Top 15 Overdrive pedals under $50 that DON'T SUCK!

In this episode, we are having a look at 15 awesome overdrive under $50 that don't suck. Guitar players always assume that budget equipment means unreliable, poor quality construction and poor quality sound. We'll, I am happy to say that these 15 offering do not fit the aforementioned down sides. Nope, these are all really great sounding and sturdy pedals well worth your time.
I'm using an array of different guitars through my trusty Vox AC15c1. I'm using the Two Notes Captor 16 as well as the Celestion SpeakerMix Pro with the Cream Back 75 DSR and an AKG MD421 mic.
I'm a Stringjoy artist, and play their set of Broadways on all my Electric guitars.
I play the 10/13.5/17/28/38/50 on all my Gibson and Epiphone. I play the 9.5/13/16/26/36/48 on my Strat and Telecaster.
NONE-Affiliate link:
stringjoy.com/...
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows me to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!
* This is NOT a sponsored video!*
Patreon
/ the_tone_lounge
TTL Merch
shop.spreadshi...
Thomann affiliate links
- Ultimate Drive: thmn.to/thopro...
- ACtone: thmn.to/thopro...
- American Sound: thmn.to/thopro...
- Dark Flame: thmn.to/thopro...
- Super Fuzz: thmn.to/thopro...
- Green Mile: thmn.to/thopro...
- Steel Singer: thmn.to/thopro...
- Morning Star: thmn.to/thopro...
- Cinders: thmn.to/thopro...
- Horseman: thmn.to/thopro...
- Oxford Sound: thmn.to/thopro...
Obsidianwire Affiliate Link
obsidianwire.com?aff=13
Celestion Impulse Responses
www.celestionp...
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒:
0:00 OCD style pedal
0:41 Blues Breaker style pedal
1:28 Timmy style pedal
2:04 clean ac15
2:13 BD-2 style pedal
2:50 REVV G4 style pedal
3:46 Big Muff style pedal
4:35 AC30+TB?
5:15 Little Rat
5:37 A tale of two Centaurs
6:25 No relation to Stephen King
7:09 What does Oxford sound like?
7:43 What do TMNT and Weezer have in common?
8:28 It sure sounds American, ya'll!
9:20 Professor Dumble Door
10:06 If fuzz was a super hero!
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⚡ 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀:
🔴 VFP series: • 𝗩𝗢𝗫 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗟𝗬 𝗣𝗘𝗗𝗔𝗟𝗦
🔴 AC15 series: • Vox AC15 series
#thetonelounge #stringjoy
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thetonelounge3247815624350876

[@TheToneLounge]

⚡ 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀: 🔴 VFP series: kzbin.info/aero/PLeAo3au6SN1kfdYcyp8bvHttqkPinQ2Wt 🔴 AC15 series: kzbin.info/aero/PLeAo3au6SN1mEE4I1YYC2GtP7Y9sZ4VKT

[@Justafeller]

Everyone of these pedals sounded great man. We play a lot of the same music/style. I'd use any of these pedals. I'm actually pleasantly surprised how good they all sounded.

[@TheToneLounge]

I've been meaning to this video for a long time. It took awhile to gather all of these, but I think it was worth the money and effort. The idea that we can get great sounding pedals on a small budget is very exciting to me.

[@advancedraymondology2914]

Great video, man. I love the approach. Just jump right in, no long intros; anything we need to know will come up as text while you're playing. And obviously if a particular pedal grabs us, we'll research it more. Well done.

[@marquisdecarabas1312]

I realy love that in every of your videos there are some of my favorit licks...today bowie, kansas and pumpkins 😁👍

[@TheToneLounge]

My kids say that I have to learn new songs, I over play these riffs lol

[@ix-Xafra]

Loved the Cat Scratch Fever intro Played it live in a 3 piece band back in '91 '57 reissue Strat through a Super Reverb & Boss SD1

[@TheToneLounge]

It's one of my favorite songs from Nugent. I also love Stranglehold.

[@Steven-kj7xq]

Great chapter titles!

