Seriously, what is the best overdrive pedal today?
- Thread starter Honkridge
- Start date
Pine Apple Slim
Armchair Expert
What time is it and what is the phase of the moon?
I guess if I had to start over Id prob get:
---A "smooth" & "sorta transparent" main drive w a bit of "squish" under the fingers, but not necc a ton of gain. The Nobels circuit is my fav. The standard ODR-1 pretty damn good but the green side of my Protein has a more refined eq sweep and I like it better than the standard ODR-1, but Im not really a fan of the super open and transparent blue side. If I had a do over I'd prob just get the Browne Atom, or a Karma ODR-10 Nobels take, just because my Karma MTN-10 Mostortion clone is probably the best OD/light distortion w/ 3 band eq that I've tried, but it kinda lacks the grit of the Nobels, its more of a Mesa style modern rock rhythm & long sustaining lead kinda thing IMO, but its tones are top notch.
Alternatively, possibly a Mad Prof Sweet Honey, based on how good my Joyo Sweet Baby clone is, a real close 2nd to the Nobles circuit.
I like my Mosky Timmy clone(MM Silver) a lot too, so maybe a real Timmy, but the Nobels circuit is hard to beat.
Not much a fan of Blues Breaker types but my experience is limited to my Browne Protein's blue side. It's "too open & transparent" for my liking but I can make it work by stacking a Klone or TS type with the gain way down after it.
---Some kinda Klone-the NotaKlon I just put together will do. Id just use the Mosky clone or get another Tumnus but I kinda dislike the mini pedal format, especially for a pedal Im gonna be stepping on frequently.
---TS9 or 808 or possibly some boutique variant. I have a Plumes but it's kinda tricky to dial in w/ too much spiky treble unless the tone knob is way under noon, and too far from the original IMO.
---Rat2 or something fancy like the Jam pedals variant... maybe.
With those I could get pretty much any sound I'd wanna make.....until the damn itch to try something else becomes unbearable anyway.
I have the sickness.
I guess right now my singular answer to the question is the Browne Amplification Nobels circuit.
I guess if I had to start over Id prob get:
---A "smooth" & "sorta transparent" main drive w a bit of "squish" under the fingers, but not necc a ton of gain. The Nobels circuit is my fav. The standard ODR-1 pretty damn good but the green side of my Protein has a more refined eq sweep and I like it better than the standard ODR-1, but Im not really a fan of the super open and transparent blue side. If I had a do over I'd prob just get the Browne Atom, or a Karma ODR-10 Nobels take, just because my Karma MTN-10 Mostortion clone is probably the best OD/light distortion w/ 3 band eq that I've tried, but it kinda lacks the grit of the Nobels, its more of a Mesa style modern rock rhythm & long sustaining lead kinda thing IMO, but its tones are top notch.
Alternatively, possibly a Mad Prof Sweet Honey, based on how good my Joyo Sweet Baby clone is, a real close 2nd to the Nobles circuit.
I like my Mosky Timmy clone(MM Silver) a lot too, so maybe a real Timmy, but the Nobels circuit is hard to beat.
Not much a fan of Blues Breaker types but my experience is limited to my Browne Protein's blue side. It's "too open & transparent" for my liking but I can make it work by stacking a Klone or TS type with the gain way down after it.
---Some kinda Klone-the NotaKlon I just put together will do. Id just use the Mosky clone or get another Tumnus but I kinda dislike the mini pedal format, especially for a pedal Im gonna be stepping on frequently.
---TS9 or 808 or possibly some boutique variant. I have a Plumes but it's kinda tricky to dial in w/ too much spiky treble unless the tone knob is way under noon, and too far from the original IMO.
---Rat2 or something fancy like the Jam pedals variant... maybe.
With those I could get pretty much any sound I'd wanna make.....until the damn itch to try something else becomes unbearable anyway.
I have the sickness.
I guess right now my singular answer to the question is the Browne Amplification Nobels circuit.
Last edited:
Pine Apple Slim
Armchair Expert
I only have one muff, a Way Huge Russian Pickle, and it rarely gets played.
But I have 3 different Dunlop Mini Fuzz Faces that I switch out depending on the guitar Im playing or my serotonin levels, not sure which.
