What’s the difference between overdrive and distortion? Learn the difference and how to get great tone with either stompbox.

Get Great Tone With OverDrive and Distortion

As guitar players, what are we all after? What do we struggle to describe, work to attain, but always know when we hear it? And what is all that gear out there for? The answer to all three of these questions is the same: great tone. With so much equipment available today to help in creating tone, how do we go about making it do what we want? Let’s take a look at some simple and effective ways to get killer tone with overdrive and distortion.

The first question is which should you use: an overdrive or distortion? The answer isn’t quite that simple. Like many things in the tone-quest world, there aren’t too many fixed rules here. The real answer is: it depends. Maybe an overdrive is what works for you; maybe it’s a distortion. So the next question is: What’s the difference between an overdrive and distortion?

Learn how to chain your guitar effects pedals.

BOSS OD-1 OverDrive

Generally, an overdrive is designed to work and sound like an old tube amp turned up loud. A good overdrive can produce the same overtones and harmonics that an overdriven tube amp produces, hence the name Overdrive. BOSS started the overdrive revolution with the legendary and very collectible OD-1.

Learn how to get great tone from an OVERDRIVE stompbox.

A distortion usually goes beyond the amount of gain and harmonic crunching typical of an overdrive. They tend to get more distorted, are usually (but not always) louder than typical overdrives, and often have multiple gain stages for abnormal amounts of sustain. The BOSS MT-2, probably the best selling distortion pedal ever, is a good example of a distortion pedal with those features. Now that we know what they are, let’s look at making them do what we want: getting great tone. First, let’s start with overdrive and after you’re finished reading that check out the distortion article.

Learn how to get great tone from a DISTORTION stompbox.

So there you have it, what is your preference? What do you use to get your tone? Leave us your comments.

Related links and articles:

• Get Great Tone With BOSS OverDrive
• Get Great Tone With BOSS Distortion
• Billy Duffy: The Cult of Tone
• 10 Original BOSS Stompbox Design Elements

BOSS Distortion

A distortion pedal usually goes beyond the amount of gain and harmonic crunching typical of an overdrive. They tend to get more distorted, are usually (but not always) louder than typical overdrives, and often have multiple gain stages for abnormal amounts of sustain. The BOSS MT-2, probably the best selling distortion pedal ever, is a good example of a distortion pedal with those features. Since distortion pedals tend to be louder and have more inherent distortion than overdrives, it is a little trickier to use them in conjunction with the amp’s own distortion sound. It might be what you want, especially if you’re after a nu-metal, super heavy, or very grungy sound. If you use your pedal this way, you are distorting distortion. This can get pretty ugly, but sometimes it’s just the thing. Set your pedal similarly to using an overdrive to use it this way: For example, set the BOSS DS-1 level up, the distortion somewhat down, and the tone for neutral.

What’s the difference between Overdrive and Distortion? Find out!

BOSS DS-1 Distortion

Distortions tend to be more effective when you use your amp set for a clean sound and let the pedal’s own tone sing through. Good distortion pedals, such as the BOSS Metal Zone, are quite sophisticated. Under the hood is some powerful circuitry that can create multi-stage distortion just like a high-end boutique tube amp. The MT-2 even has studio quality EQ: a 3-band tone section with parametric sweepable mids for duplicating pretty much any distortion tone you might want. For blazing metal tones, try this setting with a Metal Zone and your amp set for a clean and neutral sound.

BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone

Adaptive distortion does what?…

Another cool distortion pedal is the BOSS DA-2 Adaptive Distortion. Powered by Multi-Dimensional Processing technology (MDP), the DA-2 Adaptive Distortion delivers ideal distortion tones wherever you play on the guitar neck. Diverse guitarists like John 5 (Marilyn Manson / Rob Zombie) use the DA-2 to achieve amazing tones. Check out this video of John 5 and the DA-2 in action.

