The PROBLEM With Drive Pedal Demos - Are We Buying the Same Pedal OVER and OVER?

[@Deep_Jimpact]

Another great video john, I love how you provide open and honest opinion. In 2002 I saw a man kill another man and I said nothing to anyone. Keep up the great work.

[@shitmandood]

Was it your dad?

[@Deep_Jimpact]

@@shitmandood no

[@Art-zs6sl]

You just mentioned it, and probably should speak to a therapist about it.

[@Deep_Jimpact]

@@Art-zs6sl no

[@davedeville6540]

Good for you Deep. My aunt always said a good boy keeps his mouth shut.

[@wampler_pedals]

If you're looking for different sounding pedals, I would've recommended something entirely different from us. Some quick examples, Slostortion, Sovereign, Plexidrive, Phenom.

[@CMHobbies]

Something RATish, Set to 2. Something transparent, Something blue.

[@CBGypsy03]

Party on garth !!

[@Impractical_Engineer]

Overdrive are all different. The paint is different, the names, most of the time the knobs. Sometimes top Jack's or sometimes side jacks.. differences are endless

[@davedeville6540]

+1 I’m a knobs and jack guy too. Stopped buying pedals, now I just buy bags of knobs.

[@kyran4238]

Chasing the perfect drive tone is a fools errand that distracts you from practicing/performing and leaves you with piles of gear. One day I just woke up and thought; if I need a sound I will buy something that gets me 80% there, then I will get on with it. If you need that dumble sound, buy something that gets close and get on with it. Dumble amps are probably 90% close to each other so who cares.

[@kyzor-sosay6087]

Man,it really all depends on what kind of tone wood you have in your electric guitar.😳

[@insome776]

They all sounded pretty different... (shrug emoji here)

[@jimmyjams1974]

Great topic! I always wonder what pedals do I actually need? It sounds like me anyway most times. I think I could gig with my Mesa fillmore 25, a delay and maybe a boost? Kind of 5 watt world thinking.

[@tonystartup3817]

sounds like you're advocating to just have the core Boss pedals to cover all the flavour basses :)

[@jakollee]

Didn't realize you were a fan of Shawn Tubbs! I love his playing and am always trying to learn some of his licks!

[@picksalot1]

John Cordy, don't be Gear Hordy! I liked the NuX, maybe because it just sounded different. 🤷 Personally, I like the idea of one Overdrive Pedal with enough parameters to cover the entire range of sounds that hit all the sweet spots. In a way, the HX Stomp does that for me.

[@steveliberty]

John - I know its been said many times before, but 80%+ of your tone is in your hands. Touch and technique have a huge impact on how smooth or spikey an overdrive might sound. And frankly, no offence meant here, but even all of your "might be the best amps in the Helix" videos sound VERY similar because you are the guy dialing them in, and you are the player. These are not bad things at all - your touch is amazing, and as a result you achieve the tone you are looking for every time. But, yes, you could probably stick to one amp and one or 2 overdrives and largely sound the same as if you were using several amps and tons of different overdrives. Although my touch is far different (and quite inferior) to yours, I find the same thing with my own playing. No matter what I play through, it sounds like me.

[@TCMx3]

I just buy everything. Problem solved.

[@kimmolingonheimo]

just got the Euphoria for keeps! I also love my Joyo Taichi! the Boss OD-3 is always on for warm bass...., wanted to sell the Euphoria for money, but cant: its soo good and versatile!!

[@ginoames]

The J Rockett pedal sounds great, a really sweet tone.

[@soldfuture_]

The OD3 has been my favorite for many years. I also have a JRocket which I enjoy. I don't think they sound the same.

[@plantagenant]

It's interesting to compare the plethora of pedals available compared to what was available when all the classic rock guitarists were setting the foundations. Treble boosters/Tonebenders/Fuzz...and very loud amps. That was it.

[@Kithiero]

Thank you so much for saying Zed Zed Top; it made my day. Being Canadian I've called them that for many years, not because I think it's right but because it's just fun. Thanks for all the great music and lessons you've been sharing, I think your playing is just wonderful. Just bought Seven Good Days from Bandcamp, looking forward to having it in my headphones. Cheers.

[@christopherjbutler]

Holy Crap! I thought I and Bret Kingman were the only ones who bought the NUX XTC pedal!!! LOL just kidding. You got a usable tone out of it.. I was going into a pedal platform setup that was basically a blackface fender with lots of headroom and some sparkle so I could have a clean funk tone with good quack / cluck in the 2 and 4 positions on the Strat if I disengage all the drive pedals and maybe engage the compressor with the attack turned up to let the transients and top end of the note attack through.., With that setup, the XTC was either too spiky if I turned up the tone control to get mids to come out, or too dark overall if I turned the tone down enough to get rid of the fizz. You suggested to me to try going into a Plexi.. Now that I have an Amp Academy with some models I can footswitch through, I am going to bring that NUX back onto the pedalboard again since I have a pretty decent sounding Plexi in the AA.. Thanks, mate!

