The Perfect Overdrive Tone

If you play electric guitar, or perhaps any instrument, you have probably at one point or another found yourself on the quest for the perfect tone.  For me, the holy grail has been the perfect overdrive tone.  After I don’t know how many years, I (for the time being) have found what I am looking for.

For those who may not know about guitars, effects or tone for that matter.  Let me give a brief introduction.  Overdrive is the state an amplifier gets into when the gain is inversely proportional to the input level; that is, the signal from the guitar is too much for the amplifier and the amplifier starts to break up from a clean sound to a “dirtier” sound giving the musician a creamy tone with extra sustain and harmonic overtones.  Another more popular term used is distortion.  Distortion, at least according to me, is not overdrive.  It’s a simulated form of overdrive.  More on that later.

The problem with overdrive is that is usually achieved at a volume level that is far louder than desired.  In order to remedy this, I use effect pedals to enhance my signal strength, sending my amplifier into an overdriven state at a more reasonable volume level.  There are a plethora of pedals on the market that can help you find your perfect overdriven tone.  For me, it’s been the Boss Blues Driver BD-2 and the world famous (for a good reason) Ibanez Tube Screamer.

Let’s start with the Boss Blues Driver BD-2.  My model has been modded by Robert Keeley, but out of the box this is a very capable pedal.  In the image above you can see the settings I use with this pedal.  The Level is set at noon, the Gain at 9 and the Tone around 1.  (The toggle “fat” switch is part of the Keeley mod, and in my case, I leave it off)  In the case of the BD-2, the Gain acts as a simulated breakup, where the Level simply increases the output of the signal.  The tone goes from dark to bright.

I always dial my amp (Bruno Cowtipper 22) in to a clean tone, just on the verge of breaking up.  The BD-2 acts like a clean boost.  My amp gets slightly louder, and a little dirtier.  My original tone is not effected with this pedal; is it what some describe as transparent.  I use the Blues Driver to add just a little dirt to rhythm guitar, or give a mellow lead a little boost.

The second pedal I use is an original Ibanez Tube Screamer made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughn.  He used to stack two of these together!  The image above shows the settings I use with my Tube Screamer.  The Level is set a bit past 3, the Overdrive at 9 and the Tone at 2.  Unlike the Blues Driver, the Tube Screamer adds some compression to my tone.  This gives off a bit of a “fatter”, warmer tone.  It’s great for leads, not so much for rhythm, as I feel it’s too muddy for my taste.  I should clarify, my number one is a Les Paul, but rhythm on a Stratocaster with the Tube Screamer is something I can get behind.

For me, the magic comes when I stack these two pedals.  Running the Blues Driver into the Tube Screamer gives me a tone that nails that ever elusive overdrive I hear in my head, but always struggle to achieve.   It’s thick and creamy with some compression -thanks to the Tube Screamer - yet has clarity and sparkle - thanks to the Blues Driver.  For lack of a better term, this tone has balls.  This is my holy grain of overdriven tone.

Let’s take a quick look at why.  If you look again at the settings on both pedals you’ll notice, the Gain and Overdrive on the BD-2 and Tube Screamer respectively are set considerably low.  These knobs control the simulated gain of an overdriven amplifier.  I don’t want simulated, I want the real thing.  Look again at the Level setting on both pedals.  This knob controls the output signal strength, the more you crank it, the more signal you send to the amp.  Tying in what I dragged you through at the top, you’ll remember that overdrive is when the gain is inversely proportional to the input level.  So what I’m doing by turning on both of these pedals is causing my amp to give me a natural, not simulated, overdriven tone.

If you use pedals to help push your amp, figure out which knob is the simulated overdrive and which one is the level.  See what tones you can get when you dial down the Gain and dial up the Level.

Note: The photos were taken by me with my wife’s new D60.