Acoustic Guitar Distortion Pedal For Sale (2024 Update)

Overall: I have more overdrive pedals then I realistically need but my selection of distortion pedals has always been disappointing for my taste, just never the right tone regardless of the set up. I figured this pedal wasn’t too much and saw good reviews for the pedal historically. Yes there are differences from the originals to the model we have today but this distortion pedal is ridiculously versatile. The distortion pot is very broad and goes from a subtle O\D to a full faced fuzz and then when you sweep thru the filter, that’s where you see how versatile the Rat truly is. Is this a pedal geared towards the modern metal sound? Probably not. Is this pedal a good product for the price? Absolutely! The ease of use with the three control knobs just makes this pedal a great first buy or for those, like myself, who seemed to keep coming up short with distortion pedals, a truly simple and reliable tank of a stomp box. Seriously, you know you want it, or you wouldn’t be looking at it. Make your dayEric

The Rat pedal is a classic and was my first pedal in 1986 when hi gain amps werent affordable to 15 year old kids. That pedal was mean ! It had the original lm308 chip and gave me the Kill Em All sound I craved. Fast forward to 2020 and the pedal has not changed much. Its mean and can give you fuzz to mean hi gain rhythm and violin line like sustain on leads. For $69.99 it is affordable and awesome. Cons : you cant power this pedal with a standard Boss power supply. Its either buy a Rat power supply/wall wart or run it on batteries. Also, the battery compartment is plastic and not as tank like as the rest of the pedal. The changing of chips does make the pedal lose some of its magic. The new chip is fine but I do miss the lm308 and maybe its hype Im falling for. It likely is. So what can you do ? I sent my pedal of to Utah to be rehoused. The pedal itself is hard to adhere to a pedalboard bc it is so heavy and awkward. So mine is being put in a more pedalboard friendly housing. Also, all the components like in and out jacks etc will be replaced/upgraded as well as some cheap components inside the pedal. You also get the lm308 chip. Hell yeah ! For $150 you get a massively improved pedal. Do you need to do this ? No of course not. But if you want the best Rat pedal youcan get ( which in the new housing also allows being powered by a Boss style power supply via wall wart or pedalboard) then the mod will be a fun way to modify an already smoking pedal.swampdonkey90

This is a great pedal and is very versatile. It can go from an overdriven tube amp tone at low gain settings to very thick heavy distortion/fuzz tone. I like to set the gain low to a nice overdriven tube amp tone and then have my boss SD-1 in front of it pushing the pedal harder. It gives it a nice 80s hair metal, Marshall JCM800 type tone. The tone of the pedal is great and it is very versatile and a good deal. It will stay on my pedal board. The other nice thing is is it's extremely easy to use with just 3 knobs and very easy to find a great tone. When I first got this pedal I didn't like how bright it was but that where the filter knob comes into play and you can roll off the brightness to match the guitar and amp you have and get a great tone. This allows you to play it on bright and dark amps a like. I use it with a Gibson Les Paul standard with burst bucket pro pickups into my 65 reissue fender Princeton reverb and I will also run it into my Boss katana MKii 50 watt. This pedal works great on both tube and solid state amps.Rhinosaur

Does the job well, when paired with a Tube Screamer (a need for me, otherwise sounded quite hissy)! A good distortion pedal for heavier metal riffs and very good value for money for me. Looks to be built like a tank, and sounds like a beast too.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

First, I have to admit, I'm a pedal junky. Not Sorry. I got this pedal on a whim to use up some backstage points. I planned to put it on a b board which is much smaller than my main board. This pedal takes up quite a bit of space due to its large footprint. If you are looking for a compact distortion pedal, you may want to keep looking. It's about the same size as some way huge pedals I have. I have one other TC box (HOF mini) and I think that is an awesome pedal. At first, I wasn't too stoked on the tone of this pedal. I eventually found some tones that I felt were usable. The thing that surprised me most was the mid scoop switch. I am not a "scoop the mids" metal guy, but to me, this pedal sounds best in the scooped or fat position. I thought I would like the raw position, but after the first day, I don't think I've used it in the raw setting. I think it works best in conjunction with a boost or overdrive pedal. If this is your first effect of this type, you may like it right off the bat, but if you are a little more experienced and really know how you want to shape your tone, you may find it a bit limited in its tone shaping abilities. All in all, for the price, it's a decent distortion. Always nice to have choices. Probably a good pick for those of us on a budget, or players just getting into using effects, but if you are a pro, really picky about your sound, or have a ton of cash, there are better boxes out there. I would reluctantly recommend. It's kinda like licorice, some people will love it, others will not.MCL

