Has anyone rolled their own Nobels ODR-1?

[Rodgre]

I recently bought an original green Nobels ODR-1 and I really love it for transparent boost and overdrive. I was wondering if anyone has tried to DIY one from the schematic on the Nobels site?

Roger

[MartyMart]

I was considering it and the schem looks "good" but I have an old "greenie", an ODR-S
which has extra eq and a new silver one modded to "green" spec ( swop the volume and drive pots over )
I did mail them about that "error" and got a pleasant response, saying they would "look into it" !!

MARTY

[wampcat1]

I was considering it and the schem looks "good" but I have an old "greenie", an ODR-S
which has extra eq and a new silver one modded to "green" spec ( swop the volume and drive pots over )
I did mail them about that "error" and got a pleasant response, saying they would "look into it" !!

MARTY

Hey Marty, just a quick update on that -- apparantly the facility that was manufacturing them for Nobels messed up on the first couple of thousand of them...Nobels have told me that they are now the same. In fact, I just modified one for a guy (the new silver ones) and the pots are indeed as noted on the schematic, so no mod is needed on them now to convert them to the same specs. I also compared this new silver one with the green original one and they are the *exact* same, pcb and all.

Just a quick update on the nobels for ya.

bw

[bwanasonic]

The ODR 1 is pretty amazing, especially when you consider how it stands up to units costing triple and quadruple the $ of the Nobels. I've pondered the schematic to get the gist of what makes it *special*. Here is a quote from another thread where Dave Barber talks about the architecture of the Barber Direct Drive SS:

Think along these lines for s DDSS style circuit, first stage uses a standard feedback clipper with a second adjustable RC network tuned to a higher freq for presence, then the output goes to a tunable secondary shunt to ground clipper, then the recovery stage uses a classic "vinyl style"  dual adjustable RIAA circuit...this should get you in the area, with a little creativity you could make something with your own twist!

This seems to roughly correspond with what's happening in the ODR1? Good to hear they sorted out the manufacturing error with the new ones ( I had to do the pot swap with the silver one I bought a while back). If I had to pick only one OD to use, it would be a tough choice between the Nobels and my RAT. Normally I use both, and they sound great in series (RAT > ODR1). That would make a great 2 in 1 box! Put an AMZ Mosfet at the end, and you'd have the "heart" of my pedalboard in a box.

Kerry M

[vortex]

I too like the Nobels overdrive. I have the old green ODS-1 Overdrive special with the 3 band eq and it is a mainstay in my pedal board. Despite DIYing about 15 OD capable pedals, I finally gave the gold medal to the Nobels!

Also of note is the Nobels DT-1 distortion. I have the old yellow model. When I got it the switching was dead.  With the help of a fine Stompbox forum member (sorry, I can't seem to find the thread! Thanks though...) I was able to replace the switching to true bypass.

Amazingly, the Nobels enclosure had enough room inside to fit a regular blue 3PDT switch! This is due to the battery compartment being located in the middle of the pedal. How cool is that!

The thing I like about the DT-1 is that with the volume knob rolled down on the guitar the tone is extremely clear and punchy like a good clean booster. Crank up the guitar knob and it smoothly applies the gain in a natural way. The DT-1 has a wide range of ,boost, OD and rock distortion on tap. Nobels calls the pedal a distortion but it has proven to be much more for me in my setup. (Strat, pedals, tube amp)

Anyhoo, that's my 2 cents....

[wampcat1]

I too like the Nobels overdrive. I have the old green ODS-1 Overdrive special with the 3 band eq and it is a mainstay in my pedal board. Despite DIYing about 15 OD capable pedals, I finally gave the gold medal to the Nobels!

Also of note is the Nobels DT-1 distortion. I have the old yellow model. When I got it the switching was dead.  With the help of a fine Stompbox forum member (sorry, I can't seem to find the thread! Thanks though...) I was able to replace the switching to true bypass.

Amazingly, the Nobels enclosure had enough room inside to fit a regular blue 3PDT switch! This is due to the battery compartment being located in the middle of the pedal. How cool is that!

The thing I like about the DT-1 is that with the volume knob rolled down on the guitar the tone is extremely clear and punchy like a good clean booster. Crank up the guitar knob and it smoothly applies the gain in a natural way. The DT-1 has a wide range of ,boost, OD and rock distortion on tap. Nobels calls the pedal a distortion but it has proven to be much more for me in my setup. (Strat, pedals, tube amp)

Anyhoo, that's my 2 cents....

I agree...
You know, if Nobels housed these pedals in a hammond box, used better pots, fancier knobs and true bypass switching they could double the price because the *tone* is just THERE! Love it.

bw

[puretube]

I don`t think they want the customers to have to pay twice-price...

[MartyMart]

The thing I like about the DT-1 is that with the volume knob rolled down on the guitar the tone is extremely clear and punchy like a good clean booster. Crank up the guitar knob and it smoothly applies the gain in a natural way. The DT-1 has a wide range of ,boost, OD and rock distortion on tap. Nobels calls the pedal a distortion but it has proven to be much more for me in my setup. (Strat, pedals, tube amp)

Yup, DT-1 is also a "sleeper"
I picked up a very "beat up" one a few months ago for $12 !
New 9v battery snap, ground wire replacement and a clean up .... FINE
I futzed around with the diode arrangement a bit, I think I added in a 1N4001 and an LED.
It has a great basic "tone" and now has a decent volume boost and a not so "compressed" distortion.
It's a bit like a TS-9 on steroids !
MM.

[wampcat1]

I don`t think they want the customers to have to pay twice-price...

nah...I meant the QUALITY of tone is there for the price to be higher than your average $50 pedal.

bw