How to Choose an Overdrive Pedal
An overdrive pedal adds harmonic excitement and intensity to your guitar tone, and there are seemingly endless flavors of overdrive to choose from. Overdrive is a core component of rock, blues, alternative guitar tones, and is a great way to add intensity to other effects like tremolo, delay and wah pedals. If you’re new to the world of overdrive, distortion, and other dirt boxes, it can be a little overwhelming. We’re here to simplify things and help you choose an overdrive pedal that fits your personal guitar rig and musical style.
| Feature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotary Controls | Drive, Tone, Volume | Drive, Tone, Volume | Gain, Treble, Volume | Drive, Treble, Volume |
| Toggle Switches | Highpass/Lowpass | OD/Boost/Distortion | No | No |
| Buffered/True Bypass | Switchable | True Bypass | Buffered | Switchable |
| Power | 9V-18V | 9V-18V | 9V | 9V |
| Size | 5.1" x 3.3" x 2.4" | 3.6" x 2.6" x 1.8" | 3.5" x 1.5" x 1.5" | 4.5" x 2.7" x 2.1" |
| Feature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotary Controls | Overdrive, Tone, Level | Drive, Tone, Level | Drive, Bass, Treble, Level | Overdrive, Tone, Volume |
| Toggle Switches | No | No | Voice | Warm/Hot |
| Buffered/True Bypass | True Bypass | Buffered | True Bypass | True Bypass |
| Power | 9V | 9V | 9V | 9V |
| Size | 3.5" x 1.6" x 1.4" | 5.1" x 2.9" x 2.4" | 4.8" x 2.8" x 2" | 3.3" x 2" x 1.9" |
Choosing an Overdrive — Transparent, or Toneful?
A great way to narrow your choices is to decide right from the start whether you want an overdrive pedal to enhance the sound of your existing tone, or you’re looking for an overdrive that becomes a core component of that tone. If a pedal manufacturer presents their pedal as a “transparent” overdrive, that’s a clear indication that it’s trying to leave your core tone intact as it adds harmonics to your signal.
If an overdrive pedal changes your tone in some fundamental way, for example cutting bass, boosting mids, or adding a subtle presence peak, it simply won’t be called a transparent overdrive. Think of it this way — if you’re looking for a pedal that you can turn on for added harmonic intensity, but won’t alter your core tone, look for a transparent overdrive. If you’re looking for an “always on” drive pedal to become the core of your guitar tone, you may find your ideal sound in a “non-transparent” overdrive.
Understanding Overdrive Pedal Controls
Basic overdrive pedals feature controls for Gain, Tone, and Volume, and that’s all you really need to dial in a good overdrive sound. However, you’ll also encounter overdrive pedals that offer more by way of additional controls and switchable functions. One useful rule of thumb is that the more “stuff” you find on a pedal, the more potential it has to impact your core tone.
Even with more complicated overdrive pedals, you’ll still do most of your sound-shaping with Gain, Tone, and Volume controls. The Gain control adjusts how much drive you hear, and many overdrive pedals can reach sustaining distortion if you crank up the gain control. The Tone control is most useful for fine-tuning the sound of your pickups or compensating for a “dark” amp — just turn up the Tone control a bit if things sound too dark, or back it off if it sounds too bright.
An overdrive pedal’s Volume (or Level) control is interesting because you can use it two different ways. One use is to compensate for any volume change that may occur when you switch the pedal on and off, allowing you to toggle the pedal without a distracting change in volume. The other way to use the Volume control is to drive your amp harder, creating overdrive by driving the input of a tube amplifier — in this case you might keep the Gain on the pedal down, using the pedal to fine-tune your tone and then punch your amp harder.
Keep our first tip in mind (decide whether you want transparent drive or something with its own character) to help you focus on pedals with controls that make sense for you. If you like the sound of your guitar rig, and just want to add some grind, look at pedals with a very basic control set. If you want to use an overdrive pedal to shape your core sound and use the rest of your signal chain to support that sound, look for an overdrive pedal with EQ controls, and also look for a pedal that includes some type of voicing switch to give you more sonic options.
Where Do I Put Overdrive In My Signal Chain?
Finding the perfect pedal order is a never-ending quest for some guitarists, but many will put their overdrive pedal first in the chain (often right after a tuner pedal). Keep in mind that each pedal in your chain effects everything that comes before it — if you place your overdrive after effects like delay, chorus and reverb, you’ll be adding harmonic intensity to everything all at once, which can sound chaotic (and not in a musical way). There’s a lot to discover when you start moving pedals around — check out our video Effect Pedal Order Explained - Why Pedal Order Matters to hear for yourself!
Do I Need a True Bypass Overdrive Pedal?
Effects pedals can be equipped with either “True Bypass” or “Buffered” switching, and to be honest, there’s a lot of misunderstanding about which is “better.” Without getting into the circuitry, the practical answer is that when the pedal is on, it doesn’t make a difference. If the pedal is off, a buffered pedal will maintain your tone without any high frequency loss. If it’s a true bypass pedal, you’ll probably hear some loss of high frequencies (based on the length of the instrument cable between your guitar and the pedal). In other words, a buffered pedal is almost always “better” if you don’t want to worry about losing your tone when you switch the pedal off.
Why Do Some Overdrive Pedals Take 12V or 18V Power?
The voltage rails in an audio circuit (like an effects pedal) directly impacts how much headroom there is for your signal — and that directly impacts how expressively you can play. The more dynamic range your signal has, the more room for nuance and touch sensitivity. While the vast majority of overdrive pedals use a 9V power supply, some overdrive pedals support higher voltages to give you more dynamic range. Many pedalboard power supplies make it easy to operate pedals at higher voltages.
How Much Does a Good Overdrive Pedal Cost?
There are plenty of expensive boutique overdrive pedals available, but do you really need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a “good” overdrive pedal? Not at all — while these premium pedals may be great pedals in their own right, an overdrive circuit is an extremely simple thing to make, and there are plenty of great options under $50. In fact, we put 12 overdrive pedals under $50 to the test in our Best Overdrive Pedals Under $50 Shootout video.
See our full article on Best Overdrive Pedal Under $50 to learn more!
