# Distortion and Overdrive



## Ibanez GiO GSA60 (Aug 16, 2016)

Hey everyone,

I was wonder what everyones thoughts are on the current MXR and Boss pedals for overdrive? 

Is it worth it to pick up speciality pedals like the ZW44 that is designed to sound like a single artist or can all of these tones be replicated with a standard distortion pedal. 

Thanks guys


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

I took my amp into The Arts music store with my amp and did a shootout between about 10 dirt boxes and I left with an MXR Custom Badass overdrive


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

My personal favorite is the Sparkle Drive Mod. For 200 bucks taxes in, there aint much ground it doesn't cover with its 4 different drove styles + blended clean boost.

I don't have one yet, but I have no real complaints at all with my Boss OD3. It's very natural sounding IMO. Sounds a lot like a Class A EL84 going into meltdown. It's not very transparent though.


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## Ibanez GiO GSA60 (Aug 16, 2016)

adcandour said:


> I took my amp into The Arts music store with my amp and did a shootout between about 10 dirt boxes and I left with an MXR Custom Badass overdrive


Hey do you happen to remember some of the other pedals you tried out were and what style do you typically like playing?

Cheers


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

It was a.while back, but I remember using a plimsoul, OCD, MXR fullbore, among a few others.

You can check out the arts website.to see what they carry. I tried all of them accept for boss or ehx.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Ask a hundred people...get a hundred answers. OD is such a personal thing. My advice is start trying pedals, preferably with your setup (maybe you can buy from your local store to take home and try with the understanding that you can return it) or perhaps go to the store during a non-busy time and try a bunch in a setup as close to yours as possible. It took me trying, buying and selling several ODs until I found a couple that stayed on my board.

Currently I'm using EHX Soul Food and EHX OD Glove. They both have very usable tones across the spectrum AND they stack well together....AND they didn't break the bank.

Some ODs I've been keeping an eye out for used...
Earthquaker Palisades, SO many sounds.
Plimsoul
Sparkle Drive (the original, I haven't really checked out the modded version), I particularly like the blend knob.


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## metallica86 (Aug 17, 2009)

I really like Barber pedal, I had Barber direct drive and Gain changer, such awesome sounding, very musical and not really expensive


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Lately I've been pretty happy using the Boogie Flux Drive OD pedal.
I have to tweak the EQ to brighten it up because it tends to sound a bit dark but I like how I can turn down the gain and get a semi-transparent OD or crank it up and watch it turn thick and opaque. It works fine on it's own but it stacks well too, whether in front of or behind. Typically I'll run it at low-ish gain, 9 or 10 o'clock, pushing it with a BOSS SD1 placed in front of it when I want more grind.

To a lesser extent I've also been using the Throttle Box. 
It seems more of a one-trick-pony to me but it does that trick pretty good.
I'll run a low/mid gain, maybe about 10 or 11 o'clock or so, to maintain some semblance of transparency, scoop just a touch out of the middle and set the volume to unity, following it with a rather subtle, narrow range chorus and a single-repeat, soft delay.
That gets me into new-rock territory pretty easily.
If I want more gain and harmonics I'll push it with the SD1 as well.

Both Boogies have been residing on my board for a few months now and they haven't given me any reason to make plans to change that.

That said, what works for me might be loathsome to someone else.

As to the OP, I like some BOSS drive pedals but not all of them. The Mega Distortion was one which was particularly difficult for me to find a use for. 
I don't have a lot of experience with MXR drive pedals. I've only had 3 of them and the only one I never sold immediately was the Prime Distortion. It's also a one-trick-pony but I find it useful for some things.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

It's a personal thing, and depends on your needs.

I need a dirt pedal that sounds like my JCM800, and I found the Fulltone OCD checks that box.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

The OD3 is a great pedal, better than the blues driver imo, and my favorite distortion is the Maxon SD9, worth trying (make sure to have the tone control all the way to the left).


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

The Zakk Wylde is the same as the MXR GT-OD. There is an internal switch on the board to go from one to the other. Many people add a toggle switch so that they can go back and forth without opening up the pedal.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

amagras said:


> The OD3 is a great pedal, better than the blues driver imo, and my favorite distortion is the Maxon SD9, worth trying (make sure to have the tone control all the way to the left).


I lie the OD3 and the BD2 about equally. I find one had more of an EL84 crunch, and the other a 6V6 grind. I just wish they were both more transparent at low gain settings. I particularly like my OD3 when boosted by my CS3. That really gets my 335 screaming


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## danielSunn0))) (Dec 28, 2015)

Even though it's not exactly what you are asking about, I want to suggest you try out a Proco Rat pedal. They are also an inexpensive pedal that has stood the test of time. 
Nothing has ever made my Hiwatt Custom 100 sound as good as when just a Rat is thrown in front of it.


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## carrionrogue (Sep 9, 2016)

danielSunn0))) said:


> Nothing has ever made my Hiwatt Custom 100 sound as good as when just a Rat is thrown in front of it.


hell yes to the rat and hiwatt. I own a proco and a fuzzrocious rat tail, I was using the fuzzrocious on my hiwatt 100 last night and it sounded massive.


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## danielSunn0))) (Dec 28, 2015)

carrionrogue said:


> hell yes to the rat and hiwatt. I own a proco and a fuzzrocious rat tail, I was using the fuzzrocious on my hiwatt 100 last night and it sounded massive


I have a Proco Rat 2 and it sounds so damn great. Then my friend brought over his Plague Rat made by Lone Wolf Audio and we were playing with that. After some tweaking of the knobs we hit a spot that sounded so good we both just looked at one another and laughed because we were literally amazed at how awesome it sounded. 
Needless to say now I need my own Plague Rat...


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I'm surprised nobody has asked
a) what sound you are after
b) what amp you are playing

I also did a 10 overdrive shootout a couple years back, it's on here somewhere with details. My goal is to take a mid-high gain amp and tighten it up and make it sound MEANER. The simple cheap Boss SD-1 continues to rule the roost, for my tastes. I also really liked the Maxon OD808 for that application.

For diversity and excellent build in the low gain arena, the TC Spark Booster (full size) is incredible also, and I've used it as a volume/solo boost in the fx loop of 3 different amps, and now use it as my main OD on bass. It's dead quiet, has WIDE range in it's 2 tone controls PLUS a 3 click EQ option (clean/mid/fat), and has enormous volume on tap. At 9 o'clock it's past unity with 2/3 of the sweep still to go. It's a little smoother/less mean and grindy than the other 2 above.

Oh, and +11111100000000000 to a RAT + Hiwatt. When I had my '81 50 watter, opened up a bit, and with the RAT, that was one of my favourite sounds I ever made. I like mean and that was F*KING ANGRY MEAN


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## carrionrogue (Sep 9, 2016)

keto said:


> My goal is to take a mid-high gain amp and tighten it up and make it sound MEANER. The simple cheap Boss SD-1 continues to rule the roost, for my tastes. I also really liked the Maxon OD808 for that application.


+1 for the maxon OD808 in those applications. I used to tighten up a mesa triple with a maxon, brought out some nice harmonic content as well. This also worked really well on my JCM800 and orange dual terror. Similar results were achieved with an OCD also.


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