Sky Blue Overdrive Review

Mad Professor Sky Blue Overdrive (SBOD) is a very unique four knob pedal designed to overdrive already distorted amplifiers as well as provide light overdrive or soft distortion on clean sounds.

Ease of Use:	8
Sound:	10
Reliability:	8
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.2
Reviewer rating:	9
Users rating:	9.4
Votes:	5

overall: 9

Reviewed by: backtothe70s, on september 01, 2008

Price paid: $ 200

Purchased from: used

Ease of Use: This pedal is a top of the line product and sounds good right from the start! It comes with a thin manual but where you find everything you need to know about the knobs and then some other stuff you never care for. The most notable control is the "Z" knob that lets you change the input impendence which means that you can set it to clean up more or less when you turn the volume control. // 8

Sound: I use this pedal with either a Fender stratocaster or a Schecter C1 Classic into my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It is very quiet no matter how much distortion I choose to use. This pedal always sounds good except for one thing that I'll mention later. It is in my ears mostly set in blues, rock distortion sound and has more gain to use then I at first thought possible. I'm not very good at giving reference to different artist that I think I can sound like but I can say that the sound is very smooth and warm. If I would have to say some artist it would probably be something like Robben Ford, Eric Johnson or David Gilmour. As I mentioned earlier the only thing I noticed a little is that if the Z knob is set all the way down, it during some circumstances kind of compress the sound and cuts out some higher frequencies. But I never use the Z knob all the way back so it's not a problem. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This like I said is a top of the line product and very well built. I haven't used it Live yet, only in bedroom but I would dare say that I trust it with my life! // 8

Impression: I play mostly blues, pop/rock and some Indie and also sometimes a little heavier stuff. I think this works excellent for pretty much everything except when you go into hard rock and metal since it's EQ isn’t really made for it in my opinion. I have been playing for about 4 years and think I have a good ear for tone. I can ask of nothing more of this pedal. I think it's well worth the money even if it is very expensive (275 new from custom sounds). I actually traded a Zendrive to get this one and I'm happy with the change since I think it goes amazingly well with Fender amps and it sound better and have more tonal options available. This is a sure keeper and I can think of nothing so for to replace it only to compensate so I can get a beefier tone for metal etc. So far thinking of the Mighty Red Distortion, another pedal from the "Mad professor". This is a quality and darn good sounding pedal! // 10

Comments

[Serjem]

looks like a good pedal... i might get one... as a replacement for my boss DS1... i'm not satisfied with it

[geluidsterroris]

$200..... Damn. But it seems to be worth it.

[whodoudo]

£275 you could have got a Pod 2 for less! with way more features!

[batiboy06]

whodoudo wrote:

£275 you could have got a Pod 2 for less! with way more features!

way more features that are less useful? buy this pedal instead if you need more ODs than non-useful effects.

[rv_phoenix]

whodoudo wrote:

£275 you could have got a Pod 2 for less! with way more features!

Way more features... but less quality. MP is arguably the 2nd best effects pedals brand on Earth. Only Pete Cornish beats it, but Pete only works for real rock heroes or the excentric millionaires (visit his site and check for the prices.)
In fact, Mad Professor is not a 'brand': it's a guy in Finland, a genius in electronics and a guitar player (although not a famous one), who hand-builts all his devices. That's why they are so good... and expensive.
Once again, a responsible and objective review of a fantastic product. Thank you, fellow, you made me think twice about this overdrive: I've borrowed it once from a friend of mine, I fell in love with it, but I wasn't decided, at that moment, to invest in equipment. Now I have to, so this MP overdrive tops my list.