Although I haven't played professionally for several years, I still know a good piece of equipment when I check it out. I think that one would be hard pressed to find a better sounding pedal in this price range and there's enough overdrive for pretty much anything. The real surprise is that it has the versatility to clean up very well allowing the tone of your guitar to shine through in a natural manner for blues/rock etc. where you'd just like a little clip going on. I haven't had this pedal long enough to attest to the reliability on down the road, but am very happy with it performance wise at this time.Technodog

I use this for my Taylor 412 acoustic – going directly to P.A. (I use a Fishman pre amp as well) I play in various acoustic trios and I needed something to boost volume for solos – plus add a little sustain/overdrive as needed. I was pleasantly surprised with the tone, and I had NO feedback problems at all. It really helps put my acoustic leads in the same proficiency level as my electric leads. It takes a bit of tweaking to find the sweet spot between enough sustain – yet not too much distortion – but the sweet spot is very much attainable. There's a slight pop when you click it on – but not enough to be overly noticeable or annoying. I'm VERY happy with this pedal !!Tom P.

The pluses: its solidly built and it has nice blue lights on the individual knobs. The minuses: not inexpensive and did not approach electric sounds for my piezo Epiphone acoustic. Maybe if you have a great pickup system? Or if you already have a magnetic soundhole pickup then this thing can give some sounds. Instead I just grabbed my cheapo Zoom multifx pedal and created a patch with eq–>overdrive—>compressor—>eq and it sounds a zillion times more realistic.Go_Pats

Excellent sound. Lots of tweaking possible to get the souns right and avoid feedback. Footswitch a bit clunky, and glue on rubber feet useless, but they are the only negativesMark S.

I'm a metal guy at heart, so when I finally put the Metal Zone away and started building a grownup pedal board, a Tube Screamer was high on my list. I was particularly interested in this unit because of the size, since my beginner board probably isn't going to be very big. I plugged this little guy into my regular setup and was immediately blown away. If you've played some metal you know the setup: straight into a high gain amp, drive at 0, level at 10, and tone dialed in to taste. It made my Orange Micro Dark Terror, digital Bias FX rig, and even my sad old Marshall solid state roar, but in a much more defined way that never felt flabby or uncontrollable. I would recommend pairing it with a decent noise gate to trim down the hum, but that's just what electric guitars do when you crank the gain, and not a flaw of this pedal in particular. Okay, sure, it can do metal. I've also run this unit through a bunch of other setups and contexts. Through my Orange I definitely got very usable blues and classic rock tones by pulling the gain and volume back on the amp, and setting everything on the pedal around half way. I can even see potentially using it with the drive all the way up as a lead boost or to slightly break up a clean tone. This little thing is a beast for sure, and is pretty much perfect for my uses. It's not a transform your amp kind of effect, it's meant to compliment what your existing equipment already does. It has some specific things it does well, and it *really* nails them. #sweepstakesDan

Stop what you're doing right now. RIGHT NOW, and get this pedal. This tiny little monster sounds incredible and I am kicking myself for not trying any kind of Tube Screamer for my 20+ years of playing guitar. This literally sounds like a tube amp in a box. You can dial in the perfect amount of boost or drive without really impacting your guitar's true tone. If you push it all the way, it's almost in distortion territory, yet it retains warmth and picking dynamics…on the other hand it compresses nicely – like a tube amp. How does it do that? It's magic. I got this mini version because I'm building a mini pedal board, so it fits perfectly. Don't let the size fool you though, because it sounds incredible. The only drawback is that it needs an external power supply. Oh, and as an added bonus, this is made in Japan, and it shows. The switches, knobs, and inputs feel very high-quality. In my opinion, this is incredible bargain.Jamers

I collect Tube Screamers, and decided to get this for the collection. Soundwise, it works as a TS808; great transparent overdrive for stand-alone use but excels at boosting gain on an overdriven amp. Not as harsh or "dark" as a TS9, and a decent price. Definitely a TS to consider if you're trying to save some money; you definitely won't be missing out on the sound of the TS808. Also great if you want to add a Tube Screamer to a board, but need to save space. The only negative I can say is the Level and Tone knobs are difficult to see for settings, but that's true with most mini pedals. It doesn't take a battery, but there again, neither do most mini pedals. Construction is more solid than the Mooer Green Mile, and the TSMini is made in Japan (thought for sure it was Chinese). The price is great on these, but I'd also consider checking out the East River Overdrive by EHX; my current favorite Tube Screamer clone. As far as the Ibanez Tube Screamer line-up, this is seemingly the best value.Dave

