The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

Just to mention something that's not mentioned yet I'd say the Boss BD-2. Pretty underrated overdrive, used by a lot of people. Also I'd say the Big Muff, which I guess is like a fuzz, but it's mostly used as a distortion.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

thespricket said:
Just to mention something that's not mentioned yet I'd say the Boss BD-2. Pretty underrated overdrive, used by a lot of people. Also I'd say the Big Muff, which I guess is like a fuzz, but it's mostly used as a distortion.
Click to expand...


+1 . . . imho, the BD-2 is a super underrated OD, and a GREAT BOOST pedal too.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

As far as "legendary" overdrives / distortions (or at the very least those that have developed enough of a reputation to be played for some time), they've all been named already, and are really fairly evident: Rat, Tubescreamer, Klon, Big Muff, etc. etc. These are the ones that have changed the direction of pedal manufacturing, and no one would really argue with someone who said that they thought the originals are the best dirt boxes out there.

As far as my favorite, though? I recently acquired a Barber LTD and it's the overdrive of my dreams. I've never played a Timmy, but from what I understand the LTD is very similar.

There are so many variables involved in the equipment that makes a pedal the "best" - with my set up, overdrive pedals that have a lot of gain and influence on the tone just don't work. With other set ups, "transparency" may be a bad thing.

Mostly, though, I wanted to bring up the Barber LTD.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

The only info I can add is that I have a Klon clone which just works beautifully as a stand alone overdrive or as a boost to push an already crunchy or dirty amp. The only other pedal I've tried that does the "pushing" an already overdriven amp as well is the Keeley Time Machine Boost.. awesome pedal.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

RJDisc02 said:
Mostly, though, I wanted to bring up the Barber LTD.
Click to expand...

There's a few companies that really know how to make good sounding dirt pedals, and Barber is definitely one of them. I'd like to have one of the new Barber UnLtd OD's. It's the dual mode version of the Ltd.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

I can't see how i'd describe any little box that makes sound get all dirty and buzzy and fizzy could be described as 'the best', only as 'the least horrible'. Even then, i think it's more about the skill of the player to use the ugly noisebox to create something listenable or even beautiful than it is about the box itself. They're all really just various flavours of something that, by itself, doesn't really taste good.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

It's a damn shame Bogner's Q.C. is so sh1tty on the new Ecstasy pedals because I really feel the Blue is one of the best overdrive/distortion pedals out there, period. You can't think of legendary overdrive pedals without mentioning the Klon based off of the sheer controversy alone; I'm eagerly waiting my place in line for a KTR just to see what it's all about. The Ibanez TS808 is really the legend a trillion and one boutique and production overdrive pedals were based off of. While I don't have one anymore, the Clay Jones Overdrive certainly deserves to be up there even if it's doing it's own spin on a tubescreamer just like the Landgraff stuff he hated so much. It's dizzying just to see how many different overdrive/distortion pedals there are out there and honestly, most of them are pretty bad IMHO.

I'm with Niels though, nothing is ever going to beat the tone of a good amp overdrive (especially when you think that with how much is spent on these pedals you could have just bought a separate amp for overdrive and called it a day).
 
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The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

One that has not been mentioned yet is the one from Boss that started it all, the OD-1 Overdrive.

The MXR Classic Overdrive is real nice and only time will tell will it will stand.

The original Marshall Gov'nor. I wish I had one of those. Played through one a bunch of times but never bought one.

The original Rat for sure and the TS-808 have a solid place in overdrive/distortion pedal lore.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

I like the Boss OD-3 alot. It doesn't seem to color my tone any, and gives me that nice little extra push that I need with my Blackstar HT-5's.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

That90'sGuy said:
It's a damn shame Bogner's Q.C. is so sh1tty on the new Ecstasy pedals because I really feel the Blue is one of the best overdrive/distortion pedals out there, period. You can't think of legendary overdrive pedals without mentioning the Klon based off of the sheer controversy alone; I'm eagerly waiting my place in line for a KTR just to see what it's all about. The Ibanez TS808 is really the legend a trillion and one boutique and production overdrive pedals were based off of. While I don't have one anymore, the Clay Jones Overdrive certainly deserves to be up there even if it's doing it's own spin on a tubescreamer just like the Landgraff stuff he hated so much. It's dizzying just to see how many different overdrive/distortion pedals there are out there and honestly, most of them are pretty bad IMHO.

I'm with Niels though, nothing is ever going to beat the tone of a good amp overdrive (especially when you think that with how much is spent on these pedals you could have just bought a separate amp for overdrive and called it a day).
Click to expand...
I love the red xtc pedal, getting the blue next. Sounds great with my fender, very dynamic old school VH. I was never into pedals either until I tried the red with my Mini rectifier, the pedal sounded better, tighter, cleaner and great lead tones. So I sold the amp.I prefer the bogner tones over the pure metal tones of the boogie. That amp and the v30 were kind of sharp sounding, not a real bad thing but the red is very smooth with clean lead tones. Cant wait for to give the blue a run.
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

Is it just me, or do a lot of us have no idea the difference between OD and Distortion? Not that there is a hard line always...

My Catalinbread Supercharged OD definitely crosses the border from overdrive into distortion. But some of the stuff listed here - really?
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

Aceman said:
Is it just me, or do a lot of us have no idea the difference between OD and Distortion? Not that there is a hard line always...

My Catalinbread Supercharged OD definitely crosses the border from overdrive into distortion. But some of the stuff listed here - really?
Click to expand...

So I ask of you, the age old question...

What is the difference and where do you draw the line??
 
Re: The Best Overdrive & Dist. Pedals Ever Made

Zvex Box of Rock
Mi Audio Blues Pro
Boss OD1 (boss od3 is good as well)

So many great over drive pedals but these are the ones I have really loved. Zia drive was also a pleasant surprise SRB808 was also really good.
 
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