[@dannyllerenatv8635]

I’ve had quite a few pedals in the past, including many boutique and vintage pedals. I also realize that I can do just about any gig with either a TS, odr-1, or my Timmy V3 and an RC booster for my drives.

[@shawnmcginnis2508]

Nux and J Rocket were favorites.

[@tonystartup3817]

Looks like (sounds?) the nux is a clone of some kind of the Bogner Ecstacy red pedal

[@TheArbiterOfTruth]

I’m not gonna lie, when I first got my HX Stomp, I was using the boostable “amp” drive from the AC30 model I played through, and a timmy mod and that’s all I used. I essentially had 4 gain stages that way. For a long time all I used was: HX Stomp, BigSky, TimeFactor, Dunlop mini volume and it sounded great. The stomp did my amps/cabs/drives/compressor/noise gate/tuner/modulation/pitch and it was great

[@thebadterrorists5323]

Not only but also, these pedals contain minimal similar components costing next to nothing being sold for way huge amounts of money.

[@TheMrMRsmoke]

I only buy pedals for colour coordination of my pedalboards tbh

[@davedeville6540]

If I close my eyes while listening to your playing I see naked people doing it…

[@chrisssbrooks]

Yeah you want the bass at 0 on the euphoria.

[@darwinsaye]

My thing with overdrive pedals: when I first got one, what I was after was a drive sound that my amp would have if I turned it up to the point where it would have a nice drive sound, except using a pedal so that I could do that more quietly. I assumed that’s what overdrive pedals were supposed to be for. What I quickly learned: they didn’t sound like my amps when they are turned up; they boosted mids, and shelved bass in a way that I found made for a very unpleasant boxy, two dimensional sound. As I eventually learned, they were supposedly giving some people’s idea of an “idealized” cranked amp sound, ie, boosted mids to “cut through the mix” (god, how I’ve come to hate hearing that mantra from people), and cut bass to keep it “tight” and focused so it doesn’t “flub out”. The problem is, that “corrected sound” is not the sound of a cranked amp, which is all I was after. I’ll correct my own bass and mids as I see fit, thank you very much. So anyway, in the end, I started avoiding “tone knob” overdrives, and going for ones with a full EQ stack. Then I discovered proper *preamp pedals* which are basically an out board version of the preamp in an amplifier. Never looked back at stereotypical overdrives again.

[@CBGypsy03]

Which pre amp pedal or pedals do you prefer?? Thanks

[@darwinsaye]

@@CBGypsy03 The old Tech 21 Character series Preamp/DIs or their current clones made by Joyo make great overdrives. I really like the new Thorpy FX Scarlet Tunic which is based on the preamp of 1960s Selmer Treble & Bass amps, and it sounds fantastic. Aclam makes a recreation of the preamp from 60s Vox UL amp, the Doctor Robert pedal, although the sound is quite specific and not as versatile as some others. JHS Colour Box is based on a mixing desk preamp rather than a guitar amp, but it’s versatile and cool. On the digital side, UAFX Woodrow and Dream sound good. As far as just plain overdrives pedals, I’ll give anything a chance as long as it has bass, middle, and treble controls, or at least bass and treble.

[@CBGypsy03]

@@darwinsaye Right on thanks. I actully use tech 21 RKv2 fly rig, use the sansamp to colour a clean amp and then I have the effects if I feel I need to get some distortion. Very cool and efficient pedal. Cheers

[@sroelit]

I’ve got three blues-breaker style drives. I just ordered a fourth from Apollo Approved in Indonesia. It’s just my way of supporting an artist whose work and story I appreciate, in the same way I might buy an album and a concert ticket. Give your money to people you like.

[@frantisca]

Hey John: check out the CmatMods Super Signa if you can. It DEFINITELY sounds different ! This is the best drive pedal I have ever played. The 3-band EQ allows you to adjust the tone according to the sound you have in your head and the guitar you are using. Not only can it correct a slightly your tone, lighten a slightly dark pickup, but it showcases the intrinsic qualities of the guitar in a transparent way, favoring sustain, harmonics, articulation. Its 3-position switch, as on the original Signa Drive, allows led, open or silicone clipping, making the guitar sing, vintage or modern style depending on the gain. The independent boost can be used as a clean boost, fat boost or limiter depending on the gain used. With a slightly dark humbucker it's magic: it brings it back to life and clarity. This pedal quickly became essential to me and never leaves my board. It is always on and allows me all possible variations in the volume of the guitar: from crunch at 6-7 to lead at 8-9, saturated at 10, it clears up to obtain a very nice clean from 3 to 5. For even more Oomph, it accepts another upstream OD very well. In my opinion, it competes without blushing with a King of Tone, Duellist, a Tim or other boutique pedals at 3x its price ... If I keep only one, it will be this one (for more security, I have two !!).