Just concepts…

To wrap up: These are not rules. They are concepts. Regardless of this post’s title, “Get Great Tone With BOSS Distortion” you can use these principles with any overdrive stompbox. The best way to incorporate them into your playing is to experiment. There are many pedals on the market, each with its own characteristic tone. One may be just the thing to make your tone what you’ve wanted it to be. Try some out, both with your own amp and guitar, and with others. The magic combination is out there. Do you have a favorite BOSS distortion pedal? Did you find this article useful? Leave your comments below.

Related links and articles:

• Overdrive Vs. Distortion: What’s the Difference?
• Get Great Tone With BOSS Overdrive
• 10 Original BOSS Stompbox Design Elements
• The VG-99 Inspires

BOSS OverDrive

There are two good ways to get tone from an overdrive. One is to use the overdrive in conjunction with your amp; that is, use the overdrive pedal to augment your amp’s inherent tone. Here’s how this works:

One of the things an overdrive can do is to hit your amp with a bit more level, without adding too much distortion. Sometimes all an amp needs to sing is more input gain than your guitar can put out. It’s like the difference between single coil and humbuckers; hums put out more level, so they tend to create more sustain and distortion from an amp. Stevie Ray Vaughan often used his overdrive pedal in this way. Not much additional distortion, just some additional gain to boost the level of his single coils. To do this, set the amount of overdrive fairly low on your pedal, but set the output volume a bit high. Set your amp for a mild amount of distortion. If your overdrive has a tone control, set it so it doesn’t alter your tone as it is before you turn the pedal on. This mode is also effective for boosting solos.

What’s the difference between Overdrive and Distortion? Find out!

How effective this is depends a lot on the amp. A good tube amp works in this way. Another way to use an overdrive is to set the amp for a clean sound with flat EQ, and let the overdrive’s inherent tone come through. In this case, try setting the overdrive for somewhat more drive (or crunch, or whatever your pedal calls the amount of distortion), and try to match to the output of the pedal so that your volume doesn’t change when you turn it on (unless you want it to, for soloing or just being louder). Remember, there are really no rules! If you like the sound, that’s all that matters. This method is less dependent on the tone of your amp, and players often use their pedals this way. The tone is based on their finger technique and the pedal’s characteristics; the amp is just making it louder.

Just concepts…

To wrap up: These are not rules. They are concepts. Regardless of this post’s title, “Get Great Tone With BOSS Overdrive” you can use these principles with any overdrive stompbox. The best way to incorporate them into your playing is to experiment. There are many pedals on the market, each with its own characteristic tone. One may be just the thing to make your tone what you’ve wanted it to be. Try some out, both with your own amp and guitar, and with others. The magic combination is out there.

Related links and articles:

• Overdrive Vs. Distortion: What’s the Difference?
• Get Great Tone With BOSS Distortion
• How to Chain Your Guitar Effects Pedals – Part 1
• BOSS Showcases at SXSW

When the original BOSS overdrive stompbox, the OD-1, was first released way back in 1977, it looked very different from any other stompbox of the day. Where others were simple squared-off aluminum boxes crudely screwed together, the OD-1 was a smooth cast-metal body. It had no little button to step on to turn it on or off like the others. Most of the OD-1’s surface was the stompbox for the switch. Instead of the commonly used simple click switch that always caused an audio line POP when pressed, the OD-1 had a silent electronic switch under the pedal that never made a sound. It had recessed knobs; other stompboxes back then had big knobs protruding up from the case — very easy to kick and move or worse, destroy. And it sounded amazing! To this day, the BOSS OD-1 is sought after by collectors who know tone. Who would have thought that after 35 years, BOSS stompboxes would use the same design elements that were developed then, and would be mimicked by so many competitors. Why? A wise man once said, “If it works, don’t fix it.” Think about it. What other product has been in continuous production for more than 35 years, with the same looks and industrial design, and seems just as fresh as when it first was released?

