The Excess V2 by Old Blood Noise Endeavors is a combination of crunchy, modded RAT distortion and three distinct modulation effects in a single box. It’s perfect for out-of-the-box sound design: from ambient and shoegaze to post rock, indie rock and everything in between, the Excess is a great pedal to get yourself out of a writing rut and just explore new sounds.
What makes it genuinely special is the fifth-harmonic mode. Chorus and delay you can find anywhere, but the Fifth has this magical, ethereal vibe in a slightly quirky way that pairs exactly right with the bite of the distortion underneath it.
The panel reads left to right across two rows. Top row: Dist Vol, Tone, Gain. Bottom row: Mod Vol, Time, Depth. Below those sit two small toggle switches: Mod Type on the left selects between the three modulation modes (Fifth, Chorus, Delay), and Order on the right sets the routing (distortion into modulation, modulation into distortion, or both in parallel). Two stomp switches at the bottom handle bypass and independent modulation on/off.
The distortion runs from very clean below 9 o’clock through medium crunch and into heavy saturation quickly past the noon position. Time controls rate in the Fifth and Chorus modes and delay time in the Delay mode. Depth controls modulation intensity throughout.
In the demo above I’ve set up sweeps for the Modulation Type and Order switches, so you can hear what each position sounds like against the same notes before diving into the full presets.
The presets map the Excess’s range pretty well. Fairy Dust uses the Fifth mode with order set to parallel and a low gain of 1, letting the modulation float above a relatively gentle drive. Magic Dirt keeps the Fifth mode and parallel routing but pushes gain to 3, thickening the core sound while the Fifth wraps it in overtones. Grunge Chorus moves to Chorus mode, distortion into modulation, and nudges gain to 1.5 for that classic shoegaze wash. Slammin’ Slap Back is Delay mode with mod vol all the way up at 10 and time at 10, so you get a big, dark slapback sitting behind the crunch. Ring Mod Drone flips to modulation into distortion with gain at 5 and depth maxed at 10, producing a dense, slightly unstable wall of sound.
Overall the Excess is not a subtle pedal. It paints in broad strokes, which is exactly the point.
The Beam Splitter is the natural OBNE sibling to compare, and the two pedals are genuinely complementary rather than competing. The Excess gives you one distortion voice (modded RAT circuit) running in series or parallel with a single modulation effect. One signal path, one tone you shape with modulation. It’s focused and fast to dial in, and the Order toggle means you can change its character dramatically without touching a knob. The Beam Splitter is a different proposition entirely: three parallel drive channels (Blue, Green, Purple), each with its own gain and delay, designed for double and triple tracking. The Excess is about coloring one voice; the Beam Splitter is about multiplying voices. If you want a cohesive modulated-distortion sound that still fits inside a normal signal chain, the Excess is the answer. If you’re building huge stereo or trereo textures from one guitar take, the Beam Splitter is in a different category.
Shoegaze, post rock and ambient players are the obvious audience, but the Excess works for anyone who wants a single dirt-plus-modulation tool that earns its board space twice over. The independent modulation footswitch means you can run straight distortion for rhythm parts and kick in the modulation for leads or transitions without bending over. The Order toggle is genuinely useful live: flipping from distortion-into-modulation to parallel changes the weight and saturation of the output noticeably.
If your ideal is a transparent, sculpted overdrive that stays out of the way, look elsewhere. The Excess has its own personality and it doesn’t apologize for it. But if you want something that opens up new directions every time you sit down with it, this one does the job.
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Get detailed specs on Old Blood Noise Endeavors' website
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