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he question of which overdrive pedal is best continues to be disputed among modern guitarists, as important to some as to whom they pray or what breakfast cereal they consume. And like religion, the overdrive dilemma has as many questions as answers, as many answers as pathways to heaven. The tonal idealists among guitar players demand perfection; each one chooses to try out as many pedals as are necessary on their road toward tonal nirvana. The fundamentalists insist there can only be one way to eternity and chances are, they already own the answer. And of course, there are the tonal liberals, the men and women who insist that no one pedal holds the right answer. For them, different players demand different results; one man's overdrive is another man's death metal distortion. However, towering above them all like religious studies scholars at the National Day of Prayer, are the guitar journalists, those of us, like myself, who love such questions. It gives us something to study, to examine, to ponder. We wonder not which overdrive a man subscribes to but rather, why. How can we help every man across the globe figure out which stompbox is right for him? This article, like many others in the business, is an attempt to summarize the differences between various overdrive and distortion pedals, blurring the line between the two at times, completely defining them at others. I offer my apologies in advance if your favorite stompbox is not listed here.
What are the universe's greatest overdrive and distortion pedals?
All of these pedals were tested through a Dr. Z Maz Jr. or a Fender Blues Deluxe, unless otherwise noted. Guitars used included a Tom Anderson Hollow Classic, a Tom Anderson Hollow T Classic, a Gibson Custom 1959 vintage reissue, a Fender Classic Player 60s Stratocaster, a Fender Aerodyne Telecaster, a modified Epiphone Les Paul Ultra, and a modified Jackson DX10D.
Barber Electronics Direct Drive David Barber produced another hit with his Direct Drive, impressing with both performance and price. Ranging from lower-gain sounds perfect for gritty blues leads to tones resembling completely saturated EL34s, this Barber unit is sure to satisfy virtually any guitarist in any genre. While it sounds best with denser guitars and hotter pickups, Stratocasters and Telecasters both certainly shine through. With this kind of tone and versatility for $120, there is almost no
By Tobin Spratte
reason not to own one. Barber Electronics Burn Unit A versatile distortion/overdrive pedal, the Burn Unit excels by virtue of its namesake. Tones most resemble cranked tube amps, especially those of the Dumble and boutique nature. It can get decent Marshall sounds, but certainly nothing for which most British stack snobs would settle. Again, if you are looking for a different kind of distortion that is very realistic with gobs of sustain or even a great lead pedal, look no further. Think Santana. Barber Electronics LTD This undiscovered low-gain wonder is the undrafted sensation of stompboxes, overlooked by most guitarist, who usually prefer to flaunt pricier Fulltone OCDs or other Tubescreamer wouldbe clones. Which pedal works best is a matter of exact taste; not one of them has ever received a bad review. However, when budgets enter the equation this is the greatest piece of equipment to hit the guitar scene since the Fender Twin Reverb. For only $120, it delivers tone equivalent to if not better than the BJF Honey Bee, a similarly designed pedal, turning even a solid-state Peavey into a viable blues amp and a Fender Deluxe into a cranked Matchless. It spanks. It sparkles. It chimes. But perhaps this units greatest asset is its ability to produce outstanding overdrive at all volumes. BJF Baby Blue This pedal picks up where the Barber LTD and Fulltone LCD left off. It is a ballsy, in your face, natural-sounding Swedish overdrive machine, even going as far as to break
into the distortion category when the gain is turned past one o’clock. It colors the tone of the amp slightly more than an OCD, but certainly not as much as the LTD, and offers greater versatility than either two. For those who love the OCD but have always wanted a little more gain out of it, this may be the answer. The problem: They were discontinued and used ones frequently cost in excess of $500. Boss BD-2 Designed as a competitor to the midrange-heavy Ibanez TS-9, this is a superior pedal to the Ibanez in almost every way. It does color the tone of the amp more, but again, this is personal taste, and in my opinion, a good thing. Its tones range from dirty to saturated, delivering great results for well under a Benjamin. However, its drawbacks are its sometimes overbearing treble and mids (especially through a ’68 Deluxe Reverb), something not easily rectified with a twist of the tone knob, and what one well-respected guitarist refers to as “fizzle,” or a certain fake, hissing sound that appears when the pedal is cranked, likely due to the use of some less expensive components. Boss DS-1 Even the most amateur gearheads are familiar with the ubiquitous orange box that Boss introduced in 1978 as one of its first pedals. Simple and easy to use, the DS-1’s greatest selling point is its sound for the price. For $40, no guitarist can possibly complain about a pedal that has been used by almost everyone in
the guitar-music business. However, outside of generic rock and roll tones, this pedal seems somewhat limited. It offers too much gain for most applications, even on the lowest settings, and does not seem to clean up very well. But what this pedal lacks, Boss has several other products to pick up where it leaves off. Boss HM-2 People who grew up as teens in the 1980s will recall that overproduced guitar tone that saturated the pop metal scene for a decade. That’s exactly what this pedal creates. I personally find it a bit weak compared to the MT-2, but all in all, it does sound more realistic and natural then its replacement and in many ways, it would not hurt Boss to run a reissue of this design, add a little more bass, and reintroduce it as the HM-3. Because for those who enjoy a good Scorpions tune, this pedal is amazing. Boss MT-2 Metal Zone Often heralded by pimple-faced teen guitarists as the ultimate tone machine, this unit is loud, ballsy, and gainy. It was made in 1991, thank God, because just about every attempt to replace it since then has failed and with good reason. Many Boss (and other manufacturers) products introduced with the nu-metal or emo-metal crowd in mind are to put it bluntly, simply awful. They have too much bass, no chord definition, and often find the used shelf at the guitar store as fast as they found a home test drive. The MT-2 does none of that. Its dual-stage gain circuit is not going to