Free BOSS mobile phone wallpaper—choose from 10

There are ten original design elements common to all BOSS stompboxes. From the OD-1 to the  ST-2 Power Stack or the RC-3 Loop Station, they represent ten solid reasons why BOSS is still the guitar stompbox line that sets the standard for the world. Let’s take a look at these elements, to better understand their benefits and why they have withstood the tests of time (and millions of heavy-booted musicians).

1. Heavy Duty Stompbox Construction

It is well known that BOSS stompboxes are tough. The thick all-metal cast construction of the case is very durable and provides very strong protection for the circuitry inside. We have seen cars driven over them, after which they still work (we’re not advocating this, by the way), and in the early days, the BOSS engineers used to test them by literally throwing them out of a second story window. Every component is tested to withstand extreme use. The spec for the electronic switch, for example, specifies that it must be able to withstand a minimum of 100,000 stomps. BOSS has machines that test them by hitting this switch 100,000 times to see if they can withstand the abuse. They do. Which leads us to the next one…

Even after running over a BOSS stombox with a car, it still works. (<–Tweet this)

2. Five-Year Warranty

This is the longest standard warranty around. Why? Because BOSS knows that they can stand behind the workmanship and quality of construction of these pedals; in other words, they are really hard to break. Think twice about pedals that have shorter warranties.

3. Easy Access Battery Compartment

DA-2 Adaptive Distortion

There are actually two benefits to this one. In the early days of guitar effects pedals, the only way to change the battery was to open up the entire stompbox, (which usually required finding a screwdriver and removing — and not losing — microscopic screws, just what you want to be doing on a dark stage at a gig or at a rehearsal) and exposing the entire circuit board in order to get to the battery, which was usually just hanging by its wires inside. The BOSS battery compartment is under the pedal, which is spring loaded, so when you unscrew the front of the pedal, it pops open, revealing the battery. The other benefit is that the battery compartment is completely sealed off from the components, so if it ever leaks, it won’t contaminate or ruin the electronics.

4. Recessed Knobs

This seems obvious today, but it wasn’t 35 years ago when BOSS was the first to figure out that knobs below the surface of the stompbox couldn’t be kicked, which at best changes your settings (and for some cosmic reason, always for the worse, not better) and at worst could break the knobs off. This concept has been adopted by many stompbox manufacturers, although many boutique stompboxes still have knobs standing tall on top of the stompbox. It’s really only a matter of time until they get kicked or worse.

5. Rubber Pads on Top and Bottom

The entire bottom of a BOSS stompbox is a big rubber surface. Why? Many other stompboxes use tiny rubber feet, or sometimes nothing at all. The big rubber bottom of a BOSS stompbox keeps if from sliding around on the floor when you stomp on it. This seems like another one of those simple concepts until you look at many other guitar effects pedals and realize that it is not so common. But you’ll appreciate it the night you use your pedals on a slick wooden stage. Your boutique pedals may slide away from you as you try to use them, but your BOSS effect pedals will be right where you want them to be: under your foot. Why rubber on the top? The simple answer is to keep your foot from sliding off the pedal when you want to turn it on. The entire surface of the pedal is covered with a rubber pad, so your foot can hit it without slipping.

6. Silent Electronic Switching

BOSS was the first stompbox company to use this kind of switching. Rather than use mechanical click switches due to their drawbacks (they tend to cause unwanted loud pops in the audio signal and tend to break at inconvenient times, like when your playing your best solo), BOSS developed electronic switching for their compact pedals using FET components, which are very highly regarded for high reliability and noise-free operation. The benefits are pretty clear — no switch failures and no noise in the line ever.

7. Big Pedal Surface

When the band is rocking and you’re really getting into your playing, you don’t want to reach out and miss the stompbox button. After all, with many guitar stompboxes, you’re aiming at a target less than a half inch wide. On a BOSS stompbox, most of the effects’ entire surface is the stompbox, so you won’t miss. You can hit it from virtually any angle, so when you want the stompbox to be on, it’s on.

