Best phaser pedal? Best overdrive pedal?

Hey,

Good question, sounds like your spot on with the MXR (can't go wrong with that brand, imo) choice, thats got to be a top one. Mosfet/fulltone isn't bad either. I'm really picky when it comes to distortion pedals, which is why I try to get one or two main SS amps of which I adore the distortion (recently Blackstar, previously Line6, Crate).. most Boss pedals (another good brand) are decent I feel, the one I chose a long time ago was the Metal Zone MT-2 (the SUPER Overdrive one wasn't bad either I thought). I think I used some kinda Grunge Boss (not sure if it was Boss now) pedal and it wasn't bad. Also used Metal Core, Metal Zone (liked Zone better), mega distortion... all these were very close runners up, I practically flipped a coin between Boss Distortion and I did NOT feel cheated.

It honestly depends on what music you like and the tone your going for... maybe give Digitech (metal master I think) and Behringer a try too? The bright pink "Heavy Distortion" one was in the running also.

Sorry completely ignored Phasers... don't use em much but electro-harmonix were decent I guess.

Some of the guys on here have been talking about joyo pedals recently, they seem to think they are decent. I'm not an authority whatsover on phasers or flangers pretty much, maybe someone else can answer that one a little better, waiting for Jim to jump in here later.. Hope I helped man.

:)

The MXR is a classic phaser and as many prefer the script version while others the square one you can then make your choice between them or pick the EVH version to access both flavors. The Small Stone from EHX is something to skip as vintage versions sounded delicious but had a volume drop and the new ones are just not that nice, but you may find nice clones or mods over the vintage formula to solve the volume issue. If you want some ability to tweak a little more over the settings and expression capabilities you could also point to the Dedalo FX MOD-5 (Modulo Lunar) as it may not sound as creamy as specially a vintage Phase 90 or some Small Stones but the second knob allowing tap tempo, acceleration and manual phase is a very nice feature (think of a sound which may be a little closer to a flanger). The Full-Drive 2 MOSFET is a delicious unit, you can't go wrong with that as it just sounds nice through any context, the only thing in that vein that I could recommend even more is the EQD Palisades if you are able to spend the extra bucks for it to get the additional features. The Oddfellow Caveman sounds nice too but I prefer overdrives with dependent boost as the previously mentioned pair. :-)

In readily available, affordable phasers that don't take up a lot of pedalboard realestate its a simple choice between the phase 90 and small stone. They are both voiced very differently and use a very different circuit to achieve their phasing. I am more of a small stone guy, but the mxr will suit more people. EHX recently rereleased the classic bad stone phaser. Its less extreme than the small stone and has more controls but its bigger. MXR also does the phase 100 that is to the phase 90 what the bad stone is to the small stone; less stages of phasing with more knobs. The old DOD phasers are real sleepers and can be had for reasonable prices. They are FET based designs like the EHX phasers but have more of the MXR voicing with a narrower, guitar-centric bandwidth and real focus.

The best phasers I have ever played were vintage mu-trons, but they are pricey (especially the notorious bi-phase) and they have shitty, tone-eating bypass. But they have a glorious, warm phase sound that cannot be set to sound bad even if you turn the knobs until they sound a little silly. The circuit for mu-trons phase is just phenomenal. Sadly, if it breaks (and they break, they are OLD) you are up shits creek as they are full of parts that have been out of production for decades.... and those parts are part of the great tone. 2nd runner up is the old Maestro phaser, I think there are some boutique guys cloning this.

Another different option that's not exactly a phase are the pedals absed on Fender's Brownface harmonic vibrato. This effect is not true pitch vibrato but is a weird mix of tremolo and phase that effects treble and bass frequencies differently. In the Brown and Blonde fender 6L6 amps this effect was achieved with a pile of 12ax7 tubes (much like Magnatone and Vox true pitch vibrato on the vintage amps). Catalinbread and EQD clone it in pedal format with fets and the CB version, the pareidiola, sounds awesome. I haven't tried the EQD harmonic vibrato yet because it was just released at NAMM.

