Do Overdrive Pedals Sound That Different? Klon vs Tube Screamer vs Dumble vs Blues breaker
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- In today's video, I check out a bunch of overdrive pedals to see if they really sound all that different.
The pedals in today's video are
Klon KTR for the Klon style pedal
Vertex Ultra Phonix fro the Dumble Style drive
Ibanez Tube Screamer
And a KingTone Duellist for a Blues Breaker style drive.
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs.
Mid gain settings, the Klone and Tele absolutely nails the AC/DC tone, what a great rock sound!
Personally I think this demo shows how Klon or Dumble style pedals are ideal for use with teles. Move over to a strat and the tube screamer likely becomes more desirable while the Blues Breaker style is more attractive when playing humbuckers.
It would make sense for the KTR and Vertex pedals to sound similar. The Vertex is based off of a dumble which is a heavily modified Fender and then Bill Finnegan made the Klon to get the pushed Fender sounds without getting up to ridiculous volume levels 👍
Clicked for the pedals, stayed because the riffs.
Awesome
Love your videos, especially how you pick a topic, demonstrate the tones, and then give a comprehensive view of the results. Would love to see you do a video on different overdrive types: EQ transparent vs mid hump, soft vs hard clipping. low gain vs high gain, symmetric vs. asymmetric clipping, low vs high headroom, drive, overdrive, distortion vs fuzz., etc. I think if we understood these architectural options and how they impact tone, dynamics and feel, it might help us understand what pedals might meet out needs.
Great idea for a vid, I’ll look into it.
This is just me but I still go for the Tube Screamer. This midrange honk pushes better.
Excellent demonstration. And the Duellist sounds so majestic
Thanks so much! I love how you can take a seemingly complicated comparison and distill it down to the important bits while keeping the video to a reasonable length. Rock on!
It's more about how the od/fuzz reacts to my own playing and setup. Does it inspire me, that's the most important
Please play more. It was nice to hear you with even a backing track. I really want to hear you and Jivey play together.
Funny you should post this, as I've been thinking, that, after watching many of your videos, that everything you play sounds 98% the same (and the mid-gain demo in this video sounded 100% all the same to me) - meaning your "this new thing I'm showing off today sounds great" opinions don't mean that much - because everything you play sound great -- and essentially the same. In real life, there are differences (mostly in EQ) among OD pedals, which is easy to hear when putting them on top of a real clean tone, but once you're layering them on top of an already gainy tone, the differences, while still noticeable, aren't very big, and on a gig, any one will do. Great playing BTW!
Great video, very interesting. Thanks for posting.
Great comparison, thanks for the video. I heard the differences in low and mid gain but I needed headphones on high gain. At the end, it alleviated my GAS as I thought a TS was needed in my pedalboard, however I don’t go beyond mid gain.
The Ultra Phonix and the KTR are great, but my favorite OD pedals of all time are the Protein, the Hot Cake, and the KoT.
Did this same thing when I got my HX Stomp. Tried 30 overdrive pedals in a row. Was so surprised how little different they sounded until I got to fuzzes and the Steve Vai Carvin drive which models his amp. Just felt slightly more saturated and compressed and a little bit different in the mids for majority of the drive. Was eye-opening. Expected the complete opposite.
Just found 4 I like and learned to use them to their fullest and I'm good now.
I think that if sometimes the sounds is not so different between two single overdrives, the feel and dynamics can be very different. In fact, there's much difference for the player than the listener, but that difference makes you play differently.
Wow, never really thought the TS9 had that mid honk. I like that Klon a lot.😮 that Klon is a lot of $$. I’ll have to stick to my Tube screamer 😢😝🤘🔥
Like many guitarists, I keep thinking another OD pedal will make me sound better! Anyway, having gone through several, I've settled on: 1) my old faithful 1980s Guyatone PS-015, which has practically no compression, so once set to a sound, does not respond to picking or volume control changes; 2) an EHX Glove, which I use as a tone shaper with a hair of overdrive, and which somehow makes a good guitar tone sound even better, and 3) a Boss BD-2, which I set to a low gain overdrive sound, and which responds to pick attack. I had an OD-3 for a while, but it had far too much compression. Another really important point that reviewers rarely mention is background noise: if the pedal hisses, it's no good to me. Like the pedals in this video, mine sound different, although in a gig that may not be so apparent. If I had to choose just one for a gig, it'd probably be the BD-2.
i find the tube screamer has a bump in mids, but also chops top and bottom frequencies and narrows the overall tone, maybe compresses the most. makes the guitar sit in a mix well, but alot less dynamic and easier to play as it evens out attack. but, i like dynamics and lower gain, and my favourite is the duelist, very nice sounding expressive od.
