Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
China's iStingor FX delivers the intriguingly monikered OD-1 Super OverDrive which looks very Boss-adjacent, but is actually quite a different circuit!
At first glance this pedal looks like it owes a lot to the Boss OD-1 and SD-1 - it has the same moniker, similar yellow hue, and same silver screw - which opens up a top-loading battery compartment - all quite distinct Boss markers.
You might expect this to be an OpAmp style OD-1 or SD-1 overdrive take, while this is an entirely different circuit with MOSFET transistors at its heart and generally a little more bite than the Boss variants. The main board is a reverse one - so you can’t really pick out the components particularly easily. This is a China-made pedal which Americans can get for $79 via Amazon.com. While I had to pay quite a bit more to get one - where it came via the USA. I think I paid around £150 for mine.
I had been in contact with iStingor on Instagram - but gave up on that route in the end due to a general lack of response. They did respond at first - saying they were keen to collaborate - but that was all I got - they did not follow-up - and did not deliver the collateral promised. Meaning I had to get the pedal via a somewhat complicated route, and ended up paying more than twice the face value of this pedal. It’s part of a larger project - which will soon be revealed. While it’s also something of an outlier - in looking every way like a Boss derivative - while it’s quite a different circuit. There is some slight overlap - while the core timbre and character is markedly different, and it’s not a substitute for an OD-1, OD-2, or SD-1. The iStingor OD-1 has a lot of gain - particularly on the Turbo mode.
It's a relatively straightforward pedal - with 3-Band EQ, and a Normal / Turbo voicing switch, Volume and Gain - where the Turbo voicing presumably adds some further Clipping LED's - perhaps some further silicon in there too - it certainly gets Louder, Punchier and Wirier on the Turbo Mode - which I quite like. In fact I've decided I rather quite like this pedal now - which is also pretty decent on the Normal side - while the Turbo side is the main event for me.
This OD-1 has quite a distinct profile - with that slightly crunchier MOSFET clipping. Possibly it's just the transistors doing the clipping, but I seem to sense other elements in the mix - particularly on the Turbo side. The pedal definitely has a distinct bite to its output - but you can really quite finely shape the output profile via those versatile EQ's. Overall a really vibrant and lively overdrive - with a decent degree of crunch when needed!
Controls - Treble, Middle, Bass, Level, Voicing : Turbo (Louder / Punchier / Wirier) / Normal (more subtle), Gain.
I tend to run this pedal in Turbo Mode - with Treble @ 3 o'c, Middle @ Noon, Bass @ 2 o'c, Level @ 3 o'c, and Gain @ Noon.
The gain ramps up quite quickly - and you get additional compression at higher values. This is a really nicely rounded overdrive - with a really quite extensive range to it, and a lot of versatility. A very decent everyday overdrive!
It comes in really cool packaging - with a clear plastic window on the box. It also comes with its own patch cable whose design kind of matches the pedal's knobs.
At $79 it's an absolute bargain, where @ £150 like I paid it's actually still pretty decent. It's a highly versatile pedal though - which much to recommend it - particularly on the Turbo Mode. It's not in proper Boss territory though - it's very much its own thing!
I'm not sure the couple of demos fully do it justice - the amp seems to be set too hight to get a proper feel for the core tone and timbre of the overdrive. The overall 'package' is pretty compelling though. All-round a very decent effort!
Weirdly there doesn't seem to be a proper website for this pedal, while we do have Facebook and Instagram pages! I guess it's still relatively early days for this brand!
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