I’ve been searching for multi effects/DI pedal to compliment my Weissenborn style acoustic guitar. My sound hole passive pickup does a great job except for a somewhat weak output. Enter The Zoom AC-3 to the rescue. Now I have output headroom to spare. Everything about it is top shelf. Extremely flexible effects (kudos to ZOOM for using knobs rather than menu driven). And, it’s build quality is terrific. Very solid unit. I’m very glad I decided to try the ZOOM AC-3. BTW, the AMS payment options are unbeatable!SC n NC

I needed a DI box that could also boost the signal to the PA for solos and the Zoom does that well; the stage tuner is helpful, though I still use headstock tuners from habit and have accidentally muted my guitar stepping on the tuner switch when I wanted the boost switch. Providing presets for guitar body style should be useful, but once an effect is chosen I'll likely stick with it and use the equalizer knobs instead. Rarely use reverb playing with other instruments through the PA. The anti-feedback function and lift button haven't been needed though that was a big problem with my old DI box. Not using batteries, but two AA ones probably wouldn't last long.Mike

Makes a 200 dollar guitar sound like a 1000 dollar guitar. Makes a 1000 dollar guitar sound like a 2000 dollar guitar and so forth. The tape delay and tremolo sound so lush and amazing. The other effects sound amazing too, but I love the tape delay. What is amazing about this pedal is that it gets your little nuances and fixes them by smoothing them over. It's hard to find this pedal under 300 dollars, but if you have to own just one pedal for an acoustic then this is the one.satu87121

I bought this pedal about a week ago online through Guitar Center. I was skeptical as I've played and owned dozens of Distortion Pedals. MXR Distortion+, Big M*** Pi, Boss Metal Zone, Blackstar DistX to name a few. This pedal is extremely sturdy and well built. Built better than any Boss pedal. The knob/pots are top notch. Unfortunately my amp is a Fender Frontman 212R. The distortion on this amp is terrible. When I first plugged this pedal in…it sounded similar to the Blackstar DistX pedal. It had this honky distortion sound…very similar to Def Leppard's High N Dry album. I put new speakers in the Amp recently. Celestion V30's. Holy cow! This pedal now sounds like a Mesa Rectifier! The EQ on this pedal are extremely touchy. They also work together. If you set the High's above 12 o clock and set the low's to say 9 o clock, the High EQ is almost unbearable. However, setting the Bass and High at 12 o clock, the treble isn't as bad. Which is why I say they work off of each other. The Distortion is clear and not muddy at all. Chords sound great and do not get lost among the vast amount of Distortion. It's essentially an Overdrive pedal that you can add more distortion to by using the Aggression toggle switch. When set to off, it is a very good Overdrive. When set up to Blue, the gain is increased and it's kept very tight. When set down to Red, It has even more gain than blue and is a bit more flubby but not much. All in all great pedal! My only complaint is the switching between clean and Distortion. If you switch between Clean and Distortion the Pedal doesn't immediately switch to the Volume you have it set at…it kind of starts off low and quickly builds up to the volume you have it set at. It would be sincerely annoying in live applications.Devarim12

This is the best distortion pedal I have ever used. Its sounds great run into a good clean channel and doesn't need boosting although it stacks very well with other pedals. I love the versatility of the aggression modes and find all three useful. I tried it as a pre-amp but preferred it in front of my amp. I play metal and hard rock and this pedal has the sound in my head. I love it!!!!David

I bought this pedal from Scan, I didn't know they sold music equipment, previously used them happily for pc components. Arrived next day and cheapest price on the internet. This pedal is hard rock and metal heaven. Amp Like distortion even when running into the clean channel of a solid state amp. Off mode is good, blue mode is the best a distortion could be and red adds a bit of thickness. I don't see me using anything other than blue mode. This pedal never gets muddy at any distortion level, always articulate making it a wonderful tool for solos. Even works fantastically with single coils of a USA Strat. A must for High gain enthusiasts. I don't normally like to buy expensive or boutique style pedals as I think they are usually overpriced and overhyped but this is worth every penny.ianto

Great little pedal, very good price excellent value,would recommend this to anyone who wants a good pedal at a low price.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Nice bit of kit, was expecting a bit more distortion, but am happy enough. I just went with the description of Heavy distortion as my guide. But still nice enoughupstart1-uk

