OVERDRIVE ____FIND OUT WHICH YOU PREFER ????_____ FIND OUT WHY

HOW MANY KINDS OF OVERDRIVES ARE THERE?

There is a limit to the kinds of OD's that are quite literally possible. They are based from Op-Amps or FETS. 

The Op-Amp is for our purposes just miniature amplifier and FETS are modern transistors. Germanium and Silicon transistors are used for Fuzz pedal so they are not in the Overdrive family.

Each kind of Overdrive obviously has an originator. The 'original' had of course a schematic or drawing of the circuit of how it was made. My point is ALL OD's since are hot rodded copy's of these few designs.

 

The vehicle in the picture below is the first to be propelled by a petroleum fueled engine.

1886 Benz
If this were a pedal it would be a Rat.
or a Tube Screamer
Why would anyone want a 2021 Porsche 911
is it not just a crap clone !!!

I am sure you get my point an Overdrive is great idea but like a automobile. A new one will always be a 'clone' or copy or in 99% of all cases a modified and arguably an improvement over the last one.

WHO MADE THE FIRST ONES?

I often compare OD's or expose to you the one's that are sold as something

new and unique when they are NOT. It is a marketing con. The human ear can easily hear small differences so everyday we are presented with pedals that indeed do sound different. They are like car tires. They are all black and round but if put on the same car the car 'feels and handles' differently. 

My point is every year we get new OD's with very pleasing sounds and are worth purchasing. They sound different because even if they use the dozens of small variables of another's design they buy the parts from a different manufacture and even that can change the sound.

Once again I digress but my point is if you know what makes up the basic types you can best pick OD's based on that design and be able to choose from that category. Better still you can eventually tell just by ear what you are listening to and not get fooled by a lot of bull by company's who claim to have reinvented the wheel.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Klon is a perfect example of how using tech used by several pedals can be cherry picked and added in different amounts just like a recipe for a cake. The ingredients are the same because a cake is not a cake without them but just like a cake the result is a different taste or in out case a different sound.  

Young engineers are coming into the pedals world in a field that is still mostly trial and error amateurs turned pro. In both case amateur and engineers will also make brilliant mistakes and we get a fresh new sound.