Keeley's phaser has a devoted following too, but I haven't tried it...

the fulldrive is a tubescreamer... its a little more hifi and achieves the TS signature feedback loop clipping with those mosfets wired as diodes which yield a less compressed sound. I had one briefly. It was just okay. Sits pretty squarely in the TS9/SD1 camp and costs an arm and a leg. If you prefer fender blackface amps you may like it more than a stock TS9 or 808. If you play british amps look at something that leans closer to Boss' take on the TS9 type OD (the SD1). The MXR custom badass m77 OD or whatever they call it with the gold box? Good place to start if you have a vox or marshall. In the diodes-to-ground camp there is always the classic OD250 or the EHX soulfood (which captures the klon sound pretty darn well for very little money). then there are the amp-in-a-box drives and there's a lot to say there. I have owned some and tried a lot. I tend to like the Catalinbread versions, especially into blackface fender amps. Bogner's Ecstacy Blue pedals is also fabulous. I am interested to try his pedals with little output transformers, but I never seem to make it out guitar shopping lately.... all that said, if you want a pedal that sounds like a cranked amp nothing gets you there. Lots of things add the falvor of a certain amp or style of amp, but a pedal just doesn't have the goods, particularly into a clean amp.

vintage small stones (I've had a couple) are easy to mod to true bypass and unity gain when engaged....

new ones are easy to mod to sound better... honestly I don't think the new small stones are that far off from the 70s ones... its the small CLONE chorus that sucks these days

but thesmall stone is a very "full range" phaser that is way more over the top than the phase 90, for most people, especially people planning to do phase into OD, the mxr circuit will be best... a smalls tone is finicky as hell and better suited to clean tone and VERY RETRO overdriven and fuzzy sounds that are maybe a little nasty and unpleasant. The DOD phasers made between like 75 and 95 are a great compromise between the 2 styles tonally and they also feature 3 controls versus 1 but without sacrificing 2 stages of phasing like and mxr 100 or EHX badstone

Thanks Jim, knew you'd have good advice... actually luxiu's wasn't bad either! Usually I have no clue what Jim's talking about so I pull out my dad's move, and just nod, smile, and agree once in a while.

Haha :P

oh hey sure... I own and have owned a ton of guitar junk and have repaired, disassembled and modded lots of gear over the years, if you have a techy question as to how something really works and how it impacts the performance just ask me, I will look up a schematic if its essential...

here's something I forgot in ODs:

There's the CMOS inverter "logic" IC based pedals that are all riffing on Craig Andertons tube sound fuzz. Amplike tweedy drive at low gain settings on these. They are more grindy than crunchy. Turns into woolly fuzz-like tones as you get the gain way up. Think Neil young with his tweed deluxe dimed. Very cool. This style of circuit can be noisy. My favorite ones for tone are the discontinued Catalinbread pedals, the Super CHarged OD and HyperPak. They sound fanfuckingtastic but have a lot of the background hiss in the upper midrange that's inherent in these designs that cascade miniaturized mosfet stages in an IC not designed for audio use. The WayHuge Red Llama is probably the most famous version of this OD design. Its the lest noisey and has a good, balanced tone. Both Tom Petty and Mike Campbell use the Way Huge pedal extensively live and occasionally as a solo boost in the studio. Think a "Mary Jane's Last Dance" tone for the Way Huge and more of a an Orange or Hiwatt bold brit tone for the CB version. Nick's 2 version I mntioned can get anywhere from "live at leeds" to stoner rock like Sleep or some 70s Iommi sounds for the SCOD (the HPak is way lower gain but a lot nicer sounding as an all arounder). These pedals veer into distortion/fuzz pretty easily at higher gain settigns, especially if you try to boost an amp that's breaking up a little like you would with a TS9 or SD1. I think Ibanez and EHX did this whole CMOS thing too. EHX had the hot tubes pedal. The original version ahd no tubes and was a tube sound fuzz, then they did a hot tubes overdrive with 2 12ax7s, then they recently reissued the CMOS version... I forget what Ibanez called their version. I think it was part of the 10 series of effects with that big wonky switch lke John Mayer's shitty TS10 tubescreamer!

EDIT: and the Grunge is a mid90s DOD pedal. I think they kept making it as a digitech pedal too alongside the popular badmonkey. The bad monkey is a TS9 with a baxandall toe stack, treble and bass that are flat when both at 5.... the Grunge is a Big Muff with the same style tonestack (though the ones under the DOD name had the names "butt/face" for the bas and treb knobs I think... fucking DOD).