Agree. The TS sits in the mix very well. That was the only time I liked the TS the best, but hey that's how we use pedals -in the mix.
Great video, thanks!
All those pedals have their own DNA and subtle differences that can mean a lot.
How they sound also depends on the amp (and settings) they are being run through. I like a TS through some tube amps that tend to have muddy low frequencies when cranked. I use it with low gain and max volume; this way it cuts some of that bass and pushes the amp gain further. Yes it does add mids, but it goes well with how I use it. It won't work with all amps and settings, I agree; but no pedal would.
Thank you for taking the time to produce a very interesting video 👍👍👍
My first overdrive was an MXR GT-OD. I wanted a Tube Screamer, but the shop I went to didn't have it and suggested the MXR. It's a good pedal, but it never did it for me. I bought the Boss Blues Driver in 2021, but sold it a few months later. It didn't stack well with what I had, and it didn't do it for me as a single overdrive. When I bought the T-Rex Møller, it felt better. But when I did a shootout between that one and the GT-OD, I was surprised. The Møller is supposed to be a pedal similar to the Tube Screamer, but it's much more transparent than the GT-OD (and the TS). But BOY does it stack well! My fuzzes still sound a bit thinnish, mid scooped through the fatter sounding pedal, the GT-OD, but through the Møller the fuzzes sound huge, fat, with an excellent mid range! It blew me away. The Møller also sounds great on its own on my rig. I'd like to buy Møller 2 just go do a little shootout. It's supposed to be exactly the same pedal, with a facelift.
That track had me thinking we were going to cut to a montage of the hof and Tom Cruse playing topless volley ball at any moment! 😅
Very interesting comparison! 👌
That Vertex is some bad ass tone Paul ! Liked it everywhere. 😎👍
when you played the Riff, for the non pedal sound, and the Zero Gain on each pedal, I was expecting John Mellencamp to start singing. 💯
The first times I heard all the fuss over the tone of Dumble amps and all the fuss over Klon overdrives, I checked them out and the first thing I thought was that they just sound like a slight variation on the basic tube screamer tone. Schnobel has a video doing a head to head with a tube screamer and a genuine Klon and gets nearly identical sounds from them.
Great video as always! I really enjoy all your videos, great playing, great sound and great information. What not to like. QQ, what is the amp you did this and "guitar sounds different" videos?
Ultra phonix for the win! All arounder right there
The real question here is "will your audience know the difference?" The answer to that is probably no no, because they may be listening through a telephone speaker (as I am at the moment) or possibly at a gig. In either case they're not going to hear the difference. That question is more useful, as someone who can't afford your impressive array of pedals can just pick up a Behringer clone in the knowledge the audience won't know the difference for the most part. None of them show that much of a difference between them IMO - I'd go with the cheapest. You can hear the difference because your ears are tuned to this kind of thing. To nearly everyone else it's a distorted guitar, full stop.
My thoughts exactly. For the studio setting, sure, one can reasonably obsess over the differences. In virtually any other setting, to me, they’re all “pretty much the same”
Ok, if it doesn't affect your playing
I agree,my ears don't work well enough to differentiate,Ive got cheap and slightly less cheap,joyo vintage overdrive is as useful as a reissued ts9 . Whatever makes you happy I guess
If the player can differentiate, that’s a factor! If it’s within budget, of course! 😢
Or, the question could be, “Which one do you enjoy the most and makes you play best?”. Music is supposed to enjoyable, right? If you take your Q to its ultimate state, then we’d all be playing through the lowest common denominator of guitar, pedals and cab sim. Nothing wrong with those options, and yes we all know that a lot of it just comes down to EQ and you can replicate all the famous OD pedals with a Boss EQ; but for some people it’s fun to gig, rehearse, practise and noodle through, for example, a tube amp with a nice board and guitar. These will also yield a good FOH sound at a gig, and I’ll be enjoying myself more. YMMV. EDIT: and I suppose the real question is, “Which one sounds best in the mix?”, as this isn’t necessarily the one that sounds best in isolation!
Your playing is fantastic on this video. Love the Tele!
Really interesting comparison. I was surprised how similar they all sounded. How they ‘feel’ is obviously vitally important to the guitarist. Different amps will make the pedals respond differently too. Though the ts obviously rolls off the bass, I don’t think that was so much of an issue when heard in the track. If I had to buy one of these based purely on this comparison (and money wasn’t an issue) I’d go for either the Klon or the Duallist. They all sounded great tbh though. Great job and playing as always. 👍
The other 3 sound great and quite similar but the Tube Screamer was not doing much for me - until mid-gain lead sound. Very useful video - as with last week’s one! Great work again, Paul! Thanks.
