Clay Jones Overdrive?

[hairyandy]

Has anyone ever seen one of these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Very-Rare-Clay-Jones-Overdrive-Pedal_W0QQitemZ7408478138QQcategoryZ41416QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is this the same Clay that posts here?  I've never heard of this pedal until I saw two of them today while surfing overdrive pedals on Ebay, both with a cool mother-of-bowling-ball finish.  Is this thing another suped-up TS ala Landgraff?  I'm just curious.  For $900 it better be good in bed as well!!!

[puretube]

iirc, the one on ebay before that, went for 1250$.

(Clay is not involved in that money-multiplication, though!)

[MartyMart]

WTF  !!
That would buy you a very nice amp  !   

MM.

[jonathan perez]

WTF  !!
That would buy you a very nice amp  !   

MM.

and a whole lot of tacos at del taco.

[RDV]

OMG!

RDV

[bancika]

Yeah, I could sell my TS for at least 1000$, only 2 are made
Or even better rebote delay, unique!!!
Of course, I'm being sarcastic

[amz-fx]

Clay is one of the good guys and he comes around here occasionally....   he paid me to use some of the info from my CD in his overdrive pedal.  He did not specify exactly what and I did not pry.

I am guessing that it is similar to my Son of Screamer, but I have no hard info on it other than looking at some pix of the inside and hearing the samples.

Best regards, Jack

[hairyandy]

Clay is one of the good guys and he comes around here occasionally....   he paid me to use some of the info from my CD in his overdrive pedal.  He did not specify exactly what and I did not pry.

I am guessing that it is similar to my Son of Screamer, but I have no hard info on it other than looking at some pix of the inside and hearing the samples.

Best regards, Jack

Good on Clay!  Whether his pedals actually sell for that kind of money or not, it's got to be nice to know that your work is that highly regarded that people would even think about paying that.  Who among us wouldn't be honored by that?  It's also nice to know that he acknowledges his sources, as we all know that that can be a rare trait in the world of electronics.

Speaking of your CD Jack, I think I've lost mine.     My basement is such a mess that it may be hiding somewhere but I think I lost my "road" CD/DVD case that I use for gigging.  Of course the AMZ CD was in the first spot followed by most of my good music DVDs!  Hopefully I'll find it.  If not, I'll be signing up for another soon...and buying another copy of the Zeppelin DVD.   

[markm]

Good on Clay!  Whether his pedals actually sell for that kind of money or not, it's got to be nice to know that your work is that highly regarded that people would even think about paying that.  Who among us wouldn't be honored by that?

I'd be honored by that!!

[CS Jones]

Thanks for the kind words. It's really still hard to believe the amount of flak I've caught over this thing. I've been humiliated over it, threatened over it, accused of many things over it. The original idea for it came from a thread on the DIY site just after the ampage split. I went by a psuedonym at that time and I hesitate to say what that name was because I had a lot to learn about netiquette and I'm always afraid someone will remember and say "oh, that prick was you?" The thread was uncannily connected in an odd way to a commercial pedal I was tinkering with at the time - not a Boss or Ibanez... but a commercial name which most people associate with "crap". I meant it to be a limiter but when I finished it it overdrove on some settings in a weird sing song way. Other settings sounded run of the mill blah. I reworked it several times and then I posted a link to my schematic and asked for comments and I think I got 17 hits and no comments. It just died like so many "check this out" posts do. I buried the thing in a box and it sat there for years before this other thing happened. In the meantime I had removed myself from the internet entirely. I went back to building and restoring amplifiers. I was "done with pedals" - (I wonder sometimes how many others have thought this same thing  )

Jack fits in here simply because without his hard work which he's freely given I would still be in the dark about a lot of this. In spite of some criticisms I appreciate his calculators, RC rolloff grids, mu amp work,  tech info. etc. His CD is always in my player.  I consider the mosfet booster to be the best "effect" I've ever had. It struck me as just so unfair as the reputations and clout of his copycats grew at his expense. All I tried to do was give him a little something back instead of being just another guy secretively using him and profiting from it.
As hard as this is to believe - and it is to me considering my entire "product line" (as if) consists of one pedal of which there is only a grand total of maybe 58 - I've been solicited several times for interviews/reviews. My response has been something along the line of "If you guys really want to get to the bottom of what's happening with this stuff go interview Jack Orman or RG Keen or Aron Nelson or numerous other guys who have really made an impact in the world of effects building. Thank you but I have nothing to say".  The lack of discernment "out there" about what's happening "in here" or inside these boxes is staggering. No concern for the unfolding history of this stuff or  the circuit origins or the influential teachers or the massive amount of raw straight up cloning going on. Any swingin' dork with a soldering iron and either the perserverance to forum spam or a well placed endorsement can play pretender to the throne. (Damn it, I've told myself a hundreds times I'd quit this editorializing but it just keeps coming out).

