yep the Boss OD-3 is a funny effect: I have the Simble first and always on for some warmth, 2nd the OD-3,3rd Dolamo D-8 ( dark jazz tone,REAL nice basses!), then mylatest little find Rowin Tube Drive( bluesy with aLOT of drive! still have to tame the hi drive but I love it!): I someday managed to play without the OD-3, but with it on the tone just is more sumthing.....,luckily its a 100€ pedal and not 200, so I wont sell it for food...😎😎
OD-3 is a great pedal. Easily my favourite drive pedal for Fender circuits and single coils. It sounds absolutely banging as a boost, light drive and as a 2nd gain stage of a Bluesbreaker-type such as the JHS Morning Glory.
To each their own, but to me, the Soul Food does something that I’ve never heard in an overdrive pedal since 1997. I own two, one in the front, one in the back. Simply amazing pedal.
Not my favourite pedal but it really has a lovely sounding buffer/circuit interaction that adds that famous "klon presence". Honestly if it did nothing else for £50 (eBay) I'd be content.
The OD-3 is the perfect overdrive pedal. When I want to cut through with more mid range, I can use an EQ or Tubescreamer. The Klon pedals don’t do it for me.
I remember back in 1980 or so when I started playing, there weren't that many choices of pedals and the boss and mxr pedals all seem to sound really good to me back then. Now we have a thousand pedal choices and the boss and mxr pedals still sound good. There've been some tweaks, and some improvements in some ways but things like the boss overdrive are still great.
Thanks Mike. I have the EHX and Archer. They're on top of my wardrobe. OD3 always on one of my boards for years. The Klon clones sound great stacked into another pedal - as a boost I guess. However, this is how I use my SD1w, or Green Rhino, and I love the sounds I get. It's a personal thing isn't it? What sounds good to you is good!
@@ivanm9186 I'm very different than yourself,....Most pedals that I try,..I do not like. I've probably tried close to 100 different Overdrive pedals over the years. There are only 3 that I like. The Wampler Belle Overdrive,..The Friedman BE-OD,....And the Boss OD-3. The Boss OD-3 is my favorite out of those three overdrive pedals.
I totally get why people love what a Klon does through a driven amp: mid-hump drives like the TS9 have been beloved for a long time. For my money, it's just too close to what I already get through the Bonsai, so I'll never own another Klon (clone). I had a RYRA that I sold ages ago. On the other hand, I love my Jam pedals Lucy Dreamer Supreme into the OD-3, so sometimes mixing a mid-focused pedal with a more open natural drive is the answer (like SD-1 before or after the OD-3--both positions work to my ears, just in different ways). Great comparison here though, really appreciate your thoroughness.
I really dig pairing the Trutone Jekyll and Hyde with either a TS style pedal or the MXR Sugar Drive. Hitting that Hyde drive with the klone sounds great. A little punchier/clearer than the TS. Good for rhythm playing.
While I preferred the Ceriatone, I thought the EHX pedal acquitted itself well pushing a dirty amp. In some cases I preferred the OD3 but I suppose it depends on context: the mid boost of the Klon circuit would stand out better in a mix.
They all sound good but surprisingly the OD3 is the one that sounds the best to my ears. Of course everyone has different tastes, indeed my own taste has changed radically over the years but at age 50 having played since 14, the OD3 is where im at.
All 3 were very nice sounding pedals. My preference was the soul food. To me ehx drives and fuzz’s all have a unique ehx sound to them. It’s like every drive they do has a little bit of that fuzz spit to it no matter what circuit they’re trying to copy. I like that about ehx do I tend to favor their drives, but I’d put any of these 3 on the board and be happy.
My takeaway is that the EHX Soul Food is a screaming deal. You can pick one up for $50 USD and sound every bit as good as a Centura that's 5x the price.