So far, I've yet find a Tom's Line effect pedal that does not measure up to an expectation that otherwise passes with ease. This one makes for a verry nice little overdrive pedal and the price was right, too! The fit, finish, and construction of this pedal is certainly up to the task and certainly has the quality control to be right on track. I'm pleasantly satisfied with all of my Tom's Line pedals I own. I've expressly avoided high cost pedals as that defeats the idea around effect pedals to begin with- affordable, rugged, simple!mantamix

aroma tom's line pedals have big bang for a price very user friendly, and tone is spot on! Great pedal I own the whole line every one performs great! I use them thought a triple rect. 100w tube head and they just bring so many tones to the table. Most of the line is under 35usd some under 25usd that being said you can not beat these pedals even at three times the price on the market. Buy em up before the get big and they are over 100usd a piece like the mooer line is nowcaleb-corner-1989

This was one of my first pedals; it was the first distortion pedal that I added to my rig. Obviously, you know what you're getting when you see a pedal retail such a low price. That said, I've since added a lot of other pedals to my board and I sometimes come back to this one. It has a great bite and does well on the high end. I don't prefer the low end through this pedal, but I'm yet to use it with a compressor. At the end of the day, it's a fun intro to distortion and the price truly outweighs the cons to this pedal. If you're experienced with effects or if you're interested in playing live, this is not a great option. However, if you like jamming in the garage and you don't mind a bit of high-end feedback when you push it to 11, it's a steal.Mitchell

Recently purchased the Rogue analog delay for my acoustic pedal board when it was on sale and so far really like it. Saw that MF was having a sale on effects and saw the whole Rogue line of pedals on sale for a really REALLY LOW price so I thought what the heck? Before buying this pedal I did read a lot of negative reviews on the Blues Distortion pedal but again for the LOW price I was going for it. What did I have to lose?? I wish I would have listened to the negative reviews, I pretty much agree with them all. Not sure why they would call this pedal a Blues distortion???? Not even close. The only thing I can think of is there is something missing on this one ( and all of the other people who reviewed it) cause it totally missed the mark. Really, really thin with no gain. It could be called the stick man treble boost pedal and I think that would be a great description. I do love the color ( of the pedal) and thats as for as it goes for me. Pass on this one at any price!RockMeister

I liked this one enough to buy a 2nd one. It's a variation on a Blues Breaker. The first one I got cut so much bass I cracked it open and modified the caps in the "t-junction" to let more bass through. This second one I got was voiced more normally. This guy has a nice 'open dynamics' kind of feel to it. Not a ton of compression. It responds very well to picking dynamics. Honestly, it's one of the best, and cheapest, blues breaker clones out there. Its tone is basically 'light crunch' with a lot of low-end and high-end freqs removed. Low gain settings make it a really decent 'always on'/'base tone' kind of pedal for blues. If you want a flat response 'base tone', go elsewhere, like the Plumes or Timmy, but they feel more like modified tubescreamers, so it's a trade-off. Another really good BB clone pedal is the Tone City King of Blues. That one is truly low-gain BB territory, and comes with a Klon clone built into it. It's smoother though, less crunch, so it's a bit different.TheUnnamedBluesman

I do like the combo of distortion/preamp boost, but it wasnt super quiet… I found the Ibanez tube screamer to be quieter and better suited to my sound for Live performancesSteve

Sound quality and price are pretty good for the money, but it's not that well thought out logistically. No psu supplied and doesn't work on battery or a powerbank (not mine at least). The jewel is blindingly bright and means it's impossible to read the other controls which are pale writing on gold, so not distinct anyway. The boost operates incrementally so if you only have a bit of break up on the first channel you can't go to a full overdrive on the second channel. I prefer the system on the Blackstar HT Dual where the two channels are completely independent. It may do what you want, and it has it's uses if you already have a good hi gain channel 2 on your amp, but it's also got its limitations. Slightly disappointing.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This pedal is really more of a punk distortion pedal and it requires power. I swapped it out with a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver pedal that is battery powered and has a blues tube distortion sound. The BD-2 is better for buskering than the Fender MTG Tube Distortion Pedal.Ryan

It’s an Ibanez tube screamer, so of course it’s wicked. Easy to use, bombproof, and gives you that extra bit of oomf for a big solo. If you want pure dirty blues then I’d go for the 808, but the TS9 is great for rock, it’s got a slightly brighter more aggressive tone. These things really shine with a Strat, but they sound just as great with whatever guitar you’re using, and they are just loads and loads of fun. If you’re currently wondering whether you should buy one, the answer is yes, you should.Victoria E.