8. Dual Purpose LED

The LED on a BOSS stompbox has two functions. The more obvious one is to indicate that the stompbox is on and working. The other function is to indicate the condition of the battery. It’s better to know the battery is going before it’s too late than to find out the hard way — on stage, when you expect the sound to be there, and it’s not. A BOSS stompbox will always let you know before it’s too late that you ought to change the battery.

9. Color Coded Pedals

This one is very simple: BOSS stompboxes are color coded, so you can easily tell which is which when you’re using them. There have been some consistencies in the colors over the years.  For example, BOSS digital delay stompboxes have always been white, phaser shifters have always been green, compressors have always been blue, and flangers have always been various shades of purple. There have also been some colors that seem somewhat random. Distortion stompboxes, for example, have been everything from orange (DS-1, DS-2, and many others) to black (MT-2, HM-2, etc.) to red (XT-2), and several shades in between (although overdrives tend to always be some degree of yellow. Go figure…). Again, the point is so you can tell which is which in your rig. This is another BOSS first that some other stompbox makers have also caught on to, but many others still adhere to the same color, same look concept. Next time you get a chance, try out a pedalboard made of stompboxes that all look the same. In the heat of battle in the middle of a gig, on a dark stage with the lights in your face, how easy will it be to tell which is which? Not as easy as a rig full of BOSS stompboxes, to be sure.

10. Great Sound

Tone is what you like, and few things are more subjective, but with tens of millions of BOSS pedals out there, an awful lot of which are on top pro players’ stage rigs, it’s probably safe to say that BOSS stompboxes always sound right. (<– Tweet this)

These, then, are the big ten. From the first three BOSS pedals more than 35 years ago with the now-classic and iconic design (do you know what they are? Check the BOSS Facebook page to find out) to the amazing pedals in the current line, these ten time-tested design elements have helped to make BOSS pedals what they are — the undisputed market leaders in compact effects.

Related links and articles:

• BOSS Showcases at SXSW
• How to Chain Your Guitar Effects Pedals – Part 1
• How to Chain Your Guitar Effects Pedals – Part 2
• Digital Guitar Amp Roundtable
• Steve Stevens Demos the G-5 Strat

As discussed in Part 1, the first rule in connecting guitar effects: there are no rules.
There are, however, some good ideas.

Plugging In
Using our basic guidelines, let’s connect our pedalboard together:

That is one rockin’ pedalboard! But why is this the suggested signal path? Follow along as we go pedal by pedal.

The tuner goes first. This one is pretty easy. It doesn’t want to hear an effected signal; it wants to see the direct input from the guitar. Another reason for putting the tuner first is that if you’re using any true-bypass pedals, the TU-3 will give them a buffered signal, which will protect your tone from loss of signal in the cables when other pedals are off. This is another one of the reasons there as so many TU tuners in pedalboards worldwide, even ones using nothing else but boutique true-bypass stompers.

The next three pedals — PW-10, AC-3, and OC-3 — change the basic tone of the guitar. For the most variety of sound, you want all the other pedals to have a shot at the sound from these pedals, so it’s best to have them as close to the guitar as possible.

After these is the overdrive/distortion, in this case our ST-2 Power Stack. The CS-3 Compression/Sustainer (and the PW-10 V-Wah) can improve the ST-2’s sustain and tone by increasing the signal to it, so they’re placed before the ST-2. Many players use a compressor just for this reason, and the “fixed wah” sound, which is a wah pedal turned on but not continuously swept, is very common in rock and metal lead tones.

Free BOSS mobile phone wallpaper—choose from 10.