be every guitarists dream tone, but it does not pretend to be. Think of the infamous Metallica crunch circa ...And Justice for All. Fortunately, for metal heads who are not obsessed with midrange scoop, the Metal Zone is very adjustable thanks to a partialparametric equalizer system, allowing it to generate great Mesa Rectifier and hot-rodded Marshall sounds. Caution should be taken in its use though: Putting the gain much past eleven o’clock only slightly increases sustain and the pedal becomes very raspy. With gain focused at seven o’clock and increased volume, this metal box excels. Boss OD-2 Over the years, Boss has come out with a lot of obscure pedals, especially in the overdrive zone. Some of them were great and I wonder why they got rid of them; others were total duds and can be had for the price of an IHOP breakfast (see the Power Driver). This falls into the former category, offering great subtle tones for a great price. One switch to turbo mode and gobs of gain ensues, allowing its user to create singing, sustaining leads that pedals twice the price still have not figured out. Boss PW-2 Power Driver This pedal has its high points: it certainly does the mid-1990s JCM900 sound well and when put in a mix and recorded, it actually sounds nice, especially for rhythm tones. But that’s where its uses stop. It is loud, noisy, unclean, and will sooner turn away most audiences than it will draw them. It is supposed to be a higher-gain BD-2 or SD-1, but it has none of those pedals benefits and even more flaws. Within a couple months, this sucker went back to the music store. My ears do not regret ever hearing this pedal in action, but they certainly would not look forward to a reunion.
Boss SD-1 Utilizing asymmetrical clipping, this pedal is similar to a TS808 but with more volume, dynamics, and crunch. It is a very natural-sounding and responsive unit that for $60 (even better at $20 used) is one of the best deals in the gear universe. It would make an outstanding back up to any OCD or LTD, and its advantage is Boss reliability and accompanying 5year warranty. Dan-Electro Daddy-O Known for mediocre pedals with weird names, Dan-Electro hit the pick on the G-string with this unit. It offers sounds I never would have guessed could come from a low-budget pedal. While like most mass-produced equipment, it has its flaws (in this case a little too much fizzle), for the price, it is impressive. It covers your basic blues territory and then stops, but again, for the money, you can do a lot worse. Digitech Metal Master In many ways, this product is superior to the Boss MT2. There is almost no fizzle in the sound, even at high gain levels, and it does a Mesa Triple Rectifier emulation very well. However, that is about all it does. It lacks volume entirely and sounds thin and digitally-prefabricated in a live mix. While it may record well, so do real amp emulators, rendering this black box virtually useless.
Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Michael Fuller designed this pedal as a very natural, amp-saturating monster (mon-ster because of its size). However, when compared to many boutique boxes, it looks quite average. While the OCD is in many ways a better pedal, the one thing this box does that the OCD simply cannot is offer greater sonic versatility for great amps. If all you want to do is milk the existing circuit on your amp, this may be the answer. Fulltone OCD This pedal rocks. Plain and simple. It resembles a TS-808 on crack, offering quite a bit less coloration than most overdrive pedals on the market. Most guitarists rave about its ability to boost a preamp circuit without adding that annoying transistor sound to the overall tone, leading to few, if any, complaints about this unit at all. Buyers beware: Earlier models tend to offer a more natural sound, whereas the newer versions (four or later) provide more gain. Hermida Audio Zendrive It took the reviewers of this pedal a lot of time to bite the bullet on this unit. Not because it is bad but because of our disdain for Internet flavors of the month. It contains an overall impressive sound, but nothing worthy of months of online hype. Essentially, it sounds like an improved Boss OD-2 with none of that
pedal’s volume issues. Like the lessexpensive OD-2, its versatility is its strong point. If someone held a gun to your head and said pick one pedal, this would be a great choice. Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer Timeless. What more need be said about a pedal used by Stevie Ray Vaughn himself. It does a fantastic job of saturating the sound of a cranked Fender amp and even higher-grade class A circuits. However, the TS-9 has one major fault leading many guitarists to chuck it in favor of a boutique alternative: an obnoxious midrange honk. But despite its equalization issues, some folks love the characteristic punch of the Ibanez classic. If all you want to do is SRV covers and blues-rock gigs, do not waste money on more expensive equipment: You will want this green machine on your pedal board, anyway. Keeley Boss BD-2 Modifying the BD-2 is in many ways like modifying the wheel: sure, it has its problems, but in general it is a great design, and without spending a fortune in research and design, it is not going to get much better. Of course, guitarists understand this, as does Robert Keeley. His innovative solution involves several modifications which essentially fix everything that was ever wrong with the BD-2. More than 90 percent of its
amps in conjunction with each other. The result is a cascading drive that cannot be replicated by any other product on the market, but again, this is a matter of taste. Outside of the limitless tone options, I found each drive “channel” to be weak when compared to other drive pedals on the market.
tones are vastly improved, and the tone knob is finally usable. However, the best characteristic about the Keeley version is its dynamic response to playing. Like a violin, the harder one plays, the more the sound waves distort; softer playing yields the opposite. If you like your BD-2 but are not totally happy with it, or if a TS-9 just is not cutting it at practice anymore, this is the way to go: certainly not the apogee of pedal perfection, but it earns a place among great overdrive boxes. Keeley Boss DS-1 If you take a stock DS-1 and clean the dirt and grime left on your tone, you get a Robert Keeleymodded DS-1. The modifications make the pedal much cleaner and more useable without sacrificing versatility. Like the Barber Burn Unit, the Keeley DS-1 sounds most like a boutique amp, and it is as loud as one as well. Running through both class A and class A/B tube amps, reducing the sheer volume of this pedal is impossible, but then again, maybe that is exactly what you need. It definitely cuts through bands mixes well, and sounds great even run through solidstate amplifiers. One of the original Boss modifiers, Keeley knows his stuff and has the customer base to prove it. MI Audio Crunchbox My friend snagged one of these to compliment his OCD. For that task, it excels. While certainly too much gain for most overdrive applications, the higher gain is actually this unit’s strong point, allowing it to go into half-stack territory. Aside from the Radial Tonebone Hot British and Plexi, this is one of the better Marshall-in-box pedals available, and it only takes up half the board real estate.
MXR Distortion + This post-script logo, late 1970s unit is very good at what it does: simple, balls-to-the-wall distortion. It holds no secrets, takes no prisoners, and will get you from Nirvana to Satriani, providing ample color to your signal. Versatility is not this pedal’s strong suit, but then again, for two knobs, it sounds great. Radial Engineering Tonebone Classic Master tone connoisseur Eric Johnson endorses gear about as often as he releases albums, and he had nothing but great things to say about this pedal. Compared to pedals over twice the price, this unit outperforms everything in its class, delivering great tones no matter what settings you use. Using a single 12AX7 preamp tube, this unit begins in the cranked Fender and Marshall territory a la AC/DC. With a simple flick of a switch, a player is entitled to as much gain as he could ever need, even to the the other Tonebone products seem almost obsolete. The Hot British and Plexitube both claim they better emulate their namesakes, but the Classic emulates those tones so well, the only question it leaves is: why bother? The Classic's drawback is its overall weak output, especially when using single-coilequipped guitars. Nonetheless, this tube-driven wonder is as good of a pedal as ever made and can turn even the most unforgiving amp and guitar combos into tonal goddesses. Tech 21 Double Drive Though technically a single-channel pedal, this very unique and way-cool effect uses two different drive stages, one feeding into another, to produce the same effect as using class A and class AB
Tech 21 Tri-O.D. As far as strange but fun distortion units go, the Tri-O.D. is in a class all its own, featuring three separate channels that are all quite good. The British setting yields some great Marshall tones, and the California setting produces the best Mesa Boogie sounds east of Los Angeles. For live operations, this pedal is a bit quirky because it requires one to press the switch too many times to change channels, but for bedroom jamming, no guitarist could go wrong Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde Guitar geeks often knock transistors for their inability to produce clean, greatsounding harmonics sustain. However, this dual-channel pedal does that and more. While its price just skims the bottom of the boutique category, its tone outperforms pedals nearly twice the price. For great leads, this distortion/overdrive unit does very well, especially when both channels are run in conjunction. Independently, each channel is also very good. The Jekyll side is a TS-808 circuit without near the midrange hump. The Hyde channel most resembles a versatile distortion unit such as the DS-1, though it seems to lack a bit of character when compared to the Barber Burn Unit or Direct Drive. Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive If there ever were a way to improve the Tubescreamer but leave its signature tone intact, the tone scientists at Voodoo Labs did it. This incorporates all of the great things about the TS-9 and none of its setbacks: no midrange honk and a more subtle gain circuit. The tone controls are exceptional, allowing tone from every type of amp and guitar. And the coolest factor of this box is its ability to blend the clean and dirty signals, giving way to the best chord definition of any drive box in history. In fact, if the Barber LTD did not exist, this pedal would likely supplant it as the best bang for your
