A COMPLETE GUIDE to the Features of the Best Overdrive Pedals: Tube Screamer, OCD, Boss Super Overdrive SD-1, Blues Driver, MXR M264 Fet Driver, Okko Diablo, TC Electronic MojoMojo.
Features of the Overdrive Pedals
Overdrive pedals mimic the sound produced when the volume of a tube amplifier is turned up, creating an overdriven or saturated effect.
These pedals offer warm, smooth, and compressed distortion while scrupulously preserving the dynamics that the guitarist conveys through the instrument.
Dynamics refers to a performer’s ability to modify the sound of an electric guitar simply by changing their playing style. For example, if you play softly, the sound should soften in terms of both volume and distortion. Conversely, if you play more energetically, the volume and distortion should increase noticeably.
The overdrive effect produces a distorted sound that emphasises the harmonics and significantly increases sustain. It usually provides a distortion range spanning from a slight boost, similar to a booster pedal set to its minimum level, to hard rock-style distortion when set to its maximum level.
Standard Controls for Overdrive Pedals
These pedals are highly recommended for a wide variety of musical genres, particularly blues and rock. However, the level of distortion and behaviour can be adjusted depending on how they are set up:
- Turning down the gain and turning up the volume will make it behave like a booster. This will slightly increase the overall volume.
- Setting the controls to the ‘medium’ position will make the unit behave like a standard overdrive.
- If we turn up the volume and gain on the overdrive pedal, as well as the guitar’s volume, we’ll achieve some great high-gain sounds.
You can easily reduce the gain by turning the guitar’s volume down, which produces a cleaner sound.
Overdrive Pedal, Alongside Other Gain Pedals
If our overdrive pedal isn’t quite powerful enough, we can increase the gain by pairing it with a booster, compressor or another overdrive pedal. This will produce an intense sound that is by no means unpleasant, while preserving the core characteristics of the overdrive.
Many people might decide not to use overdrive pedals if they plan to buy a tube amp and use the distortion generated by the amp itself. However, there are several advantages to using separate pedals.
One advantage is that you can easily saturate or clean up the amp’s sound by simply pressing a foot switch. Furthermore, it can be difficult to achieve a good distorted sound from a tube amp without ending up with the neighbours calling the police.
What’s more, the overdrive pedals featured in this article produce a sound similar to that of the finest tube amplifiers. So, if your tube amp is mid-range or doesn’t produce the right kind of distortion, one of these pedals will make it sound like a true champion.
These pedals produce a great sound when used with transistor amps. However, their performance may vary depending on the quality of the amp.
Best Overdrive Pedals
Ibanez Tube Screamer
When it comes to overdrive pedals, the first ones that spring to mind are the green pedals developed by Susumu Tamura for Ibanez: the TS808 Tube Screamer and TS9.
These pedals are a must-know for every electric guitar enthusiast. They have been used by countless guitarists, including Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Gary Moore and Eric Johnson.
These pedals were designed and manufactured by the Japanese brand Maxon for Ibanez between 1974 and 2002.
On this video, I’ll be focusing on the Maxon pedals, which offer better value for money than the Ibanez models. However, both the Maxon and Ibanez pedals are excellent and have very similar features.
Furthermore, many renowned guitarists have used green Maxon pedals, including Joe Satriani and Misha Mansoor. The Maxon OD-808 and OD-9 models cost around $180 each.
For comparison, the OD-9 offers slightly more gain and output than the OD-808. The 808, on the other hand, produces smoother and more defined distortion.
Boss Super Overdrive SD-1
Another legendary pedal is the Boss Super Overdrive SD-1. It’s a well-known pedal widely used by professionals such as John Frusciante, Jack White, and Jonny Greenwood. The Boss SD-1 is reasonably priced at around $70, and it has been on the market for a long time, so there must be a reason for that.
If the previous model is the classic, then the Boss Blues Driver BD-2 is Boss’s new classic overdrive pedal. Although the word ‘Blues’ is in its name, this pedal is not just for playing the blues. It’s also ideal for rock and usually costs around $110.
The Blues Driver offers a more aggressive and powerful distortion than the SD-1, along with deeper bass tones. It has been used by great guitar players such as Billie Joe Armstrong, Kevin Parker, and Prince.
The MXR M264 FET Driver features individual tone controls for bass and treble, in addition to the standard volume and gain controls. This pedal features a “Hi Cut” switch that produces a warmer sound at high volume levels. The FET driver provides a powerful, full-bodied sound.
Fulltone OCD
The Fulltone OCD has two overdrive modes (HP-LP), is handmade, and operates at 9 or 18 volts (running it at 18 volts provides even greater dynamic range).
You can get Tube Screamer-style sounds from the Fulltone OCD, but this pedal delivers more punch in the distortion.
TC Electronic MojoMojo
The TC Electronic MojoMojo is very affordably priced, but it’s a very sturdy pedal. It has a bass control and a treble control, in addition to the standard volume and gain controls. It also features a “voice” control for bass boost