Tell us your single favorite OD pedal!

[studio]

Warm Audio Foxy Tone Box.
Because it's built well and that
undeniable tone..... it screams!

The built in high octave fuzz thing
can even get you into a ring modulator sound.

That little orange boxy is foxy!

Second on my list would be the old MXR Distortion II.
That has been one of my favorite sounding
dist boxes ever since I recorded with one back
in the early and mid 80's!

It has such a smooth tone to it.

 

[bgmacaw]

Peavey Hotfoot distortion, essentially a Rat clone, that I've been using since 1988.

 

[stormsedge]

NUX Horseman. Does a good less gainy with a little grit boost that I like on my main board.

Caline Clear Veil Fuzz on my R&D board...always a surprise the sweet tone it conjures.

In the "other room", I like a Danelectro Pride of Texas...reputed to be a TS808/8 clone. Controllable grit.

 

[Rich_S]

No question, the Xotic BB Preamp. Flexible EQ, tons of volume boost. Most important, it doesn’t compress and squash out the pick attack. Chunky.

 

[mjcyates]

I bought one of these when David released them for $99. It is the first pedal that gave me the sound in my head as soon as I first turned it on. It has never left my board and never will. I have tried the various other versions of the Direct Drive but this one is the best to my ears.

 

[northernguitar]

Digitech Bad Monkey. I put one on my board 12 years ago and it's never left. Beat out offerings from Ibanez, Boss, EHX. I like it to goose the preamp tubes. I find it sharpens the tone, so to speak.

 

[VintageSG]

My favourite, from my rather short list of overdrives, is a pedal that many will dismiss.
The VT999 by Behringer. There, I broke the fourth wall, or whatever. Admittedly, out of the box, it is a little 'meh', but with two minor changes, it comes alive.
It's a starved plate implementation that appears to use the valve as little more than a diode clipper that has 'harmonic issues'. The main PCB is densely populated with op-amps. Mmm, op-amp goodness ( not sarcasm )
The bass, middle, treble tone controls are wide ranging and very, very effective in use. Mmm, op-amp goodness. See, I told you no sarcasm. There's a gain control and output level. The gain can get to silly levels of rather pleasant clipping, and there's a richness to the sound when it's 'in the zone' that hollow state does so much better than solid state. The output can go from zero through unity to input stage worrying levels, making it a rather good pre-amp too. There's a noise gate, which is fairly effective.
Those tweaks?, well, remove the stock 12AX7 and replace it with any 12AU7 aside from JJ. Nothing wrong with the JJ 12AU7 in any other application aside from this one. It's flaccid. The JJ ECC802 is wasted here, but it does sound good. Any Brit or US NOS example will do. It's like the difference between a 16"x20" print from C41 compared to Kodachrome blown large on a lenticular screen, to draw a poorly thought out comparison.
To add to this, junk the stock 9V power supply, or use it with other pedals ( it's quite a decent unit ) and use a 12V supply capable of ~1000mA minimum.
Headroom, space, harmonic richness and touch sensitivity increase while the already low noise floor drops. Win/win.

If it came with the 'correct' power supply, a better valve and had some booteek name and paint job, it'd be considered a highly desirable pedal. You can, and I have, take the output into a DI with cab emulation ( tone shaping really ) and run to FOH with it, at a push. It responds quite well to being used last in chain and having the front end pushed slightly. Not quite as good in that role as the Joyo AS, but at a pinch, it'll do.

I'm not much of an overdrive fan or user. I have a 12AX7 based one I built that uses a charge pump to raise the anode voltage to 'ticklish' from 9V, that's quite good. A Sino clone of the Tube Screamer was bought, because Tube Screamer more than anything else. Like the TS it clones, I don't get the hype. It's alright.
My last overdrive is a Danelectro FAB plastic pedal. It sounds like the Sino clone-o and the real TS. It's alright. I'm not feeling Tube Screamery today.

 

[harleytech]

Wampler Clarksdale

 

[Mark617]

xotic Ep boost. I push that through my Rat

 

[BUG80]

In combination with my AC30: Crowther Hotcake. If I would have to sell all my pedals except for one, I would keep this.

* The overdrive sounds very 'organic', like a cranked AC30 without having to actually crank it
* I can still hear the character of the guitar shine through. It is not really transparent, but it colors the sound in a very pleasant way (increasing the presence gives a very nice sounding mid bump)
* It is very dynamic: cleans up when you play more soft
* It is very versatile: from almost clean boost to fuzzy distortion
* It cleans up very well with your guitar's volume control
* It has a great buffer

What's not to like?

 

[JustABluesGuy]

The Boss OD-3.

My favorite isn’t very exciting, but it works for me.

I have an Ibanez TS-9 or Boss SD-1 for use with mid scooped amps, but prefer the asymmetrical clipping of the SD-1. For my more mid focused amps I use either my Boss OD-3 or my Klon Klone. I’m not playing mid scooped amps much so, so the Boss OD-3 it is.

 

[JohnnyThul]

Any Barber overdrive pedal. Hard to say which, I guess, LTD type is the one I couldn't live without, close second is the Direct Drive (Small Fry/Burn Unit being 3rd ). They just work, are organic to my ears, do not alter the character of the amp, are fat, but still clear enough. It's just the feeling I have that a musician voiced these pedals and that they are indeed musically. They definitely insipre me to play and that is the best I can see about any pedal or any piece of equipment.

 

[Old Smokey]

Side A of the Chase Bliss Brothers. I can’t really articulate why, I just know it sounds great with my rig. I’m not much of a connoisseur of OD pedals— I wouldn’t know a Klon from a Tubescreamer— just got lucky with this one I guess.

 

[ASATKat]

I have an original Hermida Zendrive 2 overdrive. It's my favorite of the Zendrives

The average price for one of these used is around $800 - $900.

 

[KC]

Lovepedal Tchula for me, super-simple but effective. The drive side doesn't have any controls at all, just a foot switch. The boost side has a gain knob. That's it. Plays well with single coils especially, or bright humbuckers. Sounds good through Vox & Marshall & Fender-voiced amps. Loves to run on batteries, which seem to last indefinitely.

 

[Resojazznblues]

.

 

[schmee]

Ibanez TS9DX. For 15 years.

 

[black_doug]

I found one that I like. It has a mix knob and a boost with it’s own gain that adds up to 20db for solos. It’s going into my Rat clone from Jam Pedals.

 

[Kungpow!]

Tube Screamer

 

[Chiogtr4x]

I bought one of these when David released them for $99. It is the first pedal that gave me the sound in my head as soon as I first turned it on. It has never left my board and never will. I have tried the various other versions of the Direct Drive but this one is the best to my ears.

View attachment 944938

That's one of the first, cool!
In their 'Distortion Pedal Roundup' , Guitar Player magazine absolutely loved this one. ( maybe 1998?)

So I got one, a few years later!