Lessons from 10 Overdrives: Adventures in Futility

metropolis_4

metropolis_4

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I seem to have amassed a not-entirely-reasonable amount of drive pedals lately so I thought it would be fun to record some clips to help myself compare them. Figured I might as well post it here. I threw my two amps into the mix as well for comparison and reference.

Strat bridge pickup straight into everything. All pedals into the /13 -> mic-no-mo -> Suhr RL. Amps both into the mic-no-mo -> Suhr RL. Nothing else in the chain, a little GarageBand reverb.

I just did a quick tweak when I plugged each one in, recorded one take and moved on to the next. I’ll probably do a few more like this in different styles.

Order:
  1. AC30
  2. EAE Bard
  3. EAE Citadel
  4. /13 JRT
  5. OBNE Fault
  6. EAE Halberd
  7. OBNE Haunt
  8. Greer Lightspeed
  9. EAE Longsword
  10. Greer Southland
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Drive test

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My first thought was I could just randomly pick any one of these and get the job done. When I’m playing I still really love the Lightspeed, but listening back to the recordings I like what I hear in the EAE pedals. They sit nicely.

I love that the Haunt can sound so good for such a basic overdrive tone. That thing is so versatile!

I feel bad for putting the Fault right after the /13. That wasn’t fair, haha. I would never use a Klone that way, but figured I’d listen to how it does anyway.
 
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Drive pedals are kind of an obsession for me. I have built a few and bought a ton of them. I have figured out that I like different types of clipping in different context. I have also discovered that I can run an EQ pedal with a drive pedal and really dial it in to where I want it. I have an idea for a drive pedal that I have really been thinking of designing and building. I haven't seen many in the market that do what I would like to do. Who knows, maybe it would be something that would catch on and make some money. I am a little concerned that putting the options in it that I would like to have may be too complex of a circuit and could negatively affect the tone. The only real way to know is to design it and breadboard it and hear it. I know it will be a lot of work but it is very interesting to me and if it produces what I hope it will, I could sell all of my drive pedals and probably run two or three of these together and have all I need for the tones I use.
 
Am I the only one here who doesn’t know how to build pedals? 😁 Sorry, it seems like a lot of people here casually mention pedal innards and details about them. I just plug in and twist dials.
Dirt pedals are my favorite vice. Your amount is entirely reasonable. I tried to listen but the page wants me to sign in to an account.
 
Acwild said:
Am I the only one here who doesn’t know how to build pedals? 😁 Sorry, it seems like a lot of people here casually mention pedal innards and details about them. I just plug in and twist dials.
Dirt pedals are my favorite vice. Your amount is entirely reasonable. I tried to listen but the page wants me to sign in to an account.
Click to expand...
I had the same window come up about signing into an account. I just hit escape and that window went away and I was able to play the recording.
 
Thanks JasonE! That worked. Wow, there’s a lot of overlap with those pedals. The AC30 was the only one that sounded different. Other than that, through my speakers, the Bard has the best low note definition. A few seemed like the low notes got washed within the chords.
 
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Acwild said:
Thanks JasonE! That worked. Wow, there’s a lot of overlap with those pedals. The AC30 was the only one that sounded different. Other than that, though my speakers, the Bard has the best low note definition. A few seemed like the low notes got washed within the chords.
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There is a lot of overlap! The Bard does have a very solid feel to it with lots of definition. The Halberd can almost feel fuzz like in the low notes, it sags a lot and gets squishy.

The Fault I would normally use as a boost for other drives, the Longsword I primarily bought for higher gain, and the Haunt can do a lot of different more traditional fuzz tones. But I was impressed how well they could each handle a basic overdrive tone like this
 
I find that pedals can have relevant details when trying them...but at the same time a lot of them do the exact same job in a different manner. I was just playing some of my DIY pedals into the clean channel of my Mark V, going for bluesy tones.

Whether I used the Bluesbreaker side of my Browne Protein clone, or the Nobels ODR-1 side, it didn't make that much of a difference. Both got in the same place with minor flavor differences. I could do the same thing with my Strymon Riverside for sure. Or the boost/OD side of the Strymon Compadre.

That's why I've never ended up buying a lot of overdrives. There's so much overlap with them. I agree with the clips in the OP that you could probably pick any one of them and it'd do the job.
 
Acwild said:
Am I the only one here who doesn’t know how to build pedals? 😁 Sorry, it seems like a lot of people here casually mention pedal innards and details about them. I just plug in and twist dials.
Dirt pedals are my favorite vice. Your amount is entirely reasonable. I tried to listen but the page wants me to sign in to an account.
Click to expand...
If you can solder reasonably well, it's not too hard building e.g pedal kits! It's pretty fun.
 
Acwild said:
I can’t. It’s easy to blame my soldering iron but probably more realistic to say that I suck at soldering.
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I do think a proper soldering station does make a big difference though. It's much easier when you have the right size tip and can get the right temperature. It doesn't need to be some multiple hundred bucks pro grade thing either, just better than those 15W solder pen type deals.
 
Whizzinby said:
If I was forced to pick I’d say the Halberd for that riff, but removing all variables you could throw a dart and be content with any of them.
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I dig the Halberd, it’s unique. It’s got a lot of “personality” to it.

I’m starting to gravitate towards these combos:

Halberd -> Longsword
Fault -> Lightspeed
Haunt -> Bard
 
laxu said:
I find that pedals can have relevant details when trying them...but at the same time a lot of them do the exact same job in a different manner. I was just playing some of my DIY pedals into the clean channel of my Mark V, going for bluesy tones.

Whether I used the Bluesbreaker side of my Browne Protein clone, or the Nobels ODR-1 side, it didn't make that much of a difference. Both got in the same place with minor flavor differences. I could do the same thing with my Strymon Riverside for sure. Or the boost/OD side of the Strymon Compadre.

That's why I've never ended up buying a lot of overdrives. There's so much overlap with them. I agree with the clips in the OP that you could probably pick any one of them and it'd do the job.
Click to expand...

I think there are some distinct “food groups” of drive pedals.

There are also some that are one trick ponies and others that can do a lot of different things. The Lightspeed basically does this one sound I recorded, but the Halberd and Longsword can do a lot more. And the Haunt is closer to a Big Muff than an overdrive, but it can still pull of this tone
 
To see differences between drive pedals, I use them in a manner that conventional wisdom pedal snobs would deem "wrong." Use the full range of controls, especially any tone or drive controls. There remains some overlap, sure, but there are significant differences to be found around the dial.

But yes, pretty much anything can satisfy the "add something to a 'pushed' amp" paradigm.
 
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