It’s been a very quiet month. I’ve had my head down working on improving my Tweed Deluxe signal chain, and haven’t really been interested in any of the gear that’s come up for sale on the second-hand market this month.
There was one item, though: a new challenger to be my #1 drive pedal.
Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive, 2025 Hand-wired Edition (SHOD-HW-2025)
Regular readers may be aware that my #1 drive pedal is my beloved Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive. Mine is the o.g. hand-wired version. I don’t know when mine was built; I bought it second-hand in 2014.
There are many great drive pedals out there these days, but this is the one that I keep coming back to. There’s just something about it that suits the way I want to express myself, same way that a 5e3 Tweed Deluxe amp does.
When I saw that Mad Professor’s new owners were releasing an updated version for 2025, I had to order one. It has practical improvements (top-mounted power jack 😍), and who knows … maybe it’ll sound even better?
Spoiler alert: it’s every bit as good as the o.g. Sweet Honey Overdrive.
If you’ve tried the SHOD before and decided the sound wasn’t for you, there’s nothing here that’ll change your mind. It basically sounds the same. There’s a slight improvement in the low-end, but it’s not like there was a problem there to begin with.
If you’re thinking of adding the SHOD to your board, this is the best version of the original circuit that I’ve ever tried. The sound is there, and the practical improvements make this a much friendlier pedal to mount on a pedalboard. I’m delighted with mine, and it’s my new #1 drive pedal.
That said, the 2025 hand-wired edition comes at a hefty premium. If you want the SHOD sound, but can’t justify the cost, there are other versions of the pedal to consider.
The o.g. hand-wired SHOD and the factory-made SHOD sound almost identical. I doubt that I could tell them apart in a blind test, and I’ve been using one for 11 years. The factory-made SHOD (aka SHOD-PCB) is still in production, and is still a great option if you want the SHOD sound for less money.