BOSS OD-3: one of all time best pedals! I use mine after my always-on Mad Prof Simble and it just turns a strat neck pup into Jazz territory!! I have other pedals ( Mad Prof Royal Blue, DOD/Shoe Looking Glass, Boss Da-2, Boss OD-1X and on the cheaper side: Mosky Deluxe Preamp, Dolamo D-8) to sculpt my tone(( I actually call the Dolamo the "Little Jazz", the Boss OD-3 being the "Big Jazz")), but the BOSS OD-3 is dead simple: drive down and its Jaazzyyy... Ive been thru many "Dumble" peds: J RAD DUDE & Hot Rubber Monkey, MojoHand DMBL : no dice... I dont know how to label the Mad Prof Simble, but it stays on as number one! ( also have left a Tomsline and a Rowin Dumbler, great "Little Dumblers"!!) as for Klon-types theres videos comparing the Mad Prof Royal Blue with a real Klon, so I think im pretty much covered in that section... All in all I think one shouldnt have to have many 200€ pedals , when youve found your basic tone/pedal you can hopefully tweek it with less expensive ones! ( for example the 25€ Dolamo D-8 is SUCH a great pedal!) ((( its always allowed to dream of course; Dumblish pedals like ETHOS and GLADIO spring to mind, ha ha and haa...))) but to use those monsters to slightly tweak my Simble seems backwardsly... Cheerios amigos, K
They all have a bit of something that the other doesn't but it's certainly not drastic. I like the smoothness of the soul food a but more high gain. I actually just grabbed a used Soul Food and a polytune 3 for 85 bucks total and that's a pretty good deal.
The soul food does an amazing job. Its the only pedal I use Pretty much always on. Great comparison video. All of them sound good with a deluxe reverb! 😁
Really disliked the behaviour of the Klon. In the first demo it sounded the best, but in the second when the mids started coming up and the highs dropped out, it had that muddy shit sound that I hate about mid hump pedals. The OD definitely wins overall.
Certain combinations of guitar - pedal - amp equals magic... For example a tele into a klon into a Marshall JTM/SLO is very early ZZ topish. It really depends on what you are trying to do. The Boss pedal into a Deluxe like you are doing here gives you that more modern overdriven Fender voice you hear on countless recordings in the last 30+ years which I think draws alot of people to it.
That Centura was my favourite 🙂, Od3 and the SF also got some really great sounds here , that Centura with de Lespaul with the amp near breakup was the killing combo to my taste . Great video, tone and of course playing 😃👍👍
If I could ever get hold of a King of Tone then I certainly would! Those things have a crazy long waiting list. Could you recommend a high quality king of tone clone that I could use instead maybe?
Excellent explanations and demonstrations. Michaels other demos often do combinations with his od-3, but I have the Soul Food and wondered how they differed and this vid gave me some ideas on how to get some similar tones with the stuff I have.
I have and OD 3, it's in the box, maybe I should pull it out and put on my board, I just traded away my Soul Food last weekend but I do have Wampler Tumnus Deluxe on my board. Sometimes I stack my Blues Mood into my Tumnus. Wonder how the OD 3 would slice into the mix?
"Natural sounding" is just marketing crap, the only way most overdrives differ from each other is their EQ curve, *all* of them boost or cut frequencies. Actual natural sounding distortion is horrific, which obviously has its own uses but a daily driver it is not
@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar so much fun! I actually found the way to improve Soul Food, with boss equalizer :) sounds exactly like Klon, but then I figured “what am I doing?” 😂 and no way I’m buying any pedal for more than 500 quid!
to me the boss od3 is a Marshall in a box to transform you clean amp to.a slightly more middy but still fairly wide frequency range rock sound.. The boss bd2 is great for a mild overdrive sound if you keep the tone pot below 10 o'clock but has slightly less low mds than the od3, When you turn up the bd2 it becomes almost like a fuzz type sound.. The boss super overdrive does not really work on a clean amp,, It is far to middy and has a lot of bass cut of.. It works nice ok when soloing on a neck pickup but find it lacking on a bridge pickup for rock..
