of them)...