Ultimate Overdrives Part Three 

I enjoyed all three parts. My biggest takeaway: I want a Marshall JTM 45.

Awesome videos! It should be a #4 with fuzzes, and complete the circle.

LOL! I "was" that kid in '78 with a solid state Gibson GA20 amp and my dad got me a DS-1 to get that heavy rock sound. How many thousands of hours I spent playing sitting on the edge of my bed through the DS-1. Silver screw long dash and no indicator light as it really was just a check light. But you knew when it was on. Played through that thing for years then stowed it away. I started using it again and wow, there was that sound of my angry youth. Sounds very similar to the one in the video and is amazing through my various tube amps. I still have the Gibson GA20. Fired it up after watching this vid. Hadn't been played in 25 years and man it is a warm sounding amp. Warmer than what I remember. These videos are inspiring guys! You debunk all the crap and cut right to the tone. I don't agree with absolutely everything but the level of professionalism and guitar skill makes very strong cases for all your choices. These videos are truly inspiring.

This is the gold standard on this topic. Thank you both.

Could literally watch this all day.

Also all your reviews are great but the natural reverb in that room is just perfect.

I've just rescued my original mk 1 Guvnor that had been just lying around not being used for at least 15 years. Plugged it into the clean channel of my H&K Dual 6L6 Statesman and was like "Why the hell haven't I been using this?!??!!" So I reconfigured my board to fix it on!!

Hopefully this is a 20 part series!! Love it great work

A terrific series of videos so thank you. I have learned a lot and you have unlocked some key mysteries and I am indebted for the knowledge I've gained, thank you.

Always a pleasure to hear Micks tasteful technique, especially through these combinations of toys... nice work.

Thank you, Guitarist Magazine, for these videos. Unbelievably good tones all the way through, and just when I have to be working towards finals :,)

Thank you so much for that great little series of videos :) I bought a guv'nor (the only classic pedal I was not stupid enough to sell again btw) back when it hit the stage... It worked great with all the different Marshalls I had through the years even today with my sl5 Slash. Well you never go wrong with a driven Marshall, a Paula and a guv'nor of course ;)

"Hello ladies..." These guys are the best! My personal favorite combinations were Tele > Guv'nor > AC30 and 335 > DS-1 > Marshall. I was REALLY surprised by the DS-1. It sounded awesome!

Great review and great POINT: Strong tone is a combination of all 3 components: guitar + amp + pedal.

Fabulous! Loved these three videos. I bought a Guv'Nor in the 80s and only sold it recently. It was in mint condition with original box. Why oh why did I let it go?? Mick and Dan - you guys are brilliant.

I'm truly enjoying your "highly instructive" videos !! These are quite informative.. some of the best "IF NOT" the best on this site... Not only are they chocked full of great information.. they're just a boatload of fun... Thanks again... looking forward to seeing you in future videos Dan and Mick... across the pond "Yank" in potatoes in Idaho US....

You guys are amazing and this was beautiful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Loved the idiotbucker remark :D

Totally agree with the guys...Les Paul/Guv'nor/Marshall is just awesome!!! Thanks for this excellent series of reviews...loved em ALL :)

Is this an ad for Converse? Neat

In the last year I've become a fan of The Pedal Show. It's interesting to see that they guys have gotten a lot better and being comfortable on camera than they were when this was shot.

I have a Boss DS1 which I bought in 1979 and it is still on my board today

The harmonic 8D complexity with a slight mid presence with a sparkly articullation on top is really great in this video

This was a great series! I just wish I could hear the Fender amp with some of these pedals.

I have that Rat! Glad a grabbed one while they were available. Sounds so good!

Great series guys. I was surprised how much I liked the Les Paul -> Boss DS-1 -> Marshall. Huge and thick. I've used many of the pedals featured in parts 1-3 and it was cool to see how you guys set them, and which guitar/pedal/amp combos sounded best. A few real surprises in the mix. I now realize I'm always trying to make my Strat sound like a Les Paul, need to go grab one I guess.

OCD all day for me... great series of videos guys!

Great series. Maybe do another with the best of the rest using your favorite boutique drives and distortions...

OCD all the way...i LOVE that sound kinda between dist and fuzz...gained all the way up the distortion of the OCD gets very "fuzzy", i love it...also the LP/HP Switch makes the pedal come alive..

That les paul sounds absolutely amazing. You should do a video just playing that gibson through a bunch of different amps. I bet you can't make that guitar sound bad.

