Maxon OD808-40P

The Maxon OD808-40P is a limited-edition overdrive pedal built by Maxon for the 40th anniversary of the OD808, the circuit Susumu Tamura designed and Maxon released in 1979¹². For this edition, Maxon collaborated with David Koltai, president of Pigtronix, whose "Germanium Fat Mod" reworks the OD808's clipping stage². Production was limited to 400 individually numbered units, each with its own signed certificate of authenticity, and the pedal is now discontinued².

What it does

The OD808-40P takes the stock OD808 overdrive circuit and applies Pigtronix's Germanium Fat Mod. According to Maxon, the mod is built on "a unique configuration of clipping diodes, increased gain, and a slightly improved low-end curve"². For a player, that means more gain on tap than a stock OD808 and a firmer low end, the two areas where the original 808-style circuit is most often modified.

The base OD808 circuit itself is notable among overdrives. Where most overdrive pedals place their clipping diodes to ground after the amplifier stage, the OD808 uses a signal-distorting diode (a Panasonic #MA150) located in the amplifier stage's negative feedback loop, a design Maxon developed as an industry first at the time and which is commonplace today⁴. The Germanium Fat Mod changes how that clipping stage behaves, which is where the pedal's character differs from a stock Maxon OD808 Overdrive.

Koltai's own description of the result, as quoted on Maxon's product page:

History: the Pigtronix collaboration with Maxon

The collaboration paired Maxon's circuit with Koltai's mod. Delicious Audio described the project the same way Maxon did: a collaboration with David Koltai, president of Pigtronix, to produce the limited edition Pigtronix-modded OD808, with the Germanium Fat Mod as its defining feature⁵. The OD808 itself dates to 1979, designed by Japanese electronics engineer Susumu Tamura, and its clipping-in-the-feedback-loop topology was traced and documented by DIY circuit analysts as an accurate representation of the original design⁴¹.

The signed first 40, and the 40K and 40C editions

The 400-unit run was split into two versions. Units numbered 41 through 400 were the standard edition. Units 1 through 40 were hand-signed by Koltai and, per Maxon's product page, "feature special some additional, extremely rare specs!"² Guitar World reported that the first 40 units of each anniversary pedal would be hand-signed by the relevant builder and include additional aesthetic or circuit tweaks, priced at $400 each³.

The OD808-40P shared its limited production approach with two sibling editions:

• The Maxon OD808-40K, modified by Keeley. Premier Guitar reported that production was limited to 400 pieces, each serial numbered with a certificate of authenticity⁶. MusicPlayers.com noted that the first 40 units featured a mini-toggle to switch between the stock OD808 sound and the Max Gain mod⁷, and gearnews.com described a small switch activating the Max-Gain Mod⁸. It is now discontinued⁹.
• The Maxon OD808-40C, modified by Catalinbread. As with the 40K, it was limited to 400 individually numbered units with signed certificates of authenticity²¹⁰. Its first 40 units were hand-signed by Nicholas Kula and carried additional component substitutions, including different Drive and Tone pot values, an OPA2134 op-amp, and Catalinbread knobs¹¹. It is also discontinued¹⁰.

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