The Optimist by Jackson Audio and Cory Wong - Full Video

"The Optimist is the most versatile overdrive pedal I’ve ever used. Designed to give me a full range of drive levels for punchy rhythm to soaring lead. The Klon has been this mystical and hyped-up circuit for years, and for good reason! It’s an incredible circuit, and the way it pairs with the flat response overdrive is incredible. OD1 has the mid bump Klon circuit that we know and love. OD2 has a flat response overdrive that has an incredible range of drive. When the two of them pair together it creates an even more boosted drive that doesn’t squeal! The final piece of magic is the EQ. Brad Jackson has been trying to convince me about the power of an EQ pedal for a long time, and now I know why. We created an EQ section that focuses on the frequencies that you want more of in single coils, and less of in humbuckers. The EQ can help tone shape your guitars to match each other, or it can help you get the perfect clean tone out of an amp."

- Cory Wong

0:00 INTRO
0:29 It's a Klon??
1:50 Stick out in the mix
5:00 Knobs at Noon
9:00 Overdrive 2
9:50 Why two different circuits?
11:00 "Let me play it for you." - Cory
11:40 Stacking the drives
15:00 Boost
16:30 3 Pedals in 1
17:40 The Power of EQ
20:00 What are the mids doing?
23:00 The blind tests
24:30 Analog with Digital Control "midi"
25:30 What is the signal order?
26:48 The Optimist
28:00 I want that classic klon tone.
29:00 Real Estate on your board
30:01 Backline and Bad amps
33:04 Heavy without a band...
33:47 Thank you!

#corywong #theoptimist #jacksonaudio

[tortillaman]

Awesome tone and features in a small package. Gotta get me one.

[davejones]

Love the sound and the midi capabilty. Now, when do we get the CHORUS?!?!?

[GearSmackMusic]

Hi, I went from playing a Line6 Pod Go to building a new pedalboard. I bought this pedal for lower gain and the Golden Boy for higher gain and love the tones I get from both. The response and sound is amazing. Great pedals and both very different and unique... Thanks Jackson Audio! :)

[starshineraiser]

Wow, incredible sounding pedal. I’m getting this and the New Wave. I’ve already bought the 1484 and it’s one of my very favorite ever.

[nubiroru]

Transparent brownish. Two tastiest tone ever

[perrarna]

What a personality Cory, amazing. He is presenting his peal better even that what Mayer did on his PRS.
Great sound too, amazing pedal. Hope can afford it some day.

[jordandangelo]

This is my kind of pedal. Perfect mid range and top end. Really impressed with the tone of the gain. It really has a nice grit to it when cranked up a bit. Everything from Jackson is awesome and everything I’ve played from them sounds great. This demo was top notch and Cory’s playing was impressive. That was the first time I heard his lead work.

[nickwhytho]

Whered you get that jacket Cory? Ive been searching for it since the last sweetwater rhythm guitar video came out! I need answers!

[itsanthonybest]

I really want to hear this in a heavy metal context. I think this could be incredible boosting a high gain amp to tighten up something like a dual recto.

[cdbrown]

Pumped to have bought this the other day!

[AndiKravljaca]

This is crazy, I was just talking to someone about my dream overdrive the other day. It would be a double pedal, combine a Klon with the transparency of the Timmy, and be MIDI controllable.

[codynaler]

This is exactly what I need for my board. It sounds amazing and would complement my custom “rat” and (rose)golden boy. As soon as we get a Sweetwater exclusive black, white, or Rose Gold :) one, I’ll instantly make that purchase!

[toinoutube]

About the limited warp edition, how do you the EQ is on ? EQ knobs don't seem to turn blue on this edition ?
THanks

[davidaaronmusic]

This was the best artist collab pedal demo I have ever seen! Already was a huge fan of the Bloom and Broken Arrow, been eyeing the Golden Boy, and now this is on my wish list. I did notice there is a lot of overlap in functionality between some pedals; ie EQ on the Bloom and the Optimist, drives on the Golden Boy, Optimist, Asabi, etc. Is there any chance of a video that could explain and demonstrate the differences between them side by side?

[jacobterrazas]

This is crazy, I just added this pedal combo to my board (a Timmy into a Tumnus deluxe). For the last couple of weeks I’ve been thinking, man it would be great if I could find a midi controlled Klon style pedal like the tumnus and boom you guys drop this! Cherry on top is it has a Timmy style pedal in it so I can go from two pedals to one!

Question though, if I have both OD channels on as well as the EQ and I wanted to turn them all off, does that mean I need to hit the left, hit the right, then hit both switches or is there a way to quickly bypass the pedal entirely?

[thearoom]

I'd love an overdrive we can dial in a bit of compression on a dial or sag.. like the morning Glory has but more controllable

[Auxren]

Is the signal chain for this whole video guitar > Optimist > amp? No compressor or anything in the chain or post production?

[countstoneula]

Love how the pedal matches Cory's guitar. The knobs even match his trademark stripped shirt. lol. When I first saw the pedal I immediately thought of Cory and then I read the name and was like "no way!". I haven't wanted a new overdrive in a long time, but you've finally done it... the EQ and MIDI are what did it for me.

18:19 - I also play bass and find a lot of guitar overdrives will work for bass if they're paired with an EQ pedal to bump the low end a tiny bit. Cory mentions the EQ is tailored for guitar - any idea how it sounds and works with a bass?

[ricardoaxelgarciadiaz]

Midi can only turn on and off the effects?

[PaoloC.]

kinda cool! but I hoped it got more headroom on the clean side when rolling down the gain pots below noon. Also he never tries backing down the volume on the guitar to see how he it cleans up. I hope it does it well 😬