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NPD (sort of): J. Rockett Touch OD


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I've had this one for a little while now, just wanted to give it a good workout before I reviewed it.

 

I wanted an OD for my Ambient pedalboard, something simple, compact, and affordable, but not cheap. The used Touch was $75 at my nearest GC, and I'd just gotten rid of a Compressor I wasn't using, so . . .

 

First off, the obvious: I might have thought twice before marketing a pedal with a naked, tattooed woman* walking in the rain as the artwork, especially if I were going to name it "Touch." Maybe I'm overthinking it, but anyhow. Mine is the original Surf Green color, there's also one in black, with the artwork in gold.

 

It's definitely compact; it looks to be the same size as the Wampler Tumnus. It's also substantial; heavy in your hand, and solidly built. The I/O jacks are on the top of the pedal, the AC In is on the left-hand side, and there is no room for a battery. You get three basic controls, Vol, Gain & Tone. A number of online reviewers seemed to think that the Gain control says "Grain"?!?!?

 

Getting right to it, this is an OD that really wants to be a Distortion pedal. There is nothing "transparent" about it, at any knob setting. That can be good or bad, depending on what you want, or expect.

 

The Tone control is extremely BRIGHT; some reviewers have even compared the Touch to a Treble Booster. IDK if I'd go that far, but it's not at all subtle. Even with the Vol and Gain knobs dialed back, the Touch has an instant, and very noticeable effect on my Guitar's tone. Set at around 9 o'clock, it adds some needed clarity to the slightly smoky neck PU in my Epi DOT, but paired with my SG Specials, it added more cut to my tone than I really needed. I could see where it might be shrill with SC's, but as always, YEMV.

 

There is a LOT of Gain on tap with the Gain knob, more than you may want or expect from an OD pedal. Somewhere around 10 o'clock, I get a nice OD tone, although it doesn't take much to push it. Between 11 and Noon, I'm getting into Distortion tone, and past Noon, I can hit a note and lean on it while it sustains. The Touch is touch-sensitive, but it heads up into Distortion territory with so little effort that there isn't much wiggle room between my lightest touch and my most heavy-handed attack. I'm very used to controlling dynamics and volume with my pick attack, and the Touch really seems to go from Zero to 60 with only a little pressure on the gas, so to speak. It would be very interesting to match it with some of the Low-Gain Ceramic PU's Les Paul preferred for his Recording models.

 

There's a Jekyll-&-Hyde or even a Wolf In Sheep's Clothing aspect to the Touch. It passes itself off as an OD, but like I said, it really wants to be a Distortion pedal. Oddly enough, it might be perfect for a Metal rig, driving a High-Gain Amp. The bright tone might also be a serious deal-breaker for some players. Anyone thinking that this is a budget version of the Ikon Archer, or a transparent OD like the Tumnus, should probably back away slowly. OTOH, if you need some added Treble, and a pedal that you can easily crank from OD into Distortion, try it before you buy it is my best advice.

 

The Touch adds some sharpness and clarity to the DOT's PU's, and more than enough Drive for my taste. I'd researched it before I bought it, and chose it specifically for my Ambient rig, so I'm very happy with what it does. The extra Gain is even a bonus; I love hitting a note and just letting it sing.

 

*She's either tattooed or she's a throwback to late-1960's body painting.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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Getting right to it, this is an OD that really wants to be a Distortion pedal. There is nothing "transparent" about it, at any knob setting. That can be good or bad, depending on what you want, or expect.

 

The Tone control is extremely BRIGHT; some reviewers have even compared the Touch to a Treble Booster. IDK if I'd go that far, but it's not at all subtle. Even with the Vol and Gain knobs dialed back, the Touch has an instant, and very noticeable effect on my Guitar's tone. Set at around 9 o'clock, it adds some needed clarity to the slightly smoky neck PU in my Epi DOT, but paired with my SG Specials, it added more cut to my tone than I really needed. I could see where it might be shrill with SC's, but as always, YEMV.

