There are thousands of overdrive and distortion pedals on the market, and choosing the right one can be a very daunting task. Typically, when starting out, people will think that a drive pedal is like tofu or water; it has little to no variety in available flavours. In reality, it’s more like pizza or ice cream; there’s a huge variety of options for flavour. Two drive pedals may not even be close to one another when compared. Here’s a guide on choosing the right drive pedal.
How Are You Using Your Amp?
Some people like to have their amp crystal clean. Others may want a small touch of grit. Some may even set their amp to a high gain sound. Depending on which one of those people you are, the drive pedal you want may vary.
Someone who sets their amp crystal clean would use one drive pedal to get their dirty tone, or use two drives; a lower gain one for rhythm, then boost it with another for a lead sound. When using an edge of breakup tone, people tend to use the drive pedal as a gain boost. If someone’s already set their amp gain fairly high, they’d either use a drive pedal as a gain boost, colour the amp gain tone with the pedal set clean, or use no drive pedal, and turn down the volume when they need less gain.
Different drive pedals produce different results with each amp, so try some out through your own amp or one similar. It’ll give you a better view of how the pedal will sound.
What Music do you Play?
A tone for one genre may not work with another genre. The guitar fills in different parts of the mix for different genres, and different drive pedals are designed for different parts of the frequency spectrum.
You may be thinking “guitar is a midrange instrument, so it should fill the midrange”, however the midrange can be divided into subcategories such as low midrange, high midrange, and each of them have different effects on the overall tone. An Ibanez Tube Screamer and Klon Centaur may both boost the midrange, however Tube Screamers boost more of the lower mids, while Klon Centaurs boost more of the higher mids, which is why they sound different.
Different genres require instruments to fill different frequencies. In Blues/Rock, guitarists use a warm tone with a fat low midrange, while Modern Metal guitarists use a tight and biting tone with an aggressive high midrange. A country guitarist would use a bright tone without the midrange popping out.
Before choosing a dirt pedal, please know what music you’re playing and the right sound to fit with the rest of the band. It’ll save you from making mistakes.
Overdrive, Distortion, or Fuzz?
There are three main flavours of dirt: Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz. Overdrive has a warm, smooth sound to it. Distortion is more cutting and aggressive. Fuzz is more glitchy sounding.
Different flavours of dirt work with different genres. A Classic Rock or Blues guitarist may prefer an overdrive. Psychedelic Rock relies heavily on the chaotic sound of fuzz. 80s Metal guitarists loved to use distortion pedals such as the BOSS DS-1 and Proco Rat, giving the cutting sound that defined the decade’s drive tones. You may think that modern metal guitarists use distortion pedals, but most of the time, they’re setting an overdrive pedal clean, and using it to boost the midrange of a high gain amplifier.
When buying dirt pedals, consider whether you want to use overdrive, distortion or fuzz. If you don’t, you might choose the wrong thing.
What Guitars do you Use?
Different drive pedals react differently to different guitars. A guitar with Single Coil or P90 pickups will sound different than a Humbucker pickup into the same drive pedal. Consider your guitar when making your purchase.
Single Coil and P90 pickups are commonly used with overdrive pedals, however they can benefit from the compression of some distortion pedals. Humbuckers can sound good into a higher gain distortion pedal, but since they’re already slightly compressed, they don’t always need all the compression, so they will work just as well into a lower gain overdrive. Try out different combinations of dirt and guitar. You might be surprised by what you find.
Examples of Drive Pedals
Now that I’ve told you how to choose the right drive pedal, here are some examples.
Ibanez TS-9
Type: Overdrive
Price: $149.99 CAD / $107.50 USD / €98.42 / £87.74
About: An absolute classic. Known for attenuating low end and boosting midrange. It also runs the bypass tone parallel to the drive tone, which allows for both clarity and sustain.
How I’d Use it: The bypass tone running parallel to the drive tone doesn’t sound the best when run into a crystal clean amp. I would run it into a slightly overdriven amp as a lead boost, or use it to colour a high gain amp.
BOSS DS-1
Type: Distortion
Price: $69.99 CAD / $50.16 USD / €45.93 / £40.96
About: Been around since 1978. When you think about distortion, this pedal likely comes to mind.
How I’d Use it: This pedal is very scooped and fizzy on its own. Most people hate it when they first try it out, likely because they’re using it into a crystal clean amp. I would use it to add on to the gain of a slightly overdriven amp, since that’s where it sounds the best
Proco RAT 2
Type: Distortion
Price: $104.99 CAD / $75.24 USD / €68.88 / £61.41
About: This pedal has dominated the stages since the 1980s. Most distortion pedals from the time are nasally and scooped, however this one has an aggressive midrange, and doesn’t get fizzy. Used by many famous guitarists, such as James Hetfield, Jeff Beck, and many more.
How I’d Use it: The pedals above, I’ve tried, but I actually own this pedal myself. You may find that many people say to run this into a slightly overdriven amp, but for me that tends to make the tone have a low end that sounds like “crumbling tin foil into a ball”. When I use this, I run it into a crystal clean amp.
Keeley Super Phat Mod
Type: Overdrive
Price: $219.00 CAD / $156.96 USD / €143.69 / £128.18
About: This is a perfected version of Robert Keeley’s Phat Mod for the BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver. Has impressed many players, even professionals that have played through more expensive pedals than this.
How I’d Use it: This is a very versatile drive. It can sound good alone, into an overdriven amp, and stacking with other drives. If I were to use it alone, I would set the gain to a low gain blues/rock crunch. If running into an overdriven amp, I’d use it as a boost for solos. For stacking with other drives, I would probably use it as a low gain rhythm sound, then boost it with a tighter, mid-focused overdrive such as a Tube Screamer or a Klon Centaur.
TC Electronic Dark Matter
Type: Distortion
Price: $89.99 CAD / $64.50 USD / €59.05 / £52.67
About: The people at TC Electronic aren’t really known for their dirt pedals, however the TC Electronic Dark Matter is unlike many other distortions. It’s quite affordable, but don’t let the price tag fool you. Many distortion pedals tend to be compressed, fizzy, and tight, however this one is warm, and responds to your playing dynamics. The team designed this to sound like a cranked vintage tube amp, and the final result isn’t even close to failure.
How I’d Use it: This pedal is on my board, and it’s my goto classic rock rhythm sound. It makes a great blues/rock rhythm sound, but if I turn up the gain a little bit, it doesn’t makes a good blues/rock lead tone. The reason I chose this was because it sounds like a cranked Marshall stack, which is a big part of the music I play. I typically set the gain on this pedal around noon for a rhythm tone, then boost it with a BOSS GE-7 or another drive pedal when I play lead.
Choosing the right drive pedal is a daunting task. It’s easy to make the wrong decision if you don’t know what you’re looking for. There are thousands of drive pedals on the market, which leaves a ton of room for failure. Before you purchase one, ask yourself if it’s right for you. You won’t regret it later.
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