Can't say enough good things about the Ibanez Ts9. It's a very versatile pedal and adds a mid boost plus overdrives the preamp in a pleasant sweet way and just adds that extra MOJO or magic something to the guitar tone. Great for lead and rhythm from 80s rock to the most extreme metal bandsaeron_chrom

The tube screamers are, I think, a foundational building block of getting a good blues tone out of your rig. Obviously, your guitar and amp will have a big impact on your sound, but this pedal can help you find that special sweet spot of tone. Being an overdrive pedal rather than a hard distortion pedal, do not expect the long singing sustains you would get from a traditional distortion pedal, but more of a crunch, an added grit. I think the pedal will interface well with a distortion device like OCD, and spatial pedals like MXR Carbon copy, and TC electronics hall of fame… if you can afford them… they are expensive… the price you pay for quality. If you are into blues, this is the pedal. If you are into hard rock, this pedal is good in front of a layered chain of distortion pedals to over drive some killer tones.Jim in the box

If you play between the boundaries of Metal to Hard Rock, you will love this pedal! I've own this pedal for years and it has made some eyes pop and gotten me compliments from all sorts of Musicians to include professional ones. Its very versatile and can literally make any rig scream! Even very simple setups like a decent solid state amp and a cheap guitar.I found That really clean amps like Fenders, and Rolands can really make this baby shine due to its high gain and very distorted nature. This pedal is very responsive and has so much attack its insane. The other cool thing about this pedal is the built in noise gate which really helps clean up the hiss of the gain. it also has a mids scoop similar to the signature Dime distortion pedal. This definitely beats all pedals similar to it like the Boss Metal zone, the T-rex bloody mary, Dime Distortion and many other famous pedals. I love howthis pedal has can get many famous sounds like Randy Rhoads, Disturbed, Pantera, Early metallica, All That Remains, Ratt, Van Halen, Godsmack, and more. The only thing about it that some people may not like is that the pedal does have a little bit more controls than average ones and that its high gain maybe too much for some. However I found that if you roll the gain down and mess with the frequency knob and equilizers, you can get a more Crunchy overdrive sound. This pedal literally brings my rig to life and I can't find anything wrong with it. Definitely recommend getting it.Buckshot1894

This pedal is a one trick pony – brutal sounding heavy metal. It can run the gauntlet of thrash, modern, nu, and classic metal – everything from old school Dio and 1980s Metallica to Pantera to Trivium to Avenged Sevenfold. It can scoop the mids out entirely for the dry … And Justice for All sound with the push of a button while the push of another button can enable a nice percussive sound and prevent any bleedthrough of extraneous sound. Using mids dial on this pedal is not a bad thing … it shouldn't be turned down unless specifically needed for a certain sound. Mine is actually set around the 1 o'clock position. Where care needs to be used is actually with the low and especially the high (where it can sound like an annoying chain saw if turned up). Take time and care with dialing in the sound. It is easy to get a brutal sound if used properly and not the high pitched awful whine that you might find on demo videos on YouTube. Definitely recommend using this pedal on the clean channel. Boosting it with an overdrive pedal isn't necessary or useful.JGB

Overall: I have been using my tried and true Boss Metal Zone into a Boss 7 band EQ for a few decades. I had been looking at getting the Waza Craft Metal Zone before my old Metal Zone takes a dump on me, but I also wanted to see what else is out there. I watched a video review of the MXR Fullbore Distortion and was impressed, but not enough to buy one. Well! My fiance took care of that for me and ordered it for me as a surprise. I plugged it in right away the day it got here. I plugged it into my 7 band EQ. I kinda gave it a half ass listen and wasn't impressed. I picked it back up and figured I would exchange it for a noise gate as that is what I needed more. It sat there for a week or so and I decided to give it another chance. I plugged straight in to the front of my half stack and used a suggested setting I found online. I had to back off on my maps EQ across the board and just tweak it. What I heard was something that sounded familiar and new at the same time. I cranked it up and tried the on board noise gate and it works great! Basically it's a distortion, EQ and a noise gate in one pedal. I tried my old set up side by side with this pedal and the fact that this one pedal eliminated 2 other pedals in the chain was what finally sold me. I love this thing. It likes high gain pickups. My Strat with a Seymour Duncan TB 6 Distortion in the bridge sounds like a flame thrower! Distortion is a very personal thing. Not everybody will love it. So far everybody who has listened to me says that it sounds insane, badass, etc. For the music I play it fits. It's an all around sound I can use on everything I cover on guitar. To me that's the goal to have one sound do it all. I'm very happy that I kept it and gave it another try. One thing to remember is that with this pedal it's okay to back everything down and especially on your amp. Usually I would put everything in the middle and adjust my Distortion and EQ around that. With this pedal I have the amp's EQ, everything on 2-3. This could be the Distortion sound your looking for.Jon