Okayy your right about the grunge pedal (I thought I remembered the knobs. Funny side note/somewhat related, this chick I play guitar with weekly has a pickup selector on her SG that says "Female Orgasm", haha ;P ), yeah man your freakin knowledge is extensive...its some what daunting lol. I thought I knew alot before comin on here :P

Anyways, yeah I do play with alot of lower-distortion fuzz pedals and settings when I'm going more classic rock or pearl jam-ish, whatever. I always am messing with settings to either fight feedback on my amps, and thats one reason I'm not as big on the tubes (sound from them is great, don't get me wronggg) anymore (they seem to pick up sound, was it fluorescent lights or radio frequencies.. no wait that's some guitar cables lol). I could be wrong on that last comment, so feel free to correct me (it has been a while like I said for me messing with tube amps and/or pedals). Yeah if were talkin about the same Craig Andertons (Andertons music, UK) hes pretty cool (I like Chaprs&Dorje too, alot of Americans/my friends didn't care for them but they're fantastic musicians), didn't know they made pedals and people were copying them, or whatever you meant. Thats the other thing with SOME (not all) pedals, some seemed to have a hum or some background noise that is audible.

Nah, Craig Anderton is an electrical engineer who used to write for the guitar rags in the 70s and 80s. He also published a number of electronics books aimed at guitarists when I was a kid. One of them has projects for unique effects like the Tube Sound Fuzz. Lots of early boutique guys stole his ideas and tweaked them into high end retail stompboxes. The guys who do the video demos for the UK market have no relation. They are also either complete morons or total scheisters in my estimation, though I am sure they are nice enough people to have a beer with.

EDIT:

as far as audible RFI interference in tube amps goes it really depends on how fresh your tubes are, how well the chassis is shielded and ESPECIALLY how well the power is filtered after its converted to DC (the amp may reject radio interference just fine in all of its gain staging and tone circuitry but power lines in the building where you are gigging might act as antennas just like a cheap instrument cable and if the amp isn't stoutly filtered or run on a conditioner it will amplify the RFI from the mains power, but solid state is just as susceptible to dirty power on paper... a lot of it is down to the tube amps power supply. Weak power filtering provides a more vintage feel to a tube amp and can be desireable tonally... your old plexi or ac30 will be very susceptible to dirty power because of this, some RIs have upgraded filtering, but they aren't perfect in tone and feel for purists... a lot of these designs were created in a time where neon lights were new and radio transmissions were only AM broadcasts and short wave, now everyone is sending gobs of microwaves out of the phone in their pocket all the time... solid state designs tend to be more modern and less focused on a nice feel from the power stage since even the ebst mosfet or bipolar design will fall way short of tubes from a guitarist's perspective, also transistors are all very current oriented versus tubes thata re high voltage devices and high current with low voltage is a lot less susceptible to these problems than high voltage... that was a lot in parenthesis, hope that helps you get what electrical factors are coloring your perception of tube versus transistor technology).

In addition, Marshalls and Voxes made before the UK jumped in on the ROHS international electronics standards were universally grounded poorly with various ground points around the chassis for the audio ground busses and various electrical ground points. Old Fenders are like this, but Leo's people had a good sense of just how sloppy they could be with grounding before you would create loops and potential antennae. In the UK they were insane with it well into the 90s. My 62 ac30 has a good amount of self-noise at 60hz thanks to the grounding scheme (or lack thereof) and needs to be ground lifted if I want to use another amp. The 60 cycle hum when taken out of standby was true of every Marshall I ever owned thatw as made before about 92 (whichw as all but 1 of them) and none of those Marshalls played well with other amps apart from that 900SLX which just didn't have the Marshall sound to my ear.

Now everyone FINALLY recognizes that a single star ground point to chassis is best and safest though. But it took a long time to get there with guitar gear. There are a lot less grounding concerns with solid state because of the way transistors work vs tubes. Its a safer, more reliable technology that is better for lots of things. That said, guitars are not lots of things, they are very special things and our ideas about how they should sound are historical in context, informed by the amplification technology of the age in which the first magnetic pickups were perfected and 78rpm motorized record players became affordable for the average American household ;-)

Well it all depends on the sound your looking for, and the price your willing to spend, though I'm late to this thread so everything's all done. Shame, this is my favourite type of thread.

Eh... I think we barely scratched the OD question. Speak on young pedal aficionado!

Yeah, as I said what sound do you want, and what's your price range?

You don't need to spend a fortune on OD, as generally there is pretty good ODs in the >£100 price range, though you can get some really good stuff in the next bracket.

