Oneder Effects' Onederbolt is a beautifully textured distortion with 4 gears of operation

With the left switch on ’+’, and the right switch on MKII this wonderfully richly textured Distortion sits somewhere between a Keeley-modded DS-1, a Rat, and a Big Muff. It reminds me a little of the long discontinued Boss PW-2 Power Driver - which was the closest that Boss ever got to a Muff distortion. The Onederbolt has a little more edge and bite than all of those and a very unique breakup texture.

I talk about 4 gears of operation in the title - which means that with the left switch on [-], and right switch on MKI you get the smoothest, lightest voicing from this circuit. In ’+’ clipping mode you’re getting full frequency extension on the output, while for ’-’ it brings in more of a vintage flavour, compressing the lows, and focusing more on the mids.

MKI is the smoother core voicing, while MKII adds significant bite via more top end, gain and sustain.

If I were to simplify this pedal I would combine the ’-’ and ’MKI’ options, and then the ’+’ and ’MKII’ options, and just have a second footswitch to toggle between those 2 preferred settings.

As the pedal is now you can select ’-’ or ’+’ going from the smoothest lightest settings on MKI, to the MKII voicing one with the maximum bite, gain and full frequency flavour - gearing up in 4 steps.

Controls - Level, Drive, Highs, Diode Clipping : -/+, Voicing : MKI / MKII.

I was actually initially attracted by the B’s Music Shop Custom Edition Apple-Green Onedercat version of the Onederbolt, while when trying to purchase that on B’s Music Shop Webstore, I was only ever being given the option of entering addresses within the USA - there was no option to select any other country.

This is far from the first time this sort of thing has occurred to me, and I’ve learned that by the time the store owner responds to my inquiry and assists with the overseas purchase - that pedal batch is often already sold out - meaning I have missed out several times to date.

To avoid the disappointment of such a scenario I instead hunted down one of the original all-black Onederbolts - which are sold out on the Oneder Effects Webstore, but would otherwise retail for $179 - same as the Custom Onedercat. I found a suitably priced pristine second hand one on Ebay and that’s how I came to own this very pedal now.

Had I been able to easily obtain the Onedercat edition then I would have surely gone for that, but I liked the sound of the pedal, and read somewhere that the Onederbolt may already be discontinued - so I leapt on whichever Mint original edition I could get my hands on!

My Preferred settings are Level on Max, Drive @ c.10 o’c, and Tone / Highs on Max. And as mentioned I like both the toggle-switches best in the down position, and occasionally also with both of them in the up position, while the full-fat full-range frequency with maximum bite is my preferred output.

I really love both my Oneder pedals to date - the Old Blue Overdrive, and this Onedebolt Distortion - the Oenderbolt really has quite a distinct sort of grungy texture to it - and therefore surely great for that genre of music in particular! All I need now is a version of the wood-facia Oneder Red Ryder Rat-style Distortion - I will then likely have to swap out the knobs for cream versions of the same - to my preferences.  I have already let Nick know that I’m desperate for a wood-facia Red Ryder - obviously now discontinued for some time - but if any one of them ever crosses his desk again, or he finds some suitable spare parts - then I definitely want that to complete my Oneder Effects Trifecta - I really need that 3rd pedal!

Weirdly there don’t seem to be any official video demos for the original Onederbolt, but there are a couple of demo /  video references for the B’s Music Shop Onedercat edition of that pedal - which is what you see below :