Do Overdrive Pedals and Distortion Pedals Really Do the Same Thing?

We guitar players love Overdrive and Distortions pedals but what's the difference between them?
What is Headroom? Why do smaller amps distort at louder volumes?
Andy helps you understand all this and more. This is Guitar Stuff You Should Know.
If you're looking to get more out of your guitar playing, then you need to learn about overdrive and distortion pedals. This video will give you the information you need to make the right choice for your playing style. So sit back, relax, and let's take a look at the difference between overdrive and distortion pedals!
𝗚𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 (Affiliate Links)
Wampler Phenom Distortion Pedal
UK - Andertons - bit.ly/3HkSf4a
US - Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/OR25PW
EU - Thomann - thmn.to/thoprod/555970?offid=...
Wampler Triumph Overdrive Pedal
UK - Andertons - bit.ly/3W1sIRv
US - Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/n10bmA
EU - Thomann - thmn.to/thoprod/555969?offid=...
I also played the Kauffmann Cozy Guitar:
Kauffman Cozy - www.kauffmannsguitarstore.com...
𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗥 𝗚𝗘𝗘𝗞 𝗧𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗦 𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘
theguitargeek.creator-spring....
𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟
►🤘 SUBSCRIBE here - kzbin.info/door/tps:...
𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦
00:00 What do Overdrives and Distortions do to your guitar signal?
01:19 Signal clipping explained
03:29 What is the difference between Overdrive and Distortion
04:11 Playing a 440hz Sine wave through guitar pedals
05:23 Comparing a guitar sound through an overdrive and a distortion pedal
06:51 Can an overdrive pedal sound like a distortion pedal?
08:39 Can a distortion pedal sound like an overdrive pedal?
11:06 Which Pedal should you buy, Overdrive or Distortion?
𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗦
𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙙𝙚, 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙤 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪!
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨.
#guitarstuffyoushouldknow #overdrive #distortionpedal

[@jcwm01]

I have been playing guitar since 1979 and have heard many explanations dist vs od. This is simply the best and most accurate explanation I have ever heard. Well done brother. Cheers!

[@TheGuitarGeek]

That’s great to know! What else should i tackle?

[@jcwm01]

@@TheGuitarGeek I'll put some thought into it. I think what I liked best about this vid was the quantitative vs qualitative approach to your explanations. Here is what it is doing technically and here is what that means to you as a player. Love that!

[@benjoel6692]

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and owned more pedals than I can remember, and this is by far the best and quickest explanation of distortion vs overdrive I have ever heard. Thank you. Now I'm looking for the fuzz explanation.

[@Riseandfishnish]

This was one of the most helpful videos I've seen. The oscilloscope was exactly what I needed to visualize the sound. Thank you! I love overdrive tones. hard to pick a fav, but right now I've been enjoying The Guess Who. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature riffs are a 10.

[@peterszakal]

Thank you Andy! This is Guitar Stuff I Should Know. I never see this innovative visualization coming. You are the first person to explain to me what headroom means. Please do more presentations about fuzz, delay, reverb, compressor, wah, etc. it would be great geeky to see all with the oscilloscope.

[@TheGuitarGeek]

Great news! I’m working on more!

[@mateusrodolfo98]

We need more videos with the oscilloscope on other effects! Fantastic job on this excellent video!

[@davidneily3532]

Wow, your videos have always been fun (please take this as a compliment) but now your videos have shot up immensely in production quality. Love the graphics and the inserted video while doing the A/B comparison. Fantastic job. Content and explanation were so clear and spot on. Thx Andy.

[@jacobholler5534]

The Vandals- "An Idea for a Movie". Andy, this is one of the best distortion vs. overdrive explanation videos I've seen. Great job exploring it without being presumptive, focusing on the sound, and avoiding acting like there are things that everybody should know or do. Great advice on finding your tone as well. Your end of the video club assignment made me listen to a few classic songs to figure out where my idea of a good gain sounds came from. Thanks and keep it up!

[@tombudinger8504]

Well done mate. THE most helpful explanation. Thank you.

[@moewhocooper]

Hey thanks for the cook video Andy I believe this was worth your time. Very cool iv only been playing guitar for about a year and seeing this not only hearing is really cool.

[@scke3717]

Clear concise and actually a great way to (indirectly) promote those Wamplers: good work!

[@Morstad64]

Thanks for this very clear explanation of the difference beteween Distortion and Overdrive!

[@rolandk2403]

Thank you for adding some science into this explanation. As a newer guitar player I can never quite get the adjectives used to describe sound clear in my head. This made it understandable.

