JF OD Special

[Disciple]

Really want to try one of these and had a potential deal for a donor to be sent to Rob for one, wrote him earlier his week inquiring about it but never heard back so unfortunately had to pass for now and am getting some mods from Drew.

Guess we'll see what the future holds.

 

[Julia]

I've got two donor modules for this. Just saving pennies.

KH-1 and Deluxe. I want one of them to nail the Robben Ford "Politician" tone, and the other to nail the John Mayer clean tone.

I know he puts a switch so both should be able to do this, but they'll both be in the amp at the same time with one set on clean and the other set on overdrive.

 

[rvf263]

I have a Deluxe coming soon and can't decide whether I want the ODS or the SuperClean mod from JF.
This ODS module does sound tempting.

 

[wesarvin]

I love my ods, but I'm thinking about also getting a super clean for some fender spank.

 

[Disciple]

I love my ods, but I'm thinking about also getting a super clean for some fender spank.

Got one on the way from Tbag (superclean), been wanting to test that for sometime. Going to be having two spectrums of main clean tones (Mesa and Fender) with my main clean Salvation Loneclean and the JF Superclean.

 

[wesarvin]

I love my ods, but I'm thinking about also getting a super clean for some fender spank.

Got one on the way from Tbag (superclean), been wanting to test that for sometime. Going to be having two spectrums of main clean tones (Mesa and Fender) with my main clean Salvation Loneclean and the JF Superclean.

Also, when you back down the gain on the ODS, it gets a nice fender deluxe type of clean. Similar, but warmer with its mid thang.

 

[ricky]

I have all of the Fenders and love them all. I have my Blackface modded to SuperClean and love it. However the OD-S is a completely different animal IMHO. As I said in an earlier post, it is its own sound. I happen to love it.
ricky

 

[Graham Pearson]

Patience, dear boy, patience !!

I?ve had my OD Special for nearly 3 months now and I?ve been struggling to get that Robben Ford tone out of it. Our band plays his version of ?Badge? (the old Cream / George Harrison classic) and it has a sweet solo that I?ve finally learned to play note-for-note.

The past couple of days, I?ve had a chance to get in the studio, crank up the Robben Ford track on the P/A and play along with it, adjusting the OD Special until it matched up. Finally, I found the settings.

I?m using a stock 1992 PRS Custom 24. For me, there seems to be a sweet spot in the Drive (Gain) setting on the OD Special at about 6.5. Less than 6.5 and there isn?t enough sustain, more than that and I loose all pick attack.

With the Drive at 6.5, only the Treble control seems to have any effect on the tone. The Bass and Middle controls aren?t effective at all. Also, I?ve yet to find any settings where the Deep switch makes a difference to the tone ? perhaps it needs single-coils to be effective?

So, for what it?s worth, and for all you humbucking Robben Ford dudes out there, here are my settings:

Drive: 6.5
Bass: Don?t care ? mine?s at 0
Middle: Don?t care ? mine?s at 0
Treble: 10
Volume: To suit ? mine?s at 3
Boost switch: Left (off)
Mid switch: Up (off)
Deep switch: Don?t care ? mine?s up (off)

I hope this post encourages others to chime in with their OD Special experiences and settings.

 

[Mattfig]

Patience, dear boy, patience !!

I?ve had my OD Special for nearly 3 months now and I?ve been struggling to get that Robben Ford tone out of it. Our band plays his version of ?Badge? (the old Cream / George Harrison classic) and it has a sweet solo that I?ve finally learned to play note-for-note.

The past couple of days, I?ve had a chance to get in the studio, crank up the Robben Ford track on the P/A and play along with it, adjusting the OD Special until it matched up. Finally, I found the settings.

I?m using a stock 1992 PRS Custom 24. For me, there seems to be a sweet spot in the Drive (Gain) setting on the OD Special at about 6.5. Less than 6.5 and there isn?t enough sustain, more than that and I loose all pick attack.

With the Drive at 6.5, only the Treble control seems to have any effect on the tone. The Bass and Middle controls aren?t effective at all. Also, I?ve yet to find any settings where the Deep switch makes a difference to the tone ? perhaps it needs single-coils to be effective?

So, for what it?s worth, and for all you humbucking Robben Ford dudes out there, here are my settings:

Drive: 6.5
Bass: Don?t care ? mine?s at 0
Middle: Don?t care ? mine?s at 0
Treble: 10
Volume: To suit ? mine?s at 3
Boost switch: Left (off)
Mid switch: Up (off)
Deep switch: Don?t care ? mine?s up (off)

I hope this post encourages others to chime in with their OD Special experiences and settings.

Wow...Interesting settings to say the least...What kinda tubes ya using?

 

[Graham Pearson]

Yes, Fig, I forgot to include the tubes I'm using. Thanks for reminding me:

JAN GE 5751 in both V1 and V2

My OD Special had too much gain with all the 12AX7s I tried - my Drive setting was always too sensitive. The lower gain 5751 tubes give me more room to play with the Drive.

