Overdrive/distortion comparison

[azistenostora]

I know this has probably been done plenty of times but if we stop posting this forum will come to a complete stand still right?
I went out and bought 9 different overdrive/distortion pedals on ebay and made a direct comparison. The first vid is with full mix, the second is the pedals soloed.





What did I think? I think that they pretty much are all good pedals except for one but more on that later. I was positively surprised by the Marshall Jackhammer, the Digitech Hot Rod and the Blackstar LT. For being cheap pedals, they sounded quite good on their own and in the mix, barely distinguishable from the expensive ones, very usable.
The MXR Fullbore was a huge disappointment. Being the most expensive one I couldn't get a useful tone out of it, it has this very annoying, almost digital (yeah I know, digital is not a sound, you get the point), very unpleasant sound to it which was very hard to get rid of. I'm actually thinking that I got a faulty one or something but I have no point of reference here, they might genuinely sound that shit. The only way to get rid of the annoying sound was to turn the gain all the way down and play with the high-low knobs, but definitely hard work and I still didn't like it.

The others, Boss SD1, Maxon OD808, MXR Dist were as expected, we all know what they sound like.

My secret favourite is the DOD YJM 308. Only because it has Yngwie Malmsteen written on it and makes me play faster lol
The YJM 308 was based on the DOD 250 which in turn was based on the original MXR Dist (the yellow one) so in theory they should have had a similar sound. They didn't...

I'm adding a poll so you can vote on the best sounding pedal. You can make 3 selections for the 3 you liked most. The poll closes in 7 days so this time next week we will know which one the best pedal is.

 

[Novocaine]

You didn't say whether the amp is on clean or already driven. I assume it's the former. None of them really sounded exceptional, but my favorites were the Maxon, Boss, and the red MXR, which is a surprise because my previous experience with MXR distortion boxes didn't impress me much.

Also, the mix in the first video made it really hard to judge them, mostly because of that terribly clanky bass guitar hogging the mids.

 

[azistenostora]

You didn't say whether the amp is on clean or already driven.

Yes, sorry. The amp was an Engl E530 on the lead channel with mild amounts of gain.

Also, the mix in the first video made it really hard to judge them, mostly because of that terribly clanky bass guitar hogging the mids.

Was it really that bad? I usually suck out quite a wide mid range from the bass to make room for "more important" things in that range so there really isn't much bass in the mids.
Out of curiousity, what are you listening on? I agree that the distorted bass (I usually split them, one normal and one dist) is a bit loud, maybe that's what was distracting you from the guitars.

 

[nezvers]

I second on that bass guitar issue. At first, I thought that pedal created mid-ice picking sound, then I realized it was bass.
I was hoping that you will do the actual drive from pedals themselves, on which I got disappointed because there was a really weak difference when used as a boost.
I can approve that Fullbore pedal suck and is less usable than shit. I wouldn't say "digital" but super harsh highs.

 

[Megin]

I liked the DOD YJM 308 for solo. Maybe I should purchase one just for different flavor for solos. Blackstar Boost had the most bottom. Fullbore is as bad as Metalzone. You just can't get any good sound out of those.

 

[azistenostora]

...mostly because of that terribly clanky bass guitar hogging the mids.

I second on that bass guitar issue.

Guys, this kind of feedback is invaluable to me because there are clearly problems in my listening environment which I'm not aware of. At least I have some clues now for where to start looking. I will post the song in the more relevant section of the forum and start a surgical investigation on what the problem might be because the frequency analyzer isn't showing much mid content for the bass. It might be that it's simply just too loud.

I was hoping that you will do the actual drive from pedals themselves

Well, that's normally not how I use an overdrive pedal, not for metal anyway but you are right in that the difference between overdrive pedals when used like this is minimal.

 

[azistenostora]

I liked the DOD YJM 308 for solo. Maybe I should purchase one just for different flavor for solos. Blackstar Boost had the most bottom. Fullbore is as bad as Metalzone. You just can't get any good sound out of those.

I think you can't buy this pedal anymore but they do pop up on ebay every now and again for quite cheap. This pedal is made by Fender now I believe and is red but otherwise probably the same pedal otherwise.

 

[Novocaine]

The bass problem is more in the high-mids than mids I guess, don't know if a spectrum analyzer would show it but it takes a lot of the space where guitar distortion tends to live.

I know distorting bass is great for mixing, but in the case of demoing sounds it's pretty obstructive.

 

[nezvers]

It sounded like some where around 800-1,5k chick picking sound.

In normal metal mix I wouldn't mind it.

 

[azistenostora]

It sounded like some where around 800-1,5k chick picking sound.

In normal metal mix I wouldn't mind it.

Haha dude, now I'm totally confused. I'm not even sure if there is a problem with the mix any more. Are you saying it sounds ok, just doesn't work for evaluating distortion pedals? Also what do you mean by "normal metal mix"?

 

[nezvers]

That what I meant- if that would be normal metal mix it's ok but since it was for pedal evaluation that bass guitar pick attack was distracting.