I can get this pedal to do three things: a very subtle reverb that adds a touch of space, a room-like reverb, and a super long-tailed ambient reverb that's so expansive it almost sounds like it's mixed with delay. There are other reverb pedals for a bit more money that have more options built into them-spring, plate, hall, room, shimmer, modulated reverb, and so on. With this pedal I find it difficult to switch between the different sounds since it's a lot of knob fiddling. It does sound absolutely killer, which is why I gave it 4 stars, but I don't recommend it if you want to easily switch between different types of reverb. For me it will be more of a "set and forget" pedal for long ambient reverbs.Andrew

I was recently using one pedal board for all my guitars, and the chorus I had was mainly designed for use with acoustic guitar. Now I'm rearranging things to have one board just for my electric guitars and all I needed was a basic chorus pedal of quality build and tone. I knew from reviews the JHS 3 series was perfect for me. I've been playing for 57 years and have owned pedals in the $100 to $500 range to provide my chorus effects. No matter if I had mulitple options in some stomp boxes I usually settled on a good subtle setting, so I knew there was no need for me to get anything fancier than the JHS. It sounds are good as the little blue Boss Chorus I bought way back in 1980.Jon

This thing is unbelievably excellent. I’m down with serious chunk and couldn’t find a pedal anywhere that tickled my fancy of fatness of tones and clean as a whistle chugging. If you want metal, this will give you the sound you want, the thing has six knobs and they all do great differences in tone and distortion. My mate is a full blown metaller gtar ist and scoffed at me buying this thing. He came round and I said that I wanted to hear him thru this pedal so he did after I dialed him in to my liking amd he blew himself away with me alongside him He now has one too!!!! HahahaGeoff K.

This is a boss pedal in a plastic case. Great distortion tones, loads of tweakable sounds which is one reason why I like it. I own quite a few "budget friendly " pedals, many if which are equal to more expensive originals. This is no exception.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

My oh my. What a rockin' stomp. I'll tell you a story… My wife bought me a Delta Labs "Rock Distortion" pedal for our 1st Anniversary. Totally sweet, right? Being that I already have a $2k+ half stack and an assortment of pedals, I decided I probably didn't need the pedal and returned it after trying it. In all fairness, it did sound pretty good. Very marshally. Deciding to then spend the money on some mic stands or some drum heads, I saw a bright orange MD-2 sitting in the case with a used sign in front of it. I had been curious about this pedal for awhile as some friends had recommended it to me (yah right, I got a Marshall and Mesa/Boogie, I don't need a dirt box!). I plugged it into the Frontman 112 at the store and was pleasantly surprised. It blew me away. Deep, thick. It sounded like I had a Marshall JCM2000 4×12 cranked low right in front of me. How'd they do it? I fiddled with the settings for about a half an hour, I couldn't quit playing through it. I tried it with an H/S/S strat, and while it shined on the humbucker, the singles sounded killer too. Knowing that my own personal want vs. need war was kicking in, I decided to skip the mic stands and the drum heads (needs) and buy the want (MD-2). I brought it home and plugged it into several different amplifiers – a Peavey Classic 30, a Peavey Rage 112, my Mesa Boogie halfstack, my Marshall, and my P.A. system. My results were varied. All of them sounded fair with the pedal in their own right. I found differences though. Through the Classic 30 the pedal sounded like a Boss distortion pedal. Nothing special. Lots of tweaking required and the bottom end sounded like mud so I had to tweak it to sound like a DS-1. Through the old Rage it sounded like a digital replication of a muffled distortion pedal. Through my half stack it was a little more convincing and huge but still sounded like an average Boss/Roland stomp box. Underwhelmed, I plugged the pedal into the P.A. hoping for the best (as this is where I would be using it most). There it was! It sounded as if I was playing my half stack at lower volumes. Your RESULTS WILL VARY with this pedal depending on what you feed it through. But considering that it sounds best through P.A. systems and small clean amps like the Frontman, I can consider it being my portible Rectifier for smaller gigs. OK, so it may not have the stage appeal the stacks do, but the sound is close – and even convincing to most. LISTEN UP! I always keep the BASS and GAIN boosts cranked and adjust the Distortion level to taste. This pedal will react to small knob changes and can do slight break-up while still retaining a Strat's pure tone. The GAIN boost is a warm boosted Overdrive circuit that makes the pedal sound more like a Mesa/Boogie and the Distortion knob is more of an artificial Marshall tone though it is best when it is at noon or lower. If you keep the GAIN BOOST on full at all times, you can get a warm break-up by keeping your Dist between 0 and 9 o'clock. Very versatile! I keep the Treble around 1 o'clock to keep the fizz at a minimum. I recommend it but make sure it works through your gear before you drop the lettuce on it. This pedal can be underwhelming or overwhelming – your results will vary!zippidydoo