[@doughi1880]

Great video, the problem is I want them all now! But at these prices I can narrow it down to about two or three. Thanks for such a well made demo

[@TheToneLounge]

You are welcome. At these prices, you could probably buy one every other month or so.

[@DougMen1]

My favorite drive pedals are Klon klones, and I've tried at least a dozen different ones under $100. My favorites are the Caline Medusa, the Joyo Tauren, the Tone City Bad Horse, and the Caline Pegasus. I haven't yet tried the Nux Horseman, the TC Electronics Zeus, the DemonFX Gravity dual, which is a Klon on one side and a TS10 on the other side, or the Mosky Marksman.

[@TheToneLounge]

There are a lot of Klon klones on the market, and for the most part they are pretty spot on.

[@MerovingianBR]

Awesome vid and playing! I very impressed with the Joyo ACtone, cant say if its a good reproduction of a AC30, but it does sound good. Cheers!

[@TheToneLounge]

It's a very good pedal, and does the AC thing as well as any other Vox in a box that I've tried.

[@nikman5300]

Is fuzz a part of overdrive or a part of distortion? To me Sonicake and Dark Flame belonged to the distortion vid. Anyways i think NUX and JOYO are nailing it. Quality sounds and earthy prices. Great vid as always. Looking forward to watch the Green Mile (by the Tone Lounge this time) review.

[@DougMen1]

Of the Joyo ones that are clones of the Tech 21 Character series, I like the AC Tone and British Sound a lot more than the American Sound.

[@TheToneLounge]

I have not tried the American sound, but I do own the Tech21 Blonde which is great.

[@MrBossei]

Great video and playing! I want them all except for the fuzz 😅

[@TheToneLounge]

It's amazing the quality we can get for not a whole lot of money these days.

[@MrBossei]

@@TheToneLounge Yeh. Especially if you copy other circuits and build them in China or Vietnam 😉

[@brandonanderson2066]

I'm mostly impressed with the joyo pedals in this demo. Did I hear some Pantera? Nice.

[@TheToneLounge]

You sure did, or at least a lame attempt at it...

[@alejandroangeles8587]

The Steel Singer sounds great. But is a tubescreamer. A great sounding tubescreamer.

[@TheToneLounge]

I agree with you! It's a great little pedal.

[@JackNance22]

I've got the Pure Sky, definitely a winner, stacks well with other ODs.

[@TheToneLounge]

Yeah, I like the Pure Sky a lot. It's a great sounding pedal.

[@ericwixom7898]

The Harley Benton emulator pedals have non-defeatable ‘cab sim,’ which is essentially a fixed EQ at the end of the internal signal path. They should be recorded direct to get their truest results. That being said, the only one I didn’t care for in the video was the AC Tone. It was just a little dull sounding. Everything else in this video was excellent. I was surprised by some, particularly the Steel Singer. It was a deeper sound than I anticipated. Great demo, overall. You have a new subscriber.

[@TheToneLounge]

I've heard others say that too. I could not hear that cab sim, so I recorded it as-is. I'll have to do further testing with the pedal straight into my audio interface. Glad that you joined the TTL community. Let me know if you are looking for anything specific, I may have a video on it...or could make one. Cheers

[@ericwixom7898]

Tutorial or demo?

[@TheToneLounge]

I have a ton of demos and a few tutorials, depends what you are lookin for.

[@gerardvalentino]

The Joyo (Harley Benton) American out kicks it’s coverage more than any pedal I’ve heard, it’s amazing…the SonicCake stuff and Caline Orange Burst (xotic BB PREAMP clone) is a good one as well, I”ll buy the xotic at some point, but the Caline does just fine until that time comes

[@TheToneLounge]

I'll have to check our the Orange Burst. I have a BB Preamp that I am giving away next month. 😉

[@richardtimetorock9340]

It’s hard to knock these cheap clones, some of them are impressive and can hold up to the higher end of pedals. Looks like a blast playing through them, I thought I heard some blue album for a second.

[@TheToneLounge]

Yeah, they are all really cool pedals that punch well above their price point. It is very surprising how good they sound. Yep, you heard right! I love Weezer, especially the early stuff. It's the soundtrack to my teen years.

