Korg Nu:Tekt OD-S

The Korg Nu:Tekt OD-S is an overdrive pedal you build yourself. Announced by Korg at NAMM in January 2020 and released that year, it is a semi-assembled kit: the parts snap and screw together with no soldering, and the tools you need come in the box¹. The circuit is built around Korg's Nutube 6P1, an analog triode vacuum tube, which the company says gives the pedal a "warm sound and rich harmonic response"¹.

For a player, the appeal is twofold. You get a tube-based overdrive voiced, in MusicRadar's words, "towards the clear, defined crunch brand of overdrive"², and you get the experience of putting the pedal together yourself, something Delicious Audio called ideal for teaching kids how to build a simple circuit, though less challenging for advanced DIY hobbyists³.

A Nutube overdrive you build yourself

The OD-S sits in Korg's Nu:Tekt range, a line of semi-assembled kits that don't require soldering and come with all the necessary tools for assembly⁴. The range already contained an easy-to-build synth, the NTS-1, before the OD-S Overdrive kit arrived⁷. The OD-S was the first pedal in the range, landing in 2020⁵, and Korg later followed it with the TR-S Power Tube Reactor and HD-S Harmonic Distortion kits⁵⁸.

The Nutube itself is the interesting part. The OD-S's circuit uses Korg's Nutube 6P1 analog triode vacuum tube¹. The Nu:Tekt range already included an easy-to-build synth, the NTS-1, before the OD-S Overdrive kit arrived as its first pedal⁷.

Korg's own product page for the OD-S BK notes that the Nutube can run on battery power, letting players enjoy what the company describes as realistic vacuum tube sound⁹¹⁰.

The controls

The front panel carries four knobs and a footswitch, plus a mode switch⁴²:

The two gain knobs do different jobs: the first controls the gain of the 6P1 Nutube while the other adjusts the input volume⁴. MusicRadar also noted that you can choose between two different overdrive types, selectable on the pedal⁷, and the review described the footswitch as sturdy².

Building the kit: about 45 minutes, no soldering

Assembly is the point of the Nu:Tekt line. MusicRadar's review put it plainly³¹¹¹²:

The kit is semi-assembled rather than a bag of loose parts: the components go together without solder, and the necessary tools are included¹²¹¹. For a beginner or a parent building with a kid, that makes it a gentle introduction to what is inside a pedal. Delicious Audio's take was that it is ideal for teaching kids how to build a simple circuit, although more advanced DIY hobbyists might find it less of a challenge³.

Power comes from a 9V alkaline battery or a 9V DC wall adapter⁴, so the pedal fits a standard pedalboard supply. The bypass is true bypass², so the pedal stays out of the signal path when it is off.

Where it came from

Korg announced the OD-S at NAMM 2020 in January of that year¹, through its Nu:Tekt sub-brand⁴. Pricing and availability were still to be confirmed at the announcement⁴; by January 2023, Guitar World reported the OD-S "currently weighs in at $299"⁶. At the time of MusicRadar's review in May 2020, the UK price was around £219⁷.

The pedal's lineage runs through Korg's Nutube technology, which the company unveiled in 2015. Ibanez brought the first pedal-based use of Nutube technology with the Nu Tube Screamer at NAMM 2018, and Vox, a Korg-owned brand, unveiled its Nu-Tube ValvEnergy gain pedal series at NAMM 2020, the same show where the OD-S appeared.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar reviewed the OD-S kit in May 2020 and summed up the sound as a "Nice amp-like overdrive"². Guitar World later noted that it had awarded the pedal four stars when it gave it a go, calling it an impressive set of tube-like overdrive tones⁶.

The same Guitar World coverage described the OD-S as "a neat Nutube-driven overdrive pedal that could be assembled entirely by hand, but with no soldering required"⁶. Later Nu:Tekt pedals drew similar interest: Guitar World's review of the TR-S and HD-S concluded that "Korg has cleverly gone beyond the traditional dirt pedal paradigm with these Nu:Tekt offerings, delivering alternative options that are both innovative and practical"¹³.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

News

Questions