 

There is a LOT of Gain on tap with the Gain knob, more than you may want or expect from an OD pedal. Somewhere around 10 o'clock, I get a nice OD tone, although it doesn't take much to push it. Between 11 and Noon, I'm getting into Distortion tone, and past Noon, I can hit a note and lean on it while it sustains. The Touch is touch-sensitive, but it heads up into Distortion territory with so little effort that there isn't much wiggle room between my lightest touch and my most heavy-handed attack. I'm very used to controlling dynamics and volume with my pick attack, and the Touch really seems to go from Zero to 60 with only a little pressure on the gas, so to speak. ...if you need some added Treble, and a pedal that you can easily crank from OD into Distortion, try it before you buy it is my best advice.

 

Sounds, in some ways, a little or a lot like my Keeley 'Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod' Overdrive (initially based on a modified Boss Blues Driver circuit, then further modified a LOT more); "It"s a fuzz, it"s a drive, and it"s a cranked amp all in one!" It's fuzzier, edgier, gainier and more distorted than I thought it would be, but I like it, and even sometimes stack a boost and/or TS style OD in front of it for big fat "MORE!" Let me know how right or wrong I might be in this comparison, Brer Winston...

 

For some reason, I would have expected the Touch OD to be a little bit 'Dumble in a box' oriented.

 

I'm thinkin', given your description, that the Touch might be a good candidate to place after my VFE BumbleBee 'volume-swell' pedal, for overdrive that ramps up from clean-ish to mean-ish overdrive and distortion character along with a quick touch-controlled volume-swell... ?

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Depending on the guitar/pickups, one simple way to ramp down the gain a bit is to lower the pickups.

 

That increases the sustain as well since it smooths out the transients.

 

Y'all probably know that trick, just making sure. I used a RAT a long time ago, gain monster for certain.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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@Caevan - You really have to hear it with the Guitar you have in mind, it changes your tone that much. It's not nearly as responsive as the Blues Driver, IME. Beyond rethinking the name, or the artwork, I might have marketed it as a Distortion pedal, rather than an OD. FWIW, the PU's on my Epi DOT are slightly smoky, not especially articulate, so the Touch works there, but even so, I have the Tone knob at 9 o'clock, while 7 o'clock is pretty much the Zero setting. I did not particularly like the sound of the Touch with my SG's. With you P90-equipped Guitars, IDK?

 

@Kuru Prionz - I haven't heard a RAT pedal, of any vintage, for some time now, so I can't make a comparison in my head from memory. It's possible that the Touch is closer to the RAT, in terms of Gain structure, if not circuitry. I would say that even with lowered PU's. the Touch will still crank out Gain.

 

I really wish some other Forum members had this thing, or had a chance to try one; I'd love to hear other impressions of it from people I know.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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@Caevan - You really have to hear it with the Guitar you have in mind, it changes your tone that much. It's not nearly as responsive as the Blues Driver, IME. Beyond rethinking the name, or the artwork, I might have marketed it as a Distortion pedal, rather than an OD. FWIW, the PU's on my Epi DOT are slightly smoky, not especially articulate, so the Touch works there, but even so, I have the Tone knob at 9 o'clock, while 7 o'clock is pretty much the Zero setting. I did not particularly like the sound of the Touch with my SG's. With you P90-equipped Guitars, IDK?

 

@Kuru Prionz - I haven't heard a RAT pedal, of any vintage, for some time now, so I can't make a comparison in my head from memory. It's possible that the Touch is closer to the RAT, in terms of Gain structure, if not circuitry. I would say that even with lowered PU's. the Touch will still crank out Gain.

 

I really wish some other Forum members had this thing, or had a chance to try one; I'd love to hear other impressions of it from people I know.

 

All of my current pedals (6 of them) are Tech 21 except for the TC Electronics Flashback X4. My Tech 21 Killer Wail Wah pedal needs to be repaired or replaced. It was a great wah when it worked.