Also, from first look, it seems my EQ settings are way too biased toward the treble side, but I've found the Treble setting at 10 is needed to cut through a live mix.

 

[Mattfig]

Yes, Fig, I forgot to include the tubes I'm using. Thanks for reminding me:

JAN GE 5751 in both V1 and V2

My OD Special had too much gain with all the 12AX7s I tried - my Drive setting was always too sensitive. The lower gain 5751 tubes give me more room to play with the Drive.

Also, from first look, it seems my EQ settings are way too biased toward the treble side, but I've found the Treble setting at 10 is needed to cut through a live mix.

Great tubes! Interesting to use in mod V1 and V2....Haven't tried that combo in a while, usually just V1...

I'm gonna try all that on for size....Thanks for the specs...I wish I had some secret settings to share but I like the treble up but the lows and mids up lose as well....I also use the toggles....I haven't tried it live yet and perhaps I'll keep your settings in mind when I do...Thanks!

 

[crankyrayhanky]

So, for what it?s worth, and for all you humbucking Robben Ford dudes out there, here are my settings:

Drive: 6.5
Bass: Don?t care ? mine?s at 0
Middle: Don?t care ? mine?s at 0
Treble: 10
Volume: To suit ? mine?s at 3
Boost switch: Left (off)
Mid switch: Up (off)
Deep switch: Don?t care ? mine?s up (off)

don't care 0???!!!
You must mean 5, which is the 12 oclock position. 0 would give you am radio tone

I hear lots of difference in the Deep switch, perhaps all that extra gain I use makes the thump more apparent. I am intriqued by the 5751, IU think this would be a great mod to finally try my first 5751

I'm still playing with settings, but generally dial between 11 & 2 oclock on most eq on my modules (Strats like even more mids for me though)

 

[Graham Pearson]

don't care 0???!!!
You must mean 5, which is the 12 oclock position. 0 would give you am radio tone

As I said in my original post, the Bass and Middle settings don't seem to have any effect on my tone when the Drive is set at 6.5. And my tone certainly doesn't sound like "am radio tone" with the Bass and Middle both set at 0.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

could be the preamp tubes in your amp? I had my eq settings slowly drift to odd places, then changes the amp pre tubes and everything went back to normal

Regardless, fully counter clockwise on the eq should be clearly noticable, there's a problem somewhere :?

 

[Graham Pearson]

Hey Cranky Ray:

I'm running an RM4 with 4 modules ... Deluxe, Top Boost, OD Special, and Ultra. The OD Special is the ONLY module that needs the Treble fully cranked.

The other modules all have middle-of-the-road EQ settings. So this doesn't indicate a problem with the power amp I'm using, which is an RT2/50.

And yes, I've tried the OD Special in the other RM4 slots.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

perhaps take a screwdriver and really tighten in those posts when putting it in the slot?
There's no way what you describe is normal. For comparison I sometimes dial my treble back to 11 oclock on my JFOD

 

[ricky]

Maybe Rob would have a suggestion for you, Graham.

 

[Mattfig]

Yep, those settings are really, really bad on mine...I'm with the others that something is amiss...You've changed preamp tubes in the module itself right?

 

[Graham Pearson]

Yes, I've tried various 12AX7 tubes which all seemed to have so much gain that I was reduced to fiddling with the Drive setting between 2.1 and 2.3. I have several JAN GE 5751 tubes and it makes no difference which I use. I always settle on the Treble at 10 and the Bass and Middle having no effect on the tone.

Also, I've tried the OD Special in all 4 slots in my RM4 and I've made sure the thumb screws were tightened.

Also, my RM4 is oriented 43 deg 12 minutes North by North West and I hold my mouth in the :-O position.

The plot thickens .... :-(

 

[Jaded Faith]

Sorry I didn't see this thread a little sooner. I have kind of been a slave to the bench the past few weeks!

A few thoughts I have:

- Speakers make a huge difference in how tones are perceived. I became HIGHLY aware of this again after changing a few in my RM50C and Mesa 4x12 last Saturday.

- Something as extreme as a knob on 10 might be a great indicator of a broken pot somewhere, particularly if it's in the tone stack.

- The first 3 ODS modules are different from the rest and changes were made out of necessity. Part of the design caused problems that never surfaced until the building #4 and #5 that required a change to the circuit. I can confirm that tests showed it to be a very minor change tonally, but it had to happen to create a consistent product.

As with anything manufactured, occasional changes have to be made in the name of progress or if a flaw is discovered. Most of the time this happens completely unannounced and the consumer isn't aware of it.

Regarding Graham's module, you may want to contact me to give it a look over to make sure everything is functioning as it should. I have a funny feeling about one of your 3 tone pots.

Hope this helps,
Rob