The Maxon OD-F1 Fire Blade Overdrive Effector is an overdrive pedal whose circuit is based on the YATS design, which Maxon recycled for the Fire Blade. It sits in the same family of Tube Screamer-derived overdrives as the Maxon OD808 Overdrive and Maxon OD-91.
What it does
The Fire Blade takes the Tube Screamer formula and changes two things in the circuit: it uses asymmetric clippers, and it sets a slightly lower rolloff frequency for the high pass1. Those changes shape how the pedal clips the signal and how much low-end content passes through the overdrive stage, which is what separates it from a stock TS-style circuit.
The builder behind the Guitar FX Layouts technical analysis summed it up this way:
"Should be a decent alternative for the standard TS."
The circuit and the op-amp question
The pedal's original op-amp is thought to be a TA75558, based on the 558 suffix on the chip1. When the builder tested alternatives in the circuit, the choice of op-amp made a clear difference:
"Then I put in a TL082! That was best by far."
In that comparison, the TL082 came out ahead of the JRC4558, 5532 and 2134 op-amp choices1. For players who tinker, that is a data point on how sensitive this circuit is to the op-amp in the gain stage.
The OD-F1 is not part of Maxon's current 9 Series lineup. Players looking at modern Maxon overdrives in the same territory may want to compare it with the Maxon 9-Series Overdrive, the Maxon OD820 or the Maxon VOP-9 Vintage Overdrive Pro.
Videos
JakeBox
Sources (1)
- Guitar FX Layouts: Maxon OD-F1 Fire Blade Overdrive Effector, Guitar FX Layouts (tagboardeffects.blogspot.com), 2016-05-08
