BORN IN TEXAS
NEARLY TWO
decades ago, Black
Cat Pedals was
known
for its burly
overdrive and fuzz
pedals
until 2007, when
the company took
a
hiatus. Five years
later, a retooled
Black
Cat has clawed its
way back on the
scene
with revamped
versions of its
classic boxes
that sport metal
flake enclosures
housing
double-sided glass
epoxy PCB boards
and
true-bypass
switching.
OD-1
Small and simple,
the OD-1 ($150
retail/
street price N/A)
is a remake of
Black
Cat’s
flagship
“Freddy Fuzz,” which is
named
after Black Cat
founder Fred Bonte.
With
a bounty of
delicious output, the
OD-1’s
life-mission is to
force feed the
front end of
a tube amplifier
with juicy, dynamic
vittles.
It
doesn’t take long for the OD-1 to
deliver
molten distortion,
either. By the
time the
Drive control is
halfway up, you’re
laying
it on pretty thick.
The pedal is
wonderfully
voiced, kicking ass
with either
humbuckers or
single-coils, and I never missed the lack of
a tone control.
Although you can’t
turn the
OD-1’s
Drive off and crank the
Volume for
a clean boost, you
can inch the
Drive barely
up and use the
Volume control for a
“clean-
ish”
boost that injects a
wonderfully dynamic,
thick n’
throaty infusion of tough
midrange
and sparklingly
detailed highs. Back
off your
guitar’s
volume or lighten your pick
attack,
and you enter a
tactile wonderland
of ultra
dynamics.
KUDOS Mild
to searing
old-school grind
with
a boatload of
dynamic
response.
CONCERNS
None.
OD-Fuzz
Channeling
Ronco’s Ron Popeil is
easy when
you have two pedals
in one, and the
OD-Fuzz
($210 retail/street
price N/A) does
just that,
offering up the
Black Cat OD-1 and a
separate
fuzz pedal based on
the classic Fuzz
Face cir-
cuit. Even better,
you can use the
overdrive and
fuzz sides together
for a cornucopia
of grinding
delights. The
overdrive side boasts
sick output
with an abundance
of dynamic
distortion. The
fuzz side is
snarling, and it gets
pretty wild
pretty quickly with
tones that are
equal parts
savage and stoney.
Tonal options
abound when
the fuzz is used in
conjunction with
the over-
drive, as each
side’s Volume and
Drive/Fuzz con-
trols are in play.
For example, I
could have the
overdrive on all
the time and just
use the fuzz
to add some hair
and punch to my
lead tones,
or I might preset
the fuzz side for
maximum
buzz and use the
overdrive side of
the pedal to
boost my fuzz
level. Hip, too, is
that the over-
drive and fuzz
remain sensitive to
your playing
attack and guitar
volume setting no
matter how
severe the pedal
settings. Well
done!
KUDOS Two
great grinders
that can work
together or
separately.
CONCERNS
None.
CONTACT Black Cat
Pedals;
blackcatpedals.com