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the sd1 has a bit of a bypass bleed, though. cured with another buffered pedal in front, but that assumes you already have one. ironically enough, the cheapo daphon sd1 clone doesn't seem to have that problem (though the boss probably sounds marginally nicer, or at least has a little more level boost on tap, if mine are anything to go by).
I like, in front of Marshalls
Bad Monkey, volume boost, extra grit and treble and bass controls.
Boss SD-1, volume boost, smoother than a BM, mids only control
Boss DS-1, similar to a SD-1, but rougher, harder sounds (Digitech Hot Head is pretty similar, but has treble/bass controls)
EHX East River Drive - pretty close to a TS without the extra cost of a full-on TS.
Vox Satchurator, similar to the DS-1 (I think it's a modified variant) with shed loads of mids, and shed loads of gain.
MXR Distortion+ Randy Rhoads used one. Tightens low end, and add some sparkle to the treble.
MXR Distortion3 plenty of additional gain, volume boost, mids control.
MXR Custom Badass 78 as D3, but a bit brighter, slightly tighter sounding.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
If you settle 100% on one over the the others just sell the other two and buy the boutique/vintage/pointlessly expensive version of your favourite.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Agree with @monquixote - Hardwirdwire CM-2. Two flavour OD with plenty of EQ shaping to suit and does the TS thing great. At the price they are going for through Amazon I think it's too good to miss.
Also worth remembering is that the use of TS (mid focused) pedals in front of most amps was not just popularised for the extra gain but also to tighten the bottom end. The problem is that this isn't a constant so dependent on playing volume, amp and speaker the point at which things get mushy and flubby will change. Also some amps can sound a bit ice picky in the highs when pushed by TS ODs. The CM-2's bass and treble controls are a big bonus in adjusting to these factors.
Which makes very little difference to the sound, until you're at higher gain settings. Visual sound did a chip swap test at moderate gain settings and the most noticeable one was swapping it for a video chip!
I'd go for the bad monkey, od-3 or hardwire od. They're all pretty good, the bad monkey does that middy smooth sound quite well.
I think they just used standard silicon diodes. The chip can (maybe) affect the tone slightly, though. I had a biyang with swappable chips and (before it died ) ) there seemed to be a bit of a difference in tone with different chips in there.
The klon is the one where everyone talks about the germanium diodes I think. electronics types say it doesn't make much difference. I dunno, I haven't compared.
Based on my cheapo joyo clone, I'd tend to agree.
I agree that the hardwire is really good (and is doubly so since it can kind of do the TS-thing, and also the more transparent thing, so if you can only get one OD, it's hard to beat, especially at less than £50), but I can't seem to quite get it to sound the same as my cheapo Joyo TS clone (or my SD1). I think it might be the 18V internal voltage (though I could be wrong), it doesn't quite compress the same and have the same "bark" (for want of a better word) in the mids etc., it's always a bit more open-sounding. It seems a bit clearer in the highs as well (so I'm not sure it'd help the ice-picky thing), my joyo ts clone seems smoother.
It's entirely possibly user error is at play, though. Maybe it can be dialled in to sound the same and I'm just an idiot (I could certainly get it close, but not exactly the same). But, for example, I had no bother dialling in the bad monkey to sound virtually identical to my Joyo (close enough that unless you had the two head to head you'd think they were the same).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you just want a killer OD which can kind of do the TS thing (and which can do a lot more), the hardwire is great. If you just want the TS or SD1 thing, and want to get as close to that as possible, I'd get something else (e.g. bad monkey or boss sd1).
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57632/