Ibanez OD850 Reissue

The Ibanez OD850 is a pedal with an identity problem in its name: it is called an Overdrive, but it is a fuzz. Ibanez reissued it in 2016 as a faithful recreation of the original 1970s pedal, in the same style of enclosure, with 100% analog circuitry and true bypass switching added¹. Announced as a limited run, it brought a cult 1970s circuit back to pedalboards with the modern conveniences the originals never had²³.

The reason for the odd naming goes back to the original. Contrary to its name, the OD850 was best known for its fuzz tones, which recall the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff³. Gearnews put it plainly when the reissue arrived: the pedal "is actually more of a fuzz pedal than an overdrive"². For a player shopping in the overdrive lane, that is the first thing to know: this is a fuzz in overdrive clothing.

A fuzz in an overdrive's name

The circuit inside is the story. TONEHOME describes the OD-850 as "a thick, organic fuzz based on the Ram's Head Big Muff circuit," one that "delivers massive sustain, a wide tone sweep and it cleans up well"⁴. MusicRadar's review traces the lineage further: the original was "a re-badged Maxon clone of a 1973 'violet' era Ram's Head Big Muff made for Ibanez with a couple of tweaks"⁵. Kit Rae's history of Big Muff clones documents the Maxon D&S (Distortion & Sustainer) OD-801 as one of the early and most popular Japanese versions of the Big Muff circuit, circa 1974, also sold as the Ibanez Overdrive OD-850, both produced by the Nisshin Onpa company⁶⁷.

So while the panel says Overdrive, the design says Big Muff family. That matters for what to expect: big sustain and a saturated fuzz voice rather than a midrangey, amp-like grind⁴⁵³.

Does it sound like a Big Muff?

Yes, but not identically. Kit Rae notes the pedals "have a somewhat more refined Big Muff sound than other clones of the circuit, due to a modified tone circuit"⁶. MusicRadar's reviewer found the OD850 "had a slightly more useful tone stack and crunchier character that set it apart from its muffy cousins," which is part of what made it a collector's piece⁵. Gearnews likewise notes it is known for sounding a bit like the Big Muff².

The controls: Sustain, Tone and Balance

The reissue keeps the original simple three-knob layout². RockBoard's PedalPedia lists the controls as Sustain, Balance, and Tone¹, and MusicRadar explains what each does in practice: sustain functions as gain, tone shapes the frequency sweep, and balance functions as volume³.

The knob names shifted across the original's production run: the v1 pedal (1976 to 1978) carried Sustain, Tone and Balance, while the v2 (1978/79) and v4 (1979/80) narrow-box versions labeled the gain control Distortion instead⁴.

The original OD-850 and its versions

The original OD-850 went through several versions, and collectors track them closely. Kit Rae identifies three editions: the first from circa 1974 on the same PCB as Maxon OD-801 first editions, the second from circa 1978 known as the "Hummingbird" Overdrive due to the bird graphic on the side, and the third from circa 1979 to 1981, made with the same PCB as the OD-801 third edition including a FET electronic bypass system, buffer, and momentary switch⁶. All three versions are very collectible⁶.

TONEHOME breaks the narrow-box era down further, with v1 through v4 as narrow boxes and v5 through v7 as standard boxes⁸:

One quirk of the first batch: TONEHOME reports those pedals came in repainted green housings, presumably leftovers of the unbranded Maxon pedal called "The Dirt Box"⁹.

The reissue: what changed

The 2016 reissue put the circuit back in the original 1974-style enclosure⁶, but Ibanez updated the practical details. The reissue adds true bypass switching, an on/off LED and a DC power jack³, and runs off a regular 9V power supply². The originals lacked all of this: no true bypass, no standard 9V operation². Gearnews also noted the reissue is completely analog, with an LED to indicate when the fuzz is engaged².

What originals cost

Original OD-850s are collector items. When the reissue was announced in 2016, MusicRadar reported originals going for £300 to £500 online³, and Gearnews noted the same year that originals change hands for lots of money on auction sites and are still sought after². TONEHOME rates the collectibility of the standard-box versions as extremely high⁸. The reissue itself carried an RRP of €129 at announcement². For historical reference, the original's German list price in 1980 was 100 DM for the narrow-box version⁴ and 145 DM for the standard-box version⁸.

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