[@royrobles7423]

Yeah....i just broke down and bought 4 jhs pedals little black buffers....so i could run any pedal i want and not have to worry about...whether or not my pedals in front of the amp or in the effects loop....i am covered...400.00 later

[@TheToneLounge]

Nothing wrong with covering all foreseeable scenarios. ;)

[@gerardvalentino]

The Joyo Ultimate Drive is a clone of the OCD Fulltone and the sound is very close ( I have both and run them through an AC15)

[@TheToneLounge]

Do you know which version it's a clone of?

[@nikman5300]

With a fair amount of reservation I think the first one V1.1 series 1 but the differences are not always audible.

[@gerardvalentino]

@@TheToneLounge my OCD is a V2 and it seems pretty close

[@TheToneLounge]

That's interesting. I don't know how different the V2 is from my v1.4, but the UD and my OCD can sound pretty close with the tone set higher on the UD.

[@TheToneLounge]

That makes sense since the UD came out a while back.

[@kladenf03v]

Looking forward to pure sky, mxr timmy and the v3. I have a v1 and v2 Timmy and they are different. Also had the Pure sky. In my opinion pure sky is smoother into a cleaner vox circuit. But into a Marshall jmp the Paul C Timmy’s won 😊 Did you just got the V3

[@TheToneLounge]

Yeah, it's on the way here. I bought one a few days before my birthday. It's currently sitting at the sorting facility in Chicago. Waiting for it to arrive soon.

[@kladenf03v]

@@TheToneLounge congratulations 🥳 both on your birthday and hunting down a Timmy 😄

[@ntomatas1]

Great choices and display.

[@TheToneLounge]

Thanks, did you have any favorites?

[@ntomatas1]

@@TheToneLounge I just ordered the Steel Singer lol

[@TheToneLounge]

Oh that's cool. Let me know when you have it. Curious to hear your thoughts.

[@ntomatas1]

@@TheToneLounge well it is very close to a tube screamer IMO. Great for the price and nice looks too.

[@BOBANDVEG]

Where'd you find the dark flame under 50?

[@TheToneLounge]

They are 59€ new here, I've seen one used on FB market place for 40.

[@Aint1S]

The joyo pedals seem to be just the ticket for trying to pull way more treble from my recently dragged back out Stageright 15w... I didn't mess with the tone beyond a classic tone back when I last played it, but now I am noticing that it's way too dark. Tone and presence dimed out gives me exactly... *NOTHING²!* 😡 Sorta like an Orange without the other side of the tone control beyond 11 o'clock. Either it plays ball or the oscilloscope comes out to modify exactly where I want it filter.

[@TheToneLounge]

My Tube15 has very little high frequencies too. I don't know why that it. The Oxford sound would be a great fit for that amp.

[@Aint1S]

@@TheToneLounge I assume they were going for an amp that always sounds like a good, old tube amp and they put a larger value capacitor in the treble control circuit.

[@Herman138]

Hi,i would like pairing my Nux Horseman with another pedal do you recommend Morning Star or Caline blue sky?

[@TheToneLounge]

That depends what you are aiming for. The Pure sky might be a bit more neutral sounding, so it would pair well with the Horseman. The Morningstar and Horseman would be very cool, but more mids and punch.

[@Steven-kj7xq]

The Nux Queen of Tone is a dual Horseman and Morning Sky. They sound great together.

[@gobeco]

Caline Pure Sky is unbeatable for a Timmy tone for 35€

[@TheToneLounge]

I can't wait to compare it to my Tim V3. I find it much smoother than my MXR Timmy.

[@gobeco]

@@TheToneLounge Even better the Dod Looking Glass is more EQ tweakable ;-)

[@johnrogers2826]

Nice. Where do you get these pedals? Thanks.

[@TheToneLounge]

Most of these can be found on Thomann or Amazon!

[@johnrogers2826]

@@TheToneLounge thanks. I've looked at Thomann, but you get hit with the $70 delivery fee no matter what you buy.