Video: Overdrive Plus One—A Look at OD Combo Pedals

Nowadays, the effects pedal market is flooded with every flavor of effect imaginable, all with special feature sets to distinguish one from another and give each circuit its own unique spin. Things only become more varied when you step into the wide world of dual effects pedals. Today, that's exactly where we're going.

In the video above, Andy Martin is taking a closer look at a few excellent overdrive combo pedals, like overdrive plus boost and overdrive plus fuzz, or other combinations of dirt on dirt.

In some cases, these pedals are truly dual overdrives, packing more than one flavor of overdrive circuit into a single enclosure, as is the case with the Keeley D&M Drive, Wampler Dual Fusion, and the Way Huge Camel Toe. (We would have included the Analogman King of Tone in our video as well, but they're a bit hard to come by.)

More commonly you can find pedals with an overdrive circuit paired with a boost, as found in the Ibanez TS808DX, ThorpyFX The Dane, and the Laurence Petross Design Sixty 8 Deluxe, which also adds a second, pre-gain boost.

Andy then turns his attention to amp emulation–based overdrive pedals that feature an added boost or gain stage, like the ZVex Box of Rock, '59 Sound, and Wampler Thirty Something. The Thirty Something gives players Vox-like chime with an additional boost, embellishing the chime the original amp is known for.

Meanwhile, you have overdrive/fuzz combinations as well, like the brand-new Haunted Labs Carolina Reaper—which you can hear in the video above. The Carolina Reaper has peers in the Beetronics Royal Jelly and Chase Bliss Brothers.

As you can tell, even zeroing in on the specific dual overdrive market, there's a wealth of choice for players of all kinds. Combo compressor/drives like the Keeley Aria are yet a different spin, while multi-gain combos like the six-way Death by Audio Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe offer something else entirely.

What pedal you choose will come down to what you'd like your overdrive combo to do, and while this video isn't exhaustive, it's a great place to start. Be sure to check it out, and click on any of the pedals above to find your own right here on Reverb.