so...what's your OD of choice?

impmann

I gig the Okko Diablo every week - its brilliant, plus it doesn't have to sound like Gregor Hilden...

mike_l

Depends.

A "Go anywhere, with any amp" lead boost, Boss SD-1.

A grittier, lead boost into a Marshall a Bad Monkey (doesn't work well with all amps IMO)

A stand alone alternative to a dirty amp (into a clean amp), Marshall Mk1 Gunvor, or Blackstar HT-Dual cover most things (for me)

For a low-gain Hendrix-y type sounds a Zvex Distortron (again into a clean amp) does that well.

Flanging_Fred

Paul Cochrane Tim for me. It does seem better at higher volumes though.

At the other end of the scale, an old Arion SOD1 replaced my Bad Monkey and sounds way better than it should for the money.

meltedbuzzbox

Nobels ODR-1 over here. 

Costs sod all, can take a beating and is totally transparent. Does light or full on drive and you can always hear your guitars natural sound underneath it at all times. 

allicio

VL effects od-1 vintage, made a daft mistake selling it so have reordered one from Vincent in Paris. Finest od ive ever played!

ThePrettyDamned

meltedbuzzbox;324293" said:

Nobels ODR-1 over here. 

Costs sod all, can take a beating and is totally transparent. Does light or full on drive and you can always hear your guitars natural sound underneath it at all times. 

This seems a bit of a sleeper pedal...

ICBM

As of now, possibly the Mesa Flux Drive, but I haven't had it long so I'm not totally sure. Otherwise, the RAT II, set low like an overdrive.

stonevibe

Boss SD-1 would do for me.

Lost my original one to a heavy foot stomp in the early '90s. Still think they are great for what they do and pretty reliable for the money as well.

RocknRollDave

I use a Danelectro Coolcat Transparent OD.

My reason for owning it is that it was free with a Guitarist subscription many moons ago (I was using a crappy multi FX unit at the time).

It's a keeper as it sounds great and is solidly built. Really excellent pedal. Does exactly what I need it to do, with a slight crunch on the amp and then the OD to tip it further over the edge. Sweet.

Also own their regular Drive and Fuzz pedals, and ditto the Transparent OD, although in my current band those levels of dirt don't get used so much. The Transparent OD is my core "dirty" sound, used through most of my set.

xSkarloey

I'm currently still in the honeymoon period with my new Marshall DSL 5, so that's got all the drive I want right there without pedals. But otherwise it's the Bad Monkey. The bass tone control is useful because it helps compensate for the boxiness of my old Orange amp if I don't want that sound.

monquixote

I've tried a boat load of stuff and much of it is good so I'll only mention the truly exceptional.

I should add I've never tried a Timmy or a Klon though I have tried lots of boutique stuff like the Boiling Point, Zen Drive, Prince of Tone, Xotic SL and AC, etc.

My main issue with ODs is standard TS types make Fender amps with a lot of bass on the clean sound like they are being played down a phone line so I either like pedals that have a bass control or just have a more solid bass response. 

My number one all time OD is the Liquid Sunshine MKII. It's just magical. Perfect frequency balance, likes every amp and every guitar, works into clean and dirty, stacks with everything and also makes pedals that don't work well with an amp (like a Fuzz into a bright Fender) work well when stacked into the LS. It doesn't have very much gain, but what it does it does really well.

The other OD I really like and currently use is the MXR Badass OD. I think it's very close to a Way Huge Green Rhino (both Tripps designs with the 100Hz control) It's essentially a TS/SD type, but with more gain, more level, a very well voiced bass control and a second mode that adds some chunky low mids. There are probably any number of other pedals I could do the same with (Prince of Tone and Fulldrive II spring to mind), but this is my current favorite and it isn't stupidly priced.

You don't seem to hear much about them, but I think it's way better than for example a Zen Drive. 

mike_l

Need. To. Try. The MXR @monquixote mentioned, being as I love the Distortion3, and my Flange/chorus and phasers of choice are all MXR.......

Fazer

i rotate these around.
the elements is an op-amp swiss army knife with so many option and flexibility
the others all have jfet juiciness
the barbershop does the best open clean/dirty sound and always has this magical way of opening up other drives when placed after them
the f*ck has a great cutting sound and 2 unique broken sounds, triggered with either a threshold control or momentary footswitch
and the manifold is just great and natural sounding with tons of gain and 3 eq options

monquixote

mike_l said:

Need. To. Try. The MXR @monquixote mentioned, being as I love the Distortion3, and my Flange/chorus and phasers of choice are all MXR.......

I'll make sure I bring it if we end up having a gearfest.

mike_l

Coolio. Let me know if there's anything of mine you want to try. I know MattG wants to try an EVH wah, so that's coming....

Halikus

Always a toss up between my Boo OD and my T-Rex MAB.  Generally only use either to tighten a gain channel, I use the MAB when I want a bit more gain but not much change in the core tone and the Boo when I want to tighten the lows and hump the mids a bit.

juansolo

Kingslayer

SquireJapan

Well, it was a Menatone Wreckt, but after lending it to a friend for a long time it's come back to me sounding a bit like a wet fart (sorry, it's the best way I could think to describe it).

I picked up a cheap Wampler Paisley that I'm quite liking at the minute too, but haven't really had time to spend getting to know it. I was using a Wampler Plextortion for a while, but I'm still not sure where I stand on that - it seems a bit dependent on the amp (and I'm tending towards solid state most of the time).

You don't seem to see much Menatone stuff mentioned really - I really rate it. I would certainly get another Wreckt, but I keep meaning to get it looked at first ... of course I haven't yet and it's been 12 months.

d8m

If I had to choose one I would probably go for coke..........

)

jokes, Im loving the bad monkey!

mark_jwedge

Fredric effects zombie Klone into a crunchy amp does it for me and just clean it up with the guitar volume