10 Best Overdrive Pedals For Guitarist (Updated April 2021)

Buying & Playing the guitar is everyone’s hobby nowadays and it captures the hearts of more people.

Therefore, if you play the guitar and want to give your audience good clean music with some bit of dirt and crunchy sound then for those amplifiers are not enough and they just cannot give that good sound.

No matter what the situation is you should always carry the best overdrive pedal in your set of guitar pedals for more fun.

Overdrive pedals are the best things, which you can use for giving that good clean boost as well as a bit of some dirt and are perfectly made for that.

Most probably an override is basically best when it is being played through a tube amp set at medium to slightly greater than the medium volume since the amplifier itself can do its job the pedal, however, kick-starts its ass to make sure it jumps up quite a quicker than it usually does.

Usually, overdrive can be seen one-step above a clean volume boost pedal, which is basically just meant to boost up the signal without making any changes with it. Overdrive also starts to patch up the breakup when you get a distinct crank in your amplifier hard that your signal is just has begun to distort.

Overdrive Pedals basically tend to add various kind of textures and colours to the signal rather than a clean boost would do and you need to get a separate distortion pedal which you will need to distort, compress and saturate your tone.

List of Best Overdrive Pedals 2019

10. Maxon RTD800 – Classic Effect Generator

After 20 years of the primary release of the real tube series pedal, Maxon the owner updated their version of the overdrive pedal. The RTD800 is one the best overdrive/distortion both combination entry in the new era.

By anyway, it is capable of being very flexible pedal until now along with its Maxon pedigree its beauty is increased with a built machine that builds confidence in the quality and tone. The RTD800 is a unique yet surprisingly light weighted which makes it fell ultra solid and strong capable of protecting the tube which is stored within.

The matte finishing with black mixed with blue colour gives this pedal any outstanding business look too and it seems to be the best overdrive pedal for a tube amp. The power supplied is a two different part assembly, which mainly consists of a 9-volt cable that ends a brick that is being connected to a standard IEC power cord for separate 9-volt supply.

There are two rows of three knobs all sitting along the top side of RTD800 and between the knobs; you find the various switches for on/off. LEDs of boost and noise gate shines with bright blue when engaged. On the backside of overdrive, you will find a battery compartment with an access door to trim pot that usually adjusts the amount of boost function.

The tone controls and truly effective and have a rare usable wide range. The middle knob makes various pedals and guitars work together at the same time. The main difference between OD and dist is that it has more volume, more bite and a great stronger as well as gainer distortion than the OD.

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9. Green Amplification Light speed Organic Overdrive Guitar Pedal

This kind of the overdrive pedal is simply the clearest and best natural feeling with one of the great overdrive that the musicians are looking for a natural drive tone. The tone will be blended from the guitar and the amplifier, this pedal has a rich look with harmonic and complex smooth clipping of the tone.

This overdrive pedal is very much sensitive to pick any kind of attack and has a different kind of feel as compared to another kind of overdrives. This overdrive can be easily set to transparent tone but can easily drive your signal through the edge.

Greer amplifiers are usually called single-minded as used in this best boutique overdrive pedal. The very little company builds impressive and extraordinary types of amplifiers and pedals for its own company size. However, it is a much-focused company, which has specialized in overdrive and distortion in a great manner.

One of the latest offerings is the light speed organic overdrive is simply the best one until date, that is rich and responsive with a wide range of tones varying from clean boost to complex once. The light speed has an enclosure, which is unpainted it’s only being placed on the top as nutshell and washers securing some the knobs and footswitch.

The loudness knob is quite different as of course the output level controller that drives the control gains and mainly its frequency. EQ control mainly emphasis mid-volume to bass presence depending on which side the twist is.

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8. Electro-Harmonix Nano Double Muff Fuzz/Overdrive Pedal

The whole new classic dual overdrive/fuzz is one newly available in a nano-sized package. The original Muff actually had a great touch of overdrive, which is surrounded like a vintage amplifier and has a slightly torn speaker.

Electro-Harmonix is a paired two of these with one another to form a nano double Muff. You can make use of just one muff for a hint of less distortion or over the top cascade the second one to perform the dual operation and is the top-notch overdrive pedal for metal.

