# Light-Mid Overdrive Pedal Suggestions??



## Marcel Furlanetto (Sep 14, 2007)

I have my Marshall sound covered by my Sansamp GT2 but need a Light to Mid overdrive pedal. So far I have the Barber Electronics LTD, Barber Electronics Small Fry, and a Modded Tube Screamer in mind. I know there are loads of OD pedals out there that I have yet to come across. Any Suggestions?

Oh yes, and i'm looking to spend between $100-200 new or used.

Thanks


----------



## Guest (Dec 27, 2007)

I've churned through a few drive pedals this year looking for that low-medium bridge between my clean channel and my drive channel on my Koch. Here are some of my notes:


I liked the Small Fry but I wouldn't say it did low gain very well. It was a tad bland in the low gain territory. I really liked it for the super-saturated Dumble-type tones: smooth, compressed, gainy. That's where it shone. It did not stack well with my amps high gain channel or other pedals.

TS9DX was weird. I couldn't get a handle on any setting other than the "normal" TS9 setting. I thought it'd be like a TS9 and an SD9 in one box but it wasn't that at all. Didn't last long on my board.

I liked the stock BD-2 I had. I thought it did low gain very well. Transparent and crisp. I had no issues with noise.

I _really_ liked the H20 Monte Allums modded BD-2 I had. I shouldn't have sold that one. It was great. A very good low-medium gain pedal and it stacked well on top of the red channel for more juice on solos. Stupid move selling it.

The Catalinbread SCOD was good, but not at the price it commanded. It's most appealing feature was it stacked well and did a nice job juicing the high gain channel on my Koch. But no regrets turning that one over. Nice thing about trying Catalinbread stuff is it holds its value really well.

The GT-500 is on my board now. I love the boost/OD side of the pedal. You can slam the front of your amp with a dangerously loud signal and dial in a little bit of dirt while pushing the treble up a bit. It's great and works with wonderfully musical results on my clean and gain channels. I dislike the distortion side of the pedal. I find it really thin and wispy. If I can find a boost/OD pedal that does what the GT-500's boost/OD side does I'll replace it and get back some space on the board. The volume boost is a blessing and a curse -- the knob is really touchy and it's easy to make the pedal very, very loud with just a nudge on that dial. I hate the little knobs he used for the tone controls.
I've got a vintage Rat and a Catalinbread SilverKiss MkI in the mail on their way to me now (I know: it's a friggin' disease I tell you this drive pedal obessesion). I'm also talking to Greg and Solid Gold about some of his stuff. Like I said: I've found a beautiful low gain sound in that GT-500 boost/OD pedal. I think it'd be perfect if it had an on/off toggle and then a unity/boost toggle to switch it between unity gain and boost mode. The SilverKiss I'm really curious about because the MkI's were supposed to be a little more treble-heavy than the current issue and it's got 5 freakin' knobs on it which is a feat in and of itself. The Rat I bought just 'cause it's a vintage Rat and I got a helluva good price on it -- we'll see if it does what I think it does.


----------



## Mr Yerp (Feb 24, 2006)

Can't go wrong with a Keeley BD2. Does low and hi gain very well. Nice and tight sounding, no floppy bottom, highs aren't fizzy.


----------



## Marcel Furlanetto (Sep 14, 2007)

Haha, I know how you feel man. Trying to finalize my board over this past year has been hell...still fun trying out loads of new pedals and researching but this monster needs to be done now. The Light-Mid OD is the last (for now) pedal I need to nail.

Thanks for the tips..I does narrow down a few options but what works for your rig may not work for mine. I'm playing a Custom made LP & a MIJ strat through my SF Fender Twin which runs through a Marshall 4x12 slant cab. Whats your setup like?

I'm still thinking I should try out both Barber's LTD & Small fry but if they don't work well with other pedal I've got a problem...my board is fairly large. I tried a keeley modded blues driver after all the hype but found that it was a tad too fuzzy/thin/unnatural. The fulltone GT-500 does sound intriguing but I havn't been a fan of fulltone lately. I had the clyde deluxe wah that had a terrible sweep & still have the full-drive 2 which sounds great except for the lack of mids...sounds a little like im playing through speakers made of construction paper. If you've played the FullDrive 2 how does it compare to the GT-500?

I've also been offered a Keeley Modded 80's Proco Rat that I'll have to look into further.


----------



## Guest (Dec 27, 2007)

Marcel Furlanetto said:


> Thanks for the tips..I does narrow down a few options but what works for your rig may not work for mine. I'm playing a Custom made LP & a MIJ strat through my SF Fender Twin which runs through a Marshall 4x12 slant cab. Whats your setup like?


All of the above observations were made with the following guitars: a '95 PRS Standard 24 w/JB (bridge) and Dragon I (neck); a '95 LP Special with Fralin P-90's, a Schecter Strat w/Monster Tone's and the stock BD-2 also got a work out with a CiJ 21-fret Telecaster before I traded it for the LP Special. For amps they've all been played through my main amp: a Koch TwinTone with a Koch-designed Jensen in it. And the Small Fry and TS9DX also got a work out on my Mesa Rect-O-Verb w/2x12" Recitifer cabinet that had Celestion V30s in it -- this amp and cab have since been sold as the Koch covers all my needs in a smaller package.

I agree: it all depends very much on your amp and guitars. I think more the amp than anything else.



> I'm still thinking I should try out both Barber's LTD & Small fry but if they don't work well with other pedal I've got a problem...my board is fairly large.


Nice thing is they hold they're value so you can pick one up used for ~$110 and then sell it again for ~$110 and you're only out the shipping. Not a bad rental fee really.