[@MikeLute]

Again what learned! Thx for this really educational and interessting topic!

[@justmehere6094]

Easily the best description of this topic I have seen.

[@zenwarfare70]

Fantastic video !

[@Parariddle]

Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter is my favourite today! Phenomenal video and phenomenal t-shirt sir. Easily top 3 online personality content! Will be selling branded guitar geek pedal switchers in the future ha ha

[@texasbeatdownmusic1636]

I have both,the phenom for my humbucker on my strat and the triumph for the single coils on my strat. I use a wampler mIni plexi drive for a boost for both pedals on guitar solos. Very pleased with the tones I'm getting. Love your channel btw. Happy Holidays!

[@bobbrown5212]

Good video Andy!

[@CmdrMic]

Bloody well marvelous, absolutely capital vid mate. Clearest explanation I have ever witnessed in 40 years. Cheers. 🙏🙏💙🙏🙏

[@thomassteiger7169]

Good explanation Andy. I like that you used the scope to visualize the waveform. I can't tell you the song with my favourite distortion because I am listening to so many different styles.

[@LeloCraveiro]

Thank you for this great explanation! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@marcdaslama]

this is by far the best explenation of the difference between overdrive and distortion! I finally understand it! thanks for that! I'm a absolutly beginner (playing for about 4 month), but I'm totaly in that overdriven sound. I need a sound that I like while I'm practicing. I also have a cheap fuzz pedal that should be like a muff. maybe I'm looking also for an cheap distortion on the used marked.

[@andsoistopped]

Ooooff. Great guitar. Also brilliantly explained. ❤

[@Smart-Alex]

Nice job Andy! I have the Triumph and really like it!

[@DDStudia]

Best and fully explanation ever, thanks

[@goatman3057]

Sampler knocked it out of the ballpark with these 2 pedals, that Triumph is the best OD I ever heard!😊

[@endezeichengrimm]

Sampler?

[@MarsHottentot]

I used to be a distortion guy, but when I found fuzz I never went back. Nowadays, tho I have become a "pre-amp" overdrive fanatic, just in love with all of those different pushed amp tones. Favorite overdriven tone - no particular song but Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion) gets something that is gnarly, rubbery and fat, sounding like his amp is threatening to explode.

[@stefpenfield5918]

Great. Perfectly illustrated. My favorite distortion tone is El Hefe's from the NoFX song "Linoleum".

[@danz2611]

Brother! This is the single best video ever created to explain the difference between OD and Distortion! Lucid, intelligently presented and scientifically correct. Well Done Andy! My favorite song...Hmmm---tough one, but probably 'Mother Mary/This Kids" from UFO's "Strangers in The Night' live LP from the Late 70's. Pure Gibson PAF through a 'cocked-wah' and Marshall EL 34 tone! Pure Schenker! I'm looking forward to the Fuzz video .

[@jasonalbert9939]

I love the explanation. Can’t wait to to see the fuzz video. Just found a new song Morning After by Path to Midian. Great distortion sound

[@shman3756]

This is exactly the explanation I've been looking for

[@user-oi3jz6fv8p]

Well done!

[@joshuaevans1922]

Killer episode, Andy. Love the explanation and the effort that has gone in to this one. Oh, I nearly forgot: my favorite overdriven tone is probably "Riff Raff" by AC/DC. Love the sound of Angus pushing those Marshalls.

[@ricardofernandes7759]

You were able to turn a boring subject for me to a very interesting. Thank you for the info.

[@keithh8661]

Thanks Andy, the (least) I ever heard you not mention Fuzz lol I was waiting 😁 You came across very understanding!

[@TheGuitarGeek]

Fuzz needs its own video for sure! Thanks Keith, hope there’s more I can help with in the future

[@ArvidNielsen]

Good stuff, Andy! Too many great guitar tone tunes to mention one. Overdrive and distortion, of course, are great each for various tracks.

[@gregmorgan9564]

I need them all! Thanks for binging the geek out in me. Right now it's Crazy Train MXR Distortion +, with those Ge clipping diodes.

[@davetrombetti4240]

I already knew all this stuff but I have to say it’s probably the best explanation I have seen online so far. Great job! I think my favorite distortion tone is a song you probably have never heard. It’s by a band called Mucky Pup and the song is called All’s Good. The song has an almost ZZ Top vibe and I have to say that the guitar tone in ZZ Top’s Rough Boy is pretty equally tied as my favorite.