I bought this product not expecting much. I've previously purchased a DS-1 and was fairly happy with it, but that pedal has virtually no bottom end. Seeing as I play sharp and clean with Danelectros and Strats, I not only needed a bit of bass with my guitar, but a bit of extra gain too. This pedal is exactly what I was looking for. This beauty manages to keep a very focused sound regardless of how much gain you have dialed in, yet maintains a very natural tone and a decent high end. I had previously heard that it sounded very digital, but I managed to get a great deal of tube-style break up along with some cold, near metal tones with a single coil guitar. This pedal is perfect for what I play (alternative and power pop, among many other genres) and I'd recommend this pedal to any guitarist looking for a distortion stomp box with some variation.broach1991

This pedal was made with low frequencies in mind; it sounds great when used with low tuned guitars or a bass guitar. Needs a mid boost beforehand to sound good at standard tuning.Timothy

Sounds great. Also surprising versatility with the HP/LP settings. One criticism is that its very loud. Slotting in after 2 boosts and an OD, then before a fuzz has played havoc with my gain structure as, with those other pedals operating within normal vol ranges, I've found the volume on the OCD needs to be most of the way down when using drive greater than 12-o-clock which is even more noticeable on the HP setting. Btw, that's into a highish headroom amp so if you were using the OCD to further drive an already breaking up amp into much more compression then probably not that great an issueReviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I needed something to stack along side of my TS that did not overpower the sound of the other pedal or sound too thick on its own. This pedal sounds fantastic with single coil pickups and pairs extremely well with other OD pedals. I like the fact it can run on either battery, 9V, or 18V AC connections, making this a great choice if you have limited ports on your power supply. On its own, it stands out very well when dialing up the drive settings and it sounds absolutely great coming through a properly dimed tube amplifier. It is no coincidence you see these pedals on the boards of many great professional players… This box just has excellent tone and all their products are handmade in the USA with plenty of care involved–making them a quality purchase. I am looking at collecting a couple of other earlier versions as some have tonal differences that work better with other set ups. Overall very satisfied with this purchase.built_for_speed

I've owned the Fulltone OCD for just over a week now and I can confidently say it's the best overdrive effects pedal I've ever had the pleasure of using. It has a sturdy build, it's versatile, it retains the original tone and colour of your guitar/amp combo and it's LOUD! I wanted a pedal that would fit compliment my '65 Twin Reverb Reissue amp and Telecaster, I love the tone of my setup but I really needed some bite in the shape of a good overdrive. After doing some research and seeing the name Fulltone OCD pop up again and again I started to get very curious about this pedal, the clincher was when I saw it on the pedal board of a guitarist on youtube who was showing off some of my favourite licks! I'm glad I chose the OCD. The fact that new OCD stock routinely goes out of stock shortly after going on sale on most websites should tell you everything! Recommended.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Look, if you REALLY have to have a Martin D-45 sound, guess what Of course this pedal will never do that. BUT, if you need something that sounds somewhat acoustic-like in a band mix and don't want to carry an extra (not to mention fragile) instrument, then this will work just fine. Not authentic, not great, not amazingly life-like, just FINE. With realistic expectations this pedal is as good as any for what it intends to do. I use this in an A/B/Y rig. Tha A side goes to my regular pedalboard and amps. The B side goes to this pedal and a volume pedal direct to FOH via a direct box. I get the "acoustic" sound fed back to me through my monitor (or ears if that applies occasionally). I can have straight electric, straight "acoustic", or use the Y option to blend the two to my liking. Works for me, YMMV. I play "for-hire" mostly and my clients love the versatility of my setup. Also, DO NOT run this pedal through a tube amp if you want the best results. It will definitely work best either run straight to FOH or through a clean solid-state amp. Hope this helps some of you who may be on the fence.steveheroan2010

