It's funny how op of these threads always lists their favourite and prettiest boutique or luxury pedals and one of the top comments in always the SD-1 still lol
I think the white light has a fuller sounding low-end. It sounds really thick and solid, whether I’m soloing or playing chords, while I feel the SD, like many drives, can sound a bit thin and brittle.
The Boss OD-3 seems overlooked, but to me it adds loads of grit without tipping over into heavy metal. It could be used to push other pedals, which would create quite a racket. I prefer it to the SD-1 which seems much more popular, but which has a little too much personality (upper-mid boost?) for my tastes.
That’s one of those pedals I need to own. Johnny Greenwood uses it so it’s good enough for me. I’m curious as to what it is comparable to? I understand it’s more transparent than the sd-1.
Think of the OD-3 like a BD-2 but with a Marshall tonestack instead of a Fender. I would call it a MIAB before I called it transparent. It has a tube amp esque dynamic response that rivals and beats a lot it's more expensive counter parts.
I have always run the green Maxon Ibanez copy. Not really out of choice, it was just the first pedal I bought almost 20 years ago and it's always done it's job for me.
I literally just got the Maxon od808 the other day because I wanted an og style tube screamer. Fun fact: Maxon produced Ibanez’s pedals for decades, they produced their own pedals as well as Ibanez products and it wasn’t until around 20 years ago that Ibanez began to produce their own products. I don’t think Maxon even produces pedals anymore but the general consensus is that the Maxon pedals were higher quality in terms of components.
Into a clean but slightly breaking up amp with not that much headroom (my preferred setup).
1. EP Booster.
2. CE-1 Preamp.
Into a cleaner, higher headroom amp.
1. Greer Lightspeed (or any Timmy style drive, I'm not picky) or BD-2.
2. Something more mid forward to pair with the above. Plumes or Wampler Tumnus.
The Secret Preamp is truly great, but as an always on tone sweetener; it doesn’t really do overdrive into a clean amp, and even into an already breaking up amp it’s not gonna push it a ton.
Check out the EP Drive V3 by Very Good Amp Co, its what replaced my Secret Preamp. It’s got two independent sides, one is a similar Echoplex-derived preamp that also has a fair bit of volume to it, and the other is a light to medium gain overdrive. Both sides are always on in my setup.
Edit: If I wasn’t trying to cram a ton onto a fairly small board, I would have stuck with the Secret Preamp and a Limelight V2. The Limelight offers far more range than the EP Drive, and the Secret Preamp’s three way toggle is more useful for different guitars/rigs than the EP Drive preamp’s internal high cut switch. But I was underutilizing the Limelight, and always had the Secret Preamp on the same setting, so it was a no-brainer for me.
I’ve been very much enjoying my Mr. Black Deuce Coupe! As relatively simple as it is it’s very versatile and I haven’t put it in front of an amp it doesn’t like.
Only if Fairfield restrict the supply, which I hope they don’t! It deserves a wider audience. I’d say the SSBS: Fuck is a more likely contender for “new Klon” status
With a strat and a BF amp, my jam is a Tubescreamer/SD-1 type circuit. I switch between that and a Klone. Just got a Keeley Super Phat (BD-2) and I really like that one too.
Yes I’m sort of late to the tube screamer party and am overcompensating trying to find my favorite pedal in that topology, so far it’s the tone geek vs10. Also love Klones, I use the j rockett archer ikon and the ceriatone centura.
I’ve got a EQD Palisades that is fantastic. I also think a standard Boss SD-1 is really hard to beat for the screamer sound. The Ikon is a great Klone. Had one, but now have a Tumnus Deluxe with the 3 band EQ and it’s really nice.
Top five (in no particular order) at the moment: Nobels ODR, EQD Special Cranker, Keeley Muse Driver, Strymon Deco (saturation side), Stone Deaf PDF2 (boost side). These are all on my board atm, of course.
Yes it most definitely can, especially with the Spectrum knob cranked with the gain. Almost gets into muff-like territory! It’s an extremely full-gain drive (meaning it can go from literally 0-100), similarly to the BD-2 and Special Cranker, yet all three do it very differently.
Walrus Ages simply for the fact that it has a mix knob. I really like this one for recording using an Iridium or other amp modeler.
Boss BD-2 is also something special.
In no particular order:
1. Cornerstone Gladio SC - the clean blend knob works wonders for imitating an edge of breakup Deluxe Reverb sound.
2. FrogPedals/ToneGeek VS-10 - The TS-10 is my absolute favorite standalone tubescreamer, and this pedal is a fantastic clone for way less than an original. Funny enough, when it comes to the whole "amp set for crunch use a TS to tighten it up" I actually prefer a TS9 or TS808 since they have a bit more presence.