The Klon is completely opaque, muddy, without shine/bright. The ehx doesn't overdrive the lows enough as it does with the midrange, the lows sound almost like the guitar by itself, alone; only the OD3 overdrives the lows, mids and highs constantly
I have both the od3 and the soul food. the are 2 totally differnt beast to my ears. For starters, I use the soul food as a clean boost mostly but whenever I want to nie near breakage I dial it in and its awesome. The OD-3 (surprisingly inexpensive!) takes me closer to Van Halen in the boost. Its snarling, and thick, I love it! (Thats what she said...) sorry, I couldnt resist :)
Now do a blind folded test...Real analogue Overdrive/Fuzz/Distortion pedals vs "clones" from multi--fx/modellors like Zoom, Line 6, ect......I find that until you start cranking them up they are VERY close. Other's may have different results. But yes, I agree Boss Overdrives, Blues Driver, Super Fuzz, DS-1, Mega Distortion............(dare I bring up the Metal pedals??)....for pedals that some players love to crap on, they seem to have made their rounds and be used for all kinds of recordings...Cheers!
The mids on the Klon types are awesome. Most pedals do not have the best mids, the Klons have that boost quality that takes the amp to the next level. Pedal heaven.
They sound good, so buy the cheapest. You could buy 2 of the same brand and model pedals for any of these and have identical sonic differences that these pedals have to each other
Nice video and sound examples, I use a late 1970’s 14 Chip 2 knob Boss od 1 overdrive pedal to wake up a fender twin amp, and that’s very often the only pedal I bother run these days, but the OD-3 here really holds its own against the klon and the soul food. Unequivocally the big spenders throwing all that money away on real Klons would be way better served tonally by avoiding the klon altogether and getting a regular old boss OD pedal, and then spending the rest on fulltone tube tape delay unit, and a real rotary speaker cabinet, a old dearmond oil can tremolo, a vintage electric mistress and a old Dallas Arbiter fuzz wah, a nice looper pedal, still have money left for all gold cable runs? Personally speaking the sound of the tube tape delay unit into the rotary speaker cabinet is worth at least 7 klons to me!…LoL. xD
5:50 wow I like the clarity of the OD-3!
yep the Boss OD-3 is a funny effect: I have the Simble first and always on for some warmth, 2nd the OD-3,3rd Dolamo D-8 ( dark jazz tone,REAL nice basses!), then mylatest little find Rowin Tube Drive( bluesy with aLOT of drive! still have to tame the hi drive but I love it!):
I someday managed to play without the OD-3, but with it on the tone just is more sumthing.....,luckily its a 100€ pedal and not 200, so I wont sell it for food...😎😎
OD-3 is a great pedal. Easily my favourite drive pedal for Fender circuits and single coils. It sounds absolutely banging as a boost, light drive and as a 2nd gain stage of a Bluesbreaker-type such as the JHS Morning Glory.
In conclusion: OD3 kicks major ass
To each their own, but to me, the Soul Food does something that I’ve never heard in an overdrive pedal since 1997. I own two, one in the front, one in the back. Simply amazing pedal.
Not my favourite pedal but it really has a lovely sounding buffer/circuit interaction that adds that famous "klon presence". Honestly if it did nothing else for £50 (eBay) I'd be content.
Od-3 forever ♥️ desde Argentina🇦🇷 saludos !
That boss od 3 is real nice. Beats both
Supposedly, the Klon's diods don't go into overdrive with the gain set under around 60%, so below that it actually just functions as a boost.
The OD-3 is the perfect overdrive pedal. When I want to cut through with more mid range, I can use an EQ or Tubescreamer. The Klon pedals don’t do it for me.
I think the OD3 holds its own against either of the other two.
I own an OD3 and Soul Food.
After hear this review, I think your are the richest/right selection, always on the od3 into mid/low gain, and before the soulfood to soloing...
I agree w MXR Sugar Drive as a solid Klone pedal that also has its own character. Wampler Tumnus is a good one also.
I agree with your synopsis completely! All of the videos I've found that you've done are spot on. Well done!
