Recommend me an overdrive to suit an SG

[Tig]

I'm a huge fan of the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive. I haven't tried the "Mod" version since I enjoy the original so much. I like the warm, sparkling clean to slightly overdriven range that is specializes in.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jWwKmDoNF8]Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive - YouTube[/ame]

With an SG:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rof7l_cDwe4]SelectGuitars - Gibson Robby Krieger SG + VooDoo Lab Sparkle Drive - YouTube[/ame]

 

[iblive]

But exactly what you are saying is exactly why people ask for opinions. There are a plethora of dirt boxes out there. It is mind boggling. I don't think anyone in their right mind, however, is expecting to come to a forum, ask which dirt box to use, then run out and by the first dirt box opined on. It is a way to gather a sampling of what may float to the top of the slurry in the gigantic sea of dirt...a starting point.

Yep. I've gotten opinions, then done the You Tube thing to try and get a best bet on what I may like. I don't have a lot of spare cash sitting around to let me experiment like I'd like, so I try and get it as close to right when I pull the plug on something. Mostly its worked out.... but I've gotten a few dogs along the way too.

 

[Westernrider]

Now, I know that I'm am amateur here, so take my words with a beer or two. Get out and play all the OD's in your part of the woods. Here are two pedals that I have to come and respect over the past few years. They are far from the lower end price range and still worth recommending.


First up. the OCD and its cheaper brother came up a couple of times. If you haven't tried this pedal, it can go really well with my SG's. The secret is the little up - down toggle switch. Try it in the down position. In my mind and maybe my mind only, it qualifies as a country boost - light OD.


Next up is a pedal that I didn't see mentioned. Oh, there was enough about the bad monkey and those green OD's, but have you considered the portly and expensive Full Drive 2? Yes, it is painted an awesome blue and matches Bernadette, my French LP.

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Its worth a try. You can use the FD always on, FD2 and OCD, or FD2 w/boost and OCD. Yeah, I know this aint what was asked for .........

Guitar ---> FD2 [Try stacking the FD2 (w/boost)] ---> OCD ---> Amp

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But more importantly, this pedal has several options. Try the FM [ Flat Mid ] position and start with the gain at minimum and start turning the gain up. There are several other sound sculpting options so the FD2 easily outshine many other pedals. This pedal, at least in my Chicago born mind, has a great deal going for it.

 

[bgfthntr]

MXR Bad Ass Overdrive..... very flexible and sounds awesome....

 

[J. Burns]

I have used and enjoyed the Boss BD-2 and the Joyo OCD clone.

My favorites right now are the Ben Adrian Kowloon Walled Bunny (heavily-modded DOD 250/MXR D+ circuit) used in tandem with an Xotic EP Booster.

 

[SG standard]

Buy it on Amazon for $30!

Unfortunately, buying it on Amazon means supporting a company that is:
1) Bad for it's employees, as it creates a work environment that de-humanizes it's employees and pretty much guarantees unhealthily high levels of stress.
2) Bad for the consumer, as it seems to undercut competitors until they're out of business, and then raises prices once there's less (or no) choice.
3) Bad for the community; in the UK it has a turnover in the billions, but pays no UK tax on it's profits, draining the UK of funding for health, education, etc.

(Sorry for the OT rant).

 

[mormonvoodoo]

Before the VOX with the 37 foot pedal board I have, I used Joyo and a BD2 (Blues Driver). Can't go wrong with the BD-2. My 15 year old has it now.

 

[flyswatter]

Unfortunately, buying it on Amazon means supporting a company that is:
1) Bad for it's employees, as it creates a work environment that de-humanizes it's employees and pretty much guarantees unhealthily high levels of stress.
2) Bad for the consumer, as it seems to undercut competitors until they're out of business, and then raises prices once there's less (or no) choice.
3) Bad for the community; in the UK it has a turnover in the billions, but pays no UK tax on it's profits, draining the UK of funding for health, education, etc.

(Sorry for the OT rant).

My personal policy is to browse on Amazon (or MF, Sweetwater, etc.) then make the purchase at one of the excellent local music stores in my area. Online sites are useful for price comparisons --- and to make sure you're not getting gouged in the bricks & mortar shops --- but as much as possible I choose to give my dollars to the locals.

 

[Saintjonah]

My personal policy is to browse on Amazon (or MF, Sweetwater, etc.) then make the purchase at one of the excellent local music stores in my area. Online sites are useful for price comparisons --- and to make sure you're not getting gouged in the bricks & mortar shops --- but as much as possible I choose to give my dollars to the locals.

