Oneder Effects' Old Blue Overdrive is a versatile and fantastic sounding all-rounder Blues Machine

The Old Blue Overdrive is a unique Bluesy circuit not based on any other, but giving you excellent coverage of the classic blues tones - including both Breaker and Driver. It has a similarly potent gain cleanup via guitar volume knob as the Blues Driver - and the combination of +/- gain structure voicing switch and Treble and Thickness controls give you a fantastic extended-range degree of output-shaping.

The [-] Vintage voicing mode is probably best for the subtler end of Blues Breaker style tones - with the Thickness dial rolled back sufficiently, while for Blues Driver style tones - you’re best off with the pedal in ’+’ voicing mode with the Thickness dial somewhat elevated - that delivers more breakup texture and saturation.

I find that depending on the level of Gain - you will want to adjust the Thickness dial in proportion - as the higher the gain is set - the fatter the output - meaning that in ’-’ mode you tend to have the Thickness set quite a bit higher than in the ’+’ voicing mode.

I am very partial to Blues Driver tones - and I mostly operate on the ’+’ side of this pedal - where I kind of set the gain to peak level - and then roll it back with the guitar volume knob - giving me superb dynamics and a wide variety of tones at my fingertips.

Controls - Level, Drive / Gain, Clipping : ’+’ Modern (More High Gain, Textured) / ’-’ Vintage (Smoother, Subtler), Range (Treble), Weight (Pre-gain Thickness).

This pedal doesn’t have exactly the same texture of the Blues Driver - it’s default texture is probably a little closer overall to the core Breaker tone - but it’s very much its own thing - so we’re mostly talking very decent ballparks here - as there are subtle differences - but for those styles of tone the Old Blue works superbly - and delivers a lot more.

I’ve had the pedal at various settings, while I’ve kind of currently settled on Volume @ 3 o’c, Gain @ 3 o’c, Treble @ Max, and Thickness @ 2-3 o’c - that generally gives me exactly what I need across the range!

The Old Blue Overdrive is currently available in 2 Colourway Editions on the Oneder Effects Webstore - the Sparkly Blue Edition with White Graphics (like mine), and Sparkly Black with Blue Graphics - both of which go for $179.

If you’re looking for a great sounding Bluesy Overdrive - then the Old Blue is a really great candidate - super versatile and really easy to dial in - with superb dynamics. Of course the Sparkle Blue version is my favourite by far! Very happy to have this in the collection at last!.

I had been intending to get in a Oneder Red Ryder (Rat) at some stage - and even contributed the suggestion for the below colourway. While that pedal is alas now discontinued, and Nick only made a single one of my preferred Wood + Cream colourway combination - which was snapped up before I could get to it!