I remember back in 1980 or so when I started playing, there weren't that many choices of pedals and the boss and mxr pedals all seem to sound really good to me back then. Now we have a thousand pedal choices and the boss and mxr pedals still sound good. There've been some tweaks, and some improvements in some ways but things like the boss overdrive are still great.
Boutique pedals are mostly snake oil
Exactly. They are all cloned circuits, some with minor tweaks. I got my whiteface rat, an old mij ds-1 and an od3. I'm pretty much all set for drives.
Thanks Mike. I have the EHX and Archer. They're on top of my wardrobe. OD3 always on one of my boards for years.
The Klon clones sound great stacked into another pedal - as a boost I guess. However, this is how I use my SD1w, or Green Rhino, and I love the sounds I get.
It's a personal thing isn't it? What sounds good to you is good!
The Boss OD-3 is the best pedal.
It’s lead tone is beautiful
that one sounded best to me also
I got ~15 overdrive pedals and not even trying to decide!😃 they all awesome! depends on your mood 😅
@@ivanm9186 I'm very different than yourself,....Most pedals that I try,..I do not like.
I've probably tried close to 100 different Overdrive pedals over the years. There are only 3 that I like. The Wampler Belle Overdrive,..The Friedman BE-OD,....And the Boss OD-3.
The Boss OD-3 is my favorite out of those three overdrive pedals.
Since 2001 My pedal rig consists of 2 pedals..a Boss tuner and an od3. Great drive pedal
OD-3 FOR LIFE!
Boss sounds the best by far
My take away from this is that I need an OD3, and maybe a home made clean boost.
I thougt od3 mid gain, and before the soul food as booster to push the od3
I totally get why people love what a Klon does through a driven amp: mid-hump drives like the TS9 have been beloved for a long time. For my money, it's just too close to what I already get through the Bonsai, so I'll never own another Klon (clone). I had a RYRA that I sold ages ago. On the other hand, I love my Jam pedals Lucy Dreamer Supreme into the OD-3, so sometimes mixing a mid-focused pedal with a more open natural drive is the answer (like SD-1 before or after the OD-3--both positions work to my ears, just in different ways). Great comparison here though, really appreciate your thoroughness.
I really dig pairing the Trutone Jekyll and Hyde with either a TS style pedal or the MXR Sugar Drive. Hitting that Hyde drive with the klone sounds great. A little punchier/clearer than the TS. Good for rhythm playing.
While I preferred the Ceriatone, I thought the EHX pedal acquitted itself well pushing a dirty amp. In some cases I preferred the OD3 but I suppose it depends on context: the mid boost of the Klon circuit would stand out better in a mix.
Love your videos. Keep up the great content.
OD-3 for me.
They all sound good but surprisingly the OD3 is the one that sounds the best to my ears. Of course everyone has different tastes, indeed my own taste has changed radically over the years but at age 50 having played since 14, the OD3 is where im at.
I want all three now! Very nice review thank you. 👍
Love this video, I own both the Ceriatone horsebreaker and the od3, all of them have their strengths and weaknesses
I love your style of playing! Would you mind sharing some of your guitar influences? I’m trying to learn this style of playing currently.
All 3 were very nice sounding pedals. My preference was the soul food. To me ehx drives and fuzz’s all have a unique ehx sound to them. It’s like every drive they do has a little bit of that fuzz spit to it no matter what circuit they’re trying to copy. I like that about ehx do I tend to favor their drives, but I’d put any of these 3 on the board and be happy.
My takeaway is that the EHX Soul Food is a screaming deal. You can pick one up for $50 USD and sound every bit as good as a Centura that's 5x the price.
great job as always! spot on
BOSS OD-3: one of all time best pedals! I use mine after my always-on Mad Prof Simble and it just turns a strat neck pup into Jazz territory!!
I have other pedals ( Mad Prof Royal Blue, DOD/Shoe Looking Glass, Boss Da-2, Boss OD-1X and on the cheaper side: Mosky Deluxe Preamp, Dolamo D-8) to sculpt my tone(( I actually call the Dolamo the "Little Jazz", the Boss OD-3 being the "Big Jazz")),
but the BOSS OD-3 is dead simple: drive down and its Jaazzyyy...
