What is the best overdrive for rock-blues?

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Matte23

Matte23

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Hi everyone, I'm writing to you because I'm assembling a pedalboard to play rock-blues (gary moore-zztop-trower-leslie west-jeff healey...) and I'm asking you for advice on which would be the most suitable pedal as the main overdrive.
I come from 80'/90's hard rock and I have no experience with sounds other than a nice Marshall hot rod type of gain sounds.
I was thinking of a Maxon SD-9 or a Tone Freak Abunai 2.....:rolleyes:
Thank you all
 
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I'd definitely have a Klon type of overdrive there for a solo boost outside of the main overdrive pedal. Or it can be an always on type of pedal too. The best I've found is the J Rockett Archer (the silver not the gold but ymmv). It just imparts a great flavor.
 
Boss Waza Metal Zone (don't let the name fool you, Joe Bonamassa uses one)

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/joe-bonamassa-boss-metal-zone-mt-2

If you need something that looks better for a blues board, Boss Blues Driver; there's a waza version.

when it comes to pedals, I always start with Boss - they have pedals for everything at a good price - unless I need something really specific or want a booteek board to impress your doctor, lawyer and accountant friends.

Boss has many dirt pedals, you can't go wrong with a Super Overdrive SD-1 or Boss Overdrive (I think the current version is OD-3).

IMO
 
Now on my pedalboard I've an SD-1 and a Bogner Red first version. The Bogner red is a very amp like pedal but It is not suited for blues it is too tight. I think I need an overdrive to stack it with the SD1 to create two different sounds.
 
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Matte23 said:
Now on my pedalboard I've an SD-1 and a Bogner Red first version. The Bogner red is a very amp like pedal but It is not suited for blues it is too tight. I think I need an overdrive to stack it with the SD1 to create two different sounds.
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Depends on how much gain you want from gain staging, 2-3 stages?

Maybe look for SD-1 gain staging? You can also use clean boosts in front of OD or Dist,...it can get complex fast. I've played around with gain staging in my HX-Effects, and low/clean boost into a medium gain into a high gain seemed to work well for me IIRC. I used them individually, in pairs and all three and it covered a lot of tones, on a clean amp.
 
rsm said:
Depends on how much gain you want from gain staging, 2-3 stages?

Maybe look for SD-1 gain staging? You can also use clean boosts in front of OD or Dist,...it can get complex fast. I've played around with gain staging in my HX-Effects, and low/clean boost into a medium gain into a high gain seemed to work well for me IIRC. I used them individually, in pairs and all three and it covered a lot of tones, on a clean amp.
Click to expand...
What you think if I try a klon style pedal in front of the sd1? I've found the sd1 with the gain near to max It sounds very good but It lacks enough gain to lead a solo
 
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Matte23 said:
What you think if I try a klon style pedal in front of the sd1? I've found the sd1 with the gain near to max It sounds very good but It lacks enough gain to lead a solo
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worth a try; I used a zen drive or klon model into a SD-1 model in my HX-FX and thought it sounded good.

Also, try it with different levels of gain and volume into the SD-1 set the way you like it.
 
Boss BD-2 works nicely with clean or dirty amp. Very versatile. For already dirty, I'd use a Maxon OD808.
 
Bogner la grange or LPD sixty 8

probably a klone or timmy on top, too
 
Has an awful lot to do with what you are running it into—an already pushed Fender or Marshall or a clean pedal platform type of amp.
 
This won’t be a popular one but I LOVE the he souls food pedal for that . That’s my go to
 
rsm said:
Boss Waza Metal Zone (don't let the name fool you, Joe Bonamassa uses one)

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/joe-bonamassa-boss-metal-zone-mt-2

If you need something that looks better for a blues board, Boss Blues Driver; there's a waza version.

when it comes to pedals, I always start with Boss - they have pedals for everything at a good price - unless I need something really specific or want a booteek board to impress your doctor, lawyer and accountant friends.

Boss has many dirt pedals, you can't go wrong with a Super Overdrive SD-1 or Boss Overdrive (I think the current version is OD-3).

IMO
Click to expand...

I’ve bought and sold so many OD pedals and it seems my Boss OD-3 is never on the chopping block. Partially because the resale value isn’t worth the effort, but also because it’s just consistently good and useful
 
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