NMPD

[alantig]

Lucy, you got some splainin’ to do. Please describe e this “color the tone”

Also, transparency doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not a device changes the EQ. A device that is transparent can have bass and treble (or mids, or even more) controls that manipulate frequency levels, but are still transparent. While lots of “audio words’ can be tricky to describe, transparency should be just what it says. A clear window to the tone presented to it.

I have mentioned before, that I believe most digital devices lack at least some degree of transparency. I’ve owned at least 20 amps in the last 10 years, and even the affordable ones had more transparency than any digital modeler I’ve tried or heard. Simple things like switching pickup positions make much more definite differences in tone when playing through an amp (even when using pedals) than through a modeler. There is a homogenization of the tone that is clear, IMO when using every digital device I’ve tried. The differences between different guitars, or guitars with similar but different pickups, etc., are all more clear on an amp and an amp and pedals.

Anyway, tell me about the pedal already!

That's one of the vagaries of the language, I guess. Maybe the TGP thread got too much in my head, but when I see 'transparent', my thought is that the sound that goes in should be the sound that comes out. Obviously, based on the pedal, the sound should be affected, but when I see that term, my mind goes to "sounds the same". So for this pedal, with flat EQ and unity gain, I sort of thought that the sound should be the same, similar to how the compressor acts at the right settings. I didn't spend a lot of time on that function, and again, it may be that the term gave me a different impression than the builder's intent.

That said, if it was truly transparent, it would be more of a boost than an OD, wouldn't it? And I didn't mean to give the impression that the coloration was a negative - it's not - just that it's not what I expected based on the name. But that may be my misinterpretation.

End result is I still bought it and I'll be working it into my setup soon.

 

[shinksma]

Regarding "transparent" and Boost vs Overdrive:

If you took a snapshot of the waveform / freq response at the input, and compared it to the output, before it got to an amp, you might find the output is indeed identical to the input except in signal level (no clipping or other induced distortions) - in which case it is truly "transparent". It is the increased signal level that is causing the amp to overdrive via tube distortion.

OTOH, some folks [who?] seem to consider "transparent" to mean it has about the same overall tonal characteristics, but with whatever effect is added (in this case, "signal distortion through overdriven signal"). So it if sounds "flat" (but clean) on the input, and "flat" but dirty on the output, that might be "transparent - i.e. it didn't color the tone - no added/cut bass, treble, or mids.

A non-OD/distortion example might help: if you use a tremolo effect pedal, but it also seems to darken the tone, that is not a "transparent" effect, because it has "colored" the tone. If it simply applied the tremolo waveform to the signal, and didn't seem to darken (or brighten) the tone, then it is "transparent".

 

[Buildermike]

Great story and review of the pedals Allen. Enjoy the two you purchased. I see a future NGD in your future......next month