Seriously tho I played amp dirt for years. But when I went to my Silverface Bassman rig and then the Carr Rambler, I developed dirt box disease.
jrockbridge
Stealing Your Riffs
It depends on the amp. I like a lot of OD’s. My do NOT like list is shorter.
Do NOT like…
-Fulltone OCD. Harsh and overly bright with my amps.
-Ibanez Classic Tube Screamer. Too much mid hump w/some amps. Compression kills initial transient attack.
-Boss Blues Driver. Dislike drive character. Compression kills transients. OK as Boost w/drive turned down.
Like…
-Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive Mod. Tube Screamer derivative. Has Clean Signal Blend Knob which allows dialing down mid hump and compression. Blends well with amp overdrive. Multiple character-voicing modes. Can sound like a classic 808 TS if desired.
-Analog Man King of Tone (Blues Breaker derivative). Dual dirt (both sides configured with internal dip switches. (Boost, OD, Dist). Works particularly well with Fender amps. Sounds unique w/both sides stacked.
-Ly-Rock King of Clone (KOT clone) Same design. KOT or KOC can be Boost > Boost ... Boost > OD ... OD > Boost ... OD > OD ... Boost > Dist ... Dist > Boost ... OD > Dist ... Dist > OD. King of Clone is brighter sounding. Disturbing trade dress violation by Ly-Rock.
-Klon KTR (Centaur clone). Works well with flat or scooped amps. Mild compression. Used as a cleanish to dirty boost, or mild OD. Dislike with drive turned high. Dislike with mid heavy amps.
-VFE Merman (Klon derivative). Similar to KTR. Much more versatile tone shaping. Dial compression up or down. Dial midrange up or down. Dial bass in or out. Dial treble up or down. Works well with any amp. 6 knobs makes it more complicated to use.
-Mad Professor Sweet Honey OD. Great Boost to mild OD. Pleasing character. Light compression. Amp like feel.
-Joyo Sweet Baby OD( Sweet Honey clone). Nearly identical sounding to original.
-BK Butler Real Tube OD. Boost, OD, Dist, light Fuzz. Starved plate 12AX7. Spongy feel. Versatile EQ. Hardwired 3-prong USA plug.
-Paul Cochrane Timmy. Boost, OD. No mid hump. Versatile EQ. Works well with mid heavy amps.
-Chicago Stompworks Grey Spec. (DOD 250). There was no different Grey specification DOD 250. It's just a solid 250 build. Dead simple to use (2 - knobs). Sounds like your amp with more drive.
-Damage Control Liquid Blues OD. Dual dirt (OD > Dist). Includes optical compression circuit. Spongy tube feel. Temperamental. Impractically large footprint. Sounds great though.
Check out the trade dress violation by Ly-Rock below….
Ly-Rock (left) ………… Analog Man (right)
Analog Man (left) ………… Ly-Rock (right)
Do NOT like…
-Fulltone OCD. Harsh and overly bright with my amps.
-Ibanez Classic Tube Screamer. Too much mid hump w/some amps. Compression kills initial transient attack.
-Boss Blues Driver. Dislike drive character. Compression kills transients. OK as Boost w/drive turned down.
Like…
-Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive Mod. Tube Screamer derivative. Has Clean Signal Blend Knob which allows dialing down mid hump and compression. Blends well with amp overdrive. Multiple character-voicing modes. Can sound like a classic 808 TS if desired.
-Analog Man King of Tone (Blues Breaker derivative). Dual dirt (both sides configured with internal dip switches. (Boost, OD, Dist). Works particularly well with Fender amps. Sounds unique w/both sides stacked.
-Ly-Rock King of Clone (KOT clone) Same design. KOT or KOC can be Boost > Boost ... Boost > OD ... OD > Boost ... OD > OD ... Boost > Dist ... Dist > Boost ... OD > Dist ... Dist > OD. King of Clone is brighter sounding. Disturbing trade dress violation by Ly-Rock.
-Klon KTR (Centaur clone). Works well with flat or scooped amps. Mild compression. Used as a cleanish to dirty boost, or mild OD. Dislike with drive turned high. Dislike with mid heavy amps.