[@ikestoddard2458]

Beautiful!!! Masterful!! Did you write this yourself? Soft versus hard clipping! Excellent! WITH AN OSCILLOSCOPE?? Perfect! Imaginative! Andy, I have banged on a guitar for 50+ years, and I am a systems engineer by training. You told the truth about the sound the way I would have. Brilliant!! I would show this to any musician who understands and accepts the basic science that music is a bunch of sine waves added together. This explanation belongs in every electric musician’s bible. Boy, is it hard to pick my favorite distorted track, there are so many! Let’s go with AC/DC’s Thunderstruck for now.

[@matzer8846]

"I have banged on a guitar for 50+ years" ... you are a relicing zen master ... Had the same habbit ... but then changed it as being less rude to my axe and put on some power chords and Xm7 lines .,.. But i had to quit since i realized i'm now brutalizing my ears (and everybodys ears near me too) (;-((

[@yo9103]

Very good job , merci 🇫🇷

[@nyguezz]

This has been one of most useful video I have ever watched on YT regarding this topic. Currently I have a distortion pedal in low gain to emulate an Overdrive effect and when I want a distorted effect, I engage an EQ pedal in front to push mids, and the result is amazing.

[@TheGuitarGeek]

Glad it helped. The eq pedal into a drive is an underused trick

[@mighty3tesla274]

Best explanation I've found, thank you! I think this will be quite useful in helping me chase down some better tones on my Katana. Alter Bridge's Metalingus for the song. Keep it up!

[@craigbragg2842]

Excellent and concise summary of the two effects and how they differ! Favorite OD/DS tone...probably Touch Me, I'm Sick by Mudhoney. Although I am sure that was probably a Big Muff more than anything. But that is technically distortion, anyway.

[@gregmock6808]

Brilliant explanation...I just bought the Triumph yesterday and love it. I don't care much for high gain sounds so I'll stick with my old DS1 for a warm distortion...the Blues Driver DS1 and Triumph really cover all the gain I'll ever need. The Triumph has such a useable EQ....the DS 1 I back off the treble and gain to warm it up. Then I use a GE7 EQ as a boost for soloing. I find the Triumph loves strats.

[@jcf6]

Great video (as usual) ... I've always liked the guitar sound on "A Girl Like You" by The Smithereens ... For a long time, I was just amazed that sound came from a Rickenbacker - because I was judging it by the music video. Years later, I found out that it was a Les Paul into a Marshall. Live and learn.

[@cquig2691]

Amazing video

[@TheGuitarGeek]

Thanks for the visit

[@mralgebro]

Love this mathematical analysis. Might even show this to my Algebra class as examples of sine functions.

[@joeljezequel]

that oscilloscope is really nice! My favorite distorsion is the G chord à 37" in Van Halen's Meanstreet

[@jdkimple]

Fav song with fav guitar distorted tone - Sister Havana by Urge Overkill.

[@PPanossss]

Hi Andy , great video. It would be interesting to see how the sinewave changes with two overdrives stacked.If it would look and sound closer to distortion.

[@Buzzel-NL]

Nice video Andy! Big difference between distortion and overdrive to is the amount of compression.... I think. Hard to say which overdrive or distortion sound is my absolute favorite, but Porcupine tree's Arriving somewhere but not here, around 7:19 comes to mind. Contains some wicked guitar rhythm sound!

[@allanflippin2453]

Andy, Thanks so much for the fabulous video! I nearly didn't click on it... because I've been "overdriven" on all the overdrive and distortion pedal vids going around. But I'm very glad I clicked on yours. From what other folks had been saying, I got the impression that an "overdrive" pedal did its work by amplifying the signal so that your amp's input stage is driven harder. In other words, the amp distorts, provoked by the pedal. But then why would an overdrive pedal have a "gain" knob? Your video makes it clear, that overdrive and distortion BOTH add distortion/coloration to the sound, but distortion pedals add a more aggressive tone to it. My two amps both have master volume controls, so I can dial in the type of amp distortion I want without wrecking my ears. I never got an overdrive pedal so that's my excuse for not knowing exactly what they do. :)

[@TroyNaumu808]

Favourite Distortion tone (one of them anyways) "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Boss DS1 / Boss DS-2 ...... Brilliant and informative video as always.

[@saarangnarayan123]

What a lovely masterclass! Loved the visual cues throughout. Your favourite song with your favourite overdrive or distortion tone on it is a matter of great debate. Mine is perhaps Lamb of God's Ashes of the Wake or Slipknot's The Blister Exists (something about mid-00s heavy tones that just has my heart beating extra fast).

