A single-knob OD that ranges from pretty clean to pretty mean.
Cheap, easy, and offers a wide range of drive.
Limited by nature.
$109
October Audio NVMBR Gain
octoberaudio.com
Usually when I get the finger, it‘s nowhere near as much fun as October Audio’s NVMBR Gain. With just one dial and a graphic of a witch’s severed digit on top, the NVMBR Gain does a lot.
Snap it on with the knob all the way left, and it works as a 5 dB line boost—good to keep your amp or downstream effects sounding louder but clear. Turn it toward noon, and the output slowly increases. The company says the left side of the dial is a clean boost, but to my ears there’s subtle compression and a mid-forward attitude that TS fans should dig as much as I did. At 12 o’clock—where the pedal’s character really starts to change—I got hair and airy sparkle that, with my PRS SE Silver Sky’s single-coils, sounded like Hughie Thomasson’s opening riffs in the Outlaws classic “Green Grass and High Tides.”
The right side is this little monster’s other, nastier head. From noon to floored, it unleashes a soft-clipping-style overdrive that goes from perfect for gritty controlled blues to gnashing. If Syd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” tone is your thing, all the way right is where you’ll find it. But after, say, 3 o’clock the clipping accelerates exponentially, so abandon hope of much subtlety if you venture there. I could easily see this mere 3.63" x 1.5" x 1.88" stomp replacing another drive or two, to free up pedalboard space. And at $109, it offers a lot of functionality at a bargain tag.