Lastly, the aftermarket prices are completely out of my control. A report of the highest aftermarket price I've received was in the ballpark of $1500 to a Japanese buyer.  I charged $219 per pedal. I still don't know why I picked that number. I sold 50 pedals. It took me 9 months to complete the build. I dreaded almost every minute of it. I'm just one of those guys who can't stand to build the same pedal twice. The money I made I donated to 5 guys who have helped me understand this stuff better through the years. Jack was one, another was an MVP on this site and the remaining 3 were personal friends not internet effects connected who, taken together, have probably over 100 years of hard core professional electronics/chemistry know how. They are my own personal "RG Keens". I bought a '79 Tokai Springy Sound ST80 strat and I bought my wife 2 dresses. The rest of the money was given to a Mission which provides a food bank. Other than the Tokai, I kept nothing for myself. I covered the initial parts cost out of my own pocket. It was just something I determined I'd do from the beginning, I closed my eyes and I did it. I have no idea whatsoever why I decided this.

My major regret is that I just simply forgot to donate directly to Aron and this site. That won't happen again.

The good news is that the Tokai is the best strat I've ever played...
and, after all these years, my wife still looks pretty in her dresses.



Now if it's cool with you guys I'd just like to drop the whole thing and let it go.

[no one ever]

My major regret is that I just simply forgot to donate directly to Aron and this site. That won't happen again.

The good news is that the Tokai is the best strat I've ever played...
and, after all these years, my wife still looks pretty in her dresses.

cool dude.   

[Phorhas]

Inspirinig. Truely.

(and not in the " now I wish to clone some TSs and sell'em" kinda way)

I'm glad the Tokai sounds great

[hairyandy]

Right on Clay.  I personally don't think you should be made to feel anything but proud of your accomplishments.  And good call on the Tokai Strat too!  Some of those were killer, much better than the run-of-the-mill Fender stuff at the time and they cost half the price.

[trumpus]

Thanks for clearing all that up Clay!

I am a newbie to effects building and modding, and obviously wasn't around when you were making your short run of pedals, but i've caught wind of the CJOD here and there, and never really knew the story behind the whole deal. 

I build and mod effects because i am genuinely interested in it - i'm a veterinarian - i make no money and have no plans on ever profiting from anything i tinker with, but its nice to know that there are resources out there for people like me, who just want to do something fun and interesting - and get some great tone in the meantime!

Thanks!

Brian

[amz-fx]

Thanks for the kind words. It's really still hard to believe the amount of flak I've caught over this thing. I've been humiliated over it, threatened over it, accused of many things over it.
[snip]
Now if it's cool with you guys I'd just like to drop the whole thing and let it go.

Clay, good to see you around!  Thanks for the informative post....  the same questions come up at HCEF about once per week. 

Don't let it bother you...  I once got slammed on the Gear Page because I revealed that a new builder was using one of the designs from my site. 

BTW, I'm building a 5E3 Deluxe amp...  it should be a fun project!

regards, Jack

[David]

Total class, as always.

[Mark Hammer]

... the aftermarket prices are completely out of my control. A report of the highest aftermarket price I've received was in the ballpark of $1500 to a Japanese buyer.

Sung to "Ballad of a Thin Man" - B. Dylan
"You plug in your iron,
Reach for a chip,
Man eating sushi says,
'Baby, that's hip',
Try to be honest but,
You feel it slip,
As you mumble,
'Man, I thoght I was in the zone',
And you know somethings happening,
but you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?"

[RDV]

The paint jobs on those were so cool though I'm not surprised about what's happening with them. I'm not saying they don't sound good but boy do they look good.

RDV

[Doug_H]

They sound very good. I saw Tomo Fujita play through one last year and it sounded great. Very smoooooth....

Doug

[RDV]

They sound very good. I saw Tomo Fujita play through one last year and it sounded great. Very smoooooth....

I'm still kicking myself for not coming to that. You guys were a couple of miles from where I was. I had a full gigging plate that weekend.

RDV