Inspired by Jordan Ziff’s minimalist approach to guitar tone by using the overdrive to push his 1959 Plexi amp, we mixed the vintage tubescreamer bare essentials with careful sophistication to give rise to a versatile and powerful tone shaping tool. The Ziffer Overdrive is a sturdy minion, road-ready, and eager to perform in any instance, on stage or in the studio.
Most players will love the responsive slice of the Asymmetric setting, with its perfect blend of bumped-up articulation and sweetened compression.
In classic Becos style, this is a mini-format stomper but with more controls than the average-sized unit. It enhances the classic Tube Screamer formula in ways that are clever and useful.
For a small unit, the Ziffer Overdrive has plenty of features. The Becos box wants to rock and will provide lots of organic, vintage 808 sounds to do the job – and more.
The TS8-JZ Ziffer Overdrive was developed for Jordan Ziff – lead guitarist of Hot Crazy, RATT, and guitarist in Marty Friedman’s band -, and is mainly derived from our TS8-MS Overdrive / MIDI Switcher pedal which he embraced as its tubescreamer choice. This time we removed the MIDI switching capabilities and added several controls which contribute to subtle tone-crafting and expanded versatility.
When it comes to cramming a whole rack unit into a stompbox, few companies are more adept than Becos. Now, they’re back with a tweakable mini overdrive – a signature pedal for hard-shredding Ratt guitarist Jordan Ziff. In classic Becos style, this is a mini-format stomper but with more controls than the average-sized unit.
The Ziffer’s circuit is mainly tributary to the vintage 808 sound & feel, yet it features our extensive modifications which we have now taken even further. While still featuring the tri-option CLIPPING switch which modifies the overall gain structure to better shape suitable tones for a large variety of applications, it also brings a few more extras.
Plugged in, the Ziffer Overdrive is a fat, warm box that delivered big power chords and dirt for tones in the Aerosmith, Black Crowes, and AC/DC camp. When it’s time to get “dirty” in your search for cool, organic 808 sounds, the Becos Ziffer Overdrive is ready to rock.
Compared with the TS8-MS, the Ziffer Overdrive features a DEEP switch with an option for beefing up the lower end frequencies, a DRY/WET MIX trimmer to blend the clean signal over the wet overdriven signal, and a DRY EQ trimmer that acts on the dryline only, to mix back either flat clean or tilted frequencies on either the lows or highs spectrum. In fact, the Ziffer’s dryline processing is inspired by our Solo Boost which we are now partially bringing back for a very versatile, powerful, and synergic blend of drive & clean tones. Of course, you could also use the Ziffer as a clean boost or as a tilting equalizer plus boost pedal. And, if you’re wondering, yes, it works great with bass.
The Mini Ziffer is just an amazingly versatile overdrive full stop! – the gain-range is not quoted, but it goes from barely there to really quite immense! This unique combination is really incredibly powerful and capable of so many great in-between sounds that you could otherwise not access. There is such an incredible amount of range onboard here that I can’t see how anyone would be disappointed.
For Ziffer’s fabrication, we replaced the one-transistor buffers with audio grade op-amps which contribute to a lower noise floor (especially in the high-gain settings) and the aetherial “transparency” that we’re all looking after. We also employ very low-tolerance metal film resistors and high-quality Panasonic multi-layer plastic metalized film capacitors in the audio path. We build everything in a small and compact package on our high-quality Gold-plated tracing circuit boards, without loose interconnecting wires, for lifetime endurance.
Before you dismiss the Becos TS8-JZ Ziffer Overdrive as yet another TS twin, you should know Becos specializes in cramming multiple tone-sculpting controls onto mini-pedals. This time, its efforts have resulted in an adjustable overdrive that can scream with a larger-than-life tone or sweeten with enhanced warmth and clarity.
The Ziffer Overdrive should be powered with good filtered and regulated external power sources (not included) in between 9VDC and 18VDC for improved transparency and high headroom. It can be browned out down to 7VDC for an even more particular tonal flavoring.
| Weight | 0,2 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 3,9 × 9,2 × 5,1 cm |
| Technical Specifications | Input impedance: 550KΩ |
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