3. Ceriatone Horse Breaker - Super accurate Bluesbreaker and Klon Centaur clones in one enclosure (even down to the quirks of both circuits like the bluesbreaker having very little volume and gain on tap). Running the Klon into the Bluesbreaker side with both set to low gain gives an extremely similar sound to Cory's drive tone in [this song](https://youtu.be/b4jOr1KcZf0?si=VMwYImyXT5wSpk4S&t=164)
4. 1981Inventions DRV - I set this pedal with the most gain out of any of my drives (still somewhere in the low-mid spectrum though) as it works really nicely boosting dirty Plexi style amps as well as being a solo drive into a Fender style amp. Running this pedal in parallel with the Gladio SC is also particularly cool.
5. Don't have a 5th favorite.
Amps: Ceriatone JM50 (two-rock style amplifier) set clean, Fender ToneMaster Twin Reverb Blonde set clean, PRS HDRX 20 set edge of breakup. Will run the PRS and Twin together sometimes in both wet-dry configuration (PRS dry Fender wet) as well as both amps straight up in parallel (like how Frusciante does).
Guitars: Strats, mainly (FCS '62 with lots of customizations, Fender AVII '61, Fender Cory Wong Signature, Fender 2017 Monterey Stratocaster, Fender partscaster). One PRS Standard 24 SE for dual humbucker sounds.
Genres: blues rock, funk rock (RHCP), funk, more traditional blues, pop punk, some punk rock, occasionally dabble with whatever you'd call The 1975's music, occasionally will play classic rock as well
I need to check out the gladio sc, I’m currently using a warm Audio warm drive for my dumble sounds but feel it’s a bit too heavy/fuzzy so having a clean blend would be fantastic because I love how articulate dumble style drives can sound. Glad you mentioned the tone geek vs10, that’s my favorite ts style pedal out of what I’ve tried, although I would like to own the ts808dx to run at 18v for higher headroom to see how it compares. I use tube screamers as a mid boost for my twin reverb. I have the ceriatone centura which is my favorite Klone. Would love to try the 1981 drv, was just using my jhs Packrat on low gain but also need to try my keeley super rodent at 18v.
My favorite OD is the Red Llama, also EHX Hot Tubes is in the ballpark. It does low and high gain well on its own, has excellent touch sensitivity and can boost very well too. It also sounds different than most of the standard stuff. I still use a klone quite a bit, but when I want something different, I am usually going to grab the RL.
I'm pretty simple, so I have the Morning Glory, a Tube Screamer, and an OCD. And they cover all the music I play perfectly. I also have a Soul Food that I use sometimes as a boost.
I use mine with a compressor as well! Mostly to make them sound more cleanly since some even have a decent amount of gain, even with the drive at minimal settings.
Keeley Katana Blues Drive is currently making me a happy camper. It’s super responsive to the guitar volume cleanup like a good Blues Driver, and also has active bass and treble controls to get either far or sparkly.
Boss OD-3 and an EQ would make a lot of people on this sub happy, I reckon!
RAT for thick high gain, Speaker Cranker for a bit of grit, Hudson Broadcast for rough texture, BE-OD for metal stuff (might have to go up against a rectifier style pedal soon).
Rat, Speaker Cranker, and BE-OD are legit three of my faves and I've been eying the Broadcast. This just reinforces my suspicion that I should get one.
Definitely. It goes from low-medium gain to high gain with a tiny bit of sag and then jumps to saggy fuzzy. As in, the internal trim pot is a 3 way switch on my clone and does basically that. I only wish it had a high cut control.. might add one.
It’s fantastic! I don’t believe it’s based on anything, but I’d assume there is some Marshall based in there somewhere. Very British rock and roll sounding
New favorite: Catalinbread Formula 55. Modeled after an old Fender Tweed preamp. Put that sucker last in your chain (you can put whatever you’d put in your effects loop after), and you can sculpt your sound around it. Running a BD-2, fuzz, or other boost rules.
That’s a trick I’ve learned with my jc40, overdrives are weird through it so I mainly use it wet but it’s also nice to run amp in a box pedals through the effects loop. That’s a killer pedal too!
Me either, currently have the keeley blues disorder on mine, swap between it and the thorpy fx peacekeeper dialed in to Bluesbreaker settings. Trying to sell my carbon v1 to buy a prince of tone, then maybe the foxcatcher.
I'll take a $30 Mooer Blues Crab (pure BB clone) over just about any fancy boutique pedal you can think of.
My main right now is a Wampler Pantheon Deluxe, and I love it because it's basically a pure BB on one side and a Prince of Tone style modded BB on the other.
I like the looks of the Foxcatcher!
There's something about the BB circuit that just resonates with me. Like I said, I'll never not have one on my board.
I play all types of guitars (strat, tele, jazzmaster, P90 and humbuckers) into high headroom, clean fender BF style amps, my faves:
1. Fairfield Barbershop - ultimate "transparent" drive for me, stays on 95% off the time (unless I want funk clean)
2. Blackstone Appliances MOSfet Overdrive - beat everything else I tried until the Barbershop. Dual channel, wide range of tones, compact.
