“The rare and vintage Maxon JD-01 Jet Driver Distortion. Part of the increasingly collectable “Zero-One” series of Maxon pedals from the 1980s, never released in the US. If you like the famous nine series, the “01” series was comparable, but with much more reliable switches.”
“What’s it sound like? It’s very high gain, and the sustain just keeps going and going. There was no comparable pedal in the “9” series. I think it reminds me of a Boss DS-1, that grainy type of distortion, but with a smoother sound and less “fuzzy”. It’s low noise for a distortion.”
I think it does two things very well:
- For thrash metal rhythm, it can get a good metal sound with scooped mids.
- For fat, saturated neck pickup solos that sustain for days, it’s great, even in a clean Fender-style amp.
“This is the one with the “personality” knob, which seems to function like a treble cut or boost depending on which way you turn it. I find that it sounds the best right in the middle, or with the tiniest turn to the right for a slight boost.”
“These are more like the Maxon D&S series of pedals. These have a narrower Q on the “Personality” or tone control which has the effect of having a broader sweep. Basically a Big Muff clone with a more usable tone control. This pedal also has more gain than my early Maxon D&S with the Sustain T control, but I can get both to sound pretty close to one another. That pedal is the same as the Ibanez OD-850 pedal. I believe the JD-01 is a variation of this particular D&S pedal:
