Overdrive Pedals

[TripleM]

I've never used an overdrive pedal. And I've never seen a good explanation of why I would want one. But I'm still interested. So I'd like to hear your experiences.

Here is my take... The amps I have already have more than enough gain for me. I'm never coming close to maxing out. OD pedals, as far as what I've seen explained, add to the signal hitting the amp. If I already have more than enough gain to begin with, what would an OD pedal do for me?

Thanks.

[Greg_L]

If I already have more than enough gain to begin with, what would an OD pedal do for me?

Not much.

Some...most...overdrives have their own EQ "fingerprint" and compression, so that might be something you could use from an OD if you want.

[Tadpui]

Agreed, I think it'd mainly just be for different sounds/textures.

Maybe the mid-hump of a Tube Screamer kind of circuit would be a good change up. Or the more aggressive sound of an OCD kind of circuit. Or the blend knob on a Klon style circuit to increase touch sensitivity without being conspicuous. Or, to step outside of purely OD pedals, maybe the aggressive, buzzy distortion from a Rat style box would be interesting as part of a mix. Or the over-the-top gain and scooped mids of a Big Muff kind of fuzz box.

They're all just different flavors. I think that most of us get plenty of gain from the front end of our amps these days, but it's nice to have a toolbox to reach into to introduce different textures that help guitars stand apart from each other in a mix. And sometimes it's just fun to play around with the different feel of a different OD/distortion/fuzz circuit.

[Greg_L]

If your amp already has more than enough gain, try an EQ pedal instead. Most EQs have some sort of boost, so they're kind of like overdrives in that regard, but you can also tailor your guitar's EQ profile before it even hits the amp.

[ocnor]

[Lt. Bob]

personally I don't consider OD very much different than distortion boxes .... just more or less gain.
I have ODs that, all the way up, are just as distorted as any dirt box.
To me the OD/Distortion difference is mostly a name.

Live, I prefer to just crank an amp.
However, none of my gigs allow for that anymore so on an amp-gig, I use dirt boxes.

Currently on my live board are a Catlinbread RAH, a TS808, a Xotic SL Super Lead and a Bushido kit-build.
My Fulltone Full Drive 2 MOSFET has fallen out of favor .... dunno why.

Yeah, there's 4 of them ..... they all have different sounds and they combine in interesting ways.
I set the 808 with almost no gain so it's basically an OD I suppose.
I set the RAH with fairly low gain too .... the SL is for sustainy leads so I'll usually have some gain dialed in and the Bushido kinda in between everything else.
And then I have 2 (yes 2 !) compressors which on a guitar are simply a different form of distortion. A Xotic SP and a Slamurai kit-build which unbelievably sounds better to me that the SP.

And then none of my fuzzes makes the board and I have prolly a dozen other dirt boxes that don't make it.

I am setting up a point on my board for 'guest' pedals .... a spot designed to easily remove and replace a pedal.



.

[WhiskeyJack]

I use a klon clone called a Han-Taun and i find all it really does for me is just kind enhance the sound i already like. Before i had it i had a tone roughly dialed in on my amp that i was ok with. It got me through and sounded cool. but when i put the hantaun in front of it, with the output pumped up a little bit and a bit of the treble turned up and leave the gain 100% off, it really just brought out a bit more of the single coil bite and detail in the sound i already liked and i could dial back some of the amps gain.

@Greg_L and @Armistice gave me wonderful advice one time! to just about getting my amp sounding sweet, just around the point of break up and then hitting with the boost and or OD.

Oh i also use an ever so slight little boost in front of the Hantaun as well. than jam it into the amp. Three gain stages closer to god.

@JD01 has one as well but i think he might actually use the gain knob to get a bit more grit for his sound? I don't know but i want to say he uses its gain feature.

It also really helps bring a little oomph to low output pick ups. Just drives them a bit harder if you need to do that sort of thing. . I didn't really fully understand this at all until i started playing my tele with any kind of "regularity" I had it dialed in pretty nicely and then when i switched over to play LPJr with the P90's and left the Hantauns settings as I had it for the tele and it was just gross. Way to loud and saturated. I can only assume this is becasue of the output on the tele is pes than my P90s. Perhaps this is common knowledge but i learned about it this way.

@Bill L Are you loving that Hantaun now or what?

[Lt. Bob]

It also really helps bring a little oomph to low output pick ups. Just drives them a bit harder if you need to do that sort of thing. . I didn't really fully understand this at all until i started playing my tele with any kind of "regularity" I had it dialed in pretty nicely and then when i switched over to play LPJr with the P90's and left the Hantauns settings as I had it for the tele and it was just gross.

pickup output is a big deal.

