Sentimental Bob Electronics' Volodymyr Zakernychnyi delivers two enhanced and modified takes on some all-time classics - courtesy of his new Albert Overdrive and Tephra Distortion Pedals
Ukrainian circuit designer Volodymyr Zakernychnyi is best known for his Tacana Tremolo to date - which has featured on a number of Pro boards, and has been covered at least a couple of times on this blog.
It looks like there are roughly 5 pedals in the range now - which besides the Tacana and the above two, consists also of a BB-sized Screaming Bat Rat / Screamer, and Modulated Echo Delay with different waveshapes and filters on the repeats.
For this article we’ll be looking at Volodomyr’s two most recent pedals - the Albert Overdrive + Boost, and Tephra Distortion + Boost - the former of which is an enhanced and modded Fulltone OCD style overdrive, and the latter is an enhanced and modded ProCo Rat style distortion.
There are several improvements here over the originals - including proper modern top-mounted enclosures. I really like everything about these 2 pedals - including the artwork - particularly on the Albert - which I think should have been called the Schrödinger or Erwin!
Both Pedals are available from the Sentimental Bob Electronics Webstore.
Here follow the individual details :
Albert Overdrive + Clipping + Boost + Fat Switch (evolved from Fulltone OCD) - $160
The Fulltone OCD has 3 knobs plus the HP/LP switch - while the Sentimental Bob Albert adds a further Boost knob, and switches for 2-way Clipping options, and Fat EQ Mode - delivering significantly expanded range.
Controls - Volume, Gain Structure : High Peak / Low Peak, Tone, Drive, Clipping : Mosfet / Germanium, Fat Switch : Fat / Standard, Boost, Bypass Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.
I've always tended to use my OCD's in HP Mode - and with enough Drive / Gain for a nicely crunchy textured output. The OCD is definitely one of my favourite overdrive types, while I probably use the Hamstead Odyssey and Subspace more for similar purposes.
I really like the look of this Albert though - and I'm certainly considering getting one in!
FEATURES
- OCD style overdrive
- Mosfet/Ge clipping modes
- Standard / Fat tone
- Opamp : OP275
- Boost section
- Internal 9V to 18V voltage bump
- Soft touch switches
- Momentary (hold) mode for bypass and boost switches
- Relay true bypass
- 9V DC [-] Power Supply with 40mA current draw
- RRP : $160
Tephra Distortion + Clipping + Boost + Octave (evolved from ProCo Rat) - $180
Surely everyone is familiar with the classic 3-knob Rat by now - Distortion, Filter, and Volume.
Here Sentimental Bob adds a further 6-way Rotary Clipping Diode Selector, Boost and Octave knobs - making this another compact sort of Sunn O))) Life Pedal with some extra features - and not dissimilar to the celebrated Demiurge Doomy O))).
Controls - Volume, Clipping : Opamp / Asymmetrical / Symmetrical / Mosfet / LED / Germanium, Distortion, Boost, Filter, Octave Level, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.
This is another pedal I could certainly go for - while I think I have over 40 Rat style pedals in the collection already - and the aforementioned Life V2 and Doomy O))) pedals.
This is a pretty decent package though with an attractive presentation - so for sure another nice-to have. We will need to see how all that pans out with all the priority juggling that happens ongoingly!
FEATURES :
- Rat + 6 clipping modes + octave + mosfet boost + a/b selector
- Opamp / Asymmetric / Symmetric / Mosfet / LED / Ge clipping modes
- Opamp : LM308
- Soft touch switches
- Relay true bypass
- 9V DC [-] Power Supply with 40mA Current Draw
- Comes with optional white, black or red knobs
- RRP : $180
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