The GE-7 Graphic Equalizer is good to have after the overdrive in case you want to use it to scoop mids or bump certain frequencies for solos. (To show that these are not hard rules, it also works pretty well if the EQ is after the compressor but before the overdrive. But this changes how the EQ sounds, since you would be distorting it with the overdrive, so try it in the suggested position first.) Also, it’s good to have the EQ before the noise suppressor, since EQs can add noise as they boost tone at various points in the frequency spectrum, including any noise that is already there.

The NS-2 Noise Suppressor is best used in the middle, so it can take out the noise created by the amplifying pedals before the signal moves into the modulation and ambience pedals.

Modulation stompboxes like our BF-3 Flanger should be after the tone-producing effects like distortion, wah, etc. so they can process and modify the tone built by the pedals before it. If you put it before the distortion, then you are distorting the sound of the flanger. Maybe that’s what you’re after, but in general, put the BF-3 and other modulation effects after the tone-shaping (and noise–producing) pedals. And then there are the ambience effects: delay and reverb. As we discussed earlier, reverb—and sometimes delay, depending on the space—is the last thing that happens before the sound reaches your ears in a physical space, so these go last. Delaying reverb can sound muddy, so it’s usually better to have the reverb after the delay.

And last, but certainly not least, is the Loop Station. Loopers aren’t effects—they’re recorders. Normally, you’ll want the looper to be able to record and playback any of your sounds. Of course, this means you should place it at the very end of the chain so it can hear and record whatever pedal combinations you use.

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That’s a Wrap
So there it is. To recap, while there are no rules for creating tones, these basic principles will help you achieve tone nirvana. By following the guidelines we’ve laid out here, you will:

• keep the noise to a minimum.
• achieve the most tonal flexibility.
• produce tone in the most natural, organic way, as close as possible to how tone is created without effects.

At the same time, experiment! Maybe the tone you seek is made by the wah after the distortion—it’s noisy, but sounds cool. Ultimately, the only rule is this: what sounds best is best, so get your BOSS pedals and grab your tone. It’s what we make them for!

Related links and articles:

• How To Chain Your Guitar Effects Pedals – Part 1
• Billy Duffy On How He Discovered His Signature Sound
• The VG-99 Inspires
• Digital Guitar Amp Roundtable

Free BOSS mobile phone wallpaper—choose from 10.

So you decided to play electric guitar. Once you get a guitar and an amp, the next step is to explore effects. Effects pedals can be separated into groups based on their functions. Understanding the different pedal groups is the key to getting the best sound when chaining them together. The largest pedal group is probably overdrives and distortions, and BOSS currently makes 16 different pedals in this category. For our example pedal board, we’ll pick the ST-2 Power Stack. Another category with many choices is modulation.These are effects like flanger, phaser, chorus, tremolo, and others. Let’s use the most versatile of these—the BF-3 Flanger. Another group is ambience effects, such as delays and reverbs. We’ll use one of each: a DD-7 Digital Delay and the FRV-1 ’63 Fender Reverb. There are some pedal effects that can add notes or alter the pitch of what you’re playing. For want of a more esoteric name, we’ll call these “pitch-altering” pedals. From this category, let’s throw in a BOSS OC-3 Octave. BOSS also has a few pedals that make your instrument sound like some other instrument. The AC-3 Acoustic Simulator will do the job. Some effects change your sound with filtering. This effect type can be used in different places in the signal path, so we’ll use the GE-7 Graphic EQ. A few BOSS effects defy categorization, but are nevertheless very useful in any signal path. The most common of these is the CS-3 Compression/Sustainer. Loopers fall into this category also, so let’s add an RC-3 Loop Station to the mix. And you might want the NS-2 Noise Suppressor to kill the noise in your rig, so let’s add that in, too. What about a tuner? The TU-3 is the most popular pedal tuner in the world.

