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

bandmaster188

my go to OD is a vox big ben. its a bit of a lump but it produces a sweet warm overdrive whatever i run it through. my other main OD is the barber direct drive.

Hootsmon

 ^ BM how you getting in  a live situation with the DD?

bandmaster188

hootsmon said:

 ^ BM how you getting in  a live situation with the DD?

I usually use it with a mild amount of drive for the more bluesy stuff we do, but what I really like about it is you can wind up the gain without affecting the volume and it gives me a pretty convincing cranked Marshall sound through my fender amp. So yes it works great for me in a live situation. Mines the bigger box mark I version btw.

dindude

I've owned loads of OD pedals over the last few years but the Mad Professor Little Green Wonder has been a mainstay of my board for 18 months now (in pedal-years that's over a decade). With fender type amps it's a great pedal, the body knob is a little bit of genius.

Either side of it I have a G2D Cream tone for light drive and a Mad Professor Amber Overdrive for fuzz-out higher gain. Both are also great pedals which I'm very happy with.

For once, I'm not really on the look out!

siraxeman

On my board now is the OD-3 then the Guv'nor mk1 then the dano TOD. But I can happily go back to my Visial Sounds double trouble or Jekyll n Hyde..

dogload

I'm always surprised when these threads pop up that so many of you guys spend such a lot of money on what I have always thought of as a 'cheap' effect (as opposed to delays and such). I guess it's just down to my having always used the Boss SD-1 I bought sometime around 1981. 

For the last five years or so I have been using it in front of a Nobels ODR1+. The Nobels does a more transparent boost, which when added to the SD-1 gives a very flexible saturated OD sound. So the two pedals offer a great deal of flexibility.

siraxeman

I definitely like stacking 2 OD pedals together. ... One can be my basic rock rhythm sound and the other is a volume and gain boost for solos. .. my amps are both set clean and that's how I roll. ...The other guitarist band uses a Marshall TSL601 which I think sounds great and versatile enough and he uses no other fx except for his wah and tuner. Sometimes I think I should dust my TSL122 off and ditch my pedalboard but I never seem to be able to.. currently running a Vox AC30 and a DSL50 both set clean... pedals provide all my dirt needs.

shady

I'm a bit of a dick head for EHX so no surprise that the two OD's I've been happy with are from them.

The OD side of the G4 Muff is what I currently use, reasons below:

Touch sensitive/dynamic/open, quick and easy to dial in, not overly gained and very affordable.

 

The English Muff'n was great as well, but it was way too big and the plainly daft power connection to the pedal was a constant worry.  I will add, by the way, I've always used OD into a clean amp and not used it to overdrive a dirty amp....that probably says more about my inability to afford an amp with a decent drive channel than anything else though...

BluesyDave

Recently bought an EWS Brute Drive.  Seems to have a broad range of OD from almost clean boost to medium/high gain plus a boost switch.  Still tinkering with it but like it very much.

guitarfishbay

Boss SD1.  Well priced, works for me, and I prefer the feel of Boss switches to other types.

jeztone2

I have a Boss SD-1 (Keeley Clone). I just use it as a boost for solo's. But before that I used just stock SD-1's & they were fine.

tone1

Subdecay liquid Subshine mk3 and Palmer Solid metal which was cheap but sounds ace and not just metal sounds. Bit bulky on the board so maybe have to get it re-housed it's tgSt good!

Gassage

I know it's Pete, but I am still in love with the Cornish CC1- one of the most sensitive OD's around with a killer midhump.

It's truly brilliant.

I also love the Euphoria- just bought another as the flexibility is amazing.

I bought an EP Booster on here last week and tried it last night with the Hiwatt- NO. They don't work together. Takes the chime away. I will be trying with my Fenders over next few days as I know it likes those. Hopeful it'll be good with Princeton.

Budget options- the humble BD2 always really hits the spot for me- great balanced OD.

Pete's blurb on the CC1:

The CC-1™ features two fixed low gain Soft Clipping Stages preceded by a variable gain (maximum +22dB) linear preamp to compensate for low output pickups and provide extra drive to the soft clipping stages if required.

The advantage of using two low gain Soft Clipping Stages rather than hard diode clipping is that they are effectively (and automatically) removed from the audio path when the signal level drops below their transition point - ensuring a complete “cleanup” if the guitar volume is reduced. As the signal level increases due to stronger playing the soft clips gradually engage and start to add harmonics - more signal = more harmonics - but the loudness continues to increase as there is no clamping of the signal peaks. Dynamics are therefore preserved and superb musicality results.

Following on from the Soft Clipping Stages is a three band active EQ using frequencies I have specifically tailored to suit guitars. Being active, the three tone bands can be both cut and boosted as desired with the zero or neutral point being 12 o'clock on each control knob. I have included a second linear boost stage after the tone circuit to compensate for any reduction in overall volume when the tones are in "cut" mode.

The benefits of this active tone circuit, compared to the usual passive (Cut only) tone circuit is that the three bands are completely independent and there is no inter reaction between the Bass, Middle and Treble tone controls

HollowAxis

I used to use a reissue TS808, sold that, but it was a nice thing.

For a long time I used the Mantra from Blackout Effectors. I always thought that wasn't OD as such, sounded way more fuzzy to me. 

Same with the Boss OD-1, sounds way over the top for an overdrive.

Moved on to just boosting my amp to get natural breakup and then using fuzz for more dirt.

Now I have an EQD Palisades on the way ... it should be interesting. 

liftman

I've been using a  Maxon SD9 for the last couple of years. It's replaced a Lovepedal Eternity which is a tweaked TS-type pedal.

Compared to the E, it doesn't cut out any bass frequencies, has less of a mid-hump ( even though the E has less mids than a TS).

It's also more responsive to dynamic playing.

I'm using it with Fender amps and have the tone and gain on minimum for a lowish overdrive but that setting is as gainy as the E at 10 0'clock.

Still on the lookout for a lower gain OD, recently tried a Timmy clone and Barber Gain-changer but they don't have the warmth of the SD9. 

As a bonus, the SD9  does a great bassy distortion / fuzz at higher gain settings.

Jalapeno

I have 3 ....

ZenDrive for creamy Robben Ford'esque sounds

Xotic EP for kicking the amp in the goolies to get 1970s classic rock raunch

TRex Moller - emergency pedal for plugging into s/s amp clean channel - great Marshally sounds