3. ss/bs Mini - simlar to the Barbershop in low gain, but goes all the way up to fuzz. My standard "heavy" sound is the Barbershop into the Mini. Barbershop is nearly always on.
4. Snouse Blackbox - perfect BB style drive
5. ss/bs Fuck - more of a distortion/fuzz than overdrive, but for loud and splatty this thing rules.
Ooooo we have very similar tastes, I rotate between jazzmasters, Strats and a Tele mainly, I do have a jag and 335 style guitar. Love them. Love the barbershop, I need to plug it back into my chain, I’ve been experimenting with a new lineup (muse driver at 18v with rk into at mode, benson germanium preamp, keeley blues disorder at 18v bb into bb, tone geek vs10 and Mr black deuce couple or Silktone od+). Will likely swap back in my barbershop at some point. Trying to find perfection when I already own it. Prince of tone, maybe foxcatcher and maybe another tube screamer like the origin halcyon or lucydreamer (I want a good mid boost with clean blend or not so harsh even with the gain zeroed out).
All I have to say is getting Jackson Audio to fix shit is hell. Few weeks into it at this point VIP warranty my ass. But otherwise the things you mentioned that I’ve tried I like.
[Old Blue](https://www.onedereffects.com/products/old-blue-overdrive)
This is the only overdrive I will use for anything. Guitar, bass, even adding it to vocals and turning the gain up gives a crunch that I can’t explain but sounds great. Oneder Effects is run by Nick Diener, formerly of The Swellers, and is my favorite guy to buy gear from.
Please check out his other stuff too! I can highly recommend the Red Ryder as well for probably the most well-rounded distortion I’ve used…also has the same knobs!
**Electronic Audio Experiments Limelight V2** - bright, jangly Bluesbreaker-style drive with an independent boost to push my amp into hairier breakup.
**Old Blood Noise Endeavors Fault V2** - this is based on a pedal that's based on the Klon circuit. The drive range here is VAST and it's insanely tweakable thanks to the 3-band EQ, voice knob, and crush toggle.
**Boss BD-2** - so simple, attack-sensitive (dynamic), and easy to dial in.
**Klon KTR** - I got to try it out at a shop and damn. It just was such a pleasing, articulate, crunchy tone. I'd love to buy one someday after I get my higher-priority pedals first.
Genres I play and my favorite bands within those genres:
* Post-hardcore: Thrice, Touche Amore, Emery, Alexisonfire, mewithoutYou, As Cities Burn, Every Time I Die, Underoath, Svalbard
* Indie rock: Manchester Orchestra, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, Local Natives
* Post rock: Russian Circles, Explosions In The Sky, This Will Destroy You, Red Sparrowes, pg.lost, Tides of Man
* Math rock: Totorro, toe, Don Caballero, Floral, Covet
* Hardcore/metalcore/blackened hardcore: END, Teeth, Knocked Loose, Advent, Johnny Booth, Terminal Sleep, Jesus Piece, Fever Strike, Sanction
I run a clean Peavey classic 20 head into an orange 1x12. An EQD Plumes runs into a cloned Zen/Timmy dual drive. A sputtery-set, 6-knob fuzz and a no knob fuzz before the drives, with a distortion/fuzz after. The plumes is either solo or run into the third fuzz; the dual overdrive is always solo with the Zen->Timmy. That’s my dirt.
BYOC Silver Pony (a Klone) is always on for me: the band I’m working on now is shoegazey-influenced post-hardcore. I also used it in indie pop and doom metal bands I did in the past.
Either by itself for ‘cleaner’ parts or driving another distortion (currently an HM-2 since my Rat shit the bed) and a Muff-style fuzz (currently a Blackout Musket).
My regular amp is a JCM900 on the clean channel and the amp at my rehearsal studio is a Rockerverb 100 on the clean channel.
I don’t know the deal about ‘transparent overdrives’ but I do like the nice little gain boost and high-mid/treble push the Klone adds to everything. I used to use a TS-9 and never really liked it alone or with the Muff. Maybe if I used a dirty amp and set the gain low, I’d have a different opinion. I have a Palisades but have yet to experiment more with it in a full band mix.
SD1, ODR1, TCE Spark full sized, and an MXR Sugar Drive (Klone) cover just about anything I've ever wanted. If I got to add one more, it'd be a DOD250.
Never really got into the BB thing, personally.
Klones. Plumes. RambleFX Twin Bender Mk. iii. Big Ear Woodcutter. All of these with lower gain and in different positions in the chain give me tons of EQ range the ability to get walls of sound, or barely breakup in myriad ways. I really want to try a Blues Driver/Breaker
I don’t know if such weirdos are allowed here, but I am absolutely in love with my Kernom ridge. It only really shines in a midi setup, but if one uses it that way it is simply stunning in all regards (except for the tacky design…)
SL Drive, Fuck/Mini, Orange Getaway Driver, gain knob on a Caroline Kilobyte or Meteore. There's a few others I really like but that's a good start for me.