Ive been thru many "Dumble" peds: J RAD DUDE & Hot Rubber Monkey, MojoHand DMBL : no dice...
I dont know how to label the Mad Prof Simble, but it stays on as number one!
( also have left a Tomsline and a Rowin Dumbler, great "Little Dumblers"!!)
as for Klon-types theres videos comparing the Mad Prof Royal Blue with a real Klon, so I think im pretty much covered in that section...
All in all I think one shouldnt have to have many 200€ pedals , when youve found your basic tone/pedal you can hopefully tweek it with less expensive ones! ( for example the 25€ Dolamo D-8 is SUCH a great pedal!)
((( its always allowed to dream of course; Dumblish pedals like ETHOS and GLADIO spring to mind, ha ha and haa...)))
but to use those monsters to slightly tweak my Simble seems backwardsly...
Cheerios amigos, K
Love the tone of the soul food
They all have a bit of something that the other doesn't but it's certainly not drastic. I like the smoothness of the soul food a but more high gain. I actually just grabbed a used Soul Food and a polytune 3 for 85 bucks total and that's a pretty good deal.
Boss for me
The soul food does an amazing job. Its the only pedal I use Pretty much always on. Great comparison video. All of them sound good with a deluxe reverb! 😁
I like the Soul Food as a clean boost. For me its like turning the bright switch on an old Fender with the ability to shape.
Really disliked the behaviour of the Klon. In the first demo it sounded the best, but in the second when the mids started coming up and the highs dropped out, it had that muddy shit sound that I hate about mid hump pedals. The OD definitely wins overall.
Certain combinations of guitar - pedal - amp equals magic... For example a tele into a klon into a Marshall JTM/SLO is very early ZZ topish. It really depends on what you are trying to do. The Boss pedal into a Deluxe like you are doing here gives you that more modern overdriven Fender voice you hear on countless recordings in the last 30+ years which I think draws alot of people to it.
That roll off can't that be taken care of by a reverb with high damping?
To me it seems that the OD-3 fits easier in the mix.
That Centura was my favourite 🙂, Od3 and the SF also got some really great sounds here , that Centura with de Lespaul with the amp near breakup was the killing combo to my taste . Great video, tone and of course playing 😃👍👍
Thank you!
I've been waiting for this. Compare the OD-3 to the King of Tone if you can.
If I could ever get hold of a King of Tone then I certainly would! Those things have a crazy long waiting list. Could you recommend a high quality king of tone clone that I could use instead maybe?
@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar theres a chinese clone, I think by Demon FX ( Aliexpress...) bout 70€s...
@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar Duke of tone? That's a beautiful les paul.
@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar Try the new Mosky Compass Drive , it’s a good clone and cheap.
Excellent explanations and demonstrations. Michaels other demos often do combinations with his od-3, but I have the Soul Food and wondered how they differed and this vid gave me some ideas on how to get some similar tones with the stuff I have.
The Electro Harmonix soul food all day long
I have and OD 3, it's in the box, maybe I should pull it out and put on my board, I just traded away my Soul Food last weekend but I do have Wampler Tumnus Deluxe on my board. Sometimes I stack my Blues Mood into my Tumnus. Wonder how the OD 3 would slice into the mix?
Into clean amp- massive difference, but both types works great. Into break up- I preffer OD3. Very informative stuff ❤
OD-3 and Soul Food! I always thought Klon's were supposed to be natural sounding? not midy?
"Natural sounding" is just marketing crap, the only way most overdrives differ from each other is their EQ curve, *all* of them boost or cut frequencies. Actual natural sounding distortion is horrific, which obviously has its own uses but a daily driver it is not
I got od-3 and soul food, but maaan, centura sound just amazing!!!!
The only one you don't yet have! Seems like it goes that way for all of us sometimes. At least pedal shopping is good fun, expensive, but good fun!