With cab sims and ir’s everything is homogenized. Even amps end up sounding very similar. We need old school mic technique and less compression.
I live these comparison videos. Klon was my favorite. It has something in the mids I like, and isn’t harsh. Ugliest look though. 😂
Great vídeo Paul and great idea too so that's a well derserved like :) Now about the pedals in this video they all sound great but the thing with the TS is that I think those were made to use in front of a already distorted amp so that as been my approach to the TS even in the Katana, thx again for this. And as always great playing man! that solo uffff! is great. You should do some more guitar playing licks ans tricks vídeos.
Thanks for making this really helpful video!! I'm in torn and need your advice :D
I like a lot the sound of the Duelist and would like to buy one later. I actually own a Doubledreamer and love it!
I read somewhere that the Duelist is also inspired by the Tubescreamer? Do you find that they have a lot of similarities/think if it's worth to have both?
Klon KTR for me, in that first bit it stood right out, followed by Duellist tied with Ultraphonix. The guitar being played though has a LOT to do with the sound. Great video as always, loved it! I would love to see you do a video of how a single pedal like a Duellist or Tubescreamer can sound different based on Strat vs Tele vs Les Paul kinda thing. Many of us gear whores go through hundreds of pedals because we keep trying them with different guitars and amps and wonder why we're always confused and chasing tone....this is why having many guitars can be a curse when finding "your sound". Hey, that's another video idea LOL.....
Great idea for a vid, I’ll look into it.
I have a few Klon Klones and others and while many pedals can have a similar sound, it really comes down to how a particular pedal plays with a particular amp, imo. An OD that shines with amp A may not fill the bill with amp B...
Sounds like a marketing pitch for the duelist
To me they all sound pretty good but the tube screamer loses some top end which I don’t like. Agree the duellist sounds fantastic.
Great video to watch before you get ready to drop $$$ on a shiny new pedal you just have to have. They all sound so close as to be identical.
Cool Jam. Has a little of that Satriani Surfing with the Alien vibe to it.
My fave overdrives in front of my jcm800 would be the Suhr Koko, Menatone red snapper and a classic SD-1….I thought the duelist sounded best (especially w/all the extra features)….🤘🏼
Interesting comparison. Given how popular the Tubescreamer is I was disappointed in its sound. I use a BB comp and a Bluesdriver on my board and they are very different. The Duelist sounded great and very versatile. Do I need another drive pedal? Probably not. Will I end up with another couple? Probably will! Will they make me play any better? NO! But it’s fn to get new gear now and again and pedals come in lots of price points.
What amp are you using in this?
I know this is not in this channel's wheel house, but I'd be interested in a segment where you use the pedal to EQ and shape the gain of a high gain amp instead of pushing a lower gain amp. It would be interesting to see how those pedals' individual characteristics translate in that context.
I look for a certain solo tone and my experience is that I can dial it in on almost every OD pedal. In that sense, they all sound the same to me. Versatility is only a factor to get closer to my favourite sound. I tried to have a second OD on my board for a different lead tone, but the way I set up my gear, it seems like an impossible task. Once I dial it in, it sounds the same again.
Tube Screamer didn't appear to have as much output at the halfway mark. Ya, more Blah tone than the other 3. With any overdrive or distortion pedal, you need to set output high enough, so the boost includes some extra volume.
To be honest, in the mix there isn’t so much difference. I’d guess most people couldn’t pick one out in a mix. I’d pick the one with the most versatility on tap. The Duellist for me.
Lol your clean tone is pretty crunch man, that’s going to massively affect the perceived differences of OD pedals pushing into it … would be curious to hear things through a cleaner clean
That's not the way to get the best out of a TS9. Keep the gain down (between 9 and 11 o'clock), output level above unity (position varies but on most versions unity gain is above 12 o'clock) and tweak the tone to taste. Use in front of a cooking clean amp or a moderately crunchy amp to get lead lines that cut through. Enjoy. Don't expect flexibility or "amp-like" sounds from a TS, it's a one-trick pony and can easily sound really bad with the wrong settings and/or amp setup.
Thanks for a good review. What amp are you playing through?
Hi Paul: yeah, the Ultra Phonix has definitely got that thing more than the other pedals. The Klon has a good performance on the high gain solo. The Duellist does well, keeping in mind it can be further tweaked from the stock settings and has got a Tube Screamer type section as well. I'd choose the Ultra Phonix for tone and the Duellist for versatility... Cheers
@thestudiorats what amp did you run these pedals thru?
