I never realized the overdrive side of the J&H was a modified Open Road, or that the Open Road was inspired by the Nobels. The older J&H versions were TS-808 based on the overdrive side. I love my Open Road. I also loved the Route 808 circuit, so when I realized the J&H no longer had that circuit, I went out and found one. TrueTone pedals in general have been longtime favorites of mine and I rarely have a pedalboard configuration without a few of their products.
@thisdyingsoul76Ай бұрын
I can remember in my teens and early 20's in the 90's an occasional Nobels show up at my local pawn shop. I had an aversion to TS type pedals because I didn't understand how to make them sound good. I assumed due to the green enclosure that the Nobels was another TS. I had several opportunities to buy a Nobels for only $40 to $50. If only I knew then what know now. 😂
@andy_97998 ай бұрын
Jekyll Hyde (OG silver version)was the first pedal I bought when I got my first tube amp (HRDX), awesome pedal
@markhammer6437 ай бұрын
In 2009, my buddy RG Keen (engineer for Truetone), arranged for Truetone owner Bob Weil to take me out to lunch and take me for a tour of their facilities. Lovely guy, and nice folks all around. Over lunch, I encouraged Bob to consider incorporating an order-flipper switch in his pedals. For dual-drive pedals, like the Jekyll & Hyde, one could stack the two circuits differently, by simply flicking a toggle. But he could also include external-loop capability and order-flipping in a single-drive pedal, such that a player could stick a wah or phaser before OR after a drive, like the Open Road, by simply flicking a switch, instead of having to repatch a pedalboard. Bob was not entirely sold on the idea, but eventually did incorporate a similar capability in the Truetone pedals shown here. Each side has separate in-out jacks, which allows one to patch the left side before the right, or the opposite. Not *quite* as convenient as what I was suggesting, but it also allowed for someone to insert whatever they wanted *between* the two drives, like an EQ. So, optimal convenience vs maximum flexibility. When I make dual-drive pedals for myself, I always include an order-flipper toggle switch. It's a handy thing. There's a reason why Bob's pedals are so popular with Nashville-based musicians, and it's not just because it's a local business. From the earliest days of the Visual Volume pedal, Bob has always tried to anticipate *practical* needs and solutions for working musicians.
@thisdyingsoul762 ай бұрын
That was a brilliant idea. A lot of people in the Official TrueTone Owners FB group asked for it too. I like what they did with additional jacks though. It allows me to put both sides of the pedal on a loop switcher so I can have one or the other or both in different presets.
@markhammer6432 ай бұрын
@@thisdyingsoul76 Yup. *Also* a virtue, and handy in its own way. My own perspective is informed by seeing so many over-populated pedalboards that use pedals in very different form factors that can complicate patching, and which would require an annoyingly complicated teardown and rearrangement just to change the order of a few pedals. Many loop selectors are predicated on a fixed sequence, with no capacity to change the order, only to remove/insert things in some fixed order. It would be nice for order-flipping to be more common than it is, just as it would be nice for live parallel processing to be easier to do than it currently is. On the same tangent, are you familiar with the Boredbrain Patchulator? This is a brilliant idea, taking feeds from the other occupants of a pedalboard, and sticking a mini-jack/plug patch panel on the top. The user can easily repatch stuff without having to move anything on their pedalboard. Boredbrain's unit allows for 8 devices. Inspired by it, I whipped up a smaller one for myself in a 125C enclosure, with in/out jacks for 5 pedals, and color-coded mini patch cables, similar to what people use for Eurorack, to keep track of what was going where.
@thisdyingsoul762 ай бұрын
@markhammer643 I've heard of the patchulator. It's a good idea for the guy who wants to be able to easily swap pedal order on the fly. My needs are a lot simpler, so I have a Joyo PXL with 8 loops and 1/4 inch inputs for channel switching my amps. I have a pretty big pedal collection with some variations on certain pedal circuits I like a lot, like the klon and bluesbreaker. I sometimes put multiples of a circuit on my board on each side of another pedal that I might want to switch up the order with.
@markhammer6432 ай бұрын
@@thisdyingsoul76 I've gone crazy kookoo nuts, and have been migrating circuits to a modular format. Each module is mounted on a 2.5" x 4" faceplate. Because it's all for me, personally, I use 1/8" in/out jacks, and a DPDT toggle for bypass. They're mounted vertically, like Eurorack, and housed in cabinets. Each cab has a shared power bus and can accommodate up to 12 modules. I'm populating #10 these days. Since I don't have to worry about my foot dislodging or breaking anything, and the jacks/toggle take up little space, one can cram an awful lot of stuff in that 2.5x4 space. And since building the modules is cheap, I include duplicates of the same kind of effect, and "utility" modules like splitter/mixer units, fixed filter units, short fixed delays for staggering sounds, and non-dedicated remote switching modules. The parallel processing capabilities are many. It's a mix of clones of classic FX, and DIY circuits; many with my own mods. But yeah, any of the various switching options available out there are a reflection of various unique circumstances and needs.
@mikestillwagon56758 ай бұрын
I've used a bunch of the Visual Sound/TrueTone pedals over the years. They always have some incredibly thoughtful features, always sound great, and you'd be hard pressed to find a company with better customer service.
