If you were to examine one hundred guitar players’ pedal collections, you’d likely find there is an abundance of one particular type of pedal. That’s Overdrive, of course, and for good reason. 

Overdrive pedals react very uniquely to various guitars and amps, and they all sound and feel different. Finding one that mates well with your particular guitar(s) and amp(s) (and your tone taste at that given moment), can be a seemingly endless endeavor. Many guitar players have a graveyard of overdrive pedals in their closet...

Today we are going to look at three different styles of overdrive pedals, categories under which a good majority of overdrives tend to fall. These are the Colorsound Overdriver/Power Booster, The Marshall Bluesbreaker, and the Ibanez Tube Screamer. You can also classify these overdrive by their rather distinctive EQ characteristics as “Mid Scooped”, “Transparent”, and “Mid Boosted”, but we’ll get into this more in the show. 

All three of these overdrives are legendary and awesome in their own right, and each has a legion of loyal followers. Our aim in this episode is to learn about the characteristics of each one, and to discover where one might fit better with a particular rig or playing style. We hope you enjoy it. 

Gear used: 

Colorsound Overdriver Style Pedal: Prescription Electronics Overdriver

Marshall Bluesbreaker Style Pedal: Analogman Prince of Tone

Ibanez Tube Screamer Style Pedal: Maxon OD-9

1983 Marshall JCM800 4010 Combo

1962 Fender Princeton

Custom Built “Strat” 

Gibson SG 

Custom Built “Tele”

Collings 290- Dual P90’s