In a single mode, the overall amount of overdrive will get less as you decrease in the volume of your guitar tone. You can easily eliminate this by increasing the volume of single muff. In double Muff mode, the muff knob will have to interact with each other so that you can easily get the perfect amount of distortion every time. This type of overdrive contains true bypass and can operate usually on a 9 volts battery.

The EHX double Muff is also an easy type of the overdrive pedal that can give you two classic effects in just one box. For control, it has two knobs that are marked as muff1 and muff2. There is a finger switch to usually toggle between the single and double muff modes. Mostly in single mode, the muff1 knob is being used to control both volume and overdrive whereas, in double mode, the muff2 knob has the main role and muff1 controls only the volume.  It mainly features in having a sturdy metal housing making it a great to look from outside.

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7. Wampler Dual Fusion Tom Quayle Signature Overdrive Guitar Pedal

The dual fusion pedal provided by Wampler pedals is the overdrive pedal specifically made to fuse two concepts but it is so versatile which is just being made for fusion guitarist. In current generation fusion in its current form is a new concept with many of its roots not only in jazz but also rock.

One of the best things arrived over a year so finally, we had dual fusion along with two different circuitry that was usually based on the same but completely modified. The Wampler pedals dual fusion first pedal was to be specifically voiced for the fastest growing music all over the world of musicians.

With the best versatile signal path, there are many options available on the pedal and is the best foundation of modern fusion. By looking at this overdrive pedal the input jack is available on the right side and output jack are usually on the left side. When the toggle is being located in the middle in separate mode and hence the pedal can be used as two different pedals with both of them irrespective of input and output jack.

The dual fusion pedal designed by Wampler, which is specifically being made to increase the number of fusion guitarist. Simple enough the look of this overdrive is unique and different as these footswitches are wired up for the true bypass switching to make sure that you do not have anything in the way when you disable any other either channel.

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6. JHS Morning Glory V4 Overdrive Pedal

The JHS morning glory V4  is undoubtedly the most known overdrive pedal. This overdrive pedal winning the most number of awards and receiving more appreciations than any of the other designs.

Many people have worked hard to make this overdrive one of the best and most transparent overdrives in the world. Meanwhile, if you are willing to add some mid to low-level grit to your clean smooth tone then morning glory is a perfect choice.

When you are really interested to boost your crunchy tone into a thicker slice or need to add tube-like touch response to less than ideal amp make use of morning glory. One of the very best ways to give a brief description about morning glory is that it can deliver all types of tone and is very much responsive that your amplifier is missing and the tone is perfect which you already got.

It is very difficult to explain about a pedal that can be easily set to have a very little effect on the tone. The morning glory overdrive just adds a kind of dirt to the tone of your guitar without changing any of its characteristics.

Dialing in with many tones is a piece of cake for even the beginners and all the credit goes to straightforward layout. Your work is to simply crank the overdrive control unit you reach your desired level of the overdrive. Again toggle mainly activates the boost mode and ensures that it yields more amount of power.

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5. Boss SD-1 – Most Affordable Overdrive Pedal

The SD-1 super overdrive has been around us for a very long time and has is almost unchanged from its structure and suitable overdrive pedal for metal. Overall, the pedal contains an asymmetric overdrive circuit that will easily correspond very efficiently to the musicians or guitarist picking the force.

It always can produce a dynamic and smooth overdrive effect that will suit all kind of music rock band. The SD-1 is one of the best boutique overdrive pedals and is much popular as a booster pedal for an intense value amplifier.

Turn the distortion slightly down and connect it to the front side of the amplifier. As the higher the input level that will push the input value of the amplifier producing one or more distortions from the amplifier itself. The SD-1 overdrive is good as it generates the natural tone from the guitar.

The OD-1 did not have a tone control so the engineers thought that the tone range was quite limited due to this. Therefore, as a solution, they designed SD-1 overdrive to overcome all the problems caused by OD-1. Comparing both internal circuitry we can observe that they are nearly very similarly related and the overdrive pedal using exactly the same overdrive circuit as well.

However, while comparing the sound of these two pedals at the same time side by side, however, you will feel the same sound or type of tone, as they are not identical. Opinions are kind of divided as both have produced the same tone but are quite distinct from one other but the question will be which sounds awesome. However, there is the conclusion that both are great overdrive pedals and there is no doubt about it.

