Overdrive Pedal Shootout!

  • Thread starter Thread starter severinsteel
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severinsteel

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So I decided to film a video with every overdrive pedal I have. Hopefully this will help you guys see what some of these pedals sound like. To keep things fair, all pedals have their controls set to 12:00. I used a Marshall JCM 800 for everything.


What was your favorite? Least favorite?

Pedals used:
Xotic AC booster
Often FX Meta Driver
Barber LTD
Barber Launch Pad
Fulltone Fulldrive 2
EHX Big Muff
Ibanez TS9
Ibanez TS9 modded
BYOC Tube Screamer
Ibanez TS5
Digitech Bad Monkey
Nobles ODR-1
Keeley Modded Pro Co Rat
 
Cool post - I love these shootouts... And I am still seeking that "just right" OD, so thank you! :rock:

My order of preference:
1. Meta Driver
2. Fulltone (with Boost)
3. AC Booster
(I am a thrash lover so I tend to lean heavily toward the more aggressive stuff)

Bug Muff was awful to my ears. :thumbsdown:
 
In retrospect, I should have just set the pedals to taste as opposed to everything at 12. I'll probably end up doing another video with that in mind.
 
That is my type of shootout! I dig the fact that everything is at noon
 
To be honest, it is kind of hard to tell from the shootout, because you have too many things going on at once and different pedals are being used for different things. Personally, I prefer when they demo each pedal doing the same riff or whatever and go back and forth. That way you can hear the difference. Sometimes, it is hard here to even tell when something was turned on. Check out gearmandude to see what I am saying.
 
bigdaddyd":3g3caf4f said:
To be honest, it is kind of hard to tell from the shootout, because you have too many things going on at once and different pedals are being used for different things. Personally, I prefer when they demo each pedal doing the same riff or whatever and go back and forth. That way you can hear the difference. Sometimes, it is hard here to even tell when something was turned on. Check out gearmandude to see what I am saying.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought about doing it that way, but decided against it. I wanted to cover a bunch of pedals quick and thought using them in the context of an actual song would be a cool idea. There are plenty of those 'back and forth' guitar only demos out there and I wanted to do something more fun. I'm doing this for fun after all, haha. But yeah, playing the riff to 'back in Black' through each pedal would probably be the ultimate, but that's not my thing.
 
Muff sounded the worst, everything else was great and very little difference between the tube screamer types. The modded TS-9 stood out over the stock TS-9 but didn't standout more than say the BYOC screamer and Bad Monkey. Moral of the story, great amp, decent boost = great tone. You've saved people lots of money as they won't need to run out and drop 180$ on a boutique OD when 45$ will suffice.

(Great player too obviously)
 
I would have liked to hear each pedal with the sweet riff you pulled out at the 1:00 mark. I am a sucker for the open D chord with some gain. It's also a good chord to hear how much clarity the gain characteristic has.

Cool comparison! I don't have the patience, know how, or equipment to pull that off.
 
I think that people like the Fulldrive w/ boost because you go into a chord progression from a single note riff. The chords make it sound thicker.
Of the single note stuff I like the TS9.
 
Fulltone
AC Boost
TS

In that order above.

Thanks for the demo as I've been thinking about a boost/o.d for my Friedman to give a little oomph in BE mode.

Lot better than dropping 250 for some boutique pedal.
 
Cool video. :thumbsup:

I really liked the section where you played the rhythm chord passage I wish all the pedals were flowing through that one part just because I like to hear how boosts sound with rhythm chording. :lol: :LOL:

I think I might have ordered my preferences differently in that scenario.
 
Shiny_Surface":26fl08ak said:
Cool video. :thumbsup:

I really liked the section where you played the rhythm chord passage I wish all the pedals were flowing through that one part just because I like to hear how boosts sound with rhythm chording. :lol: :LOL:

I think I might have ordered my preferences differently in that scenario.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. It's funny. I've gotten some praise but also a lot of complaints about my method. People feel very string about gear demos, which is good to know. I'll try and be a little more scientific next time.
 
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