If you have a guitar, you’ve most likely at least dabbled with distorted tones. More than likely, you have more than one gain pedal. But how many distortion pedals do you really need? With the abundance of “dirt” pedals available, I think this question is worth asking. In this post we’ll talk about some tips to determine how many distortion pedals most of us need to get the sounds we want. In addition, I’ll discuss which pedals I personally chose to get my favorite distorted guitar sounds.
Flavors of Dirt
Distortion, or “dirt”, as it’s often referred to, is a key element of many guitar tones. In our article on Best Overdrive Pedals, we discuss ten classic pedals that serve up a variety of distorted tones. Some, like the Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer, are more focused on getting that one great tone. Others, such as the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive, are more versatile. Either way, the idea of guitar distortion is to shape your clean signal into the distorted tones we know and love.
Overdrive vs. Distortion vs. Clean Boost
Before we answer the question of how many distortion pedals do you need, let’s first define distortion by putting it into two major buckets: Overdrive and Distortion.
1. Overdrive
Overdrive is a type of distortion that resembles the cranked up early amplifiers of the 1950s and 1960s. The sound we know as overdrive was accidentally invented in the late 1940s and early 50s when guitarists cranked up their small amps beyond what their output transformers could handle, forcing them to distort. With overdrive, more of the original guitar signal is maintained, and the sound is perceived as warmer and smoother. Blues players love overdrive.
2. Distortion
Distortion is a more aggressive form of overdrive. Distorted sounds can range from crunch rhythm sounds to liquid, high gain sounds like Santana, to the edgy, saturated grind heard in metal music. Heavy distortion substantially alters the original signal of the guitar signal. Metal music as we know it wouldn’t exist without the high gain tones we know and love.
How Many Overdrive Pedals Do YOU Need?
Now back to the question of how many overdrive pedals do you need. Here are some questions you’ll want to ask yourself to guide you towards determining the right number of distortion pedals that will work for you.
1. How many styles of music do you play?
Sounds obvious, right? The fact is that musical genres are associated with certain types of guitar tones. Classical guitar is played exclusively with a clean tone. Then, there are those genres which blend both clean and distorted tones. Blues, for instance, features examples of guitarists with clean tones as well as overdriven tones. Some genres, such as metal and thrash, are much narrower. Can you imagine metal music without distorted guitar?
2. Which three guitarists get your favorite tones?
Identifying the tones of some of your favorite guitar players is a way to narrow down which tones you actually really like. You may have a guitarist who has a great clean tone, while at the same time loving the overdriven blues tone of another. And, you may like a guitarists tone but not ever aspire to actually using with that tone in your own music.
3. What is the context of your playing?
If you are in a cover band, you’ll likely need to access numerous flavors of distorted guitar tone. If on the other hand you play primarily with friends or at home, you’ll realistically have far less need for multiple guitar tones. Whether you want or need to access to a wide range of distorted guitar tones is up to you.
My Approach
When I asked myself the three questions we’ve discussed, the approach I arrived at reflected my wants and needs.
First, my playing revolves around jazz, blues, and some rock. Occasionally, I like to riff on some harder styles, too.
Second, I identified some favorite guitar tones from guitarists I like. For mildly overdriven sounds, I’ve been enjoying the edge-of-breakup tone that Robben Ford gets. For more overdriven tones, I’ve always liked Trey Anastasio’s complex, liquid lead tone. At the heavier end of the tone spectrum, I’ve always enjoyed the classic sounds from Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains. Here are the three pedals I chose to cover these sounds, and more. All of these pedals offer both good tone, and versatility.
Low Gain Overdrive: Ibanez TS-9 Classic Tubescreamer
The TS-9 is the “original reissue” of the original TS-808. It has long been considered one of the best overdrive pedals. The Tube Screamer sound is the sound of SRV and sizzling Texas-style overdrive. It’s mid-heavy and smooth. However, it can also get a harder rock sound with the drive cranked up. The Tube Screamer is one of the best ways to “goose” the input signal of your amp and push it into a natural-sounding overdrive.
Mid-Gain: Keeley Oxblood Overdrive
The Keeley Oxblood Overdrive is able to get a wide range of overdrive, from moderate to big time, gained-out sounds.
The Oxblood features two different diodes for distinct overdrive tones, and a “Phat” switch that cuts midrange. The voicing of the Oxblood is drier than some pedals, but with richness. The Oxblood excels at sweet, mid-gain sound that isn’t overly saturated. Keeley is one of the most respected pedal makers, and their designs often push the capabilities of pedals we know and love already.
Heavy Distortion: Boss SD-1
Before the boutique pedal boom, rock guitarists were blasting the input signal of their amps with the SD-1 Super Overdrive. Compared to the TS-9 Tubscreamer, the SD-1 is tighter sounding and more compressed. Compared to the BD-1 Blues Driver, the SD-1 has more saturation available, and is voiced for harder rock sounds. The SD-1 can also get milder overdrive tones with the gain rolled down, and can be used as a clean boost to push an already distorted amp. The SD-1 is great for pushing your amp into high-gain rock territory.
Conclusion
It turns out that my answer to “How Many Distortion Pedals Do You Need?” isn’t a stack of overdrive and distortion pedals. With a few good choices, I can get the sounds I like. Of course, depending on your tastes, your needs may vary. Either way, I encourage you to explore the full capabilities of fewer pedals before shelling out for a double digit collection of distortion pedals.
One point that I hear many guitarists make is that whichever pedal they choose, “I still sound like myself.” This has been my experience as well, and it makes sense: The first thing most of us do when we’re dialing in a pedal is to seek out the sound we want. The reality is that many pedals offer far more tonal flexibility than expected. This is especially true when you learn to adjust your guitar’s output volume. Using the volume control tastefully will open up a whole range of sounds from pedals that you may have not known were there.
For more great overdrive choices, check out our article on the best overdrive pedals. Happy Playing!