So, where does each pedal go in the signal path? Here are some tips to keep in mind before you start plugging pedals together:

How to Chain Your Guitar Effects Pedals – Part 2

Rule 1—There are no rules. The sound you’re after might not be made by what we could call the appropriate or logical signal path, but that’s not always the issue. The issue is this: what does it sound like? If it makes the sound you’re after, then it’s right…although, you may have to do something about the noise. Traditional pedal board arrangements were designed for certain reasons, and keeping the noise down is one biggie. Following the principles of how sound is made in physical space is another (see Rule 4 coming up). But the final choice is yours. As a very wise man said: if it works, don’t fix it.

Rule 2—Some pedal types work better in certain parts of the signal path than in others. Octave pedals or tuners, for example, don’t work as well with a distorted signal as with an undistorted signal, so they should be placed before the distortion.

Rule 3—Noise can be a problem, particularly with high-gain distortion sounds. Pedals that can add volume—such as compressors, wahs, EQs, and overdrive/distortions—will also amplify any noise created by the effects placed before them.

Rule 4—Taking sound-making devices like stompbox pedals out of the equation, there’s an order to the way sounds naturally occur in physical space. For example, guitar amp distortion is made in physical space by turning an amp up enough to cause its circuits to overload, and any echo you might hear happens after the distorted sound hits walls or ceilings and bounces back to your ears. Therefore, logic says that your reverb and/or delay pedals should be last in the signal path, since that is how the sounds they produce actually occur in three-dimensional space.

In keeping with these rules—okay, they aren’t really rules, so let’s compromise and call them “guidelines”—here are some essential concepts for lining your pedals up:

• Pedals that amplify or add noise should go near the beginning of the signal path. This includes overdrive/distortion effects, compressors, and wah pedals. If they’re later in the signal path, they will amplify the noise of everything before them, which can be difficult to control.

• Pedals that produce tone go before things that modify tone. This is logical, because you want to create your basic sound first, then tweak it with some kind of modifying effect. For example, this means that overdrives go before chorus effects.

• Pedals that create ambience go last. This goes back to the “how does sound actually occur in physical space” idea. So, delay and reverb should go after all other effects.

We will continue this conversation soon. In the meantime, click on the image below to experience BOSS effects connected to each other.

Related links and articles:

• How to Chain Your Guitar Effects Pedals – Part 2
• Mike Scaccia: My Pedals
• Billy Duffy on How He Discovered His Signature Sound
• Herman Li of DragonForce: A Master Shredder Hones His Chops with eBand

Most guitarists know that Randy Rhoads used stack amps on stage. However, he also used a very special combo amp. What was it? Bassist Rudy Sarzo revealed that amp on the set during an in-depth interview with Gary Lenaire at the Roland Studio in Los Angeles.

Watch the full interview on our Livestream channel

Rudy Sarzo’s resume spans four decades and multi-platinum success. His resume includes Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Blue Oyster Cult and Queensryche. Rudy discusses his time jamming with Ozzy, Randy Rhoads and many others. He also talks about some of the amazing gear he has used including guitar and bass effects, bass synth, Roland GR-55 and guitar amps. From the stompbox to the tour bus, Rudy’s stories captivate and entertain.

Related links and articles:

• The Arrival of the Digital Guitar Amp
• Digital Guitar Amp Roundtable
• Play an Entire Live Set with Just the GT-100!

Billy Duffy is one of the founding members of the extremely influential band The Cult. He and singer Ian Astbury have been in the band since 1983. Billy discusses the early days of the band and how he discovered his signature sound. According to him, BOSS pedals have been part of his sound for over 30 years. Find out which pedals he’s talking about.

Related links and articles:

• Mike Scaccia: My Pedals
• Mike Scaccia: How I Got My Tone
• Herman Li of DragonForce

Mike Scaccia of Ministry discusses how he we went from cranking his guitar amps to full blast in his Punk Rock/ Metal days to bringing it down a few notches under the guidance of Al Jourgensen to find his tone.

Related links and articles:

• Billy Duffy
• Herman Li of DragonForce
• Play an Entire Live Set with Just the GT-100