@thisdyingsoul762 ай бұрын
Agreed. I feel like they don't get the love they deserve. I can remember when I first started using them, seeing a lot of people hating on how they outsourced the manufacturing to China. While I can get the point of view of jobs being sent outside the country, I can say the one thing most people made assumptions of was that the build quality was poor. They don't get that as the factory's client, Truetone dictates the level of quality. My impression from conversations with Bob Weil and his staff is that the pedals are shipped to their US offices and someone there makes random checks on QC before distributing them. And they stand behind their warranty. I had a pedal stop working once and they shipped me a replacement within a few weeks.
@mikestillwagon56752 ай бұрын
@@thisdyingsoul76 I had a Route 66 that I bought used. It was having some issues. I sent it to them and had it back in less than a week. All it cost was the shipping.
@robertol.15478 ай бұрын
Original nobels vs 30th !
@danconn85358 ай бұрын
I’ve got a route 66 and a dual delay from them which I love. Gonna have to keep my eye out for these 2, especially the jekyll and hyde. ❤
@patricetremblay24565 ай бұрын
I have the 3 versions of J&h and i love it. The V3 is my pref but all versions are greats! Good comparaison and Amazing playing R.J.
@angbernardo8 ай бұрын
Nice review. This is exactly what I was hoping to find when searching for the TrueTone branded VSXO reviews; a les Paul into a slightly broken amp
@muzikjay3 ай бұрын
Thank you for doing this comparison. Very helpful to a lot of folks
@xdoctorblindx8 ай бұрын
The Jekyll and Hyde is very cool. Does anyone else do an ODR-1 and Rat combo pedal?
@tomwilson90108 ай бұрын
The "Hyde" side is actually a shredmaster with extra control
@rockstardr8 ай бұрын
I wanted a vsxo so bad several years ago. I couldn't prioritize the money and by the time I had the budget I had moved on to other stuff. I remember Shawn Tubbs had a great demo
@guitarchitect668 ай бұрын
Good stuff, RJ. Comp side of the Route 66 V3 also has a noise gate and clean mix.
@joshuaraysummey76798 ай бұрын
Yo! I feel silly for tuning in just because im a fan of the pedals lol, normally, i just like listening to you play because im a fan of that! But my board is pretty set, zip ties to a temple. Except for my OD; i use the plates for that. I rotate through the following depending on the gig & instrument: two custom jobs by sound of justice, an ehx hot wax, and the 3 dual gain offerings from visual sound :) these two and the route 66 (keeley comp + type comp in to the right side of the vsxo) and i love all three! Its cool that you feel similarly about the jeckyll & hide:) its a killer
@wesmitchem8253 ай бұрын
I love the Jekyll and Hyde I thought it was a modified tube screamer and a marshall shred master in one box
@traceyoungs16378 ай бұрын
Great demo! Thanks!
@JoeBlack11088 ай бұрын
Hey, I'm not sure if it is possible, but you did a great review on the Rockman. Could you get ahold of a Nobels X1 sound studio? The only good video I found was German. I got one a year or so ago for 20 bucks, but it was broken. It is fixed and working fine now, the guy I bought it from originally bought it from Steve's Music in Montreal Quebec in 1990 for 300 bucks, he actually sent me a picture of the recipe.
@elvee78518 ай бұрын
Simplicity always wins for me - the Nobels ODR-1 has a more organic sound IMHO. I have one and I love it.
@arottie40978 ай бұрын
W0W!
@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender8 ай бұрын
Nobels shines in what it can do to a fender style amp, wont make much of a difference on a marshall style amp like a Friedman
@orlandocarrillo87305 ай бұрын
😂 “I’ve set the amp fairly clean” *definitely overdriven “Actually it has a little dirt”
@JasminBellavance_Music8 ай бұрын
Can you make a comparaison with the Karma ODR-10 vs your OG Nobles? Like the Mostortion I think Greg nailed it!
@user-qb6pq1yf8u8 ай бұрын
The open road is incredible-def fatter than these. Pretty identical to the old Nobels.
@scottykingdavid8 ай бұрын
The noble by far . Its cleaner
@None-lh5mx8 ай бұрын
Makes no sense to demo these into an amp which is already very broken up. You're just using these as a boost at that point.
@TheFunnyzach8 ай бұрын
That’s how most people use this pedal. Goosing a gritty amp.
@Mr.D348 ай бұрын
@@TheFunnyzachthat's not why any of these pedals were made in the first place (not that you can't use them any way you want to). Nobels is a very versatile pedal that has a unique voice. By using it only as a boost R.J. is not showing how these pedals really sound.
@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender8 ай бұрын
I was thinking the same thing
@davidbakerscuba8 ай бұрын
A lot of pedals, especially a tube screamer sound horrible unless they are going into an amp that already has a little dirt on it. Most professional players are not playing directly into a clean amp. That usually sounds like crap.
@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender8 ай бұрын
@@davidbakerscuba thats where nobels shine, it doesnt have to be a dirty amp
@leehenderson81328 ай бұрын
The nibels odr 1 is a bass heavy turd.unless you have one of the first 1000 made .horrible sound trying to shove down our throats.