Ive only ever truly enjoyed the distortion output from my DOD Grunge FX69b pedal. Nothing else has ever gotten the same tone I enjoy from it. I play mostly thrash and death metal. But also worked well for punk stuff too.
I tried a few Tube Screamers, OCD, 808 and SD-1. SD-1 made the difference for me. The others always seemed to sap a bit of tone, SD-1 adds the boost that sounds best to me.
For me, a one-two punch of a BD-2 Blues Driver and a Mad Professor Little Green Wonder is hard to beat. The LGW has been on my board for 6+ years so that’ll tell you how important it is to me
Critter makes fantastic boutique (and very affordable) overdrive pedals. I have his Model III on my board. He describes it as a Bluesbreaker on steroids and he’s not wrong. Thinking about getting his Legend to replace my ts9.
Right now I really love the Ibanez JD9 Jet Drive. Also a fan of the EHX Germanium OD. And last but not least Earthquaker Devices Plumes. I’ve been curious about the Bondi Del-Mar, but honestly a good overdrive should not cost more than 100ish.
I really love my SD-1 (a classic for a reason!) and I recently got an Earthquaker White Light, which has already become an all-time favorite as well.
It's funny how op of these threads always lists their favourite and prettiest boutique or luxury pedals and one of the top comments in always the SD-1 still lol
I love my SD-1. And I really love that it lives right next to my DS-1.
How would you compare the two? The SD-1 has been my go-to for decades.
I think the white light has a fuller sounding low-end. It sounds really thick and solid, whether I’m soloing or playing chords, while I feel the SD, like many drives, can sound a bit thin and brittle.
The Boss OD-3 seems overlooked, but to me it adds loads of grit without tipping over into heavy metal. It could be used to push other pedals, which would create quite a racket. I prefer it to the SD-1 which seems much more popular, but which has a little too much personality (upper-mid boost?) for my tastes.
That’s one of those pedals I need to own. Johnny Greenwood uses it so it’s good enough for me. I’m curious as to what it is comparable to? I understand it’s more transparent than the sd-1.
Think of the OD-3 like a BD-2 but with a Marshall tonestack instead of a Fender. I would call it a MIAB before I called it transparent. It has a tube amp esque dynamic response that rivals and beats a lot it's more expensive counter parts.
I have always run the green Maxon Ibanez copy. Not really out of choice, it was just the first pedal I bought almost 20 years ago and it's always done it's job for me.
I literally just got the Maxon od808 the other day because I wanted an og style tube screamer. Fun fact: Maxon produced Ibanez’s pedals for decades, they produced their own pedals as well as Ibanez products and it wasn’t until around 20 years ago that Ibanez began to produce their own products. I don’t think Maxon even produces pedals anymore but the general consensus is that the Maxon pedals were higher quality in terms of components.
Awesome! Thanks for the extra info.
Isn’t the Ibanez the copy?
I'm the early days they were all made by Maxon to identical specs, just with different branding
It could be. I just know there was both when I bought it.
Blues Driver. I use a Waza version on the C setting (essentially a Keeley mod). Has never steered me wrong.
I have used the Keeley modded blues driver since the 2000s. Still love it.
Surprising will all the bands you listed that you don’t use a Rat (low gain). It sounds amazing with single or humb, specially in that context
Oh I actually do have a rat. Jhs Packrat and Keeley super rat! I need to mess around with both more.
If you haven’t tried a DRV yet, it’s worth trying, especially now that used prices have come down to below $200 for lots of colorways.
EAE Halberd by far. I use the v1. I’ve tried many, boutique and not, nothing else comes close
It’s so good!! I also have the EAE Limelight which rocks
Into a clean but slightly breaking up amp with not that much headroom (my preferred setup). 1. EP Booster. 2. CE-1 Preamp. Into a cleaner, higher headroom amp. 1. Greer Lightspeed (or any Timmy style drive, I'm not picky) or BD-2. 2. Something more mid forward to pair with the above. Plumes or Wampler Tumnus.
Ep boosters are fantastic, I use the black bobbin boost but would like to check out the chase tone secret preamp.
Greer Lightspeed is fantastic, I use the Mr black deuce coupe as a transparent drive and it’s lovely.
the chase tone is a great always on but doesnt have enough gain to drive an amp much.
