NPD: What Overdrive Did I Just Buy?

[MrShake]

I bought it for the graphic, 100%. Not because I love the Beatles, 'cause I'm a Stones man, myself. Just for the absurdity. The price was right.



I figured it would be a variant of the Mooer Blues Mood, because of the switch. The Blues Mood seems to be a modded BD-2.

I haven't played my Blues Driver in a bit, but this sounds and feels a little different. The "Fat" switch seems pretty subtle.

It's got the same "LEF-321" model number as the Rowin Bluesy and looks the same as the extra-mini Rowin Blues.

So WTF is this thing? A Blues Driver? A Blues Breaker? Something else?

Help, please?

[Dr Tony Balls]

A Blues Breaker?

That was my first guess. Post some pics of the component side of the PCB and it might be easy to figure out.

[MrShake]

A Blues Breaker?

That was my first guess. Post some pics of the component side of the PCB and it might be easy to figure out.

Sounds like a plan. I may pull it apart tonight when I get home from work.

It's not a Blues Driver. I A/B'd with my mid-'90s, never modded BD-2. The Bluesy had far less output, saturation, and general girth.

Not a bad pedal, by any means, but by my fuzz-addled standards, this would be a quintessential example of a "low-gain" overdrive pedal.

I'll see what's inside at the next opportunity and post some pics.

[efiug]

from what i can tell its the same pedal as a Rowin Bluesy, and the Donner Blues Drive. Which are apparently clones of the Mooer Green Mile which is a Tubescreamer clone.

[MrShake]

from what i can tell its the same pedal as a Rowin Bluesy, and the Donner Blues Drive. Which are apparently clones of the Mooer Green Mile which is a Tubescreamer clone.

Even before I got home, I was pretty certain you were correct. I dunno about the innards of a BluesBreaker, but a TL072 chip makes me think TS.

The switch seems to do nothing, maybe I'll reflow the solder around the switch connections on the board tomorrow, just to see. It's kinda thin, light on the saturation, and needs 1 o'clock on the volume dial to hit unity.

I would be curious to try this against any accurate Tube Screamer circuit, to see if it's any different, or if I just truly have to accept that I don't care for Tube Screamers all that much.

But, having said all that, it's still a dandy little overdrive if this kind of thing is your thing.

[OffYourFace]

not a TS... but maybe based on one? It has 1 germanium diode. weird.

[Dr Tony Balls]

not a TS... but maybe based on one? It has 1 germanium diode. weird.

What makes you say that? There is one through hole diode but no way of being certain that its germanium. Also its just connected to the LED so not a crucial sound component.

Blues Breakers also use TL072s, but for a copy the model of IC isnt much of a tell. What I see is two diodes (D3 and D4) to the left of the IC which looked to be wired in antiparallel and are very close to the IC, probably connected to it in some fashion. I also see that one end of the diode pair is connected to a resistor (R7) which then connects to pin 3 of the tone control. All that looks very similar to a tube screamer topology. I dont see any transistors to indicate the input and output buffers, but those arent strictly necessary.

[MrShake]

not a TS... but maybe based on one? It has 1 germanium diode. weird.

What makes you say that? There is one through hole diode but no way of being certain that its germanium. Also its just connected to the LED so not a crucial sound component.

Blues Breakers also use TL072s, but for a copy the model of IC isnt much of a tell. What I see is two diodes (D3 and D4) to the left of the IC which looked to be wired in antiparallel and are very close to the IC, probably connected to it in some fashion. I also see that one end of the diode pair is connected to a resistor (R7) which then connects to pin 3 of the tone control. All that looks very similar to a tube screamer topology. I dont see any transistors to indicate the input and output buffers, but those arent strictly necessary.

You folks are the best, thanks for taking a look and sharing your insight. Keep it coming.

I decided there was only one way for me to keep figuring this out - more pedals.

I ordered a Musiclily "Vintage Overdrive". Which I believe is a rebrand/reform of the Joyo. Which I've read is a perfectly "within acceptable margins" TS-style drive.

It was $17. I don't own any other TS pedals.

Will report back on comparison.

[ThePearDream]

I think it's supposed to be a Bluesbreaker. As you discovered, the pcb has the same model number as the Rowin Bluesy. From the digging I did, the Bluesy is a smaller version of the Rowin Blues, which claims to be a Bluesbreaker copy. Also, as an fyi, TL072 are super common chips in pedals. A Tubescreamer would likely have some kind of JRC4558 chip.

[sal paradise]

You owe it to yourself to pick up mini Tubescreamer. £40 second hand. You know sometimes you want to tighten up your distortion for some chugga chugga. Well, you need a TS808. Need.

[MrShake]

You owe it to yourself to pick up mini Tubescreamer. £40 second hand. You know sometimes you want to tighten up your distortion for some chugga chugga. Well, you need a TS808. Need.

Okay, I know it's a clone, but the Musiclily/Joyo variant really sounds pretty great. I don't like the way TS pedals hit my ear, generally, but even J can't deny that it really is doing lovely things to goose my mid-gain Rat. I may generally fall in the "no, thank you" camp for TS pedals, this one is gonna be a handy utility pedal for a number of things, so you were right, I do NEED to have one, just to give new life to other pedals I already have.

And, I'm tired. I was posting about this Bluesy situation on another, unnamed forum, and here's the results of my being able to check this pedal out deeper, sorry for quoting my own work.

Did some very scientific white-glove testing in a clean sound lab, all very clinical.

Okay, so a few thoughts. I got the Musiclily (Joyo) "Vintage Overdrive" TS clone. Side-by-side, the gain structure sounds really similar, but the green one is a lot denser, more compressed, and thicker, I guess. With maxed gain, unity volume, and tone at about 1 o'clock, they weren't dissimilar, but when i started backing the gain off, they diverged. The Bluesy had a lot less crunch, it was softer, less full-bodied. But, and I'm no Overdrive Guru, they sounded like they had a similar character.

I don't have a Bluesbreaker to compare, and don't really plan on getting one, so maybe it's close. Rowin/Vivlex really pushes that "Blues Breaking tone" in their ad copy, but the switch makes me think that it's just another variant of the Mooer/Donner Tube Screamer design.

The Mooer version (Blues Crab), the usual DNA granddaddy of the mini-clones, doesn't have a toggle switch, so I'd guess that if you see a switch, it's not a BB, but a TS or a BD-2.

Of course, the switch on mine doesn't have any audible effect, so maybe this unit's just f'd, but it sounds and operates, switch aside, like I'd expect an overdrive to work. It's functional.

The Bluesy almost felt like a "half-crunch" Tube Screamer, with a little more treble and bite and less texture and growl, so maybe they just stripped their other design down a bit, or maybe that's just how this pedal is.

I'm not a TS fan overall, I don't hate on 'em, but they don't generally work in my setup. The green Musiclily one sounds good, more like I'd expect a TS to sound, and pushes my Rat really nicely. I'm glad I have it, I won't be getting rid of it, and I'd happily drop another $17 on something like it if I had the need to for another board or something.

The Bluesy? It's... fine. But I'm probably gonna keep it in a drawer for the novelty and pull it out if I need to layer a different flavor or something.