@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar so much fun! I actually found the way to improve Soul Food, with boss equalizer :) sounds exactly like Klon, but then I figured “what am I doing?” 😂
and no way I’m buying any pedal for more than 500 quid!
to me the boss od3 is a Marshall in a box to transform you clean amp to.a slightly more middy but still fairly wide frequency range rock sound..
The boss bd2 is great for a mild overdrive sound if you keep the tone pot below 10 o'clock but has slightly less low mds than the od3,
When you turn up the bd2 it becomes almost like a fuzz type sound..
The boss super overdrive does not really work on a clean amp,, It is far to middy and has a lot of bass cut of.. It works nice ok when soloing on a neck pickup but find it lacking on a bridge pickup for rock..
LP player here so I like the Boss more
How well would the SoulFood pedal work with a solid state amp? I have a 50w ss amp with a nice clean channel but a muddy overdrive channel.
Great since it's also marketed as a treble booster, which is exactly what a muddy amp needs.
The Klon is completely opaque, muddy, without shine/bright. The ehx doesn't overdrive the lows enough as it does with the midrange, the lows sound almost like the guitar by itself, alone; only the OD3 overdrives the lows, mids and highs constantly
I have both the od3 and the soul food. the are 2 totally differnt beast to my ears. For starters, I use the soul food as a clean boost mostly but whenever I want to nie near breakage I dial it in and its awesome. The OD-3 (surprisingly inexpensive!) takes me closer to Van Halen in the boost. Its snarling, and thick, I love it! (Thats what she said...) sorry, I couldnt resist :)
I had the Tumnus Deluxe or whatever and didn't care for it. Have an OD-3 on the way.
Nice right hand technique
Had the Soul Food and the Centura, just didn't work for me, still have the OD-3
great video and fantastic playing. i've got to ask, whats the song your playing during the clean boost section ? so nice
i love OD3
Now do a blind folded test...Real analogue Overdrive/Fuzz/Distortion pedals vs "clones" from multi--fx/modellors like Zoom, Line 6, ect......I find that until you start cranking them up they are VERY close. Other's may have different results. But yes, I agree Boss Overdrives, Blues Driver, Super Fuzz, DS-1, Mega Distortion............(dare I bring up the Metal pedals??)....for pedals that some players love to crap on, they seem to have made their rounds and be used for all kinds of recordings...Cheers!
The mids on the Klon types are awesome. Most pedals do not have the best mids, the Klons have that boost quality that takes the amp to the next level. Pedal heaven.
Cool video. Sounds like you're from Manchester.
They sound good, so buy the cheapest. You could buy 2 of the same brand and model pedals for any of these and have identical sonic differences that these pedals have to each other
Nice video and sound examples, I use a late 1970’s 14 Chip 2 knob Boss od 1 overdrive pedal to wake up a fender twin amp, and that’s very often the only pedal I bother run these days, but the OD-3 here really holds its own against the klon and the soul food. Unequivocally the big spenders throwing all that money away on real Klons would be way better served tonally by avoiding the klon altogether and getting a regular old boss OD pedal, and then spending the rest on fulltone tube tape delay unit, and a real rotary speaker cabinet, a old dearmond oil can tremolo, a vintage electric mistress and a old Dallas Arbiter fuzz wah, a nice looper pedal, still have money left for all gold cable runs? Personally speaking the sound of the tube tape delay unit into the rotary speaker cabinet is worth at least 7 klons to me!…LoL. xD
Wonder what his endorsement deal is with Boss? 😆 Almost every video is a Boss ad.
Ha! I should have an endorsement deal with Boss!
@@MichaelBanfieldGuitar You really should, though. Nobody could ever argue that you don't use the product! 🤘
🌟🙂👍🎸✨
This video has highlighted how underwhelming the klon sound
i dont care i pick my pedals for how they look
Thank you for playing some actual music! Too many demo videos are just random noodling, boring blues licks, and irritating shredding.
Martinez Timothy Miller Melissa Taylor Sharon
The Klon pedals distorts the highs like a bad MP3. Didn’t like it in the 90’s, don’t like it now.