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Different Overdrive Pedals – Do they actually sound any different?
Introduction
There are many different overdrive pedals in the world; however, for myself, there will always be the big three! Klon, Blues Driver, and a Tube Screamer! These are the three pedals that I would argue all other pedals are based around! You would struggle not to find one of these pedals on someone’s pedalboard! This got me thinking, is there really much of a difference?
I wanted to put these pedals against each other and find out if they actually sound or perform any differently! Are they three separate pedals or could you interchange them? Well, why don’t we all find out together? Firstly, let us talk about the plan and what I aim to do and perform.
Different Overdrive Pedals: The Plan!
So what is my plan? Well, this kind of video has been done before, be that as it may, I have always noticed that they set the pedals to how they would use them, which means they will all sound similar anyway. So what have I done? I have picked four or five knob positions, set the pedals to that position, then tried to play the same thing. This allows me to(and you all) to hear what these pedals sound like when set to the same thing.
The amp and guitar will remain the same all the way through these demos! I will have to amp settings, one is a clean and one is a crunch sound so you can sample how they sound running into amps that are set up differently.
I am hoping this allows you to judge and see how different or the same these different overdrive pedals are! Do you really need to buy all three or could you just buy one and be set with your overdrives? Speaking of pedals, why don’t we go through the pedals and find out the pedals I will be using for this article!
Different Overdrive Pedals: The Pedals!
What pedals am I using for this demo? Straight off the mark, I don’t have an original Klon. So I am using a Wampler Tumnus. But why don’t I go through each pedal and let you know what I am using?
For the Klon sound, I have gone with the Wampler Tumnus (Review Coming Soon). If you read up online about the circuit, this always comes out in everyone’s favourites. So I decided to go with one for this article. This is just the basic Wampler Tumnus! Not one of the limited ones they did.
Next up is one of my favourite pedals, the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver! A killer pedal with a huge dynamic range! A serious amount of gain and volume all at a price point that will shock most people. A pedal that has sold in great numbers.
The Tube Screamer was an easy choice! For this video, I am just using my Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini. An affordable and easy-to-use tube screamer, and in my opinion, does the tube screamer sound very well! Being a small form factor pedal, it is also super versatile in where you can put it and use it in your rig.
Different Overdrive Pedals: The Sounds!
Check out the video below and find out the differences in these pedals! What do you think? Head over to the video and drop your honest thoughts about it!
All the sounds are recorded the same way! Using the direct output from my Neural Nano Cortex (Review Here). I run through two sounds. Which is a clean and Crunch sound. Everything about the sounds is the same except for the pedals.
The guitar used was my LT Custom S-Type. I have put a humbucker in the bridge, so you will hear sounds from a single-coil neck pickup and a full-fat humbucker bridge.
"It is understandable why some people don’t get one or gel with the Tube Screamer!"
Different Overdrive Pedals: My Thoughts
What surprised me is that there isn’t a huge amount of difference between the three pedals! They have their small nuances, but on the whole the core sounds are very similar; all three of them are overdrive pedals! You will get drive from all three.
I personally found the Boss Blues Driver to have a lot more gain than the other two pedals. So if you were after a higher gain pedal, then I would push you towards the Boss Blues Driver! Then I would say it was the Klon/Tumnus and finally the Tube Screamer.
I did notice the mild hump that the Ibanez Tube Screamer is famous for! That does come out when using the pedal when the gain is set a bit higher! In fact, when you compare it and put it next to the other two pedals, it can sound very “nasal” and at times very unpleasant! It is understandable why some people don’t get one or gel with the Tube Screamer!
More thoughts!
I did notice (but didn’t really catch it on film) that the Boss Blues Driver is by far the best for clean-up! Setting all the pedals fairly hot and then using the volume to clean up the sound, I found the Blues Driver the easiest pedal to use and get the sounds I wanted from it. Even with the gain set fairly high, you can still clean up the Boss Blues Driver really nicely! Allowing full control from your volume pot.
As a boost pedal, I do have to say the Tumnus (Klon) takes it. It is super smooth and lovely to use! I always say that using a Klon for a boost is underusing it, but it does work well. The Tube Screamer is a wonderful boost and also gives you that mid-hump to cut through a mix, but alongside the Klon and Blues Driver, I found myself enjoying it the least.
Final thoughts!
The main thing you might notice first is that they do have their sound! They do sound similar but do sound different as well! That being said, you could chop and change them and get the sounds you wanted, but they are not the exact sounding!
On a personal note, going into this article I loved the Boss Blues Driver, coming out of the article nothing has changed! I still love the Boss Blues Driver and compared to the Tube Screamer and the Klon I still think it is the best! Easy to get hold of, easy to get a good sound out of and also available at an insane price!
Conclusion
So that is my article on the different overdrive pedals you can get and do they actually sound any different! The answer? Yes! They will all get you to where you want to be, but each pedal has its own flavour and style to it!
One thing I didn’t do is try them out on different amps! Maybe I will do a part two on how they react with different kinds of amps. Try them out on modellers, digital and tube amps! It will be interesting to see which one comes out as the most versatile and can be used across a varied range of amps.
Do you have different overdrive pedals on your board? Or do you keep things simple? Has this article changed the way you look at overdrive pedals? Let me know! I would love to hear all your thoughts on this video!
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Gigs & Guitars Affiliate Links:
- Wampler Tumnus (Thomann Affiliate)
- Wampler Tumnus (Andertons Affiliate)
- Boss Blues Driver (Thomann Affiliate)
- Boss Blues Driver (Andertons Affiliate)
- Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini (Thomann Affiliate)
- Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini (Andertons Affiliate)
- Andertons Affiliate Link
- Thomann Affiliate Link
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