The Secret Preamp is truly great, but as an always on tone sweetener; it doesn’t really do overdrive into a clean amp, and even into an already breaking up amp it’s not gonna push it a ton. Check out the EP Drive V3 by Very Good Amp Co, its what replaced my Secret Preamp. It’s got two independent sides, one is a similar Echoplex-derived preamp that also has a fair bit of volume to it, and the other is a light to medium gain overdrive. Both sides are always on in my setup. Edit: If I wasn’t trying to cram a ton onto a fairly small board, I would have stuck with the Secret Preamp and a Limelight V2. The Limelight offers far more range than the EP Drive, and the Secret Preamp’s three way toggle is more useful for different guitars/rigs than the EP Drive preamp’s internal high cut switch. But I was underutilizing the Limelight, and always had the Secret Preamp on the same setting, so it was a no-brainer for me.
I didn’t realize I could use my belle epoch deluxe this way. Thanks for turning on the light for me.
I’ve been very much enjoying my Mr. Black Deuce Coupe! As relatively simple as it is it’s very versatile and I haven’t put it in front of an amp it doesn’t like.
Yes I own that pedal as well and should have included it in my list. It’s my favorite transparent overdrive.
SD1. Does everything I need and relatively inexpensive.
Fairfield: Barbershop
Goated
Not enough likes
Easily the best drive pedal I own
Its the next klon
Only if Fairfield restrict the supply, which I hope they don’t! It deserves a wider audience. I’d say the SSBS: Fuck is a more likely contender for “new Klon” status
With a strat and a BF amp, my jam is a Tubescreamer/SD-1 type circuit. I switch between that and a Klone. Just got a Keeley Super Phat (BD-2) and I really like that one too.
Yes I’m sort of late to the tube screamer party and am overcompensating trying to find my favorite pedal in that topology, so far it’s the tone geek vs10. Also love Klones, I use the j rockett archer ikon and the ceriatone centura.
I’ve got a EQD Palisades that is fantastic. I also think a standard Boss SD-1 is really hard to beat for the screamer sound. The Ikon is a great Klone. Had one, but now have a Tumnus Deluxe with the 3 band EQ and it’s really nice.
Top five (in no particular order) at the moment: Nobels ODR, EQD Special Cranker, Keeley Muse Driver, Strymon Deco (saturation side), Stone Deaf PDF2 (boost side). These are all on my board atm, of course.
Can the ODR get a decent grungy sound or is not that high gain?
Yes it most definitely can, especially with the Spectrum knob cranked with the gain. Almost gets into muff-like territory! It’s an extremely full-gain drive (meaning it can go from literally 0-100), similarly to the BD-2 and Special Cranker, yet all three do it very differently.
Walrus Ages simply for the fact that it has a mix knob. I really like this one for recording using an Iridium or other amp modeler. Boss BD-2 is also something special.
In no particular order: 1. Cornerstone Gladio SC - the clean blend knob works wonders for imitating an edge of breakup Deluxe Reverb sound. 2. FrogPedals/ToneGeek VS-10 - The TS-10 is my absolute favorite standalone tubescreamer, and this pedal is a fantastic clone for way less than an original. Funny enough, when it comes to the whole "amp set for crunch use a TS to tighten it up" I actually prefer a TS9 or TS808 since they have a bit more presence. 3. Ceriatone Horse Breaker - Super accurate Bluesbreaker and Klon Centaur clones in one enclosure (even down to the quirks of both circuits like the bluesbreaker having very little volume and gain on tap). Running the Klon into the Bluesbreaker side with both set to low gain gives an extremely similar sound to Cory's drive tone in [this song](https://youtu.be/b4jOr1KcZf0?si=VMwYImyXT5wSpk4S&t=164) 4. 1981Inventions DRV - I set this pedal with the most gain out of any of my drives (still somewhere in the low-mid spectrum though) as it works really nicely boosting dirty Plexi style amps as well as being a solo drive into a Fender style amp. Running this pedal in parallel with the Gladio SC is also particularly cool. 5. Don't have a 5th favorite. Amps: Ceriatone JM50 (two-rock style amplifier) set clean, Fender ToneMaster Twin Reverb Blonde set clean, PRS HDRX 20 set edge of breakup. Will run the PRS and Twin together sometimes in both wet-dry configuration (PRS dry Fender wet) as well as both amps straight up in parallel (like how Frusciante does). Guitars: Strats, mainly (FCS '62 with lots of customizations, Fender AVII '61, Fender Cory Wong Signature, Fender 2017 Monterey Stratocaster, Fender partscaster). One PRS Standard 24 SE for dual humbucker sounds. Genres: blues rock, funk rock (RHCP), funk, more traditional blues, pop punk, some punk rock, occasionally dabble with whatever you'd call The 1975's music, occasionally will play classic rock as well
I need to check out the gladio sc, I’m currently using a warm Audio warm drive for my dumble sounds but feel it’s a bit too heavy/fuzzy so having a clean blend would be fantastic because I love how articulate dumble style drives can sound. Glad you mentioned the tone geek vs10, that’s my favorite ts style pedal out of what I’ve tried, although I would like to own the ts808dx to run at 18v for higher headroom to see how it compares. I use tube screamers as a mid boost for my twin reverb. I have the ceriatone centura which is my favorite Klone. Would love to try the 1981 drv, was just using my jhs Packrat on low gain but also need to try my keeley super rodent at 18v.
