Bispell Audio: SAXON JFET Overdrive

Thomas Woods at Bispell Audio describes the Saxon Overdrive as the following: "JFET overdrive with exceedingly accurate valve-like harmonics, JTM45 tone stack, Plexi Bass Cut Switch, Bright Switch, and generous amounts of sag/compression." And I think he's spot on. This is not an exaggerated distortion, it is much closer to the real thing in terms of gain and feel. That's why it sits nicely in front of a normal JTM45 channel (or similar - recommended) as well as a standard Fender and even just acting as a preamp in front of appropriate IR's. The tone controls and subtle but thoughtful and the classic clean-up you'd get from the real thing is there as well. It loves an overdrive like an 808 in front of it for more gain and generally speaking, the sound is big and bold - again, like the real thing. Great work, Thomas!

Today's tools:

Guitar: 2012 Gibson CS Les Paul Std. '61 RI (SG Std) with Tyson Tone TTL-2 Pickups (A2 PAFS). Mark Emanuelli Strat ('57 RI body; EJ neck; Mark's own pickups)
Amp: Axe-FX III MKII running Cygnus X-2 FW 21.01 Various amp models as per the demonstration
Cables: BOSS
Strings: Ernie Ball
Camera: GoPro HERO10 Black and Canon D60
Soundcard: PreSonus Quantum & Fractal Audio Systems Axe-FX III MKII (guitar, mixing and bouncing).
Computer: 2017 Apple iMac Pro, 2.5 GHz 14-Core Intel Xeon W, 64 GB 2666 MHz DDR4, Radeon Pro Vega 64X 16 GB

[leehenderson]

What would we ever do without Marshall to set the example.rock on Brett.

[robertclarkguitar]

BK!!! The man !!! Amazing Like I said these people sending you these units know you of all people will ring the products bells!!!! Happy holidays friend !!!

[nathan.j]

Man that thing is angry sounding. Love it.

[anthonymoore]

nice to see the word saxon on a pedal.

[jamesflack]

Again. Another Good'un.
Thanks for such inspiring playing, and the best demos.
Happy Christmas if that's what you do.
Cheers 🍻

[bispellaudio]

Awesome video Brett!!! One of the reasons Saxon does so well with IR's is that it maintains all of the high frequency content instead of rolling it off like so many other overdrive pedals. The Presence control acts as the master output brightness control.

[JeffMcLeod]

Really great raw sound. I'm a little oversaturated with all the overdrives out there, but this one made my ears perk up.

[mariodriessen]

Ever listened to, or heard of the English hardrock/metal group 'Saxon', Brett? Because their guitarists Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn used Marshall amps at the time, like most other hardrock bands at the time (I was 12 years old at the time). They still play, but in those days, late seventies, early eighties, they were as big and important and influential as bands like Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Motörhead, Judas Priest and a handful of others.

These were the bands I listened to at the time, but now, 42/43 years later there are three albums out of all these bands that I still listen to (most of the time when I fill in some declaration forms and I need some energy). One of these albums is 'Wheels of Steel' by Saxon. I mention this because even though I'm not a producer, I still think it's one of the best sounding albums ever (and cut very hard/loud). The guitar sounds on that album still give me chills.

Why this whole story?
Well...., this pedal reminds me of that sound. It's energizing and uplifting, sometimes pleasantly ear piercing, especially with their solo sounds. Listen to a song of that album called '747 (Strangers in the Night). Man, I LOOOOVE that sound!!! And I don't even really like metal (anymore).

I'm not sure what amps they were using at the time, but I believe the JCM-800's were introduced in 1981. But this pedal really captured that hard driving Saxon sound of that time. I wouldn't be fully surprised if the maker of this pedal was or is an old Saxon fan. Although 'Saxon' would be and is a great name for a British MIAB type pedal no matter what.

I was secretly hoping you would play some Saxon riffs. 😎😎😎😁

By the way, you're still the best, Brett! ❤️

[GSouza]

Actually Marshall already nail the "Marshall tone" in a box almost 30 years ago with the Drive Master. You really dont need to go the boutique route for that.

[murrayguitarpickups]

I have a cheap Nu-x "amp simulator" pedal, it actually does a fairly decent job of a similar sound.

[noahvale]

Another nice demo....I actually preferred the 'ampless' tone, but what do I know?