Have read many reviews both positive and negative about this pedal. The negatives were not specific but didn't hear their guitar and amp give an acoustic sound with this pedal. The positives were sometimes vague but they liked it. Then some went on to say they liked it not through a tube amp but through an acoustic amp or a PA system. I HOOKED IT up through a very small practice amp set clean and used the emulation out into a mixer then into a low power full range PA type system. Sounded excellent with neck single coil. Didn't try it with the middle single coil nor the bridge humbucker. I am very happy to have this pedal.Kenmorek

I tried both configurations (in front of preamp/amp head and into FX loop return), and it really only worked well for me into the FX loop return bypassing the Amp head preamp, which is the way it was probably intended to be used. It sounds great for everything from Tool to Metallica and even got some pretty killer Sludge/Stoner sounds out of it with an OD in front (which is what I was buying it for hence the 5 stars). Dialing back the gain was able to produce some nice dirty blues sounds. As far as modern extreme metal sounds, I couldn't quite dial in anything like say Fit for an Autopsy or Whitechapel. I think you need to stick to 5150's and 6505's for that sound. Otherwise it can really cover the gamut for hard rock, punk, metal. Great preamp overallCosky

This is the overdrive pedal you want for anything 90's and heavy to even more modern sounds. I imagine it would be capable of pulling off Djent as well. Very versatile for heavy sounds. The gain is fat and saturated. The VH4 channel 3 gain is very distinct and this pedal gets you very close to that soubd at a fraction of the price. I run mine straight into a 6watt tube amp, and it gives me all the distortion i need. It also has killer tone, and the eq knobs are very reaponsive. It's more like having an extra amp channel than a pedal. It's really incredibleEric

Although it took about an hour of concerned and initially disappointed fiddling with the various settings and 4 amps I had before I got it to sound the way I wanted (like Tool), once I got there, whoa! Yes, this pedal makes the single biggest difference to sound like Adam Jones from Tool than any other item in the chain. I already had Mesa Boogie and Marshall valve amps, lots of pedals, a Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst, drop D tuning, heavy strings, and had always wondered about getting the actual VH4 amp. When I found this VH4 pedal I was sceptical initially, read some reviews, then took the chance, was initially disappointed for the first hour, but then bingo! This really does get you in the right place, and once the sound was right I was playing away for hours getting more and more pleased at how good it sounded. I realise that Tool use multiple amps, can play far better than I can, everything is recorded immaculately, blah blah blah, but for someone who wants to get close to the sound in a home environment for personal pleasure and to see what other things I can improvise sound like with a similar Tool sound, this pedal is perfect. So I would thoroughly recommend it, but just be patient initially – for the first hour I was getting that sinking feeling that I had wasted my money on chasing the impossible, as I tried plugged into this amp then that. In the end my best sound was plugging the pedal straight into the power amp of the Sub Zero 60 amp using the VH4 power amp output. That sounded better than going into the front end of the Mesa Boogie Nomad 45 and Marshall SL5. It really does sound like Tool, given all the caveats. It is worth the money if that is what you are aiming for.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This is the amazing Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, loved by all who use it. Amazing value at just £55. I won't bore you with stories about how robust it is, because we all know Boss equipment lasts forever. It looks and feels great, but most importantly, sounds incredible. I play punk rock, and with my Gibson SG Special, plugged into my Marshall JCM 900 this delivers exactly the sound I want. I loved that in the manual it gives example sound setting, one of which was British Punk. That just made me smile. I knew instantly it was right up my street. Oh, and if you're into electronics, this thing is made of pin-through-hole components, so it leaves it open for a good bit of modding. There are plenty of guides for that online. Sitting in my Boss BCB-30 pedal board this never fails to make me smile.Thomas B.

Now I don't hate it, but Its not my first go to pedal. I like the more modern BOSS "Metal Core". It is however like all BOSS PEDALS built like a tank, extremely reliable and a great first pedal. For the money, this is a super value. I found that I like it for "Gain Stacking" in combination with the BOSS MD-2"Mega Distortion" and a few other pedals. Even two DS-1 DISTORTION together improve the performance to me. Overall it's not terrible and I see were for some it could really be a price but I lean towards Heavy… Heavy Metal and for that it's more a corvette when you need a Lamborghini. Do I hate it, NO… I actually own two of them.kt.precisio-7

I have a 60w Fender Deville amp. Lovely clean sounds straight from the amp but couldn't really use the overdrive channel without the volume getting to an inconsiderate level at home. This pedal has addressed that issue really well. This pedal now provides me really raunchy distortion while providing a greater control for volume. The pedal also provides a nice boost in changing between a clean channel directly from the amp and then through the pedal. Very pleased with this investment, particularly for the price. Very easy to use.Gregory H.