-VFE Merman (Klon derivative). Similar to KTR. Much more versatile tone shaping. Dial compression up or down. Dial midrange up or down. Dial bass in or out. Dial treble up or down. Works well with any amp. 6 knobs makes it more complicated to use.
-Mad Professor Sweet Honey OD. Great Boost to mild OD. Pleasing character. Light compression. Amp like feel.
-Joyo Sweet Baby OD( Sweet Honey clone). Nearly identical sounding to original.
-BK Butler Real Tube OD. Boost, OD, Dist, light Fuzz. Starved plate 12AX7. Spongy feel. Versatile EQ. Hardwired 3-prong USA plug.
-Paul Cochrane Timmy. Boost, OD. No mid hump. Versatile EQ. Works well with mid heavy amps.
-Chicago Stompworks Grey Spec. (DOD 250). There was no different Grey specification DOD 250. It's just a solid 250 build. Dead simple to use (2 - knobs). Sounds like your amp with more drive.
-Damage Control Liquid Blues OD. Dual dirt (OD > Dist). Includes optical compression circuit. Spongy tube feel. Temperamental. Impractically large footprint. Sounds great though.
Check out the trade dress violation by Ly-Rock below….
Ly-Rock (left) ………… Analog Man (right)
Analog Man (left) ………… Ly-Rock (right)
Bob411
thrumming with potential
"-Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive Mod. Tube Screamer derivative. Has Clean Signal Blend Knob which allows dialing down mid hump and compression. Blends well with amp overdrive. Multiple character-voicing modes. Can sound like a classic 808 TS if desired."
The thing that amazes me with a pedal, with a clean blend or, going into two amps, one through a dirt pedal, one clean, is how much more bass there is. Does every dirt pedal dump the bass because, it will sound bad if you keep it? Anyways, I was wondering if the extra bass is what's what's helping "dialing down mid hump".
baimun
Funkasaurus Rex
That’s one of the best features of the Manis above… The bass contour switch can keep the traditional klon roll off or boost it back in. Like the old “loudness” buttons on stereos, so it is useful no matter which other settings you are using.
jrockbridge
Stealing Your Riffs
The TS mid hump was intentional by design. By default, it dumps bass and treble on purpose. A lot of dirt pedals increase mids because it helps emphasize the guitar. And, if a guitar has too much bass, it tends to drown out what the bass guitar is playing in a band.
One downside of a clean blend is that it does not sound natural into a clean amp. Hearing a clean guitar bleeding through an overdrive signal is not necessarily what most players want, but a TS clean blend works great with an overdriven amp.
The VFE Merman is based on a Klon and allows control of bass, mid, treble, compression. Of course, last time I checked VFE stopped making pedals, so it might be hard to find used. When they stopped manufacturing, they sold the plans so people could build their own.
I always forget to include the Rat because it’s classified as a distortion pedal. But, it’s versatile. A Rat can do OD, Dist and even some Fuzz.
Pine Apple Slim
Armchair Expert
<<<The TS mid hump was intentional by design. By default, it dumps bass and treble on purpose. A lot of dirt pedals increase mids because it helps emphasize the guitar. And, if a guitar has too much bass, it tends to drown out what the bass guitar is playing in a band.>>>
I struggled with my EQD Plumes into my clean amps because it dumped so much bass and kept so much treble. I didn't hear a TS at all, it seemed ice picky and harsh and too open with none of that smooth TS compression.
But recently I stumbled across a way to make it usable and sound good. Put it last in the OD chain, clipping switch in 1st pos(the middle is good too but different gain structure than normal TS), be judicious with the gain, and keep the tone knob well below noon. It winds up down around 9-10 o'clock sitting after the Protein. This tames the ice pick, improves the Proteins BB side to my ears and makes the trad TS mid hump thing actually audible. With a Klone in front of it you get mid push in spades and smooths out the dirt of the Klone which I always found overly harsh. Glad I figured this out because it's a really nicely constructed pedal with a very low noise floor and it saves me from buying a TS9 and adding another buffer to my rig. I still dont like it as a stand alone pedal tho other than as a boost into an already dirty amp.
