5 Best-Selling DISTORTION and OVERDRIVE Pedals

Justin Waterfield from Long & McQuade Toronto discusses and demonstrates five of our best-selling DISTORTION and OVERDRIVE pedals. This is the first in a series of videos and will be followed up with videos on modulation and time-based effects... which are available now to watch!

Leave a comment below letting us know which of these is your favourite, and the most popular pedals will be included on a "People's Choice Pedalboard" for the final episode.

00:00 Intro
01:17 Boss DS-1 Distortion and SD-1 Super Overdrive
04:22 Boss DS-1 Demo
08:48 Boss SD-1 Demo
12:27 Boss DS-1 / SD-1 Side-by-side Comparison
13:52 RAT Pedal
15:51 RAT Pedal Demo
20:12 Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer
23:34 Ibanez TS9 Demo
28:24 Fulltone OCD
31:26 Fulltone OCD Demo
36:34 Electro-Harmonix Soul Food
39:10 EHX Soul Food Demo
46:19 Outro

Pedals featured (plus variations):

DISCLAIMER: The pedals featured in this video series are not necessarily THE top 5 in our best-sellers list. Due to their popularity, the actual top 5 in each category was almost always a Boss pedal, so after a brand was represented once, we continued down the list until the next unique brand. We did this in fairness to other brands we support in order to showcase what other options are available to our customers within the same effect category.

#longandmcquade #guitar #pedals

[realdumas]

I've got the OCD and it is such a great sound with my Fender Deluxe Twin Reverb amp. I also stack it with another pedal and it just responds so well to that as well.

[seamusfloyd]

My favourite of these would normally be the OCD but in this demo I really liked the DS-1. Must be the Les Paul.

[longandmcquade]

The pedals featured in this video series are not necessarily THE top 5 in our best-sellers list. Due to their popularity, the actual top 5 in each category was almost always a Boss pedal, so after a brand was represented once, we continued down the list until the next unique brand. We did this in fairness to other brands we support in order to showcase what other options are available to our customers within the same effect category.

[backlom]

Leave it to L&M to give us a little more than we bargained for! Great start to a promising series!!

[mileswatkinson]

I have always been a fan of the TS9, and always have one on my board. However, my favorite from this demo is the Rat, a pedal i don't actually have a lot of experience with. I also liked the OCD, although the Rat is more my speed. For some reason ive never liked the Boss DS or SD pedals, ive tried a bunch of times, always ended up selling them in the end. The Soul Food is good, but it doesnt beat a TS, and lets face it, EHX are at their best when they do over the top, insane stuff. My Big Muff is another lifelong pedal for me.

[hanieldill]

I have a Princeton Reverb with a Tube Screamer and Soul Food on my board. The Soul Food definitely gets my vote

[SplotchTheCatThing]

Only one of these I've got is the DS-1. I've been into industrial for a long time so I really like the super aggressive grimy sound DS-1 has going into a clean amp. And fair enough since that's the only kind of amp I've got right now! :D
The most interesting tones I've got out of it definitely came from feeding it into my overdrive pedal of choice (which isn't in this video). Generally do it by setting the tone knob on the DS-1 around 11 o'clock for a little bit of low-end emphasis and the tone on the overdrive to slightly emphasize treble. That way I seem to get a bright sound that's still good for all that heavy chugging, and it seems to sound better than setting both knobs the same. Get to have my cake and eat it too :)

[endezeichengrimm]

The SD-1 is the best value and it is basically the same as a tube screamer.

[lukemacisaac]

I'll go with sd1 it can clean up and get dirty enough

[xBlitzerx]

OCD or Rat sound best to me. But I think you really need to be in the room to properly judge.