A smoother, gentler overdrive?

[Telephonic]

I'll try to keep this simple and to the point:

I am playing a Nashville Tele through a Classic 30. I like the OD pedals I am currently using - Dano CO-1 (whatever clone it is), a Blues driver and a Hyde.

It seems that these overdrives are "Brittle, harsh or crunchy" - not bad if a song calls for that. What I'm looking for are recommendations for an OD pedal that is "smoother, creamier...softer" lol!

Is there such a thing?

[ruger9]

The Blues Driver is a full-range OD, meaning it's not "thick", doesn't have much of a mid hump. I find that no-mid-hump ODs can sound harsh. What you need is a TS-type pedal, TS9 TS808 SD-1 ...all these are fatter, less harsh, more mids drives.

The Bad Monkey is basically the TS808 circuit, and it's only $50. Pick up one of those, and if THAT still sounds harsh, then I think you need to start thinking about a different amp. With the bass & treble controls on the BM, you should be able to dial out any harshness.

[jjkrause84]

I've heard good things about the Barber LTD for low-gain OD....might be what you're looking for

[Powers]

+1 on the Barber LTD. I've been using the SR as a "smooth" overdrive for about 2 years now.

Also - you may check out the lovepedal kanji eternity. From all the demos I've seen, this is an extremely velvety smooth overdrive. But then again, I have one that should be here any day now and I probably just have kanji on the brain.

[schenkadere]

Do yourself a favor and try the DeltaLab TO-1 Tube Overdrive(formerly TD-1 Tube Driver). It's a TS based OD and I find it incredibly smooth. Great for low to mid gain. Cheap, readily available at GC, true bypass.

Otherwise the Hardwire CM-2 is a better choice than the Bad Monkey...it's worth the extra cash. I found it a bit nasal though...most love it. Nice and smooth and warm.

Quite frankly, another really good, inexpensive choice is the good old Boss SD-1. I prefer it to most TS type pedals.

You could go to your local GC and try all three.

[hannigan]

For smooth overdrive I like the catalinbread super charged overdrive.

[TeleCarlos]

You have a VS Jekyll & Hyde? I also play thru a C30 and find the "left" side of my J&K creamy and robust. Also like the Blues Driver for its openess.

[Charlie Bernstein]

My LTD is a pretty easy-going little box. Definitely nothing brittle about the sound.

[robt57]

Maybe something more transparent, like a SD pickup booster ?

[Budda]

RAT, Zendrive, Barber LTD, Lovepedal Eternity. All good choices here.

[studio1087]

You can get some nice low gain sounds from a Digitech Bad Monkey.....it's a TS9-ish clone with bass and treble knobs...very popular....very affordable.

$39 - $49 new at retail.

Not as sexy or boutique as some of the other pedals reccomended but it's a tried and true lower gain pedal....



$49 Monkey with free shipping - LInky

John

[octatonic]

Klon Centaur is the smoothest overdrive I've used.
It is serious bucks though.

[JohnS]

I find the Dano CTO v2 Transparent Overdrive to give some nice grit without coloration. Milder than your Dano CO.

[Maradona86]

Save your money, head to GC and buy either one of their MXR Classic Distortions or an MXR Distortion III. The name is totally misleading and it gives up everything from a very suttle OD to thick, sort of dark overdriven tone. I use it with my J 20 Jet and a Les Paul when I want that "musical molasses" kinda thang dripping from my amp. No joke, it works and for real cheap!

[RomanS]

...and another vote for the Barber LTD!

[fuzzbox]

I had the Blues Driver with the Analogman mod and it still was to brittle through my Fender guitars/amp rig. However, Analogman's Silver TS9 is the real deal with cream to spare. Get one.

[cactusrob]

The Sparkle Drive would be nice....but the more I read/watch/hear about the Bad Monkey, the more I'm leanin that way for the price ...

Good thread!!

[schenkadere]

Originally Posted by Maradona86

Save your money, head to GC and buy either one of their MXR Classic Distortions or an MXR Distortion III. The name is totally misleading and it gives up everything from a very suttle OD to thick, sort of dark overdriven tone. I use it with my J 20 Jet and a Les Paul when I want that "musical molasses" kinda thang dripping from my amp. No joke, it works and for real cheap!

Good suggestion. MXR Classic Distortion(exactly the same as a Distortion III except for cosmetics)...39.99 new...cheaper than a BM...and a much better pedal. IMO.

The Monkey will definitely affect your signal...it's a notorious tone sucker. It always gets the "for the price" attached to it...there's a reason for that...although it is built like a tank.

[Svyatoslav K.]

Telephonic, try a MOSFET based pedals..

Article about MOSFET and affect on tone:

MOSFET stands for Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. It's a kind of transistor that clips gradually when overdriven, as most tubes do.

Both tubes and transistors amplify signals by passing current from one side of the device to the other, sculpting it along the way to the same shape as a much weaker input signal. It's like a movie or slide projector - a source of energy (the bulb) is shaped by the film, and projected on the screen, where we see a much bigger version of the image on the film (even though the actual light we see comes from the bulb, not the film).

There are basically three kinds of transistor that are used to amplify audio: the most common is a bipolar transistor. It is a sandwich of three layers of silicon, with the outer ones negatively charged and the middle one positively charged (NPN). Or, the other way around (PNP). A small signal on the middle layer controls a much bigger current passing between the two outer layers.

A later development was the Field-Effect Transistor (FET). Here the current doesn't have to pass through the middle layer of the sandwich, it passes near it, and is controlled by the field effect exerted on it. This was more efficient in a number of ways. It also happens to clip more softly than a bi-polar transistor.

The third type is an FET where the element doing the controlling doesn't even contact the channel carrying the large current. It's insulated from it by a thin layer of silicon dioxide - a kind of glass. This is the MOSFET. In certain configurations, it clips very softly.

There are some circuits in which MOSFETs are used as diodes in a "Mosfet Edition" of a tubescreamer-type diode clipper. In this application, the MOSFET is "off" at all times, and it is the PN boundary between the body and one of the terminals that is acting as a diode. This diode may have some favorable characteristics, but this has nothing to do with the soft-clipping transfer function that MOSFET gain stages are known for.


The clipping characteristics of individual vacuum tube or solid-state semiconductors are by no means the whole story in the behavior of a circuit. You've probably noticed by now that a circuit can have tubes in it and still sound really bad. And the sound that formed the original criterion for what's desireable in overdrive, the sound of a cranked non-master-volume tube amp, has got to do with a lot things besides the tubes. There's transformers, speakers and the interaction of these with the tubes, to say nothing of the acoustic and psycho-acoustic byproducts of playing loud. Anyone interested in getting a repeatable sound that isn't dependant on playing at a certain sound pressure level would be better off discarding the dogma surrounding tubes and transistors, and employing the only devices that can be trusted -- the ears.

MOSFET pedals -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk_Ts35QQ08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5dD9...eature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_oVMWpNlVU

Hope it helps!

[beexter]

Another vote for the Boss SD-1. I've got quite a few OD pedal's (inc. a Bad Monkey and Dano TOD v1, Boss BD-2, OD-3) and for me, the SD-1 gives that softness (at low settings) that I like. Most of the others can be quite bright. Dialled up though, it can get really crunchy. I just think it's a great all rounder that can be had cheap.