Am I really looking for a Timmy or something else?

[ognoy]

I use a Mooer Blues Mood, BD-2 clone with "phat"-mod, as my always on low gain OD-pedal. I like it.

[Christophe]

I've been using the Barbershop for years, and it's great. But I don't think it qualifies here. For me, it's a great always on pedal, to warm up your tone. But it has very little gain (at least with single coils). I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for "angry"... The Eq is nice on the "brown" side of the pedal, but is super limited if you want to get the clearer sounds of the barbershop. I'm still looking for the kind of pedal you're talking about. SUper easy to find for a strat (anything goes with a strat...), much harder to find for a Tele. So far, I'm ok with the Bixonic expandora; that thing is so tweakable, it goes from boost to mk1 fuzz. More organic and aggressive than a SD-1, less compressed than a Rat or sd-2... It's really close to what you're describing. My only wish is that it could do smoother sounds too (a la greer lightspeed)...

[dubkitty]

I’m not a “guitar” guy but I never hear anyone ever say a bad thing about the Fairfield Barbershop overdrive.

when we had the Fairfield tour box going around in 2013 or 14, i posted in my review that the Barbershop is "the Klon killer." it's that good. it's the only pedal of that nature that i've ever liked.

[goroth]

Barbershop is brilliant.
BD-2 is great.

[BlackOceans]

Wish the days of finding a used BD2 for $40 were still here lol missed the boat on that one years ago

[D.o.S.]

Contractually obligated to recommend the Singing Tree and the DOD250.

[dubkitty]

i wish i could find a Singing Tree. i had a line on one, but the overseas seller's PayPal account was fucked up and as far as i know was never fixed.

[retinal orbita]

Contractually obligated to recommend the Singing Tree and the DOD250.

One might consider the Earthquaker Grey Channel as a 250 alternative, a ton of different options to get you the tones you desire…. I had one but I’m just not a bass OD guy.

One might also consider the Wren & Cuff Two Five Drive? I’ve been eyeballing one for a thousand years but I’m just not sure if I’ll get the use out of it I want. I am very partial to my Boss bass OD so like, do a need a boutique yellow version?

[D.o.S.]

i wish i could find a Singing Tree. i had a line on one, but the overseas seller's PayPal account was fucked up and as far as i know was never fixed.

That was me. Yeah, for whatever reason I can't receive money from Dubs. No Idea why. Paypal never got back to me when I opened a ticket. The money just never arrives in my account.


Mellowtone put the schematic on Instagram though:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPTrtXnMIjh/

So you could build one/find someone locally to build you one?

[dubkitty]

i'm not capable of building one, and don't know anyone who can in my area. i'm just going to let it go.

[Dr Tony Balls]

I'm not really looking for TS derivatives (so I guess that means no Klones either?)

The Klon is not a TS derivative at all. The Timmy kinda is.

THe best transparent overdrive, hands down, is the colorsound powerbooster (18v version), it slaughters your amp

I wouldnt call that an overdrive at all. Its a boost...doesnt really distort on its own except at the extreme of the volume control, but that's not really gentle.


But from what the OP described the Klon OR the Power Booster would be solid options. The Klon has some drive element to it if you want that, but it also has a lot of boost available to play well with your amp. The Power Boost is just boost but again has a ton of it and a little more tonal control. I'm a fan of both circuits for boosting, and have built tons. The only one I have on my personal shelf is a Power Boost though....

[MechaGodzilla]

power booster is like a mild tonebender with tone sculpting to my ears

[qersty]

THe best transparent overdrive, hands down, is the colorsound powerbooster (18v version), it slaughters your amp

I wouldnt call that an overdrive at all. Its a boost...doesnt really distort on its own except at the extreme of the volume control, but that's not really gentle.


But from what the OP described the Klon OR the Power Booster would be solid options. The Klon has some drive element to it if you want that, but it also has a lot of boost available to play well with your amp. The Power Boost is just boost but again has a ton of it and a little more tonal control. I'm a fan of both circuits for boosting, and have built tons. The only one I have on my personal shelf is a Power Boost though....

It definetly overdrives in my experience, more notacibly if you have the volume down. This may be down to design and transistor selection, though. I have only tried one version of it

power booster is like a mild tonebender with tone sculpting to my ears

lol what mk.? I guess if you made a silicon tonebender without the slightest fuzz you wouldn't be wrong. I mostly think of it as "darn loud"

[qersty]

i'm not capable of building one, and don't know anyone who can in my area. i'm just going to let it go.

I think if you tried and had some patience you could do it. unless it's some living situation/medical thing/et cetera that hinders you. Or you could join my club of pedal building procrastination

[MechaGodzilla]

power booster is like a mild tonebender with tone sculpting to my ears

lol what mk.? I guess if you made a silicon tonebender without the slightest fuzz you wouldn't be wrong. I mostly think of it as "darn loud"

idk, i built one and had a throbak and it just behaved and "felt" like a fuzz rolled back to be just under the fuzziness threshold. not talking in a technical sense, just qualitative. anyway i wouldn't call it an amp-like sound personally.