[@aljohno72]

Great explanation 👌 Gilmour solo tones

[@danielm2474]

I am still struggling whether I need a distortion for my rig or not. Your explanations however are very helpful to understand the difference between overdrive and distortion. The Wampler Triumph is on my list now. You asked the end of the video club for favourite song with distortion sound on it. At the moment I dig into the sound from John Scofield's A Go Go where a rat is used if Josh is right.

[@ruckusfitnesd7505]

Great vid CMFT Diana's gone has a great tone well the whole album does

[@dr.pfrutti646]

First things first: Ghost - Dance Macabre. No idea what pedals they use. Andy, thank you for this comprehensive explanation and I hope to see more of this in the future. I've been a couch player for almost 25 years now and I never really cared about my pedals or other equipment. Just recently I discovered my 18 year old me bought a Boss DS-1 and a Nobels Xtreme Distortion, but nothing else *facepalm*. Now I'm simply trying to fill a few gaps in my knowledge and hopefully make more of what I got so far.

[@aprilkurtz1589]

Thanks for the explanation, Andy. OD Vs. Distortion had always confused me. Distortion 4ever.

[@robertdonosobuchner3129]

Hey Andy, great video! Please show also the difference between other effects. This helps to understand what is going on if you using different effects pedels on your pedal board. I always get inspired by good made effects pedels and I try out to find my sound. I have the super overdrive sd1 pedal from boss on my pedal board and it is always on. It gives a special character to the sounds of my guitar. For lead tones or heavy stuff I use a Trinity distortion and a Carcosa Fuzz pedal, sometimes all together...and my supoctave pedal. I'm using the fuzz pedal behind the distortion pedal, it gives me more flexibility and together they sounding really heavy. Especially if I play my baritone I love the overdrive sound.

[@JWCFB]

Excellent video which showed me the OD is not needed. I really love the guitar tone by a not so known American rock band called Velocity and the song is called Love is Dangerous. You can check it out on KZbin.

[@martingalicia36695]

great video!! It's helped me decide whether I should buy both the Phenom and Triumph...I'm going with the Phenom since it can get into OD territory! Thank you. Favorite song: Tool - Tempest for that serious distortion!!!

[@TheGuitarGeek]

Glad I could help!

[@MrUnterhugel]

Great video. Perhaps add spectral analysis to waveform would help.

[@guitardave]

Excellent video - I can imagine Mr Wampler himself would enjoy and appreciate this explanation. Best distortion or overdrive tone? Difficult to name just one, but I do love the Soldano SLO crunch and overdrive tones. That raises another question though - is amp gain hard or soft clipping?…

[@scottybrowndotca]

Absolutely brilliant .. After playing guitar for over 30 years I finally have a clear picture of the difference between the two .. Now .. How do we feel about putting Fuzz on the scope ..?

[@TheMerc1950]

Hurra for audio engineering! I appreciate the use of the oscilloscope! Favorite song tone....man that is tough.. An argument could be made for Siamese Dream fuzz tone. While simple distortion Zeppelin always is nice as well...

[@SFESky]

Seeing those "different types of distortion" due to different circuits was really enlightening. Still seemed quite versatile on the overdrive. Except death metal etc that wants the most evil, biting tone possible I reckon? ^^

[@wideyxyz2271]

All the way through I was thinking "what about fuzz!" Love your playing Andy (Yes i know i say that a lot ,bro love no homo). To many songs to name a favourite that uses overdrive/distortion but one track i often play is "Bring your loving back here" by Gomez. Thanks for the review. Fuzz next! Ive got a fuzz box and Im going to use it!

[@royrobles7423]

I take a bass eq pedal and set the 50 hz all the way negative...leave everything else in the middle...then run my overdrive next in the chain...this allows me to use the output boost to overdrive my overdrive pedal...try it...cause it works awesome

[@dw7704]

Certainly overlap between the two, and with a variety of options, including pedals & amp settings you can have a variety of sounds available And a lot of fun experimenting And you can get an overdriven sound from an EQ pedal or an envelope filter.

[@rolandmengedoth2191]

Depends on the curicut of the Pedal and the used components, means in the electronic of the pedal. Specially if you have symetrical or asymetrical clipping. Or when you want it explain with mathematics, than have to calculate it via Fourier Analysys. Anyway a very good explaination and presentatition.