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4. TC Electronic MojoMojo Overdrive Pedal

If you can easily control the variation vibes of overdrive pedal and adjust its tone until you get your desired tone then you need to use this overdrive pedal MojoMojo from TC Electronic.

Varying the tone of natural overdrive pedals, the MojoMojo overdrive pedal is packed to the gills resulting in high-quality features which can easily range from sturdiness and looks to certain tone control which it offers.

As you know the overdrive pedal usually operates as a true bypass pedal that can feature single input and a single output jack along with an LED and a big on/off switch. The main things that make the pedal out from its peers are similarly priced cost and extended controlling features.

It easily contains a four-knob and a voicing switch, which perfect for this budget but what makes the whole combo perfect is that every single control is very usable and actually produces a varying tone in a different final tone mix.

Apart from all the components people and guitarist, love its look and that glossy red finish on the pedal. The built-in quality is outstanding and top level, which makes the sturdy metal casing look unique and definitely roadworthy as well as capable of taking more few punches.

This is one of the strong products and suits the category of best overdrive pedal under $50. The sound quality is extraordinary and people love the versatility the look is stunning. The mixture of the amplified sound, as well as strong basses of the stompbox, is sound from heaven according to the people.

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3. Electro-Harmonix Soul Food Distortion/Fuzz/ Overdrive Pedal

The EHX soul food produces transparent & a good feel to look along with a unique response. Its internal circuit features some kind of boosted power, which fails to provide an increased definition. Best thing of all is that you need not to be a rock star to use this overdrive pedal.

It is an exquisite overdrive and clean boost from the company Electro-Harmonix Efficiently designed for the musicians with tone conscious who usually needs to cut in the mid mix without changing any kind of voice of the instrument. This best boutique overdrive pedal delivers a wide range of varieties of sound with sweet clean boosts for boosted volume to just make a touch of dirt to give a soul to your sound to operate full-on overdrive.

Soul food has a number of volume on tap to amplify your amplifier into saturation, delivering a kind of distortion that is kind of actually created or made by your own amplifier. The soul food gives the tone a good lift in all places without compromising or compressing it.

The drive knob usually controls the amount of gain at the input. As there are, many great sounds found within the overdrive knob musicians usually recommend to use it in different positions jus to find the right amount of grit for our needs. The VOL knob mainly sets the output level of the soul food overdrive to required level and when it turns clockwise, the output volume gradually increases.

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2. Behringer Overdrive/Distortion OD300

With this overdrive pedal, you can easily turn all the way to the left for making pure overdrive or all the way right for making straight-ahead distortion. The Behringer overdrive/distortion OD300 is the most effective pedal, which has all your bases, which is being covered from the modern sound to the classic sound of hot vibes.

In between, you can easily get an infinite amount of options for making a best boutique overdrive pedal combination. With some amount of dedicated tones, level and drive controllers everything you want to make a signature sound, which is at your fingertips.

The LED, which tells you that this pedal is working, is quite magical and moreover, the top quality on/off switch exactly maintains the outstanding signal interpretation in bypass mode. This overdrive pedal for worship can also operate on a 9-volt battery.

Finding a good pedal, which is cheap as well as good in quality, is not an easy task these days. Therefore, we have to remove the barrier on budget-friendly products, as it does not matter how cheap the product is but the quality of the product matters a lot.

This pedal comes with a unique plastic casing that features on the jack for input and the other for output. It is not a sturdy metal edition but as long as you maintain it in a good condition it is safe and by using the plastic case it becomes cheap and there is nothing much to complain about.

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1. Fulltone OCD Obsessive Compulsive Drive Pedal – Editor’s Choice

The Fulltone Ocd Obsessive Compulsive drive pedal was introduced in 2004 and has been on the go to dirt box for more number of guitarists all around the world. Over a decade after the release of this overdrive, the OCD had received its first major update, which was OCD vol2.

With a newly designed output for making more significant signal integrity, a Class A input section with good kind of response was used by the musician as a favourite tool, this overdrive pedal was better than ever. For the upcoming generation modern classic overdrive pedal that has been redesigned for maximum and much efficient performance.

Fulltone previously knows that the pedals you place right after your overdrive pedal can enhance the sound of your dirt box that is the reason why OCD vol2 is an updated version of the old one with an updated output buffer that is ineffective to the sonic effects of successive pedals. In other words, your tone remains consistent no matter where the chain is or where the loop switcher is placed.