Right but, local stores don't always have what you're looking for. I'd pay $10 more to buy that $30 pedal locally, but they aren't going to have it. I won't limit my choices just to say I buy locally. And no one is forced to work for Amazon, if they have the best price+shipping I'm probably going to buy it there. It's not like they're slavers going around burning villages and taking children to work in their warehouses.

Anyway, it's hard to find those cheap knockoff pedals anywhere else really. Certainly no mom and pop shops have them. So yeah, if you want one of those buy it for $30 on Amazon.

 

[Alex_SG]

Or do what I do... If I can't get them locally, I'd rather get them on eBay straight from their manufacturer...

 

[lineboat]

When I was hunting the right one for my Tele, I took it into a couple shops and tried theirs out with MY guitar. I had tried the forum question thing, but in the end I had to test drive a few. ( And came home with a Blues Driver; now I have 2 of them AND a Boss Fuzz.......)

 

[gibsonguitar1988]

I like the pairing of a midrangey overdrive and a more transparent flat eq overdrive. If you were to want something you could go into any GC and buy, I'd recommend a Tube Screamer type and an OCD....Specifically the Green Rhino (Way Huge) is my favorite for mass produced TS type tone. The MXR Modified OD is similar, in a smaller footprint. If you needed to be even more budget friendly, a SD-1 and a BD-2.

Right now I'm personally using a lot of overdrives and Blackface Fender amps (Twin/Super Reverbs) clean to do a covers gig and recording so I'm set up for the modern Nashville sound.

My main top 3 OD's though are the Greer Lightspeed (clear grit/more of your amp), BearFoot Honey Bee (the midrangey chewy thing that sounds like an old Tweed Champ), and the Oddfellow Caveman Drive (more higher gain full range overdrive that is reminiscent of a cranked Plexi or something). But I use about 6 OD's on my board for taste.

But when it comes right down to it - as I said it's gotta be that combo of smooth TS style and more AC/DC bright type crunch. TS/OCD works great. Also TS/Red Llama works great. The Green Rhino (TS) and the Red Llama paired together is a force to be reckoned with.

 

[TonyA]

Loving the DOD Overdrive Preamp 250 with my SG. Just perfect.

 

[Bettyboo]

I'm sure you lot know this already, and it may have already been mentioned, but...
... the Harley Benton pedals are rebranded Joyo pedals and are cheap, plus Thommen is a good company to deal with. This is the HB/Joyo/OCD at 29 euro: http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ultimate_drive.htm

 

[dbb]

I like my new OD pedal, the Electro-Harmonix "Soul Food" - this pedal sounds great! Very good classic rock tones.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...&matchtype=b&gclid=CN-tupHj4cQCFVKGfgod3ksARQ

 

[Bettyboo]

^ I was very very close to ordering up one of these a couple of weeks ago, or maybe her sister who has a tad more balls/something?

But, in ETSG terminology: I was 'gassing' for fuzz distortion, so I ended up with a dual pedal which is pretty cheap and has a really nice OD half:

I paid $75 from Thommen in Germany - a steal really (I think the price has gone up to about $90 now).

 

[Gillean]

If you don't mind paying a little bit more I would recommend JHS drives. I'm deep satisfied with them, I use the double barrel for low to medium gain and a angry Charlie for High Gain.

As you are looking for a low gain I would recommend the double barrel (morning glory + ts 808 clone with cookies) or the single Morning Glory.

I’ve owned the OCD, the SHOD and the Mosfet drive, all of them were awesome pedals and I endorse the recommendations that were made to this little boxes of wonder. Still, to my ears, the morning glory is unbeatable in the low gain territory.

 

[tolm]

Bad Monkey is a great affordable option and the EQ means it's way more flexible than a standard Tubescreamer style pedal.

I also highly rate the Fulltone PlimSoul which has separate Sustain (TS style soft clipping) and Stage 2 (amp style hard clipping) gain controls - great for dialling that blended "amp being kicked by a pedal" sound.

 

[Bullfrog]

or maybe her sister who has a tad more balls/something?

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[Dave_Death]

I have the MXR Custom Badass Modified O.D.

Here's a second video of the same pedal:



It has more EQ options than a Tubescreamer.

I had a Maxon OD-9 but found it too middy and didn't like the footswtich. Traded it to our lead guitarist for a bicycle after I got the MXR.