Tell us your single favorite OD pedal!

[Strowbri86]

Very simple! What is your single favorite overdrive pedal you've ever had or used?

It can be a distortion/high gain pedal that you prefer on lower gain, as more of a drive pedal, but straight up overdrive pedals preferred. Boost pedals that simply use the amps natural gain sound when cranked do not count, as that is the going to be more the amp's sound than the pedal's. (Obviously colorations change with different amps in general, but you get what I'm saying.)

Tell us your favorite and why.

For me... for now... I'm going to say the Keeley Super Phat Mod drive pedal. I've been recording with it a lot. I love it on low-mid gain for more classic, bluesy rock sounds and cranked for more 90s overdrive sounds. I always use the Phat setting though. Just sweeter that way IMO.

How about you?

 

[Cali Dude]

When I was younger, I gigged with, and liked the ts-9 into a deluxe reverb. More recently, I really have grown to love the J Rocket silver Archer pedal. To me, the Archer doesn't seem to color the sound of my guitar as much as the tube screamer. Both are great though.

 

[Killing Floor]

Single favorite? I probably have 20 I'll never sell and a bunch more I could be talked out of keeping.
If I had to pick a traditional stomp box it's very likely the Protein.

But if I just kept 1 it would be this one. It's basically a trace of the preamp section of JCM-800 including 2 fully utilized 12AX7 tubes. It gets as hot as it needs to for OD but I love that it doesn't get dirty too early so you can use the whole gain range. It's a great preamp for guitar or for bass. There's a ton of clean headroom before it starts to go creamy.

 

[Strowbri86]

When I was younger, I gigged with, and liked the ts-9 into a deluxe reverb. More recently, I really have grown to love the J Rocket silver Archer pedal. To me, the Archer doesn't seem to color the sound of my guitar as much as the tube screamer. Both are great though.

I completely agree. I love the TS9 and 8 but I think they are best on nice chimey leads. I gotta have that lower end stay in my sound though to really crunch out some chords. The J Archer is solid! But I prefer the Tumnus.

 

[Strowbri86]

Single favorite? I probably have 20 I'll never sell and a bunch more I could be talked out of keeping.
If I had to pick a traditional stomp box it's very likely the Protein.

But if I just kept 1 it would be this one. It's basically a trace of the preamp section of JCM-800 including 2 fully utilized 12AX7 tubes. It gets as hot as it needs to for OD but I love that it doesn't get dirty too early so you can use the whole gain range. It's a great preamp for guitar or for bass. There's a ton of clean headroom before it starts to go creamy.
View attachment 944870

Whoa! I have not seen this. I'll have to watch some vids.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

Blues Driver #1 since about 1997.

A great ' always ON' pedal into a few amps I use. Or as a slightly dirty Boost to hit the Lead channel of my little Fender Frontman 25R amp.

It is just very good at introducing a variable ( with guitar Volume knob/cleanup) breakup into my guitar > amp sound, without really changing the EQ.
I set pedal Gain knob to just how much distortion zi want to hear, when I actually do turn guitar Volume all the way up.
A great OD for me as I'm not a hard rocker, more a R&R/ old blues guy

 

[Strowbri86]

Blues Driver #1 since about 1997.

A great ' always ON' pedal into a few amps I use. Or as a slightly dirty Boost to hit the Lead channel of my little Fender Frontman 25R amp.

It is just very good at introducing a variable ( with guitar Volume knob/cleanup) breakup into my guitar > amp sound, without really changing the EQ.
I set pedal Gain knob to just how much distortion zi want to hear, when I actually do turn guitar Volume all the way up.
A great OD for me as I'm not a hard rocker, more a R&R/ old blues guy

Yessir. If you know you know. Legends never die.

 

[Vocalion]

Though I have a few more (Tumnus, ODR-1, Plexi-Drive), the one I’ve had the most fun with is my Danelectro The Breakdown.

 

[Ian T]

Depends on the amp!