So I am unlikely to be much use as a reference most of the time. I've pretty much switched to amps with built in effects for live work. Something's lost and something's gained, I find it easier and patience rewards with excellent tones. The less I have on the floor the happier I am.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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WP, Since you got rid of your compressor, I won't make the following comment LoL! Back in my pedal days I discovered putting my old MXR Comp pedal in front of a Boss Distortion or Boss Blues Driver sent them into sustaining Nirvana...Worked very well with 3 different Strats with 3 different pickup configurations. I quit using pedals and became a straight in kinda guy so this concept is from memory. Hope someone out there chimes in that owns the same pedal as the one you have. Good luck and have fun with it! :cool:
Take care, Larryz
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@Larryz - No worries, brother, I've long been aware of the Comp./OD combo for Sustain, it just never called to me as a sound. Almost every local Blues-Rock player I know uses some variation on the theme, but then, many of them are also using Guitars with SC's, like your Strats.

 

Here's a demo that gets pretty close to my own experience with the Touch. You'll see that the initial settings on the controls are around 9 o'clock, and when he starts cranking them up . . . As soon as he engages the Touch, the tone gets even brighter, and right around 25 seconds in, he turns the Gain knob up, just a little, and WHAM. Admittedly, he's using a pretty bright tone to start with. Give a listen, tell me what your ears tell you.

 

[video:youtube]

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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All the gain I'd want happened between about 7 & 8 o'clock. But how valid is it that he was using a looper between the guitars & the pedal? That'll present a pretty different impedance load than just driving the pedal with pickups.

 

Good point. Still, the sound in the video pretty well represents my experience with the Touch. He barely turns the Gain knob, and we're well into Distortion territory. Even when he dimes everything out, he only leaves it there for few seconds, before dialing back to 9 or 10 o'clock

 

This isn't the first demo video I've seen using that technique (looper into pedal), but I've also seen pedalboards with a looper in the first position, so maybe that's becoming a trend?

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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WP, I liked the last setting with the Gibson humbuckers volume up clean at 5 o'clock, Gain up at 12 o'clock, Tone down at 7 o'clock. On the Fender with singles all 3 at 9 o'clock (which he kept coming back to) sounded good. I would like to have seen him with these two settings kicking the pedal on and off from his stock guitar settings. The pedal stayed quiet without any rushing noise at all settings which is very good for a gain/dist/OD type of pedal. I have used a dry signal from my looper to adjust pedals, amps and PA vocal and inst. channel settings. I wouldn't travel with it on a pedal board as it takes up too much space. Running a loop works great for standing back and hearing what the audience hears coming out of your speakers. As Scott pointed out, there would be a difference (live) if the looper was out of the line up. Guitar tone and volume controls can also make a difference as well, so a little info on the guitar(s) settings would have been interesting...
Take care, Larryz
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Caevan - You really have to hear it with the Guitar you have in mind, it changes your tone that much. It's not nearly as responsive as the Blues Driver, IME. FWIW, the PU's on my Epi DOT are slightly smoky, not especially articulate, so the Touch works there, but even so, I have the Tone knob at 9 o'clock, while 7 o'clock is pretty much the Zero setting. I did not particularly like the sound of the Touch with my SG's.

 

I really wish some other Forum members had this thing, or had a chance to try one; I'd love to hear other impressions of it from people I know.

 

When I can, I do indeed think that I'd like to buy and try one; worst case scenario, if I don't care for it or if it's essentially redundant amongst my other pedals, I should be able to sell it and make some or even all of my expenditure back. (I have almost never sold any gear that I've bought! I am picky, and buy things to have and USE them! :laugh: )

 

 

There seem to be some similarities- and differences- between your J Rockett Touch Overdrive/distortion, and my Keeley 'Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod'. The RSGPM is essentially a modified Blues Driver circuit (Robert Keeley was originally offering modification services for Boss Blues Driver pedals; that grew into the Keeley Super Phat Mod, and that into the Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod- and there was yet another, also germanium-bearing version in-between those :crazy: ). It's also a pretty bright and gritty, rather gainy overdrive, even a bit fuzzy, as if a germanium fuzz pedal was stacked in front of a modified Blues Driver. There's a Phat Switch that dramatically increases lows and low-mids, while that overall brightness remains-, essentially an always-on switch for myself and many other users of the Keeley Phat Mod trio- otherwise, get a Blues Driver! :laugh:

 

So, I usually have its Tone and NITRO (Drive/gain) controls set lower than I typically would on most other Overdrive and Distortion stomps.

