www.lslinstruments.com
LSL Instruments is best known for high-end Leo-style guitar builds, but they’ve also started delving into overdrive pedals. The Lucid OD is their version of a Klon Centaur – one of the priciest stompboxes in human history ($5,000-plus for the first-gen gold box with the horse logo).
The box offers Volume, Gain, and Tone knobs – the latter functioning backward, meaning it gets darker as you turn it clockwise and more trebly as it’s backed off. Plugged into a Vox clone, it produced everything from “unity gain” clean to chunky dirt tones, akin to a non-Master-Volume Marshall. The Tone knob might have you thinking differently about EQ – indeed, how much treble do you really need? Sometimes, less is more, especially when you consider the stroke-inducing price of a vintage Klon. For a mere fraction, the Lucid offers a highly transparent overdrive that pairs well with any guitar and amp, especially tube amplifiers that enjoy a little front-end smack.
If the Lucid OD is LSL’s take on a Centaur, the OG OD is their original gangster spin on the Maxon/Ibanez Tube Screamer. Again, the emphasis is on organic tone, using an RC4558P IC chip to deliver warm tones across the board. You get the standard Volume, Tone, and Gain dials, but also an added Bass switch offering three unique voices. This is a handy feature, as you can dial-in the best overdrive flavor for whichever amp you’re using at the moment.
Tonally, you can get everything from a just-off-clean to half-stack bite without treading into any distorted metal flavors. The goal is to dial in the perfect amount of crunch, especially with the Bass switch, and come up with something that sounds as good as rockin’ guitars did 50 years ago.
Cranked up, the OG OD proved so versatile and lively that it was hard to resist leaving it on all the time. – Pete Prown
This article originally appeared in VG’s April 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited
