I need an overdrive Pedal

Hey Good People. I was lucky enough to get my dream rig about a month ago. a 52RI through a vox ac15. I love it! But there is some bruce songs i need a little more with and i think i just need a little overdrive. What should i get? i have about 150 to spend what do you guys think. I was thinking of the OCD overdrive.

for an AC15? try a treble booster, a crowther hotcake, or maybe just a boost pedal like a ZVEX SHO or Robbie's Bad Bob.

The OCD wouldn't be a bad choice, but I'd try out some of those Danelectro Cool Cat pedals-I've got the CO-1 Drive (which is a copy of the OCD) and absolutely love it... pretty cheap, too...

Franc Robert

I'm partial to the voodoo lab sparkle drive!

I need an overdrive Pedal

Request approved.

X 2 on the Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. Clean control is very usefull.

+1 on the Cool Cat Drive. You'll have lots of money left over for another toy, too. I've also got a Boss OD-3. I have yet to fall in love with an OD over $100.

The MXR CSP-021 GT-OD is a good option, too. Shouldn't have sold mine. Dang.

$150 for an OD pedal, especially if you aren't sure what you want, is absurd. You could buy a SD-1 or a Bad Monkey for 1/3 that. A used Tube Screamer for about half.

For $150 you could buy a Visual Sound Route 66 pedal, which is a Tube Screamer-like overdrive and a compressor in one box. The Jekyll and Hyde is the same overdrive combined with a distortion pedal for the same price.

I'm going to put a big vote against the Sparkle Drive, I've always been really disappointed by it.

Try Barber. OCD's great, too.

$150 for an OD pedal, especially if you aren't sure what you want, is absurd.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'd like to add that at age 19, $50 seemed like a lot to me to spend on a single pedal, let alone $150. Get a couple of pedals and have twice as much fun.

Start cheap and work your way up. You can always sell what you don't like.

+1 on the Cool Cat Drive. Definitely worth a try.

For $150 you could buy a Visual Sound Route 66 pedal, which is a Tube Screamer-like overdrive and a compressor in one box. The Jekyll and Hyde is the same overdrive combined with a distortion pedal for the same price.[/QUOTE]

The Route 66 is an absolutely fantastic pedal and I recomend it highly. It also is very rugged and stands up to gigging/touring/beer spills. I've used the same one for about eight years. I especially love how it is two pedals in one, with a very nice built in compressor, and anyone playing a tele knows the importance of a little compression.

I also have the Jekyll and Hyde, which has the option of Tube Screamer or Marshall Stack overdive-type sounds, but I never use it as my Rt 66 fills the bill for all the Rockabilly, Alt Country, jangely alt rock stuff I do. - Hack

if i could only have one OD, it would be a boss od-3. but i don't know how it would sound for springsteen stuff, maybe you'd do better with a tube screamer.

Request approved.

lol

+1 on the Route 66 od. I run the Route 66 for more rock oriented numbers (I keep a shade of compression on at all times) and a TS 808 for the not so slammin' stuff. I've got a Sparkle drive but wished it "kicked" a bit harder. Regards.

$150 for an OD pedal, especially if you aren't sure what you want, is absurd. You could buy a SD-1 or a Bad Monkey for 1/3 that. A used Tube Screamer for about half.

For $150 you could buy a Visual Sound Route 66 pedal, which is a Tube Screamer-like overdrive and a compressor in one box. The Jekyll and Hyde is the same overdrive combined with a distortion pedal for the same price.


I agree.

far from an expert, no experience with any of the others mentioned, but have you tried Maxon. I have an OD-9 (used $90) which I really like...also hear good things about the Maxon OD-808. Tubescreamers basically. Supposedly true-bypass as well. Pretty sure both go for $150 new...Good Luck

Hold on. Yes $150 is a lot of money to someone i ntheir late teens/early twenties (i.e. that's a lot of money for me!) but do you remember being young and thinking that two cheap pedals was better than one good pedal? Remember looking back and remembering how FOOLISH that sort of thinking is?

I say get what ya want. If you're picky you can get a great pedal (preferrably used) for way under your $150 BUT if "the one" cries out to you and costs that much then go for it. If you don't all you'll wind up doing is continuing to chase it until you have it anyways.

The OCD wouldn't be a bad choice, but I'd try out some of those Danelectro Cool Cat pedals-I've got the CO-1 Drive (which is a copy of the OCD) and absolutely love it... pretty cheap, too...

Franc Robert

+1 on the Cool Cat Drive. You'll have lots of money left over for another toy, too. I've also got a Boss OD-3. I have yet to fall in love with an OD over $100.

The MXR CSP-021 GT-OD is a good option, too. Shouldn't have sold mine. Dang.

+2 for the cool cat drive.

I picked up a Fulltone Full Drive 2 at GC last week for $152. I am very happy with it.

$150 is pretty much the average price for a nice OD pedal these days, if you buy it brand new; used, you can get the same stuff down to about $120... Lots of killer ODs in that price range, and that really doesn't seem like much to spend when you have a nice guitar & amp. And is it absurd to buy pedals to try out, even if you don't know exactly what you're looking for? Nah... that's how you find out what you like, and it can be a lot of fun. As always, YMMV.

As for the OP's question... Vox amps tend to sound better with ODs that don't have a huge (TS-type) mid hump. The Crowther Hotcake, PaulC Timmy, and OCD would all be worth checking out.

far from an expert, no experience with any of the others mentioned, but have you tried Maxon. I have an OD-9 (used $90) which I really like...also hear good things about the Maxon OD-808. Tubescreamers basically. Supposedly true-bypass as well. Pretty sure both go for $150 new...Good Luck


If I had to keep only one pedal, it would be the Maxon OD-808!

Blackstone Appliance about $225
Danelectro Cool Cat OD about $40

I just switched amps, going from a solid state to a tube amp. My opinion of my OD pedals have totally changed with the new amp. I'm sure part of it is the SS vs tube. But not all of it. I think what I'm trying to say is all of these recommendations are probably great, but how that pedal sounds with your particular amp is really the key. I wouldn't drop a ton of money until I knew it was really going to do the trick. I have a Bad Monkey, Blues Driver and Turbo Rat. On my Orange TT, the Blues Driver is very nice. It was way too harsh before. The Turbo Rat, is very versatile and one to check out too.

+1 on the Cool Cat Drive. You'll have lots of money left over for another toy, too. I've also got a Boss OD-3. I have yet to fall in love with an OD over $100.

The MXR CSP-021 GT-OD is a good option, too. Shouldn't have sold mine. Dang.

+1 on the MXR...less mid hump and more fire than a Tubescreamer...not selling mine!

Barber LTD is a nice, low- to med-gain, midhump-less pedal that I think would work perfectly for Springsteen type stuff.

$120 brand new.

Barber LTD is a nice, low- to med-gain, midhump-less pedal that I think would work perfectly for Springsteen type stuff.

$120 brand new.

+1 - the LTD would be perfect for this application.

can't crank that small vox?

I use a custom Telecaster with three pickups (lollar mini humbucker neck, lollar strat middle and a GFS fatbody overwound in the bridge) and can get lots of great tones out it through my AC-15 BUT only if i use a good OD.... I tried the Danelectro and the boss but didn't get the sound i wanted until i plugged in one of the more expensive ones... since then I've used a ZVex Super Hard On, Crowther Hotcake and a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 mosfet, i kept all three of them.... but the "cheaper" pedals always seem to make their way on craigslist and sold for less than half what they are worth..... just my 2 cents....

can't crank that small vox?

OH, and in regards to that.... you get an amazing sound through the AC-15 when you use it clean and crank both the boost volume and the master volume but that means your neighbors want to destroy you.... the OD's give you that sound at lower volumes, especially if playing at home....

but nothing can sound better than having it cranked....

you can get some great overdrive tones out of a little big muff

Ok to clarify the 150 dollar price point i mentioned. I have a little money saved up for a pedal and my birthday is on Saturday. So anyway thanks for all the info so far i didn't know there was so many options out there. What do you guys think of BBE?

Nick Greer makes some nice stuff

steve

I'll go for the OCD... I love that pedal so much that I got two of them ;-)
But I think you also should try the Carl martin AC-tone. You'll get drive, more drive and a clean boost.

If you want an OCD then go for it.

I wouldn't listen to anyone telling you that you shouldn't spend your own money on something you want.

I have a pair of OCD's they are very nice but not that high gain.
If you want a fair amount of gain then I would look at the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret.

1RiO-JNtHZs

For $150 you could buy a Visual Sound Route 66 pedal, which is a Tube Screamer-like overdrive and a compressor in one box.

The Route 66 is an absolutely fantastic pedal and I recomend it highly. It also is very rugged and stands up to gigging/touring/beer spills. I've used the same one for about eight years. I especially love how it is two pedals in one, with a very nice built in compressor, and anyone playing a tele knows the importance of a little compression.