 

It never really quite 'cleans-up' when the guitar's volume-knob is rolled back, though it does a little, and adjusting my picking-hand "touch" along with that knob roll-back helps there. This is while using particularly hot, ceramic-magnet humbuckers in a Les Paul, mind you...

 

I strongly suspect that it will work well with my Telecaster's pickups, when I can continue with that. It sounds like your Touch pedal lets the character of a given guitar come through, at least to some degree... ?

 

I am expecting the J Rockett Touch to be a little more 'dynamically responsive' yet than my RSGPM; and I am very hopeful that it might prove to be an excellent pairing with my beloved VFE BumbleBee "volume-swell" pedal, going 'Guitar > BumbleBee > Touch'.

 

The Touch Overdrive might also be a good candidate for following my Uni-Vibe stylee without getting too throbby, flubby, blubbery, muddy; and also good to stack fuzzes into...

 

Something tells me, Winston, that you won't be needing to stack a vintage-style Treble Booster into your Touch Overdrive... ! :laugh::crazy::D

 

With your P90-equipped Guitars, IDK?

 

If you mean my having any P-90 equipped axes, I- unfortunately- do not currently have any. In the future, though, for sure- and the sooner, the better!! :D:rawk:

 

Here's a demo that gets pretty close to my own experience with the Touch. You'll see that the initial settings on the controls are around 9 o'clock, and when he starts cranking them up . . . As soon as he engages the Touch, the tone gets even brighter, and right around 25 seconds in, he turns the Gain knob up, just a little, and WHAM. Admittedly, he's using a pretty bright tone to start with. Give a listen, tell me what your ears tell you.

 

He barely turns the Gain knob, and we're well into Distortion territory. Even when he dimes everything out, he only leaves it there for few seconds, before dialing back to 9 or 10 o'clock

 

Further making me think that the Touch would be a good choice to follow my BumbleBee around...

 

I tend to like fairly bright pedals; that tends to translate into clarity and definition for me, as I can almost always tame any overt bright tinniness by various, usually simple means. It also gives me a range through which I can use my picking-hand "touch" to vary the overall tone- think of it as 'treble headroom', if you will.

 

 

All the gain I'd want happened between about 7 & 8 o'clock. But how valid is it that he was using a looper between the guitars & the pedal? That'll present a pretty different impedance load than just driving the pedal with pickups.

 

This isn't the first demo video I've seen using that technique (looper into pedal), but I've also seen pedalboards with a looper in the first position, so maybe that's becoming a trend?

 

Even more important to me, playing a recorded loop of any kind (tape, DAW track, looper-pedal or software, etc. etc. etc.) into a pedal or amp removes the interaction between a player and the device in question. If I play through a given amp, and then add an overdrive pedal in-between, the way that I pick, and the way that my fingers apply pressure on the strings on the fretboard, will be different, as what I hear responding to my playing directs how I'll play to get the tone and response that I have in mind. Even if I'm playing the exact same notes, chords, riffs and fills each time- my "tpuch" on either hand will change and compensate.

 

That's how and why several different players will all sound very different, very much 'like themselves' when playing the exact same guitar, pedals, amp, and everything, even with the exact same control-settings on everything! And how and why famous well-known players will sound just like themselves when playing with someone else's guitar and amp, etc. on short notice.

