Stampede SOV-2 | Review

The time has finally come for fans of the Stampede SOV-1 overdrive pedal. A smaller, more compact & richer sounding SOV overdrive pedal has hit the market: the Providence Stampede-OD (SOV-2).

Under Review

• Brand: Providence
• Product Name: Stampede-OD
• Product ID: (SOV-2)
• Additional Notes: This is a pre-release "Free the Tone" version from Providence, which has some more expensive parts (these details are not fully known). The cost is $360+, and a normal SOV-2 will be around $300.
• Availability: The SOV-2 is available only at http://www.providence.jp/, and unfortunately will not be sold by dealers within the US. However, interested US buyers can contact Mr. Hiro Sase of Global Interlink Systems, who is handling Providence products in the U.S.A.

When Yuki (short for Yukihiro Hayashi), builder of the Stampede overdrive pedals, first emailed me to review the new SOV-2 for him.... well, I was ecstatic! Many know that I'm a very big fan of the original Stampede SOV-1 overdrive pedal due to its warm, complex, mildly compressed overdrive tones

However, the pedal takes up a lot of real estate on one's pedal board, and I always thought the tone needed just a bit more midrange to cut through the mix in a live band setting. I would overcompensate on the high end by flipping on the Treble Boost & putting the Tone knob up 75% to about the 3:00 position. I still had a "girthy" tone that cut through better, but there was a slight edge that I had to deal with in order to tonally pierce through the mix, as I like to say.

After weeks & weeks of anticipation, waiting for Yuki to finish up my pre-release SOV-2, I was delighted to first notice that the pedal is now smaller -- about the size of a Keeley Compressor. This is great, because now I can fit one more pedal on my board. The second thing that I noticed was that the footswitch has a protector.

According to Yuki, this protector works very well to protect the switch from being kicked & over-abused. And this protector also makes it look different from other pedals, which makes it further stand out on your board. We guitarists like attention, right?

When I plugged it into my Fargen Blackbird, a truly fabulous amp that takes pedals extremely well, I was thrilled to immediately notice the SOV-2's extra bit of midrange character on top of continuing it's trait of being low-noise. As you can see, there is no Treble Boost circuit. One isn't needed. The tone has a more open, transparent sound than the original SOV-1, yet has more compression than say a similar quality overdrive pedal by the name of the Eternity Overdrive, made by Lovepedal.

From my past experience, the Eternity is the way to go for a bit stiffer, non-compressed overdrive tone. It sounds killer for that. The SOV-2 is the pedal for guys (and gals) that like a bit more of a compressed overdrive tone, yet still sonically open, tight and as close to transparent as you can get while still effecting your signal with overdrive. My guitar still sounds like my guitar, but ready to rock with the SOV-1!

The SOV-2 Overdrive also has completely re-designed power supply circuit. The power supply circuit of the original SOV-1 was apparently similar to CD Mastering equipment. And the signal circuit runs at +/- 15volts. Yuki used a DC-DC converter instead for the SOV-2, and redesigned the circuit layout. Each part is connected via the shortest wire length possible, and it was designed carefully to prevent unnecessary crosstalk noise.

Now, the SOV-2 takes a traditional 9V adapter, so a pedal-powering device such as the Vodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, or a 9V battery can easily power the pedal. The SOV-2 power current is about 90mA/DC9V (close to a Digital Delay pedal), and Yuki recommends using an AC adopter to power it.

It has an enormous amount of volume (Level) to offer, which enables you to turn the Drive all the way down and use the Level knob to control how much of a clean boosted signal that you send to your amp. The Tone knob then provides you with the ability to make the clean boost dark, bright, or very close to you original tone (transparency). This versatility makes the SOV-1 that much more useful in the studio.

Many guys look for overdrive pedals to clean up when they roll their Guitar volume down. I'm not one of those guys. I keep the tone knobs on my Gibson ES-446 (with Harmonic Design Z90's) fully cranked to get the biggest, fullest, snappiest tone out of my guitar. When I roll my volume down, the pedal cleans up, but there is still grit. It's hard for me to tell how useful this tone will be to others, because I don't use this tactic. I would have to say that for a clean tone, I prefer just a clean boost last in line at the end of my pedal to spank the input of my amp. Nothing beats that in my book. It's my foundation for slamming clean tone.

As with anything tone-related, your experiences may be different than mine because you have a different guitar and a different amp. I use Fender-ish clean tones as a base for my tone. According to Yuki, who realizes many people use his SOV-1 with a Fender type amp, many professional guitarists in Japan are using the SOV-1 with a Marshall amp as well. He claims that the SOV-1 and SOV-2 are not limited in sound matching with an amp. I wouldn't know, as I only use Fender type amps, but it sounds like this pedal is worth a try for you Marshall gear heads as well.... if you even need a pedal to produce overdrive (that's why you have a Marshall, right?).

My experience with the SOV-2 is stellar. This pedal now has a permanent spot on my boutique pedal board. I love it and it is absolutely worth checking out.