Controls
- Drive
- Cut
- Volume
Specifications
- Designed for a 125B enclosure with top-mounted jacks
Documentation
The company, product and service names used in this web site are for identification purposes only. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This product is not manufactured or distributed by 1981 Inventions, maker of the 1981 Inventions DRV.
PedalPCB is not affiliated with 1981 Inventions.
| Weight | 0.325 oz |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 2.25 × 1.95 × 0.5 in |
6 reviews for Informant Overdrive
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Colton.wheeler (verified owner) –
Yes, Yes, and more Yes! I’d never pay the exorbitant prices the commands, so this project is both timely and welcome.
I definitely understand the “hype”, and I won’t soon be parting with this build. It truly is a Rat for people who don’t like Rats.
Jason Sisk (verified owner) –
Wow – this just
might be my favorite overdrive / distortion of all time!! I built mine with a 100K B pot for the Cut and the “low end” mod suggested from the forum. Just an amazing pedal that goes from a light overdrive to a good medium-high gain distortion that is very articulate, tight and amp-like. Saturated yet not fizzy. This pedal has a lot of range and I can understand why the brand name version fetches the prices or does. This is just a flat-out wonderful design that I think will always be a mainstay on my pedalboard.
Brett Reeves (verified owner) –
This pedal sounds great! Simple build with a nice complex grind. Easy to dial in the lower gain range.
christopher_s_morgan (verified owner) –
Nice easy build and very rewarding to play. I don’t build a lot of hard clip pedals because I prefer the reactive feel of a soft clip overdrive but this thing is awesome! Plenty of gain to keep most folks happy and it really does dial back well. I built mine in buffered bypass and the buffer is quite nice. If your looking for that smooth defined lead tone without ear splitting highs this will get you there. The dialed back tone is very familiar and pleasant to play rhythm with as well. I think it lives up to it’s hype and pretty accurately captures the sound of its name brand likeness.
jpier2012 (verified owner) –
Disclaimer: I have never played the original pedal this is based on, the 1981 Inventions DRV, nor have I played an OG RAT.
However, I have built a lot of drive pedals, most of which I thought were ok, but not what I’m looking for.
When I first plugged this in, I was kind of disappointed – it sounded like a pretty typical hard-clip distortion pedal. You could hear the sharpness of the silicon clipping pretty clearly. I wasn’t impressed, and tossed it in the “sell” pile.
Then, I decided on a whim to mess around with some op amps I forgot I had. After some tinkering, I settled on a TL062 for IC2, and an OPA2134 for IC1.
This thing is AWESOME now. The lower slew rate of the TL062 takes a lot of the sharpness off and makes it much smoother, while the even HIGHER slew rate of the OPA2134 keeps everything defined. IMO this helps it sound a lot more natural and useable throughout the entire gain range, though I do agree with other reviews that this sounds best at lower gain settings.
I did not add a depth or bass control, though I don’t feel either are necessary.
rojaslaz (verified owner) –
my first PCB built and I was able to do it on first try with no issues, so thats a big vote of confidence for this PCB! The pedal has a great sound once you find the sweet spot, the problem is that it takes a lot more tweaking than it should be to do so. Cut is a very strange pot with only about 20% usable tones before it gets extremely boomy and worthless. Drive really needs to be dialed in with CUT because it may add even more boominess. In general, I like the sweetspot but it’s kind of a one trick pony pedal, I also didnt love how the neck pup on my tele played with it. Worth the build nonetheless!