> The fulltone GT-500 does sound intriguing but I havn't been a fan of fulltone lately. I had the clyde deluxe wah that had a terrible sweep & still have the full-drive 2 which sounds great except for the lack of mids...sounds a little like im playing through speakers made of construction paper. If you've played the FullDrive 2 how does it compare to the GT-500?


This is my first Fulltone pedal. I've never payed a FullDrive. The GT-500 uses a wah inductor on the mid knob on the distortion side which has a massive sweep to it. Despite this I still find its distortion a bit wispy for my tastes.



> I've also been offered a Keeley Modded 80's Proco Rat that I'll have to look into further.


It was traynor_garnet's Rat for sale post that got me thinking I'd like to try a Rat out! And now there's one in the mail...

The stuff Greg and Solid Gold is selling looks really intriguing. He can re-voice any of his pedals to meet your needs too. Custom tune it for the amp and guitar you're using. I'm really interested in trying his SS454 OD pedal. Not sure it's ready for consumption yet but it sounds really promising.


----------



## ssdeluxe (Mar 29, 2007)

talked to Greg, he seems like a terrific guy for something custom !

here's my secret weapon :that is one of the best sleepers around: blackbox cobalt: this thing has been almost always on in my gtr chain for sometime now. (bout 5yrs), it can do alot up to mid boost/gain. (i'm sure it can do more, but I never dimed it). Truly one great pedal. Talk to Scott over @ axeandyoushallreceive.com , he carries these.

on cheap: the catalinbread hyper pack I bought is pretty damn impressive and super small. no fuss no muss..... like this one too.


----------



## Vincent (Nov 24, 2007)

Not sure if its a light-mid overdrive pedal however mxr has a really nice sounding overdrive pedal...just click on rock this sound to hear it...i like the sound...its not fuzzy sounding which I like...i dont own this pedal but I do own the Wylde ZW 44 MXR overdrive and I like the tones of the MXR pedals a lot.

OD pedal here
http://www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=products/pip&id=266&pmh=products/p_and_e_detail

Other pedals here.
http://www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=products/p_and_e_detail&cat=16


----------



## Marcel Furlanetto (Sep 14, 2007)

iaresee said:


> It was traynor_garnet's Rat for sale post that got me thinking I'd like to try a Rat out! And now there's one in the mail...
> 
> The stuff Greg and Solid Gold is selling looks really intriguing. He can re-voice any of his pedals to meet your needs too. Custom tune it for the amp and guitar you're using. I'm really interested in trying his SS454 OD pedal. Not sure it's ready for consumption yet but it sounds really promising.


Yea, he was the one who offered me the rat. Not sure i'll bite on one quite yet as I used to have a stock rat II and found it to be fairly harsh and well...ratty. I will give a vintage/modded one a whirl once I have spare cash. Let me know how yours sounds when you get it in. I also checked out solid gold and will keep them in mind for some custom work I have thought about. I'm also looking forward to the release of the SS454, I couldn't find any hints on the release date though.


And thanks for the Catlainbread hyperpak suggestion ssdeluxe. This OD seems to be perfect for the sound (with volume knob on guitar slightly rolled back) and will fit my tighlty packed board nicely. I ordered one from Scott @ Axeandyoushallreceive for $135 after shipping and taxes...should be in after the holidays. That cobalt of yours seems to be quite the OD pedal judging by the sound clips but is a tad expensive for the time being. Going to have to keep that one in mind as well. The pedal hunt never ends.


----------



## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

BAD MONKEY! but push the tubes to the max first. 

BB Preamp, I dig mine.. it is a tad too smooth for some applications though but very nice. I honestly think there is less difference between overdrives when the tubes are already doing the work. Some thin the sound out a tad like the SD-1 but sometimes you want that as well... my advice is not to search for the Holy Grail but to stumble upon something you dig. maybe a reissue Tube screamer. Can find them used easy.. then again you mileae may vary as I am a rocker and I am addicted to hair band guitar tones. :-/


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

iaresee said:


> TS9DX was weird. I couldn't get a handle on any setting other than the "normal" TS9 setting. I thought it'd be like a TS9 and an SD9 in one box but it wasn't that at all. Didn't last long on my board.


Yeah, I've heard that complaint, but apparently Keeley has addressed the problem with that pedal


----------



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

It's kind of generic but a Boss Blues Driver has a nice gradual gain control, as does the Drive Zone, but I've been using the Seymour Duncan Lava Box on lower settings, and the amp distortion. Combined with some modest signal boost such pedals can work wonders.

Peace, Mooh.


----------



## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

You know, the stock BD-2 is very close to the MI Audio Crunchbox circuit when opened up. I was very surprised when I noticed this.Its a real sleeper of a pedal. Much fatter than the SD-1 and DS-1 in my opinion.


----------



## ssdeluxe (Mar 29, 2007)

Marcel Furlanetto said:


> And thanks for the Catlainbread hyperpak suggestion ssdeluxe. This OD seems to be perfect for the sound (with volume knob on guitar slightly rolled back) and will fit my tighlty packed board nicely. I ordered one from Scott @ Axeandyoushallreceive for $135 after shipping and taxes...should be in after the holidays. That cobalt of yours seems to be quite the OD pedal judging by the sound clips but is a tad expensive for the time being. Going to have to keep that one in mind as well. The pedal hunt never ends.



happy to help, the catalinbread is awesome.
as your tastes change, sometimes the pedal choices follow, but these days, I try to go by "if it sounds good, it is good "...and try not to keep searching, yup, like GAS , its a hard disease to cure !!! lol but @ least we're not blowing cash on crack !!

p.s. the blackbox cobalt is one of my desert island pieces: you should try that one some time as well ! everybit as good as the klon/other's .(imho of course !)


----------

