![]() ![]() ![]() If you want a complex textured dirty sounding pedal, by its very nature it would need to be wholly or mostly analogue, the benefit of digital is uniformity and clarity of tone right throughout the different volume and gain stages. To my ears often the sound-alikes or clones offer improvements over the originals, sometimes the copies really are nigh on identical - using the exact same core circuit/s and components and rendering the same essential solution, often in a smaller package or with some additional option switches / dip switches added. It carries largely the same kind of flavour, but provides a slightly thicker, bassier tone which I love, but which several purists might dislike for similar opposing reasons. My preferred Klon clone is the Wampler Tumnus - which adds in some delightful bottom end vs the original inspiration. Yet even this will have subtle variations when trying to dial in a particular known tone - based on specific component selection, circuit variations and specific configuration and deployment.Ī great example of all of this is the ’Klon’ clone-type pedals, of which there are probably a 100 different examples in all shapes and sizes, official, unofficial, modded and DIY kits. If you had to buy just one pedal that did near enough everything, you would likely go for something like the relatively new Elektron Analog Drive - with its 8 independent wholly analogue circuits. There are some pedals that I could not fit within a specific category, but which I wanted to mention anyway - that is to say actual tube-driven (mostly 12ax7-based) amp-like pedals such as the BK Butler Tube Driver, Dean Markley Overlord (Modded) and Effektrode Blackbird. The below list goes from the lightest touch of boost-like gain to extreme distortion, from unique, singular sounding pedals to highly versatile distortion workstations as such.Īn important consideration is that several of these pedals could be assigned to different categories with different tones / levels of gain dialled in, and while some have a huge range of soundscapes, others are more fixed within a type or have very specific timbres which make them instantly audibly identifiable / stand out within a very specific context. I have tried to reference most of the best known overdrive and distortion pedal types / core sounds, but there will be various degrees of overlap, as well as some pedals which don’t sit entirely comfortably within select categories. In the above visual, the pedals are not entirely to scale, as the difference between the small mini pedals and the enormous Elektron Analog Drive would be too extreme - so I have tried to rationalise the various pedals within context to give a key indication of rough size - the pedals are ordered here from lightest to heaviest gain, with a trio of versatile / all-rounder pedals at the end.Īll of this needs to be taken with a certain pinch of salt, as readers / listeners / players will have likely different ’ears’, different preferences and thus come to quite diverse conclusions. You could say that the pedal is just a tiny touch too clean in some senses. The Fulltone OCD pedal by contrast has a fantastic fuzzy / dirty analogue texture which the Strymon Riverside cannot really fully replicate as its core configuration always leans somewhat towards clarity and audible separation of individual notes. However, this means you don’t get the the really gritty / noisy distortion textures that typify certain heavier styles of music. The strength of this pedal is that you get a high degree of clarity / tightness right along the scale of distortion. Overdrives and distortions make use of very specific component transistors (silicon vs germanium, jfet vs mosfet etc.), capacitors, diodes and op amps / core processors / chips - each of which gives you a particular nuance, timbre and texture.įor instance, the fairly recent Strymon Riverside pedal has a mix of analogue and digital processing through four cascading gain stages - starting with analogue JFET transistors before progressing through several stages of digital processing. When I say most everything it does not necessarily include absolutely every sub-genre, and I still like a high degree of musicality to accompany the overall Tone - however noisy and distorted it gets.Īs is ever the case, this is a balancing act between analogue and digital, passive and active circuits, hand-wired and PCB, and tubes versus electronics in some instances. Some players sit squarely within ’Blues’, ’Rock’ or ’Metal’ or just one or two main niches as such - while I like bits of most everything. Being somewhat eclectic in my tastes, there are a number of the deemed key / core sounds I like. ![]() In the ongoing efforts to arrive at the perfect Tone, I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time experimenting with and researching overdrives, fuzzes and distortions. So another chapter of the Tone Quest is nearing its momentary end-point. ![]()
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