The trade-offs between the two are availability, compression, and gating. In that case, you might want to consider either a Hamstead Odyssey or an Amptweaker Tight Rock Jr. This famous green box has been responsible for the greatest guitar tones of all time, and every guitarist should have one in their arsenal. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the Ibanez Tubescreamer.

It's sometimes a bit noisy at higher gain levels, but if that's the trade-off for its uncompressed, open voicing, then we'll take it. Not only that, it's got more than enough volume on tap to bring the best qualities of your amp to the fore. Paul Cochrane's design offers an amp-like transparent tone, stacks well, has good EQ options, and provides a vast amount of gain. If you're on a budget, then the new MXR Timmy is the way to go.

Explore FX with the best guitar pedals for beginnersīest overdrive pedals: Guitar World's choice.

If you've been considering investing in a new drive pedal, we've rounded up the best overdrive pedals available today to help you decide. It's a fairly nerdy overdrive, but rich possibilities.Overdrive pedals are as versatile as they are varied, with an endless number of different options out there for you to choose from. I like the JHS Meat and 3 Veg option that I have, because it allows you to switch in the correct germainium diode for the Klon sound, and gets some different options, and a knob for dialing in some fatness. It's still very good, but it has a metallic edge that may or may not be a problem. The Soulfood is trying to be a poor man's Klon, but it doesn't use the right semiconductors. And the Klon Centaur is out of reach for many people, but that's an amazing overdrive. Apart from the classic Tube screamer, there are some Boss options that are worth considering - iike the Blues Driver. I have plenty of fuzz and distortion options - so i'm limiting my comments to Overdrive pedals. It's very good and very low noise and smooth. The Radial Classic Tonebone (Fender) is milder and more like an overdrive. I have a Radial Hot British Tonebone (Marshal)- I think that is too strong and a different beast, but very good. I think the Ibanez were re-branded Maxons, so Maxon are cool too.

I think the 808 is the reference standard overdrive - and variations from there might be better in some cases, or worse. I've got an Analogman modded one that is supposed to 'f'ix' this midrange 'problem' - but franky, most of the time I just like the original. It's been used by many famous players, and sometimes the midrange emphase is just as important as the creamy overdrive. The Ibanez Tubescreamer has been my favorite since I first somebody playing through an 808 in a shop sometime in the early 80's.

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