For example you don't need to spend much, if anything over £100 for an authentic ibanez TS tone, and with many very good clones everywhere (The digitech bad monkey is a pretty great pedal, for the price), you shouldn't need to spend much at all, though THE BEST TS style pedal is the incredible Maxon supertubescreamer (Conveniently intheblues just did a vid on one), which is just a beautiful sounding pedal, though it probably costs a little bit more.

Hey ho just gwet back bto me, and I'll spill my wasted youth at your feet...

The DigiTech Hardwire CM-2 which is the only pedal I have kept besides a tuner is awesome. Its similar to a tubesreamer but has independent bass and treble controls as well as a switch that adds a extra gain stage or mid boost or something like that. I cant remember what it does but it changes the voicing and adds a lot more grit once you get passed 12 o clock on the gain.

The boss overdrive, I think the OD-3 is meant to be a really nice pedal and a lot of people swear by the OCD

you are probably thinking of the OD1, SD1, or BD2 blues driver... those are the boss ODs with a large and rabid following, the OD3 is a love it or hate it cult pedal with a very mixed rep.... I don't know if I have ever tried one so I won't give an opinion.

I think EHX's OD Glove vastly outperforms the fulltone OCD at a fraction of the price. It has everything that's good about the OCD with none of the harsh upper mid-spike.... if this is your sort of OD then get the Glove. Plus its great to see Mike Matthews, one of the first pedal maufacturers and an all around cool guy, school a mouthy upstart like mike fuller and totally fuck him over. He ripped the muthafuckuh off and ran to the bank with the profits all the while providing boutique tone to working guitarists for less than a carton of smokes. The design for an OCD is just a modified voodoo lab pedal that was discontinued in the 90s (which itself was just a modified OD250). Fuller loves to pretend he's not as derivitaive as every other OD huckster, but EHX showed his sorry ass (can you tell I have had negative social and business interactions with Fuller?)....

there's nothing of value in ANY OD circuits, paying more than 100 bucks for one is utter madness.

Must be thinking the OD1 then. I know sod all about the OCD just that is has a tight following. Apparently the £20 joyo copy sounds stupidly similar. I think EHX are the way to go when it cones to great sounding affordable kit. Though all these variations on the bog muff make it harder to find the one for you. I like the soul food bit don't really need one so would be a waste of money. Think I'll get a deluxe big muff cos I love them.

The boss pf-3 (I think that's its name) is a nice phaser by the way. The badstone is alright too. I like those and for the price can't complain.

The OD1 is what Ibanez knocked off for the tubescreamer. Its basically an SD1 without the tone control, but the best ones have a really crazy. discontinued opamp in them that collectors are all gaga about. Most commonly you see the 2nd gen OD1s used and they just have the rc4558 type opamp like an MIJ SD1, TS808 and 80s TS909. I keep thinking about building a BYOC kit with the old, oddball opamp to see what all the hype is. I've enver played an early OD1, but its fans are rabidly loyal even though a lot of the electronics guys say that there should be little to no difference in tone between the 2 versions. Everyone seems to hate the OD2 and if I recall the OD3 is very similar to a BD2 blues driver with a fet boost stage driving a TS9 style OD circuit. The BD2 has symmetrical clipping and lower gain from the opamp/diodes-in-feedback-loop section whereas I believe the OD3 is higher gain in the opamp driven clipping circuit as well as having assymetrical clipping via a silicon diode in series with a germanium diode back to back with a solo silicon diode like the OD1 and SD1. Not sure whatthe story is with the OD2, just that its universally hated ever since I was a kid.

The full tone is a carefully voiced OD250 type of circuit with an added tone control, assymetrical clipping via a mix of diode-wired mosfets and a germanium diode thata re wired to the bias potential of the first op amp stage instead of to ground to yield a more dynamic, pick responsive clipping. Fulltone lifted the idea off of an obscure 90s voodoo lab OD that predated their sparkled drive (the sparkle drive being a ts9 with a clean blend control, kinda like the dual ganged dain pot on the Klon that acts as a clean blend as well as gain so the lower your OD the more clean signal you hear added). I have kinda had it in my head to build a Klon and use the OCD diode-to-bias-potential arrangement to make it even more dynamic as the Kon circuit sounds more musical and maintains your guitar/amp character better overall but once you let enough grit in via the gain pot the actual drive is a little stff and unresponsive. And the Klon suffers from major bass-suck, t could use a post clipping bass boost knob like n the green rhino mk2 and mxr m77 custom badass OD to reshape the lows when you try to let more treble through for added crunch and kazing.