 

[markal]

Joyo Sweet Baby Overdrive. Gritty and bright. Sounds fantastic with neck pickups, single coil or humbuckers, and pretty damn good with bridge pickups. It’s a clone of a Mad Professor Sweet Honey, and one of these days I have to get the real thing.

Close 2nd is my Xotic BB Preamp.

 

[El Tele Lobo]

I like Klon types. My favorite I've tried to date is the Tumnus.

 

[MilwMark]

Boss SD-1. In isolation, maybe a tad thin? In a mix, like turning up my amp. But audible. Lift for leads without excess volume.

 

[don_danapoint]

Barber Gain Changer… Sounds awesome with my Marshall and Fender amps.

 

[String Tree]

Very simple! What is your single favorite overdrive pedal you've ever had or used?

It can be a distortion/high gain pedal that you prefer on lower gain, as more of a drive pedal, but straight up overdrive pedals preferred. Boost pedals that simply use the amps natural gain sound when cranked do not count, as that is the going to be more the amp's sound than the pedal's. (Obviously colorations change with different amps in general, but you get what I'm saying.)

Tell us your favorite and why.

For me... for now... I'm going to say the Keeley Super Phat Mod drive pedal. I've been recording with it a lot. I love it on low-mid gain for more classic, bluesy rock sounds and cranked for more 90s overdrive sounds. I always use the Phat setting though. Just sweeter that way IMO.

How about you?

I have to stick with my Tube Screamer.
It plays well with others.

 

[Tele-friend]

+1 on Boss Blues Driver.

As a low to medium gain pedal it sounds really good. It has a pretty flat EQ so it doesen't colour up you sound. It is also very dynamic so you play softly and it stays clean or pick hard and it goes into overdrive.

I would add thought that I would much rather talk about which OD pedals do you stack together and why. I found out that stacking is fun and gives you many many different tonal/gain options, but that is for another thread.

 

[GGardner]

Any votes for the Catalinbread SFT? i almost bought one tonight purely on a whim.

 

[oregomike]

Very simple! What is your single favorite overdrive pedal you've ever had or used?

It can be a distortion/high gain pedal that you prefer on lower gain, as more of a drive pedal, but straight up overdrive pedals preferred. Boost pedals that simply use the amps natural gain sound when cranked do not count, as that is the going to be more the amp's sound than the pedal's. (Obviously colorations change with different amps in general, but you get what I'm saying.)

Tell us your favorite and why.

For me... for now... I'm going to say the Keeley Super Phat Mod drive pedal. I've been recording with it a lot. I love it on low-mid gain for more classic, bluesy rock sounds and cranked for more 90s overdrive sounds. I always use the Phat setting though. Just sweeter that way IMO.

How about you?

Right now, the Benson Pre-Amp has been getting all the love, and has pretty much stopped my OD GAS.

 

[richiek65]

Joyo Sweet Baby Overdrive. Gritty and bright. Sounds fantastic with neck pickups, single coil or humbuckers, and pretty damn good with bridge pickups. It’s a clone of a Mad Professor Sweet Honey, and one of these days I have to get the real thing.

Close 2nd is my Xotic BB Preamp.

Yep, sensational pedal. I stacked mine with a Caline Pure Sky and was astounded. Unfortunately the Joyo broke and the Caline started buzzing. So one day I hope to get a Mad Prof Sweet Honey and steak or with a Timmy. Should be the sound of angels singing!

 

[richiek65]

Best I've used for low gain are the DOD Looking Glass and Oddfellow Caveman. They are probably designed for more higher gain settings but they were both glorious.

 

[JDB2]

I’m rather new to OD the pedals game but so far I really like the Wampler Belle (Nobels). It is very tube like and “transparent” as they say with a good crisp edge of breakup tone. Also I dig the Wampler Pantheon (Bluesbreaker) for a smooth higher gain tone and Tumnus Deluxe (Klon) for a gutsy boost.

I run the Tumnus, Pantheon, and Belle set for low, highest, and medium gain in that order. I stack them in various combinations, often adding the Tumnus to one or the other of the others. They all have good control over EQ which allows this to happen. Good times.