Nice riff
I get what he said about the Ultra Phonix being smooth and chewy but I liked the Klon in the mix best. It had more bite to my ears. The TS was the worst. Doesn't do a thing for me.
PAUL CAN PLAY THROUGH A LINE 6 ON THE INSANE SETTING AND SOUND GREAT!
Cheers Greg, I’m not sure about that. Many guitarist WAY better than me have tried and failed.
Great demo Paul! VRTX wins...
Interesting video, but I have to nitpick a bit. Your clean tone isn't really "clean" is it? It's got some grit on it. I only mention this because while I appreciate Klon style pedals for how well they stack with other drives or how they push small tube amps into natural compression/saturation, they don't sound particularly great going into a true clean amp alone. Source: Me, who owns 2 klon style pedals and plays a Fender Twin Reverb.
thx for the review - would be nice to have that for pedal which does not cost half of a katana ;-)
TS9s sound wooden to me, just built a Klon clone and like it more. But i really like that Ultra Phonix.
Great as always! Master, are u using fractal for the base tone?
Cheers gonzalo, I was using my Matchless amp.
@@TheStudioRats thnx! Sounds great
Were you using the these pedals with the Tonex Pedal for this video? If not which amp?
I think I was using my Matchless for the video.
@@TheStudioRats Cool.. I just installed your Matchless Capture in my Tonex Pedal.
I drive an 18 wheeler for a living now, but used to build Amps for a living.
Lately I have been using my Quad Cortex, and I might try hooking up this Tonex pedal to it the same way you hooked you Bluguitar amp to your QC.
This video proves all you need is a OD and a EQ pedal to dial in your personal taste.
Klon the best
Is it fair to say that it’s possible to get a lot of drives to produce a similar sound but it’s also possible that some of the drives are capable of producing sounds that the other drives couldn’t? A Venn diagram of tones if you will?
Yup, I say this often. I can make two of my pedals sound the same, but if they're on my pedal board I will have them at settings that differentiate them.
Exactly. Same experience. I can make many ODs sound the same/close, but many can be dialed in to their strengths and sound/feel different.
Isn't the right side of the duelist a dumble?
Not to my knowledge
TS808 with no buffers, more or less
Eh, between my guitar’s volume and tone knobs, and the two channels and six knobs on my Marshall, I’ve got more than enough gain variation with zero pedals. Simple is better. Like AC/DC does it.
Overdrive Pedals and Tube amps have a relatively simple frequency response curve. Speakers on the other hand are ridiculous complex frequency response wise. If you want different tone go for different speakers not different amps/pedals
No1 clon, no2 vertex,
Everything sounds really good...except the tube screamer. And that is just my opinion.
They all sound vastly different to me
I feel like the only person on the planet that swears by the Maxon OD808X 😂 either I’m super unique or the pedal sucks
In a better overdrive I can hear muscle memory in fingertips.
All the tens of thousands of pedals are a complete waste of time and money up for everybody. How many great songs were done before the pedal explosion. I think guitar tones are worse today than they were back then.
No, they don't sound that different. They FEEL a lot different in combination with your fingers, guitar, and amp.
If guitar players had such incredible ears to hear the difference in tubes, string gauge, speakers, cables, etc., we’d more guitars playing in tune. Just a thought.
Do RUclips content makers sound different these days?
they sound the same
In the mix they all sound so close...let's be honest, isn't this quite literally the meaning of splitting hairs? A non guitarist would never be able to tell the difference in a track
Honestly the tube screamer sounds like hot garbage compared to the other three.
Rhett?
With reverb everything will sound too similar, especially if you go DI and IR.
It was an Amp (Matchless Independence)
@@TheStudioRats I know, but was it going through DI and IR or it was miked?
Hi, you are playing to long in-between pedals.
Each to their own, but the time playing between pedals appears spot on to me to allow sufficient time to distinguish the differences.
Yea it’s a guitar channel and that’s what he does. He plays guitar so we can hear what he’s playing. I not only like when he plays but you just might learn some new licks.
The word you were looking for is "too", and for that reason no one should listen to your advice.
Also, who starts out by saying hi?
Also, what are you talking about? He played one and immediately played one right after it. You don't like his style? Go make your own channel.
lot's of nice people commenting on this one - opinions are against the law so attack
Thanks for your comments guys, me thinks Ishindel might be the sort of person that gets a free meal and still complains.