I struggled with my EQD Plumes into my clean amps because it dumped so much bass and kept so much treble. I didn't hear a TS at all, it seemed ice picky and harsh and too open with none of that smooth TS compression.
But recently I stumbled across a way to make it usable and sound good. Put it last in the OD chain, clipping switch in 1st pos(the middle is good too but different gain structure than normal TS), be judicious with the gain, and keep the tone knob well below noon. It winds up down around 9-10 o'clock sitting after the Protein. This tames the ice pick, improves the Proteins BB side to my ears and makes the trad TS mid hump thing actually audible. With a Klone in front of it you get mid push in spades and smooths out the dirt of the Klone which I always found overly harsh. Glad I figured this out because it's a really nicely constructed pedal with a very low noise floor and it saves me from buying a TS9 and adding another buffer to my rig. I still dont like it as a stand alone pedal tho other than as a boost into an already dirty amp.
Peen Simmons
Let’s Get Obtuse!
I have a J Rockett Majestic that I picked up for cheap that I dig a lot. I also don’t hate a Klon clone or a Boss SD-1 or BD-1.
Pine Apple Slim
Armchair Expert
I go for long periods with the my old Rat2 on the shelf but when I pull it back out I remember just how dang versatile it can be.
Im not much of a high gain guy but the ol Rat2 does a singing/sustaining lead tone as good or better than anything, has a huge usable range of gain, and works with just about any guitar or amp.
Monson
Sonic Automatist
I dig the TS-9 and the RAT2. You can make both sound awful and great, depending on what you're into and how you use them. I've had dozens of other similar pedals, and some in-between ones, but I've always come back to these two.
If you ask me, the TS-9 sounds great into a dirty amp, adding focus and saturation. It can still work into a clean amp but it's trickier to get it right.
The RAT2 is a weird one; into a modern, bright-sounding amp it sounds thin and unpleasant unless the filter is way up. Then as you turn up the gain, it adds low frequencies, which may or may not be a cool thing, depending on taste. Into a darker-sounding amp you can use it as a treble booster, with insane amounts of gain but not as much volume as a traditional treble booster. Or you can use it as an OD with the gain down and the volume up, but not as effectively as the TS-9.
To be honest I don't particularly enjoy noodling around with any of them. At the end of the day I find it's more about spending some time figuring how your stuff works, dial in some sounds and hear what works in the context of what you're doing. To me it's about how they sound in the mix.
If you ask me, the TS-9 sounds great into a dirty amp, adding focus and saturation. It can still work into a clean amp but it's trickier to get it right.
The RAT2 is a weird one; into a modern, bright-sounding amp it sounds thin and unpleasant unless the filter is way up. Then as you turn up the gain, it adds low frequencies, which may or may not be a cool thing, depending on taste. Into a darker-sounding amp you can use it as a treble booster, with insane amounts of gain but not as much volume as a traditional treble booster. Or you can use it as an OD with the gain down and the volume up, but not as effectively as the TS-9.
To be honest I don't particularly enjoy noodling around with any of them. At the end of the day I find it's more about spending some time figuring how your stuff works, dial in some sounds and hear what works in the context of what you're doing. To me it's about how they sound in the mix.
LeftyTom
I am not just another pretty face.
Unpossible.....do you guys think less of me now?
Bob411
thrumming with potential
No, you're my hero now. Rage, rage against the dying of the battery.Actually I'm getting really into the TS-9, and using it the wrong way. Have I lost my street cred, if I ever had any, and do you guys think less of me now?
jrockbridge
Stealing Your Riffs
Yes. You are part of a group of players who all lost their street cred by having the audacity to use tube screamers, including...Actually I'm getting really into the TS-9, and using it the wrong way. Have I lost my street cred, if I ever had any, and do you guys think less of me now?
SRV, Jack Johnson, Eric Johnson, James Hetfield, John Mayer, Brad Paisley, Joe Bonamassa, John Frusciante, Trey Anastasio, Kirk Hammet, Mike McCreedy, Adrian Smith, Buddy Guy, The Edge, Billy Joe Armstrong, etc.
You've obviously jumped the shark. Such a shame.