"My favorite overdrive/distortion is my Marsha Pedal because I built it myself, explains Anthony Tomaselli. ""I really couldn't find anything on the market that suits my tastes, so I decided to build a killer overdrive/distortion that delivers!"" It's pictured with a couple of clones he also built."
"Matt Kelly calls his CMATMODS his ""signature"" overdrive."
"Jim Woods says ""My favorite dirt pedal is the Fat Foot pedal by Penfar FX. This thing rocks my socks!!!!"""
"Another RAT and Robert Keeley fan is Max Williams, who says, ""Why settle for one when you can use two?"""
"Scott Centilli has an extra-special story about his Luther Drive: ""I'm a 'bedroom balladeer' and a 'dilettante of drive,' so although I cannot vouch for it cutting through a mix (which I am sure it can), I can definitely profess its hairiness. It is handmade (wired, assembled, painted and screwed) in the US of A by the elusive, enigmatic purveyor of pedal presentations, Gearmanndude. My wife ordered this as a Valentine's Day gift and GMD added a little gold heart with her initials in it for me, ha!"""
"My Radial Tonebone Classic has been on my board for over five years now, and when I need a bigger, gainier solo voice for all of the styles I am called upon to play in my pro situations there is not much better. Interfaces well with my Fender and Boogie amps, explained Adam Rey, but he wasn't done there..."
"John Kricki says that the Mucho Boosto from Durham Electronics is, ""always on my pedalboard. It enhances and is quite transparent."""
"Jeffrey Sopha loves his Keeley-modded Tubescreamer so much he says he has two, one for backup. ""My board my change a lot,"" he says, ""but this pedal is the one constant that is always on the board."""
"Bobby DeVito says the Dyna Red Distortion is his ""desert island"" overdrive. ""It has plenty of character and an '80s flavor. It can go from high gain 'shred' to a lower gained 'chunk,' and has a liquid, singing sustain. I am a big fan of BJFe Bjorn Juhl pedals, and the Dyna Red is my favorite of them all!"""
"I must have seven overdrive/distortion pedals in addition to the settings available in two multi-effects units, but the Marshall Guv'nor Plus beats them all, says Ethan Aneshansley. ""It's creamy, crunchy, and everything in between. It has wonderful presence and never kills the inherent tone of whatever guitar I'm using on the gig. What's most unbelievable is it's priced around $100 (I paid $50 used) and blows away every high-priced boutique unit I have. Best kept secret in the world of currently available pedals."""
"Kevin Hendricks can't get enough of his V-Twin, and listed the reasons why: ""It is built like a tank, it looks like a toolbox with diamond plate face, it sounds like a Mesaпsweet and refined, it has all tube warmth and comfort, it's simple and easy to use-easy to find the sound or тsweet spotу youуre looking for, and it's reasonably priced."""
"The Damage Control Liquid Blues is one smooth OD pedal, says its owner Johnny Matthews, adding, ""Too bad they don't make it anymore."""
"Tre Sheppard sent a shot of his Open Road ""relaxing in the studio between its adventures in the rock 'n' roll business."" He says of the pedal, ""Without a single doubt, my favorite OD is the Visual Sound Open Road. I've liked the Visual Sound stuff for many years and I've literally toured around the globe with VS pedals, but they really went to a new special place in my heart when this yellow beauty made its entrance. It has loads of touch sensitivity and a wonderfully amp-like drive sound, and it doesn't compress and hump the mids like the green perennial favorite. I like the Open Road so much that it's kicked off several much more expensive, wait-listed, boutique and esoteric pedals from my live board, including my Analogman King Of Tone and Timmy. Stunning!"""
"Aaron Enneking says about the Fat Classic, ""My go-to pedal, and absolute favorite is my Stigtronics Fat Classic. I lived in Bloomington, IN, for a long time and the amp repair guy for Roadworthy Guitars makes these pedals. Being a frequent visitor of their store while in college at IU, I tried the Fat Classic and instantly fell in love with it. After at least 15 to 20 different overdrive/distortion pedals I found a pedal that responds to your playing the way an overdriven amp does but with the increased gain you expect from a pedal! I'd never heard a pedal with this dynamic range...the guitar stays natural sounding with a Tone knob that actually doesn't make the sound more and more brittle the brighter you set it! It truly gets that pushed vintage amp sound with all of he frequency response you'd expect from an amp. The sound is huge and my band, Glass Halo, wouldn't sound the way it does without it."""
"Phil Douglas calls his Thermonuclear Drive his Swiss-Army Knife pedal. He says, ""It is an overdrive/boost, that sounds great with both my tube and solid-state amps. It has a built-in loop to run other effects through. I like to plug my old Big Muff into the loop, as it doesn't have true bypass and the OD on the Thermonuclear added to it makes it sound amazing (I also run my Cry-Baby through it for the same reasons) - you can use the loop without the overdrive and you can also use it as an AB box. One thing I would like to see in other overdrive pedals is it has a switch on it that reduces the voltage, giving it that great half dead battery in your overdrive sound without having to use a half-dead battery. It's one of my favorite gigging pedals, and I always get comments on it - just cause it looks so damn cool!"""
"John Evosevic picked this pedal from Brazil, saying, ""Impossible to pick just one, but this left field entry is definitely a favorite: The BlueAim Neodrive from Brazil. Seems similar to a Zendrive in some respects but definitely has its own vibe. The Middle control, always a useful though usually neglected feature, has the nice sonic effect of sounding as though the speaker cab is being moved forward when turning clockwise."""
"James Regan of the Deadlies calls this his Deadlie Trio of Disaster (in a good way): Robert Keeley + Boss + Brian Setzer, all housed on his Trailer Trash board."
This trio of Boss pedals are preferred by Eddie Dorman.
"Adam Rey couldn't choose just his Tonebone, so he also sent in his Fulltone OCD. ""If I could only bring one pedal to a gig this might be it! (or a desert island for that matter, uhhh... if they have electricity of course!),"" he explains. ""I have been living with this tone machine for the past five years and it delivers all that I need in a mid-gain tone box for my rhythm guitar duties especially. I call it my Marshall-in-a-box, as it gives me a pleasant girth that cleans up real well. It's great for getting that 'hair of the dog' rhythm edge, and it nails that bluesy, Texas-approved neck/middle tone that makes you want to play for days! Has a killer tight solo voice with humbuckers!"""
"Dallas Hodgson was another gearhead who couldn't just pick one. He says of his two favorites, ""Iуm often using either the A channel of the BB+ (for a touch of grit) or the Overdrive channel of the Holy Fire (for body & fullness) to precondition the guitar signal in front of my ENGL e-530 rack preamp. Even minus the ENGL, the BB+ is good enough to stand alone as a Marshall-in-a-box, while the Holy Fire is strictly for modest overdrive purposes п I donуt touch its Distortion knob at all."""
"The first of a few RAT fans, Affinity says, ""I love this distortion pedal because it's one of the closest to pure tube tone in a box that I have found thus far. It has the warmth, growl, and low end that I'm looking for to find that classic sound: not semi-dirty, but not over-the-top either. This box rocks!"""
"This custom gold sparkle Xact Tone Solutions Precision Overdrive belongs to Sam Austin. He says, ""This is my secret weapon and I canуt live without it. The back has a screen print of WHAM!"""
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