Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive Pedal

Seymour Duncan unveils the 805 Overdrive Pedal, featuring active 3-band EQ and wider gain range.

Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive Pedal

This pedal is based on the classic 808 Tubescreamer chip, but loaded with more gain and added tone shaping controls.

Seymour Duncan designed the 805 to have more sonic flexibility while maintaining the the organic and transparent sound of classic OD pedals. To achieve this, they expanded the gain range and split up the tone control into three small knobs that lets you adjust the lows, mids and highs.

For better control over the resulting tone, the 805 comes with active 3-band EQs. These allow for better fine tuning of the low end, mids and highs.

Aside from the new EQ, the company mentioned that they improved on the classic pedal’s note articulation. They also modified the voicing by adding more sparkle to the high frequencies, and tightening up the bottom end. What resulted is a pedal that they are proud to introduce as truly versatile. The official press release says, “It’s so versatile that you can use it for a smooth, lyrical bluesy overdrive one minute and a modern metal crunch the next…Whether you’re after ringing cleans, a subtle boost, fat crunch, or even screaming sustaining solo tones, it’s all in there.”

Here is the official video demo so you can hear the new Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive Pedal in action:

The video highlights the flexibility of the pedal, by starting with classic bluesy overdrive tones and moving towards crunchy metal. Although not as excessive as true high-gain distortion pedals, I have to admit that I am impressed by the gain possibilities of the 805.

Features:

  • Distortion Circuitry: Glass diode, back-to-back stack.
  • Bypass: True bypass
  • Gain Control Range: 8dB to 36dB.
  • EQ Center Frequencies:

    • Bass – 90 Hz +/- 11dB
    • Mid – 750 Hz +/- 11dB
    • Treble – 2.1 kHz +/- 12dB

  • EQ Center Frequencies:

    • Minimum gain, 20 to 20kHz – 112dBV
    • Minimum gain, 400 to 20kHz – 114dBV
    • Maximum gain, 20 to 20kHz – 97.5dBv
    • Maximum gain, 400 to 20kHz – 98 dBV

  • THD @10mVrms input @ 1 kHz with 12 dB of gain: 0.15%
  • Max Output before Saturation: 0.6Vrms
  • Input Impedance: 470k Ohms
  • Output Impedance: 1k Ohms
  • Power: 9V battery or external 9 to 18V Regulated DC Adapter (center negative)
  • Current consumption: 4.5mA
  • Dimensions: 2.61″ X 4.90″ X 1.45″
  • Weight: -90dBV at output, 400Hz to 20kHz

Like classic overdrive pedals, the 805 works great as a boost for the dirty channel of tube amps at lower gain settings. You can then utilize the active EQ controls to decide on the frequencies you wish to cut or emphasize. Plugging it straight to a clean amplifier also works well with the pedal’s versatile gain range. You can emulate the classic “scooped mid” tone of metal amps thanks to the active EQ knobs.

According to Seymour Duncan, “The 805 Overdrive can be used to give your sound a boost with full overtones or to provide harmonically rich heavy gain with warm tube character. It’s extensively developed and refined to be the perfect overdrive for pushing the front end of an already distorted amp, giving you plenty of output and tone-shaping capability whether you play hard rock, prog, metal, djent or whatever other heavy styles you’d like to throw at it.”

Finally, the 805 is housed inside a sturdy and compact chassis, assembled at the Seymour Duncan Factory in Santa Barbara, California. Like most modern pedal creations, this one has true-bypass switching.

The new 805 Overdrive Pedal is expected to retail for just under $140. You can visit Seymour Duncan for further details.

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