I also have the Jekyll and Hyde, which has the option of Tube Screamer or Marshall Stack overdive-type sounds, but I never use it as my Rt 66 fills the bill for all the Rockabilly, Alt Country, jangely alt rock stuff I do. - Hack[/QUOTE]

+1 I take mine everywhere I go ,If I have to us a rented/borrowed backline I can always dial in something I am comfotable with

I highly recommend the $117 or so Visual Sound Open Road. It seems very much like an extention of the amp. Very natural and open sounding. It can do a good clean boost, add a little grit to a cranked amp, or be a straight up dirt box-pretty much the OD pedal trifecta. It retains all the low end and keeps it tight too. Seems very well built. I've only used it at gigs. I have no idea what it sounds like as a "bedroom box". YMMV

I'm a fan of fuzz for overdrive.... But I also like germanium fuzzes. They tend ot be very expensive, but then I happened across a Keeley Fuzz Head. Great pedal, reasonably priced.

The other overdrive I have on my board right now is a DanElectro Transparent Overdrive.

I have an OCD and like it, but not as much as the two current dirt boxes.... actually I have abig old pile of dirt boxes sitting over there... A Marshall Guv'nor that I want to try again, an OCD... there's a Dano French Toast a Russian BIg Muff (which is currently not working correctly, cause I like dit too and would probably keep it on the board)....

I got rid of a Tubescremaer. Tried the Bad Monkey and liked it. Liked my Fulltone '70 pedal, but not enough to keep it on the board.

I know there's some I'm missing...

But, the big thing is I play through two different blackface voiced Fenders. Not a Vox. So, what I like may not really work as well for you. If you can, try as many things out as you can through as close to your rig as you can!

Anyways, try the DanElectro pedals, they ain't the greatest thing on earth, but they'll let you audition some more expensive sounds... Oh, and take a peak at a fuzz or two as well. You might be surprised at what you can do if you turn back the gain a bit.

Try as many different ones as you can before you commit.

Ok to clarify the 150 dollar price point i mentioned. I have a little money saved up for a pedal and my birthday is on Saturday. So anyway thanks for all the info so far i didn't know there was so many options out there. What do you guys think of BBE?

I've never met a BBE pedal that I didn't like. I own the Wah, Soul Vibe, and Tremor, and I've tried the Green Screamer and liked it. Great build quality.

Happy Birthday! Get whatever the heck you want, it's your day.

For a tele into a Vox AC15 amp.

Here ya go:http://www.tonefactor.com/proddetail.php?prod=hotcake

cletus

I have an OCD and a Barber LTD... I've been playing the Barber a lot lately - pick sensitivity and dynamics are great for a low gain drive...

Check out GearManDude on YouTube... he's done so many A/B A/B/C comparisons of overdrives you may be able to find all the recommendations from here being tested...

Plus his own LutherDrive is nice too.

http://www.youtube.com/user/gearmanndude

I have an OCD (v4) that I didn’t really come to terms with at first.

I recently bought a Blackstone Appliances Mosfet OD. Pricey as sin, but worth it IMHO. I liked the Blackstone from the very beginning, and at least after a mere few weeks I still have not got bored with it. Not by far enough time to pass the final verdict, but anyways.

The funny thing is that once I got the Blackstone into my signal chain I sort of made friends with the OCD again. The Blackstone would be my choice if I’d have to pick only one of them. But… errrh, I CAN HAVE THEM BOTH! :mrgreen:

Both the Blackstone and the OCD cost quite some money and I blame my buying them on severe GAS (the worse the player, the more junk you’ll find strewn about…). But heck, I like them just the same!

The worse the player, the more junk you’ll find strewn about…

+1. I often find myself thinking about actually PLAYING my guitar instead of cruising the internet looking for new things to GAS about, but I can't resist.

If all of the time I spent on forums, researching, buying and selling gear went to playing guitar instead, I'd probably be miles ahead in my picking.


BUT, I'd also still be rocking out through an stock Squier Affinity Strat and a 15W SS practice amp :rolleyes:

a lot of people seem to be recommending your favorite stomps which is cool, but some of these seem weird in a vox AC-15.

I mean this is a dirty amp... and you are saying you just want a bit more on top. So the perfect match would be a tried and tested treble booster type pedal. Rory Gallager, Brian May, Ritchie blackmore, etc.. were on to something when they used treble boosters to put a bit more edge on their tone with thier vox combo's..

(the worse the player, the more junk you’ll find strewn about…). But heck, I like them just the same!

Absolutely! The more and more I play the less and less I plug pedals in. Tube amps and your fingers can make some magical noises.

I went from 9 pedals to 6 to 2 to 1 to none. I might plug in my one pedal again if I'm out playing but otherwise they are more like toys than tools.

I have an OCD that I play through my 5E3 and I love it!

If there is only 1 OD, I'd have to suggest the Timmy. With the great EQ, it becomes the "Swiss Army Knife" od pedals!

And it sounds great with EL-84 Tubes, also.