The Fulltone OCD also describes that the output buffer gradually decreases loads on the pedals hard clipping stage, which allows more sustainability and durability. Usually, for the better performance with single coil, Fulltone makes use of OCD vol2 with a discrete input section.

There is only one thing Fulltone takes seriously, which is the pursuit of tone. They are never satisfied with the buffered bypass circuits, which are found in many other pedals. Therefore, after many years of research, they were able to invent an alternative method and called enhanced bypass.

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FAQs About Best Overdrive Pedal

How To Check For Size & Weight  Of An Overdrive Pedal?

In every product, there is a section under the product description, You can always check the size from there.

What Makes A Good Overdrive Pedal?

Moreover, there are confusions sometimes actually resolving around the distinctions between overdrive, distortions, and fuzzes. In this case, the main aim of overdrive pedal is often twofold either to provide a massive gain boost to overdrive a tube amplifier into distortion or to make sure that signal is approximately distorted which is slightly distorted sound.

While practically speaking the overdrive pedals do both and musicians usually prefer both according to their needs. It really makes sense when you start thinking in terms of angle of clipping that is being achieved by the overdrive pedal, which is generally being soft-clipping devices and distortion being hard clipping devices.

Pedals usually offer a sound that is considered to be natural, unique, warm and tube partly by achieving some amount of smooth signal along with symmetrical clipping and also partly being too harsh that can usually result in a sound that is being heard as jagged in some other pedals.

What Does The Overdrive Button do on an Amp?

The musician usually has a given a unique name to this button as an awesome button. Seriously saying it is a good thought to play guitar in a rock band to play rock music and can give distortion with this button.

The button switches the input to the hotter pre-amplifier that is specifically designed to distort the guitar. Rock bands usually make use of such kind of button where they need to create a distortion in the middle of the concert.

However more boutique overdrives are based on the early 1980s but despite the improvements quality of these still, fetch a far higher price in the market. Along with all these the sound comes from a clipping amplifier around the first section of dual op-amp and a good pair of clipping diodes with transistors in buffer stage at both input side as well as output and a separate section for tone shaping and output level controller which can be used as second part of the dual operational amplifier cascaded with a network of capacitors and resistors.

A box of op-amp IC’s and a pair of germanium diodes are enough to achieve the soft clipping sound. Germanium generally generates softness of tone, the same application applies to the diodes used for distortion, and if you change them with silicon then you will get a hard-clipping distortion pedal. Some musicians also find the older pedal built design to this design to have a distinct hump or a lack of low end.

Usually, many musicians prefer high end and good quality built variations on the types of op-amp being used. Blackstone appliances every time mainly focuses on MOSFET overdrive which is being discretized on the transistorized circuit. They cover the whole board in Epoxy loop but this makes the overdrive too expensive, which certainly sounds different.

What is the Difference between an Overdrive and a Distortion Pedal?

Distortion usually affects the best overdrive pedal push your amplifier into boosted version and adds various colour to your tone, the characteristics of which depend on what pedal you make use of and what kind of transistor it contains.

This Distortion adds complexity to your tone with sustaining increasing as the level of distortion increases. Distortion pedals are the easiest possible way to obtain a band rock and metal tone. It is theoretically possible to push an amplifier hard for metal tone with just overdrive pedals but it is much easier to just use a distortion pedal.

Another main thing about distortion pedal is that there is a number of varieties. Different types of distortion are produced by different genres with some of them being focused on classic rock and some other on hard rock. However, overdrive sounds best in genres that usually do not require a lot of distortion.

There are several bands that use overdrive and when the musicians come to comparison moreover prefer to use overdrive over distortion pedal.

Final Verdict

Till now, all of you know which one among these best Overdrive pedals is the best & suits your style. The most important thing in a guitarist life as it effectively allows the musician or guitarist to stimulate the signal what it actually sounds like when you really drive an amplifier so hard that it actually distorts your clean guitar sound.

There will usually be a musician who will love the distortions coming from pure, overdriven music and but most of them usually recognize the power and the flexibility that this generation music delivers.

The main thing is to experiment with all kinds of overdrive pedals, checking the functionality of each pedal. Even the cheap models can produce good sound quality as they recreate the actual sound, which will allow finding your own one.