[Slydawg]

So far I have only owned and used the Maxon OD808 as a boost for my tube heads. It's pretty much always on except for the 1% of the time I'm playing clean. I'm wondering if I'd get a different tone or tighter grind if I got one of the other pedals out there, there are many and I'd be curious to see if anyone hear uses more than one or has one that they think sounds better or nastier than the OD808. Amps I'm using are a Bugera 6262 and JP2C.

Two I have thought about getting are the Fortin Grind and Mesa Grid Slammer, they seem to get positive feedback - but would either sound noticeably different than the 808? Appreciate any thoughts/suggestions, thanks!

 

[Kagami]

I like my Boss SD-1 more than my maxon through my Mark IV but I've never played either of your amps.

 

[Hellion]

BOSS Blues Driver
BOSS Super Overdrive
Fulltone OCD
Xotic SL Drive
Dunlop/MXR Badass Overdrive

Personally I use the BOSS Super Overdrive. great OD for the price. like only $50 new.

 

[Jazzhands]

On a budget: SD-1
Bit more cash: MXR M77
Got money to throw around: Airis Savage Drive

The SD-1 and M-77 will sound lower output than the 808, but brighter, more aggressive, and grindier. Very nasty boost pedals that I love.

The Airis Savage Drive is even more nasty, and has more output than the SD-1 and M77. Probably the best boost pedal I've ever used.

 

[T Gobbs]

I really need to try a savage drive at some point.

Definitely worth trying something sd-1 based. They also have less of a mid hump than something like an 808 which to my ears makes them sound less fizzy.

 

[jim777]

I have two, and use them depending on the amount of grit I want. For that 'just breaking up' kind of SRV tone I have a Fuchs Plush drive. Got it for $100 used on Reverb; excellent+++ pedal. I also have an MXR Badass Overdrive (also a great pedal IMHO, thanks again Jeff ), which I use when I want a more distortion sound and and not OD. Both great, and different. If I could only keep one it would be the Fuchs, because I simply prefer a tube driven type of OD tone, especially for single coil guitars.

 

[Slydawg]

Thanks guys! The Savage Drive definitely has my attention, it looks badass too. I also remembered that Maxon has a red OD808X which also might fit the bill - it's 5dB hotter and differently EQd than the green pedal. I think it will be between one of those two.

 

[105]

There aren't than many different types of overdrives. Most are either based on the Tube Screamer (ie. BOSS SD-1), Blues Breaker (ie. King of Tone), or Klon (ie. Soul Food). There aren't that many different circuits, the main difference between the "basic" pedal and all of the boutique clones and variants are a few component differences, different clipping diodes, or added tone stacks. The AC/RC Boost pedals are basically a tube screamer clipping section with an added bandaxall tone section instead of the simple high cut in a standard Tube Screamer. There are some boutique pedals that are mashups of two designs (ie. Timmy and Tim).

For the "tightest" pedals - you want something with a good amount of bass cut - cutting bass is what creates the tight sound. Basically, anything with a bass knob should allow you to dial in a tight sound.

The other option is a distortion pedal, with the gain off. I've had really good results with the Suhr Riot pedal as a boost.


For the pedals you mention -

The Grind is based of the TC Electronic Integrated Preamp, which is what Meshuggah used on their early albums to boost and tighten up their amps. The TC has bass, treble and volume boost. The Grind takes the bass value setting that Meshuggah used, and sets that as a permanent value. It essentially gently rolls off everything below 1k, which will tighten up the tone for sure. The Grind will be different from your current OD, because it doesn't have a diode clipping section, it's purely a voltage boost and EQ.

The Grid Slammer is a Tube Screamer clone with a slightly different clipping section (it copies the Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive). If you want to get your gain from the pedal, then the Grid Slammer will be a little different than your current OD. If you run the OD pedal with the gain down and the volume up to boost the front end of the amp, the Grid Slammer will be very similar to your current OD.

 

[bigdave]

^^^ all this.

Also, before you go OD crazy pop a MXR 10 band in the loop or after your present boost, you may be quite suprised how much it adds punch and clarity to what you already have.

 

[Slydawg]

Uberschall - great info, thank you!