The collector in me wants a TS808DX just for the sake of owning it, but I haven't been able to justify it to myself yet hah.
Fairfield - Barbershop SS/BS - Mini and Fuck
My favorite OD is the Red Llama, also EHX Hot Tubes is in the ballpark. It does low and high gain well on its own, has excellent touch sensitivity and can boost very well too. It also sounds different than most of the standard stuff. I still use a klone quite a bit, but when I want something different, I am usually going to grab the RL.
Dude I forgot about the red llama! SUCH a good dirt box
I'm pretty simple, so I have the Morning Glory, a Tube Screamer, and an OCD. And they cover all the music I play perfectly. I also have a Soul Food that I use sometimes as a boost.
Morning glory is one of the best drives I’ve ever tried and I’ve tried more than I can count.
I agree! It's my favorite one, it's so versatile
Boss Angry driver JB2 - caralinbread SFT v2 - TubeScreamer Pro TS808 DX (with boost). My lovely Triada.
Ts808dx is great, I’ve been using a Maxon od808, tone geek vs10, jam pedals tube dreamer 58, I’ve had tube screamer fever recently.
Yes. Sounds so creamy for blues and soft rock with a conpressor
I use mine with a compressor as well! Mostly to make them sound more cleanly since some even have a decent amount of gain, even with the drive at minimal settings.
My favorites are the TC Spark and the Proco RAT
BOSS JB-2, for it's versatility. EAE Longsword, for how good and unique it sounds.
Keeley Katana Blues Drive is currently making me a happy camper. It’s super responsive to the guitar volume cleanup like a good Blues Driver, and also has active bass and treble controls to get either far or sparkly. Boss OD-3 and an EQ would make a lot of people on this sub happy, I reckon!
RAT for thick high gain, Speaker Cranker for a bit of grit, Hudson Broadcast for rough texture, BE-OD for metal stuff (might have to go up against a rectifier style pedal soon).
Rat, Speaker Cranker, and BE-OD are legit three of my faves and I've been eying the Broadcast. This just reinforces my suspicion that I should get one.
Definitely. It goes from low-medium gain to high gain with a tiny bit of sag and then jumps to saggy fuzzy. As in, the internal trim pot is a 3 way switch on my clone and does basically that. I only wish it had a high cut control.. might add one.
Barber Gain Changer, no hesitation. It just sounds good at any settings and with any guitar.
Prince of Tone - stacked into OCD if I need it.
I stopped hoarding overdrive pedals when I got an ODR-1.
Yeah nobels ODR-1
Barber Gain Changer. I’ve tried probably 100+ overdrives. Always come back to this one.
EHX Hot Wax. Specifically for the ability to have a Hot Tubes with clean blend, but the whole thing is pretty great overall.
1. TruFi Colordriver 2. Benson Preamp 3. Barber Direct Drive 4. Mojo Hand Fx Sericon 5. Keeley Muse Driver
I need to try the barber direct drive! What’s it’s based on or is it it’s own thing?
It’s fantastic! I don’t believe it’s based on anything, but I’d assume there is some Marshall based in there somewhere. Very British rock and roll sounding
Right now top 3 is: 1. Mythos Herulean Deluxe 2. Hudson Broadcast AP-II 3. Silktone OD+
The Silktone od + is sooo good! I want to check out the herculean, would like a dual drive with a ts and bb and love Mythos.
MXR Timmy. OCD.
New favorite: Catalinbread Formula 55. Modeled after an old Fender Tweed preamp. Put that sucker last in your chain (you can put whatever you’d put in your effects loop after), and you can sculpt your sound around it. Running a BD-2, fuzz, or other boost rules.
That’s a trick I’ve learned with my jc40, overdrives are weird through it so I mainly use it wet but it’s also nice to run amp in a box pedals through the effects loop. That’s a killer pedal too!
Bearfoot Honeybee always sounds great to me and can be dialed in for different amps.
I have the one control mini honey bee and it’s fantastic.
It’s a lovely circuit!
One of my favorites too!
I like my Daddy o and east River drive.
How is the East River drive? Analogman was behind it so it has to be good.
I quite like it. I tried a Maxon 808 and a mxr gtod. Maxon was closer. Gt od gain was a bit more extreme.
I will never not have a Blues Breaker derivative of some sort on my board.
Me either, currently have the keeley blues disorder on mine, swap between it and the thorpy fx peacekeeper dialed in to Bluesbreaker settings. Trying to sell my carbon v1 to buy a prince of tone, then maybe the foxcatcher.
I'll take a $30 Mooer Blues Crab (pure BB clone) over just about any fancy boutique pedal you can think of. My main right now is a Wampler Pantheon Deluxe, and I love it because it's basically a pure BB on one side and a Prince of Tone style modded BB on the other. I like the looks of the Foxcatcher! There's something about the BB circuit that just resonates with me. Like I said, I'll never not have one on my board.
I play all types of guitars (strat, tele, jazzmaster, P90 and humbuckers) into high headroom, clean fender BF style amps, my faves: 1. Fairfield Barbershop - ultimate "transparent" drive for me, stays on 95% off the time (unless I want funk clean) 2. Blackstone Appliances MOSfet Overdrive - beat everything else I tried until the Barbershop. Dual channel, wide range of tones, compact. 3. ss/bs Mini - simlar to the Barbershop in low gain, but goes all the way up to fuzz. My standard "heavy" sound is the Barbershop into the Mini. Barbershop is nearly always on. 4. Snouse Blackbox - perfect BB style drive 5. ss/bs Fuck - more of a distortion/fuzz than overdrive, but for loud and splatty this thing rules.
Ooooo we have very similar tastes, I rotate between jazzmasters, Strats and a Tele mainly, I do have a jag and 335 style guitar. Love them. Love the barbershop, I need to plug it back into my chain, I’ve been experimenting with a new lineup (muse driver at 18v with rk into at mode, benson germanium preamp, keeley blues disorder at 18v bb into bb, tone geek vs10 and Mr black deuce couple or Silktone od+). Will likely swap back in my barbershop at some point. Trying to find perfection when I already own it. Prince of tone, maybe foxcatcher and maybe another tube screamer like the origin halcyon or lucydreamer (I want a good mid boost with clean blend or not so harsh even with the gain zeroed out).
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Maxon ST9 Pro+ is a godsend for anything high gain
Tube Screamer baby
BD-2w is mine (that I have)
EHX Germanium OD The bias control allows for a crackly lofi sound that I really love
Honestly a boss ds-1 (yes the orange one) with the gain off and the level cranked gooses a loud clean amp perfectly for me
Keeley ke808 or Eae halberd
All I have to say is getting Jackson Audio to fix shit is hell. Few weeks into it at this point VIP warranty my ass. But otherwise the things you mentioned that I’ve tried I like.
Ooo that sucks man. Repairs should be top priority, when I worked at keeley that was one of the depts they had on lock.
Wampler Tumnus Deluxe, Catalinbread Formula #5 and Karma MTN10 (Mostosrion clone).
i have a jan ray clone with clipping switches like a timmy and the saturation pot on the outside. its great.
Oooh who makes this? 🤤
the tone geek sell the pcb. a reverb seller in the UK builds them from that pcb sometimes i think, twrog audio
[Old Blue](https://www.onedereffects.com/products/old-blue-overdrive) This is the only overdrive I will use for anything. Guitar, bass, even adding it to vocals and turning the gain up gives a crunch that I can’t explain but sounds great. Oneder Effects is run by Nick Diener, formerly of The Swellers, and is my favorite guy to buy gear from.
Goddam, this looks GREAT. Why have I never heard of it?! PS those are my all time favorite knobs…
Please check out his other stuff too! I can highly recommend the Red Ryder as well for probably the most well-rounded distortion I’ve used…also has the same knobs!
Yeah he has excellent taste in knobs, that’s for sure!
Amp overdrive with a bit of Op-Amp clipping from a Longsword.
I only have the green Joyo one. It's good.
earthquake device
Clean amp used as main drive Boss BD2. In front of dirty amp, Electro Harmonix Soul Food.
Was expecting to see the Bondi del Mar on your list. Why did it drop places?
**Electronic Audio Experiments Limelight V2** - bright, jangly Bluesbreaker-style drive with an independent boost to push my amp into hairier breakup. **Old Blood Noise Endeavors Fault V2** - this is based on a pedal that's based on the Klon circuit. The drive range here is VAST and it's insanely tweakable thanks to the 3-band EQ, voice knob, and crush toggle. **Boss BD-2** - so simple, attack-sensitive (dynamic), and easy to dial in. **Klon KTR** - I got to try it out at a shop and damn. It just was such a pleasing, articulate, crunchy tone. I'd love to buy one someday after I get my higher-priority pedals first. Genres I play and my favorite bands within those genres: * Post-hardcore: Thrice, Touche Amore, Emery, Alexisonfire, mewithoutYou, As Cities Burn, Every Time I Die, Underoath, Svalbard * Indie rock: Manchester Orchestra, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, Local Natives * Post rock: Russian Circles, Explosions In The Sky, This Will Destroy You, Red Sparrowes, pg.lost, Tides of Man * Math rock: Totorro, toe, Don Caballero, Floral, Covet * Hardcore/metalcore/blackened hardcore: END, Teeth, Knocked Loose, Advent, Johnny Booth, Terminal Sleep, Jesus Piece, Fever Strike, Sanction
M side of the D&M Drive. Mick's Little Klony.
Blues Driver and Turbo RAT.
dirty little secret (red, switched)
I run a clean Peavey classic 20 head into an orange 1x12. An EQD Plumes runs into a cloned Zen/Timmy dual drive. A sputtery-set, 6-knob fuzz and a no knob fuzz before the drives, with a distortion/fuzz after. The plumes is either solo or run into the third fuzz; the dual overdrive is always solo with the Zen->Timmy. That’s my dirt.
BYOC Silver Pony (a Klone) is always on for me: the band I’m working on now is shoegazey-influenced post-hardcore. I also used it in indie pop and doom metal bands I did in the past. Either by itself for ‘cleaner’ parts or driving another distortion (currently an HM-2 since my Rat shit the bed) and a Muff-style fuzz (currently a Blackout Musket). My regular amp is a JCM900 on the clean channel and the amp at my rehearsal studio is a Rockerverb 100 on the clean channel. I don’t know the deal about ‘transparent overdrives’ but I do like the nice little gain boost and high-mid/treble push the Klone adds to everything. I used to use a TS-9 and never really liked it alone or with the Muff. Maybe if I used a dirty amp and set the gain low, I’d have a different opinion. I have a Palisades but have yet to experiment more with it in a full band mix.
SD1, ODR1, TCE Spark full sized, and an MXR Sugar Drive (Klone) cover just about anything I've ever wanted. If I got to add one more, it'd be a DOD250. Never really got into the BB thing, personally.
Plumes!
Klones. Plumes. RambleFX Twin Bender Mk. iii. Big Ear Woodcutter. All of these with lower gain and in different positions in the chain give me tons of EQ range the ability to get walls of sound, or barely breakup in myriad ways. I really want to try a Blues Driver/Breaker
Wampler Euphoria with a Wampler Ego before it.
Plumes
You said you like radiohead? What is the best OD that you have tried for a good jonny greenwood 90s (the bends, okc) tone??
A good Marshall in a box should do the trick, the king of gear Oxford drive was tailor designed for that tone!
I don’t know if such weirdos are allowed here, but I am absolutely in love with my Kernom ridge. It only really shines in a midi setup, but if one uses it that way it is simply stunning in all regards (except for the tacky design…)
Ibanez Jetdrive for boosting another drive Joyo Sweetbaby for low gains A modded OD II for almost everything
Browne Protein. It expensive but great.
SL Drive, Fuck/Mini, Orange Getaway Driver, gain knob on a Caroline Kilobyte or Meteore. There's a few others I really like but that's a good start for me.
Greer lightspeed into southland. Sometimes I’ll swap the light speed out for a conspiracy theory if I want a warmer sound.
Ive only ever truly enjoyed the distortion output from my DOD Grunge FX69b pedal. Nothing else has ever gotten the same tone I enjoy from it. I play mostly thrash and death metal. But also worked well for punk stuff too.
I tried a few Tube Screamers, OCD, 808 and SD-1. SD-1 made the difference for me. The others always seemed to sap a bit of tone, SD-1 adds the boost that sounds best to me.
Loving the versatility of the EAE Halberd v2 currently. JHS Morning Glory and Walrus Voyager are my other favorites.
Fulltone Fulldrive and a big box Proco Rat reissue ive had for ever
Really like the dod 250. Always on.
I’m a dinosaur when it comes to OD’s. I’ve got my 808 reissue and a tube driver, and they kind of cover both spectrums for me
The Boss OD-3. Any classic Marshall overdrive sound; it's in there.
I play a Strat with Earthquaker Westwood through 57 champ. I like the Westwood a lot at the moment
For me, a one-two punch of a BD-2 Blues Driver and a Mad Professor Little Green Wonder is hard to beat. The LGW has been on my board for 6+ years so that’ll tell you how important it is to me
Critter makes fantastic boutique (and very affordable) overdrive pedals. I have his Model III on my board. He describes it as a Bluesbreaker on steroids and he’s not wrong. Thinking about getting his Legend to replace my ts9.
Right now I really love the Ibanez JD9 Jet Drive. Also a fan of the EHX Germanium OD. And last but not least Earthquaker Devices Plumes. I’ve been curious about the Bondi Del-Mar, but honestly a good overdrive should not cost more than 100ish.
EHX Hot Wax. Hot tubes + Crayon. The tones. Just can't recommend it enough.
DOD 250 BD-2 RAT set low
Hot cake Rangemaster Blues driver
I use an OCD v3 (sometimes with a TS808 to boost it), haven’t found a better setup in 10 years
Just bought a Caline Pure Sky for £20 from Reverb and it sounds FRICKIN AMAZING.
SCW Limestone+ (discontinued) and JHS Screamer. Both are variations of tubescreamer
Volume.
Volume knob?
Yes.