[@jackprice7828]

For a couple years I have not used any of the OD or distortion models in the HX Stomp. 2 days ago I tried revisiting them again and remembered why I didn't like them in the first place. The one exception being the Timmmy model. Anyway it's just the fizz or as some call it, sizzle. I know all the EQ tricks. But just can't seem to get that OD tone I want. Don't get me wrong,I love my Stomp. But I will continue to use my Wampler Fusion. It still gives me the versatility without the fizz.

[@johnnathancordy]

I think the Wampler Dual Fusion uses that Euphoria circuit I was playing the other day right?

[@aaronashear3002]

Considerable overlap is an accurate way to put it.

[@yayharekrishna]

0:37 THE LICC

[@89ji76]

Holy shit great t shirt

[@Snoopdave2000]

I have an sd1 with a fat switch. Can cover most bases along with my sp exotic compressor /clean boost. Ive noticed the cheap overdrives do just as good a job. Tone city are good options

[@johnnathancordy]

I'm just borrowing an SD1 - hugely useful pedal and totally underrated I think when you look at the amount of expensive boutiquey stuff out there....

[@Snoopdave2000]

@@johnnathancordy yh it's a great pedal, it was really popular at one time, has a good range, that and the blues driver are great value

[@CrazyCalabrese78]

@@Snoopdave2000 you ever run the SD1 into a Blues Driver? I tried a Klone into a BD2 recently and it sounded good. But just for the purpose of pushing another pedal, the SD1 is half the price and I’m guessing would do a good job

[@electricj5]

Isn’t this the same as asking, “do modelers need to have 200 amps and 150 pedals?” Or how about presets? You create 100’s of different presets on this channel yet when I come listen I hear a clean tone with delay and reverb and an Eric Johnson smooth tone lead. There is no effective difference that I can hear unless played back to back? Isn’t that the same as an audience?

[@alexmbrenner]

I have the same problem! I have settled on the Keeley DDR because it has delay as well so it solves many issues I was having before.

[@dannyllerenatv8635]

The DDR is a wonderful pedal, good enough for Eric Johnson too.

[@markknecht9416]

Maybe I'm weird and unsophisticated but I don't like the sound of any of them when you are demoing them by themselves but I very much like the sound of ALL of them in your initial play through. My feeling watching the play through is that I'm watching a band with 4 guitar players taking a turn at soloing - so it's the difference in the drive sounds ever 16 bars that keeps me interested and not the specific sound of any one of them that attracts me. Seems like a nice idea for a Helix patch to just have a good overall setup and then 4 snapshots that pick different drive pedals. Thanks for all you do. Cheers.

[@kjeksklaus7944]

With the Line 6, are additional over drive units needed? The Wampler Euphoria sounded different and you nailed it, that 'fuzz' thing. They are on sale for £100 at PMT at the moment. But again, with modelling, are these really needed?

[@johnnathancordy]

Yeh for me personally - I don't think I need the drives, which is partly why I sold a load of them!

[@kjeksklaus7944]

@@johnnathancordy I didn’t know what gas was (and I still don’t know what it means) until watching your channel but I would enjoy hunting things down and watching them, shopping for them, get them and then not want them anymore. But I’ve been using line 6 since pre flextone and without that is have so many pedals and amps. Got a new guitar yesterday so looking forward to exploring and dialling some tones in. I’ve got one line 6 running in to another line 6. So many possibilities

[@radio5051]

Yes, I mentioned in the comments in a previous vid about a month ago, you sound the same to me no matter what you play through. Maybe you can here the subtle difference, but we all have that one sound in our head that we aim for and try to dial it in to every piece of gear.

[@yobanyhernandez125]

I recommend the EHX crayon... its different atleast to me and cheap. very nice to fatten single coils.

[@Art-zs6sl]

There certainly is a ton of overlap in the tube screamer department. I guess it's important to learn which circuits have made a mark, then source one of each type.

[@martin_schwarz]

Years ago there was a 2D-chart of all BOSS drive pedals, picture-search for "boss overdrive distortion chart". I've always been waiting for someone doing this for other brands too...

[@johnnathancordy]

Do you mean the one with Natural - Metallic on the Y axis, and Rough - Smooth on the X axis? That's an interesting idea!

[@Johnherold121]

Phenomenal thumbnail again

[@chrisgibbsracing]

Great video, thanks, but I wonder if it would have been a better test, to have the OD pedals feeding into an amp (set just on the edge of breakup) rather than an FM9 preset? I've no experience with FM9, but I found the Helix took OD pedals really badly, compared to a real amp (into the input). Quad Cortex however works really well with OD pedals up front. Amp probably is the most revealing though. Just a thought.

