Noah's Ark pedals, from Japan anyone? OD-1 clone

[Kapo_Polenton]

So I picked one of these up shipped off ebay for a good price and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. After looking at what real OD-1's go for on ebay and not sure if it would really be that different from an SD-1, I decided to go the clone route. These Noah's Ark pedals are supposed to be "Japanese made" with " quality parts" so I didn't know what to expect. When I got it however, i was shocked at how good it sounds with my JCM800. This thing is definitely my new overdrive. It is better than my TS808 or SD-1 at what it does and actually feels like the best of both those pedals in one. It has the clear mid push of the TS808 but the added crunch of the SD-1 without getting too processed sounding. With a loud beefy 2204 circuit, this thing is a match made in heaven. I can see why guys like Jake E Lee used to use the OD-1 on his Marshalls to help tighten them up. If this thing is built to spec ( I imagine it is as close as possible minus the chip), then BOSS should get off their ass and reissue a basic OD-1 because it absolutely kills and does better than anything else I have tried. You get those pushed mids, crunch, and detail all in a two knobber. No need for additional tone controls, this pedal just does it right. For even more gain, I just kick on my first generation KOKO boost on the clean side and it sounds like butter. I often felt the KoKo was a little too thick on the clean side for some pedals but it works great to compensate for the mid push of the yellow overdrive/OD-1 circuit. As such, i have been singing and jamming on Badlands riffs all evening thanks to this combo. It does "that" sound so well.

https://reverb.com/ca/item/2814118-noah ... -overdrive - I got mine for I think 86$ Canadian shipped. There aren't many around but if you find one, I would say jump on it.

 

[harddriver]

That's a great price! Does it have the Quad Op amp chip design that the original OD-1 had? The only true OD-1 clone I found was made by Thunder Tomate called the Taxi Driver, it was made in Spain. It was by all accounts... exact to the OD-1 but with true bypass switching and such, I think I bought it around 2008. While it was cool in all I didn't feel it worked any better than my SD-1 clones or my Maxon OD808. I wasn't cheap either, I ended up selling I probably should have kept it but oh well.

I'll check out the Noah.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

That's a great price! Does it have the Quad Op amp chip design that the original OD-1 had? The only true OD-1 clone I found was made by Thunder Tomate called the Taxi Driver, it was made in Spain. It was by all accounts... exact to the OD-1 but with true bypass switching and such, I think I bought it around 2008. While it was cool in all I didn't feel it worked any better than my SD-1 clones or my Maxon OD808. I wasn't cheap either, I ended up selling I probably should have kept it but oh well.

I'll check out the Noah.

Not sure to be honest. As far as I know it is spec to spec a clone minus these super sought after chips. That said, it probably is using a chip that is supposed to be similar and for me, at high volumes those tiny nuances don't make that much difference. Hell, even just a regular SD-1 at volume with an 800 over 5 on the master is going to sit nicely in with the tone. But because you can't always crank the amp, this pedal does what I need. It will never be worth anything used but that's cool, it is here to stay.

 

[harddriver]

I really wanted to love it knowing it was just like an old OD-1 but it really chopped the all low end frequency response out of the signal. Even my Later Taiwan SD-1 retained some of the lowend. I eventually settled on a SD-1/OD808 clone and Maxon 808 which I really like with my splawn modded Marshall. I recently picked up a Airis Savage drive with the HIFI Burr Brown OP AMP chip which I like as well, it has alot of clarity which I like sometimes and sometimes I like the grit of the Maxon just depends.

I'm pretty set on what I like pedal wise... the Savage drive purchase just kinda snuck up on me.