Bigdave - I have the KFK version of that same pedal that I run in the loop with great tone shaping results, I'll give it a try in front of the amp right after the boost. Thanks!

 

[budda]

Way huge green rhino - two EQ trims to really tailor.

Fuzzrocious demon - kind of a take onna fulltone OCD, but entirely their thing. A lot of signal!

 

[bigdave]

Bigdave - I have the KFK version of that same pedal that I run in the loop with great tone shaping results, I'll give it a try in front of the amp right after the boost. Thanks!

My post was mainly just in case you didnt use a EQ, you got that covered.

 

[RGhoarder]

There aren't than many different types of overdrives. Most are either based on the Tube Screamer (ie. BOSS SD-1), Blues Breaker (ie. King of Tone), or Klon (ie. Soul Food). There aren't that many different circuits, the main difference between the "basic" pedal and all of the boutique clones and variants are a few component differences, different clipping diodes, or added tone stacks. The AC/RC Boost pedals are basically a tube screamer clipping section with an added bandaxall tone section instead of the simple high cut in a standard Tube Screamer. There are some boutique pedals that are mashups of two designs (ie. Timmy and Tim).

For the "tightest" pedals - you want something with a good amount of bass cut - cutting bass is what creates the tight sound. Basically, anything with a bass knob should allow you to dial in a tight sound.

The other option is a distortion pedal, with the gain off. I've had really good results with the Suhr Riot pedal as a boost.

For the pedals you mention -

The Grind is based of the TC Electronic Integrated Preamp, which is what Meshuggah used on their early albums to boost and tighten up their amps. The TC has bass, treble and volume boost. The Grind takes the bass value setting that Meshuggah used, and sets that as a permanent value. It essentially gently rolls off everything below 1k, which will tighten up the tone for sure. The Grind will be different from your current OD, because it doesn't have a diode clipping section, it's purely a voltage boost and EQ.

The Grid Slammer is a Tube Screamer clone with a slightly different clipping section (it copies the Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive). If you want to get your gain from the pedal, then the Grid Slammer will be a little different than your current OD. If you run the OD pedal with the gain down and the volume up to boost the front end of the amp, the Grid Slammer will be very similar to your current OD.

The Grind is based on the girth and grind settings in Fortins amps. The 33 was the one based on the tc integrated pre.. unless I'm missing something about the grind.

 

[Vince]

JP2C?

Grid Slammer. It's just the best :agreed:

 

[105]

The Grind is based on the girth and grind settings in Fortins amps. The 33 was the one based on the tc integrated pre.. unless I'm missing something about the grind.

Both are based on the TV Integrated Pre.

 

[Jazzhands]

Both are based on the TV Integrated Pre.

Yeah both the Grind and 33 are clean boosts with a huge dump in the lows before 300hz. The Grid is just a flat boost of everything above 1k while I think the 33 is more high-mid focused.

But seriously, the Grind/33 is overkill for the Mark. I'd avoid it.

 

[49]

Yeah both the Grind and 33 are clean boosts with a huge dump in the lows before 300hz. The Grid is just a flat boost of everything above 1k while I think the 33 is more high-mid focused.

But seriously, the Grind/33 is overkill for the Mark. I'd avoid it.

Depends on who you ask - this video claims that they are virtually identical from some pink noise EQ matching and a rundown of the components (for those who can't bear an almost hour long video, the relevant parts are at 11:27 and 14:50):

 

[Kagami]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same, the 33 is really just a limited edition version of the grind.

 

[Evil Z06]

I use 3 Overdrive pedals in a 3 amp setup.Boss OD-1.....Maxon 808....JHS Bonsai. They are all great and react differently on each of my amps.....The JHS Bonsai is cool cause it has 9 different overdrives on it.

 

[Vince]

I've gone through a ton of overdrives in the past 5-10 years. My newest one is the Wampler Plexi Drive, which is insanely cool for the price. The left side is a solid-state take on a Marshall Plexi, while the right side is a great tubescreamer type of overdrive. Killer pedal.

I never saw the reason why the Fortin pedals took off so much and then it looks like they stopped production on them. They seemed like really simple overdrive/EQ pedals.