[@ErikOosterwal]

Billy Gibbons got some of his iconic ZZ Top tones by running his guitar output through six overdrive pedals before his amp. 🤘😆

[@PaulCooksStuff]

Best online guitar personalities of 2022 - MusicRadar poll #5 Andy Ferris Congrats 🥳🔥🎸🎉

[@TheGuitarGeek]

Thank you brother

[@michaelsandoval15]

Where did you get that shirt?…love it and want it!

[@benbrown7617]

Great video and really helpful as someone that’s trying to understand all this stuff! Thank you! Current fav song Empty promises by Christone kingfish Ingram. 13:46

[@Skypor]

Hey how about a pedal like the Boss OS-2 OD/DS, where you can go across the range of OD to DS? Oh and I really like the tone Nuno got on 'Decadence Dance'!

[@ErikOosterwal]

10:05 - The two tones are very similar, but the sound from the distortion pedal is highly compressed. For me, too much compression causes "ear fatigue" to happen sooner, especially at higher volumes. I think our hearing wants a mix of loud and soft sounds - something jazz and classical musicians talk about as "letting the music breathe." 🤔🎶

[@mikewick77]

like both of them.

[@John_2Much_Coffee]

These are two of the best pedals I have ever heard. But the Phenom Distortion just blows my mind how great it sounds. End of video club. I am sure AC/DC would love the Phenom Distortion too. Cheers from Canada

[@jeffrywhite6008]

Does the phenom cover ac/dc tones at low volume? Cant quite find what Ive been searching for. Have tried lots of miab pedals. Thanks

[@John_2Much_Coffee]

@@jeffrywhite6008 Hi. Hopefully Andy can reply to your question. I have not used this pedal personally. So I can't say how it is at low volume. Maybe someone reading this that owns it will be able to help you. Maybe mention what Amp you use too because pedals do respond to Amps differently sometimes. The pedal is on my short list so if I do buy it I will reply with what I find. Take care

[@jeffrywhite6008]

@@John_2Much_Coffee Thanks. Appreciate ya !

[@andybungert]

Soooooo I need that shirt! Where'd ya get that?

[@TroyNaumu808]

How do you get Nirvana DS1 / DS2 tone out of the Phenom?

[@oldguydave7355]

💯 times like on this video! Too many songs to name. :)

[@marka3239]

you cant argue with an OSCILLOSCOPE. fantastic

[@PooNinja]

I like blending a soft clip into a hard clipper into an amp with lots and lots of headroom.

[@PooNinja]

My favorite tone changes daily but for playing it’s the REVV G3 it’s the gain I’ve been looking for my entire playing career.

[@BopKitBill]

If the gain of the high gain of the overdrive or the distorting gain of the distortion is below the gain of the distorting overdrive or the overdriving distortion of the overdrive then the sound will be good.

[@theroadrunners7703]

Thanks wonderful video. April Wine's Just between you and me. (for one)

[@rudigerehrlich2375]

And what is the different between this and a Muff/Fuzz

[@jimmy5634]

I wish someone would make a an analog pedal like the Triumph whereby you could “program” up to 3 settings. That’s all guitarists need 90% of the time. Are you listening Brian Wampler?

[@gcensing6351]

Is that a Rick Beato signature model on the wall behind you?

[@TheGuitarGeek]

No, that’s the Ferris Blue that I collaborated on with Harley Benton

[@JackieSunshineOmega]

One thing I discovered is distortion pedals sound terrible in mini amps. Too trebley unlike an OD which still retains its "roundness" even if small practice amps.

[@leehenderson8132]

Nerd ville.if your in a conversation with an electrician this is usable. I go by my ears.as a guitar player it should be natural. But great indept review.but really does rhis matter.

[@robertavila1863]

7:56 ftw!

[@JaniceLalla]

How about No Time?

[@Zeinzu2]

Pink Floyd - "Comfortably Numb" guitar solo overdrive & tone.I think it goes in the Top 5 of all electric guitar sounds. Let alone composition. But that's a whole different vid.

[@madolly2000]

Make it Rounder!

[@CountNetsrac]

Are you poaching in Colin's territory now? 😉 Good explanation though and well done video.

[@SpecialReserve]

Chewy vs Brittle :)

[@seanlefevre1130]

I believe BB King is credited as the first to turn his amp up to intentionally get distortion

[@chancemiller9340]

1) Preferred the Overdrive 2) Don't care for music that sounds !one your Distortion from the start. 3) That song with that pedal. [Answering the question at the end.]

[@prettylitch1785]

Thought that was Anthony Fantano in the bottom right.