I have a all padauk strat with EMGs in it ..... it has SO much more output than my other gits that everything has to be set WAY different to sound good ...... not really doable on a gig ...... I'm talking big level differences.
So it's a guitar I have to either use all the time or not use at all.

Been pondering getting mutt to wind some p'ups for it.
It's a padauk neck and body .... quite lovely.

[Greg_L]

To me the OD/Distortion difference is mostly a name.

In some cases, that's true. The lines are blurred.

In theory though an overdrive is supposed to be a more neutral, natural, touch sensitive boost to what you already have. They add rather than overpower.

Distortion pedals take over your signal and become the sound themselves.

[Lt. Bob]

well I know that's the theory ..... I'm saying it's not really true.
To me ODs are just low-gain dirt boxes. and the terminology is most marketing.
An OD doesn't do anything my 808 won't do if you simply turn down the gain for instance.

And I have a Zoom Power Drive that, with the gain all the way down, is clean as hell and I use it as a clean boost ..... sounds better even than my Xotic EP boost.
But turn the gain up and it can go from OD territory to high gain singing sustain ...... I just like it clean and it's large so it doesn't make the board.

An OD simply has to have enough output at a low gain to drive the input of an amp ...... any pedal with enough output will do that unless it's some metal pedal that doesn't have any low gain at all.

So it ends up coming down to whether you like the tonality or not ...... I choose to use my 808 as an OD ..... since it will do that it IS an OD. It's not a transparent OD with that mid boost but I like it for that purpose.
But turn the gain wide open and I wouldn't call it an OD even though it doesn't really have that much gain.

To me it's just names to differentiate products.
It's a helpful descriptor because you can assume it's low gain but even then you never know till you have it.

[JD01]

Yeah, I like an OD pedal. They all have their own EQ character which is one thing and they also seem to make the sound a bit more compressed. I also find that nearly all of them remove a bunch of lows so they're great for a tight "modern" distortion sound when you're playing heavier stuff.

I generally use them with the level up pretty high but the gain down fairly low or off, sometimes I use a bit more gain though if I'm liking the way it blends with my amp gain sound. I even use them over my clean channel sometimes.

Basically, I use them in loads of different ways to add a bit of a different texture to my sound. I also frequently don't use them ag all! My board currently has a tubescreamer, han-taun and OCD.

[Greg_L]

well I know that's the theory ..... I'm saying it's not really true.
To me ODs are just low-gain dirt boxes. and the terminology is most marketing.
An OD doesn't do anything my 808 won't do if you simply turn down the gain for instance.

And I have a Zoom Power Drive that, with the gain all the way down, is clean as hell and I use it as a clean boost ..... sounds better even than my Xotic EP boost.
But turn the gain up and it can go from OD territory to high gain singing sustain ...... I just like it clean and it's large so it doesn't make the board.

An OD simply has to have enough output at a low gain to drive the input of an amp ...... any pedal with enough output will do that unless it's some metal pedal that doesn't have any low gain at all.

So it ends up coming down to whether you like the tonality or not ...... I choose to use my 808 as an OD ..... since it will do that it IS an OD. It's not a transparent OD with that mid boost but I like it for that purpose.
But turn the gain wide open and I wouldn't call it an OD even though it doesn't really have that much gain.

To me it's just names to differentiate products.
It's a helpful descriptor because you can assume it's low gain but even then you never know till you have it.

Your 808 is an overdrive. That's what it is. You using it as an overdrive is how it's meant to be used. Yeah it has some of it's own dirt, but not really enough to be "the sound" over a clean amp. It's purpose is to be used in conjunction to what the amp is already giving. That's the definition of an overdrive.

A "distortion pedal" is just dirt and all the dirt and more dirt. An 808 is not that. An 808 is way more subtle than say a Rat or an OCD.

[Lt. Bob]

well I know that's the theory ..... I'm saying it's not really true.
To me ODs are just low-gain dirt boxes. and the terminology is most marketing.
An OD doesn't do anything my 808 won't do if you simply turn down the gain for instance.

And I have a Zoom Power Drive that, with the gain all the way down, is clean as hell and I use it as a clean boost ..... sounds better even than my Xotic EP boost.
But turn the gain up and it can go from OD territory to high gain singing sustain ...... I just like it clean and it's large so it doesn't make the board.

An OD simply has to have enough output at a low gain to drive the input of an amp ...... any pedal with enough output will do that unless it's some metal pedal that doesn't have any low gain at all.

So it ends up coming down to whether you like the tonality or not ...... I choose to use my 808 as an OD ..... since it will do that it IS an OD. It's not a transparent OD with that mid boost but I like it for that purpose.
But turn the gain wide open and I wouldn't call it an OD even though it doesn't really have that much gain.

To me it's just names to differentiate products.
It's a helpful descriptor because you can assume it's low gain but even then you never know till you have it.

