Re: overdrive pedals
hi,guys
looking for top picks when it comes to overdrive pedals, i play a strat using three single coils, fender CS-69's neck/middle seymour duncan SSL5 bridge, my amp is a 70's hiwatt DR504/ 50 watt head that i run clean and use pedal for dirt, and my music style more blues rock, e.g. Gilmour/SRV/Clapton/ gun+roses/Billy Gibbons/Santana/Gary Moore/ what overdrive pedals would you guys recommend for me to try? i value what you guys say, price no problem
thanks again for your time,
bluesfloyd,
Well AFAIK, Santana and Clapton both use the ProCo Rat. It's more a distortion pedal than true overdrive, and the vintage 80s examples are easily $300 pedals, though you can buy a more recent reissue or the Rat 2 for much less.
Billy Gibbons uses a boutique 2-channel overdrive, the Blackstone Mosfet. Only example price I can find is about $190 used on the Bay. Very versatile pedal, but I think in that class of overdrive, a Fulldrive 2 would probably get you what you wanted for about half the price, and with easier access to the controls (the Blackstone's gain and level pots are recessed in and best adjusted using your pick; one way to do it I guess). One issue with Mosfet pedals is that they like a direct input from your guitar, so they need to go very early if not first in your chain.
Tubescreamers based on the Ibanez TS-808 and Maxon 808 (there's considerable debate over which is the "original" TS) are the bread and butter of many a guitarist. The tone of a standard TS circuit is dirty blues to classic rock, right up your alley. Personally, I like the Hardwire CM-2, which is now out of production but a very versatile two-voiced overdrive ("classic" for basic crunched drive and "modified" for higher-gain hair, with two-band tone controls), and reasonably priced new (even more so now that they change hands at around $50-$60 used). It has a charge pump to boost the working voltage, so you can get serious crunch while not sacrificing attack or low end.
Lastly, give the EHX Soul Food a serious look. It's a very simple but very effective overdrive, smoother and sweeter than your standard green-box due to an internal charge pump that boosts working voltage, and it has a switchable buffer stage, so you can run it true bypass or buffered depending on the needs of your pedalboard. Sound-wise it's an excellent pedal, with drive levels ranging from on-the-edge expressive cleans to gain boost for pushing your amp, up into dirty blues, classic rock, funk rock and even some early metal tones. You should find a sound in it that works well for just about all of your role models.