[@johnnathancordy]

I don't think it would be a better test - it would be a different test. For one, I don't use amps on the edge of breakup. I have a clean tone, and a dirty tone. It's almost impossible to have a "baseline" with an Amp because there are way more variables. For example, I could now test all of my drive pedals in front of this one preset over the course of months and actually make fair comparisons over the long term. With an amp, all I'll be able to do is try my best to match settings and mic placement?

[@larrysteinke1839]

ChrisG I Agree. The whole purpose of an overDrive is to over drive the input stage of an amp, and in particular a tube amp, to force the signal into the amps non linear range. So the distortion harmonics are actually generated mainly by the amp not the pedal. in my opinion you can pretty much replicate a lot of overdrives with a decent eq pedal that has a decent amount of boost, like 18dB.

[@AlecBourneMidiMadScientist]

Tell you what I’ll trade you that purple thingy for one of mine! No seriously the nux was definitely the more interesting of the bunch, being a bit different but I think drives are a really good means of supporting builders you like. The Klon cct would be a really great example of one worth having similar duplicates as so many use it both as a boost and as a drive. Given the choice of top mounted or side mounted jacks these are all really a question of individualism when the overlap is so pronounced. I reckon there is a good argument for dual drive combos, or digital drives with midi like the Strymon and of course the tomatotron. Adding the dimension of presets and midi is always the way to go… how often are you reaching down and tweaking your drives manually ?

[@johnnathancordy]

Dual drives - yeh that's a good plan! Still on the fence with this Automatone thing....

[@zach-jj8pc]

As I started building my own guitar pedals, a lot of the marketing hype wore off concerning guitar pedals. Overdrive pedals are mostly based on a few different circuits and then tweaked with the type of clipping and eq before and/or after the gain stages. Few overdrive pedals have a truly unique design. The pete Cornish CC-1 is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

[@johnnathancordy]

OOH. What's unique about the CC1?

[@zach-jj8pc]

@@johnnathancordy two op amp clipping stages followed by a three band baxandall EQ. I cam build you one if you'd like. Cornish buffer included in it and all. It would sound the same as the real deal but half the price. And it probably wouldn't look as good haha.

[@zach-jj8pc]

From Pete's website, (even he's guilty of a bit of marketing hype haha): The CC-1™ is not a variant of any existing product but a completely new and original design. The CC-1™ features two fixed low gain Soft Clipping Stages preceded by a variable gain (maximum +22dB) linear preamp to compensate for low output pickups and provide extra drive to the soft clipping stages if required. The advantage of using two low gain Soft Clipping Stages rather than hard diode clipping is that they are effectively (and automatically) removed from the audio path when the signal level drops below their transition point - ensuring a complete “cleanup” if the guitar volume is reduced. As the signal level increases due to stronger playing the soft clips gradually engage and start to add harmonics - more signal = more harmonics - but the loudness continues to increase as there is no clamping of the signal peaks. Dynamics are therefore preserved and superb musicality results. Following on from the Soft Clipping Stages is a three band active EQ using frequencies I have specifically tailored to suit guitars. Being active, the three tone bands can be both cut and boosted as desired with the zero or neutral point being 12 o'clock on each control knob. I have included a second linear boost stage after the tone circuit to compensate for any reduction in overall volume when the tones are in "cut" mode. The benefits of this active tone circuit, compared to the usual passive (Cut only) tone circuit is that the three bands are completely independent and there is no inter reaction between the Bass, Middle and Treble tone controls. An output Master Volume is included to allow for perfect matching between bypassed and boosted/EQ’d signal level and there is plenty of signal headroom available to overdrive amp inputs if required.

[@gffg387]

Of course the H is silent. It's not Rombre. Please have more respect with the Spanish language. Also the "El" part needs some improvements as well.

[@rafsnchz]

wow, you have to chill a lil bit mate. me father is native spanish speaker and although I don’t speak spanish, I know how to pronounce that correctly. BUT everyone is not supposed to know and “respect” spanish or any other language for that matter. have you ever seen people pronouncing EHX Russian Muff name in russian? yeah, me neither.

[@gffg387]

@@rafsnchz No chill. You kids nowadays have no time to learn the language of your old mans. You just want to speak English and play Fort Night with your friends or whatever that is.

[@rafsnchz]

@@gffg387 ok, kid. I speak three completely different languages, how about that?

[@gffg387]

@@rafsnchz So why not Spanish? Why do you hate your father's language?

[@rafsnchz]

@@gffg387 I don’t hate it. I just don’t have any intentions to learn it, I don’t need it. I know some basics, but my father speaks russian with me(which is my mother tongue).