Your 808 is an overdrive. That's what it is. You using it as an overdrive is how it's meant to be used. Yeah it has some of it's own dirt, but not really enough to be "the sound" over a clean amp. It's purpose is to be used in conjunction to what the amp is already giving. That's the definition of an overdrive.

A "distortion pedal" is just dirt and all the dirt and more dirt. An 808 is not that. An 808 is way more subtle than say a Rat or an OCD.

once again ..... I know what the definition is but thanks for telling me the definition of a word and also about pedals since I have so little experience with them.
I'm the one with 100 pedals remember?

I'm saying I don't give a flying fuck what the definition is ...... I'm saying that the term doesn't really tell you what a pedal's gonna do and I have dozens of them to back that up. I'm also saying there are a ton of pedals described as OD that have a ton of gain available and also a ton described as distortion that can turn the gain way down and be used as ODs ...... the term is almost meaningless in reality.

[Greg_L]

once again ..... I know what the definition is but thanks for telling me the definition of a word and also about pedals since I have so little experience with them.
I'm the one with 100 pedals remember?

Fair enough but one pedal or one hundred it didn't seem like you realized your 808 is actually an overdrive pedal. You talked about "using it like an overdrive". Well yeah, it is an overdrive.

I'm saying I don't give a flying fuck what the definition is ...... I'm saying that the term doesn't really tell you what a pedal's gonna do and I have dozens of them to back that up. I'm also saying there are a ton of pedals described as OD that have a ton of gain available and also a ton described as distortion that can turn the gain way down and be used as ODs ...... the term is almost meaningless in reality.

You're not wrong, but there is a difference and for someone that doesn't know, the difference matters. Other people read this shit. For someone wondering "what pedal do I get?" the technical and theoretical difference between overdrives and distortion pedals matters.

[rayc]

I watched that Wampler video yesterday.
I don't mind his videos because he tries to educate/explain/demonstrate.
This WHY video doesn't work. The explanation isn't convincing.

[TripleM]

Wow, tons of responses. Thanks.

The only plausible idea I had was the one @WhiskeyJack mentioned - dial in amp settings to "just breaking up" and then add an OD pedal. I'm wondering if that might give a little tighter sound - like @JD01 mentioned. I might invest in one.

Thanks again everyone.

[Armistice]

I use a klon clone called a Han-Taun and i find all it really does for me is just kind enhance the sound i already like. Before i had it i had a tone roughly dialed in on my amp that i was ok with. It got me through and sounded cool. but when i put the hantaun in front of it, with the output pumped up a little bit and a bit of the treble turned up and leave the gain 100% off, it really just brought out a bit more of the single coil bite and detail in the sound i already liked and i could dial back some of the amps gain.

@Greg_L and @Armistice gave me wonderful advice one time! to just about getting my amp sounding sweet, just around the point of break up and then hitting with the boost and or OD.

Oh i also use an ever so slight little boost in front of the Hantaun as well. than jam it into the amp. Three gain stages closer to god.

@JD01 has one as well but i think he might actually use the gain knob to get a bit more grit for his sound? I don't know but i want to say he uses its gain feature.

It also really helps bring a little oomph to low output pick ups. Just drives them a bit harder if you need to do that sort of thing. . I didn't really fully understand this at all until i started playing my tele with any kind of "regularity" I had it dialed in pretty nicely and then when i switched over to play LPJr with the P90's and left the Hantauns settings as I had it for the tele and it was just gross. Way to loud and saturated. I can only assume this is becasue of the output on the tele is pes than my P90s. Perhaps this is common knowledge but i learned about it this way.

@Bill L Are you loving that Hantaun now or what?

Did I say that? I don't even use the things... if I did say it, it would have been something I read somewhere...

[JD01]

Wow, tons of responses. Thanks.

The only plausible idea I had was the one @WhiskeyJack mentioned - dial in amp settings to "just breaking up" and then add an OD pedal. I'm wondering if that might give a little tighter sound - like @JD01 mentioned. I might invest in one.

Thanks again everyone.

You don't need to spend a lot of money. Just get a Boss SD1, leave the Drive at 0 max out the level with the tone at 12 o'clock. Then adjust the tone slightly if it's too bright or too dark.

If you like what it does stick with it and maybe shop around for something you prefer. If you don't like it... you're just unlikely to like any overdrive.

[WhiskeyJack]

Wow, tons of responses. Thanks.

The only plausible idea I had was the one @WhiskeyJack mentioned - dial in amp settings to "just breaking up" and then add an OD pedal. I'm wondering if that might give a little tighter sound - like @JD01 mentioned. I might invest in one.

Thanks again everyone.

That is 100% @Armistice and @Greg_L