 

 

WP, Since you got rid of your compressor, I won't make the following comment LoL! Back in my pedal days I discovered putting my old MXR Comp pedal in front of a Boss Distortion or Boss Blues Driver sent them into sustaining Nirvana...Worked very well with 3 different Strats with 3 different pickup configurations. I quit using pedals and became a straight in kinda guy so this concept is from memory. Hope someone out there chimes in that owns the same pedal as the one you have. Good luck and have fun with it! :cool:

 

Larry- you would LOVE a Fulltone 2B Clean Boost/Buffer/Germanium Limiter, especially run on 18v, to stack into your various overdrive/distortion pedals and/or overdriven/distorted amps. It has a LOT of available volume-boost on-tap, ALWAYS stays CLEAN in and of itself (though it can clobber and kick the bejeebers out of a dirt 'n drive pedal or amp-input!), and is NEVER harsh or tinny of unnatural. Its tiny Dynamics Control knob lets you dial-in just the perfect amount of 'squish' along with the amount of volume-boost that you set its Gain (volume output) to; yet it's NOT a compressor, and will not mess with your attack or tone. Small, very reasonably priced, very versatile despite its simplicity. :cool:

 

I'd bet that you'd also really like the Keeley 'Super Phat Mod', which is essentially an improved, lower noise, smoother, very heavily modified Blues Driver-based overdrive. Check it out.

 

Stack a Fulltone 2B on 18v into a Keeley Super Phat Mod with its Phat Switch engaged, and you'll have a fantastic fat overdrive with an even bigger, fatter "MORE!" lead-boost when you kick-in the 2B to really push it. These would be incredible with a Fender Tone Master Deluxe or Twin!

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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That's how and why several different players will all sound very different, very much 'like themselves' when playing the exact same guitar, pedals, amp, and everything, even with the exact same control-settings on everything! And how and why famous well-known players will sound just like themselves when playing with someone else's guitar and amp, etc. on short notice.

 

This one time at practice, the other guitarist and I swapped rigs. He played a hardtail Strat on the middle pickup through a couple of pedals (different from mine and his were Boss, mine were DOD), into a Fender 75 tube amp with an Altec speaker.

I had a big single cut hollow body Gretsch with Supertron II pickups set on the neck position with a floating bridge and a Bigsby running through my DOD pedals and into a Music Man RD 112 50 with a reconed Celestion speaker.

 

Just about the only things we had in common were that we both used guitar cords and the speakers were both 12".

 

We played a set that way. Danny sounded just like Danny and I sounded just like me. We did sound a bit different because our rigs were so different but you would never mistake one of us for the other based on the sound of our playing.

 

The real world rears it's (beautifully ugly) head! :)

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Thanks for the info Caevan! Yeah, I do not like tinny! I don't use a lot of pedals but my one Keeley is definitely a cut above when it comes to quality in sound and no noise. I do like my Boss Compressor CP-1x for a clean boost. It can be set to almost no compression. I'm mostly a clean player but I do like having a boost for lead when playing with others. When playing solo, I do not adjust the volume settings as the leads are not available while doing chord backup. I have to fill the lead parts with chord work, little runs and arpeggios. I go straight into my Deluxe Tonemaster these days but back in my pedal days doing lead work, your suggestions would come in very handy (pun intended). I agree that most of the sound one gets is in their fingers and two players (switching off like Kuru suggested) can sound totally different using the exact same equipment...

 

I am liking the LP Jr with the single P90 bridge pup. I haven't really fired it up but did get a little wild with the amp down on 0.5 watts and the volumes all the way up sans pedals. I have to play with it more to see what I can do with the amp settings to see if I can get more of that Santana sound DBM talked about from a guy he heard using a Junior... :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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Man, that control is sensitive. AND it seems to have a big jump in there, too. Maybe not so good for the clumsy among us. (Like myself.)

 

I really don't know why they're marketing it as an Overdrive pedal? It seems all the OD sounds live somewhere between maybe 8 and 10 o'clock, especially with the Gain knob.

 

Don't get me wrong, I really like this pedal, but I'm using it in a very specific context, with a particular rig. It's not a "One-size-fits-all" effect, by any means.

 

It's a very good thing that I'm happy with it, and the recently acquired Infinite Jets, because I'm not likely to be gear shopping again, anytime soon. I went out yesterday and picked up a nice, used, Jeep Liberty, to replace my ancient Jeep Cherokee, which is suffering from the automotive equivalent of major organ failure. I'm going to be making payments on the new/used Jeep for . . . oh, the next few years, so everything else is going to have to wait.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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