Hi I'm Michael Banfield and in this video
I'm comparing some of the most popular analog overdrive pedals by Boss. The OD3 overdrive, the
SD1 super overdrive and the BD2 blues driver. An overdrive pedal is normally used in one
of three ways, as a foundation overdrive, as a low gain boost or as a high gain boost. So
when I say foundation overdrive what I'm talking about is when you use an overdrive pedal like a
second channel on your amp. A lot of people who play clean amps like a Fender Twin Reverb will
use their pedals in this way or if you just like using your amp as a pedal platform this is kind
of how you'd use an overdrive pedal sometimes. I've set the gain on all the pedals pretty low,
just try and emulate that edge of breakup sound, so just a low drive let's play through
them and just see how they sound. So for me the way I'm hearing it in the room, the
OD3 has a nice even response, it's got loads of bass, loads of top end, it's got that nice smooth
overdrive, it sounds amp-like you know. The SD1; the overdrive is smooth but it's got this massive
mid hump you know it's like a tube screamer and for me through a clean amp it kind of makes it
sound a bit small. The blues driver sounds really nice and bright and clear. It doesn't have the the
bass of the OD3 which might suit a lot of people if it feels like there's too much bass on the OD3.
It's got so much treble that I took down the tone a bit just to even it out and sort of match it
a bit with the other two. One of the main things for me about the blues driver that I'm
hearing is the grittiness in the overdrive, it's not smooth like the other two, it has
this kind of fizz and a bit of crackle to it. It's an acquired taste I think it,
doesn't sound bad it's just a different kind of a thing. It's almost going a bit
more into distortion territory. I'll play another little riff and see if you
can hear what I'm talking about Let's try them with the gain
a little bit higher now. So before we get into this low gain boost
comparison if you find this video useful think about maybe giving the video a like, maybe
subscribing to the channel, just so that I know whether anyone's finding this content useful or
not. So into this low gain boost comparison. What I've done is turn my amp up a little bit, it's
about halfway. It's on a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, that's what I'm using and the sweet
spot for that is about halfway. It's not quite clean but it's not totally saturated and distorted
and we're going to use the pedals to impart that heavy saturation by taking the drive down on
the pedals quite low, so they're pretty clean, but taking the level right up so it
pushes the valves in the amp a bit harder. So let's just compare how they sound. So for me the joint winners on that one are the
OD3 and the Blues Driver. They're just slightly different flavours, I'd be happy using either
of them. The OD3 has a bit more of a crunch, it's just a bit more of a low end emphasis and
the Blues Driver is a bit more of a sizzle, it's that top end and it's just imparting a bit
more of a distortion type characteristic rather than the crunch of the OD3 but both sound good to
me. The SD1 you can tell by the settings I really cranked the level and it's still struggling to
get as loud as the OD3 or the Blues Driver. That would make me a bit cautious about using that as a
low gain boost, it might not have enough level for you. If you just want a small mid boost, you know
then it might work. The third way that you can use an overdrive pedal is as a mid or high gain boost
and for this I've kept my amp on the same settings as I did in the last comparison, it's just on the
edge of break up. I've raised the drive controls on all the pedals so we're getting a bit more
of the character of the pedals coming through now. I'll start with just the sound of the amp on
its own and then we'll get to comparing the pedals I'll play on the neck pickup and see if you can
hear what i'm hearing in the room it's just a bit muddier on the OD3 in comparison to the
SD1. I'll do a similar thing with the higher notes now,
so I'll go on bridge pickup and for me in the room it's sounding a bit harsh on the OD3. It's still
bright on the SD1 but it smoothens out, there's no ice pick frequencies jumping out at me on the SD1. The Blues Driver on the other hand;
I'm hearing just as a bright kind of slightly fuzzy distortion sound.
All that gritty kind of fizziness and crackling that I was complaining about when
we were using it as a foundation overdrive, all that seems to have been evened out by
the fact that we've just cranked the amp up a little bit and that seems to have smoothed all
that crackliness out. It's just a nice pleasant fuzzy distortion now. i'll just finish with the
Blues Driver comparing that to the other two So remember to let me know down in the comments
which pedal you like the best out of these three and if you found this video useful
think about maybe subscribing to the channel and you can see more videos like this.