Pretty funny how we all have such different tastes. I'd pick Strat - OCD - Marshall as my favorite combination.

This has been a real eye-opener, thanks! I have to say, I'm really surprised by The Guv'nor!

Hey, I have that same Marshall Guv'nor pedal. It's wonderful.

Great job, all three installments! Thanks very much for your scholarship. Questions: the Crowther Hotcake... Also a classic. In your opinions, how and where would this sit within the spectrum that you've covered? And how well does it stack with others, such as your choices from the 12 you covered (and which)? Thx in advance for any further insights... Cheers.

Hey! Thanks for a very valuable run-through. Please add some info on the other stuff you used like speakers, delays, pedal orders on the board, etc. Cheers!

11:35 was awesome! I knew you had it in you, Dan! ;-) Tele->Guv'nor->AC30 in my book.

That Marshall + Marshall combination is so huge.

Definitely the best ds-1 I've ever heard.

When you made the comment of the OCD pedal probably not sounding good with a Tele or a Strat. Robin Trower sure gets a great tone from his OCD. But he runs it into a Marshall or a Cornford in the studio on occasion. He also uses the Fulltone Fulltone Drive also :-) You are so right about the Boss Distortion, I got rid of mine because it was very thin sounding unlike the older model that your playing.

Love it! those guys really know

Love you guys and the gigrig yt channel too. Quick question. You were in jtm's low imput channel and what were knobs set to. Great cleans. I have 78 JMP and 86 JCM 800. Thanks!

Although I grew up in the bayou swampy South, listened to all of the Southern rock you could desire, CCR, Molly, 38sp, Lynyrd, SRV, I also loved Rush, Zep, Ozzy, AeroS, AC/DC, DefLep, Ratt, Dokken, and continued into my early 20s with AIC, Metallica all while simultaneously queuing into all of the pop music and alternative bands like The Sundays. Don Henley, Walsh, there have been hundreds of examples of good music that were not blues wanking. To presume that Zakk Wylde plays idiotbuckers is so far beneath me, I make no claim of one better than another in this craft. Sade is welcome on my radio, anytime, any day. So I see these guitarist videos and admire the intellect and integrity, but to be honest, you are a mile from target. None of these 1/2 power low gain demos worked whatsoever, save for the Lovepedal. You might have hit the mark on SRV, close on AC/DC, but there is no Dokken, most Rush also not available. Much less John Sykes. You could though, grow some spine and try. Don't berate those who have come before you and blazed into darkness of The Necromancer, rocked On Through the Night, Balls to the Wall.

I gigged with a Marshall Guv'nar years ago, and I agree that it only sounded good with the 'right' amp, otherwise it sounded like someone had covered the amp in a bunch of towels and I was forever tweeking it.

These are awesome! It might be worth mentioning eq settings on the amps to give an idea of how to replicate these sounds (although obviously depends on the room). maybe even a future bit about setting eq on various amps?!?

great! I wish you compared the OCD (in a medium gain setting) with the King Of Tone. I love the OCD, how fast the attack is, it's dynamic, and how it cleans up so well with the volume knob. How comparable is the OCD and the KOT in these characteristics? Thanks!! :)

A video like this about the new amp sim distortions like the 5151, the Friedman BE-OD, and the mesa distortions would be sweet

Really great video! Can't help but notice there's quite a difference in gain settings between the pedals, for example the Guvnor seems to be cranked while the Rat is somewhere at 11 o clock. Any reason for this?

What year is that DS-1 that's what I want to know. That thing sounds amazing. I play the blues, and I love the sound of my Mojo Hand FX Rook and Mad Professor Simble Overdrive, but sometimes I just want that rock 'n' roll tone and I think the DS-1 is what I'm looking for.

A player must first decide whether the rig is for live shows or for just at home. Then decide upon a specific genre or specific song set or as some general copy band. Then decide whether multiple tunings or a single tuning. Then decide on multiple guitars vs. a single guitar. Then decide how many guitar signals to the P.A. your system must provide. Then choose guitar(s) and amp(s) and speaker(s). Then select a tuner and mute method. Then select gain and modulation effects to match the amps and guitars chosen. Then choose the best order of effects. Then, decide the controls settings. Then decide if effect combinations are effective. Program switch gear to minimize stomp pedal dancing. Use a series of sheets in a spreadsheet program to answer and document the answers to these questions. Ta dam! :)

Great show(s) I wish you would have played the DS1 through the Fender. Many of us have Fenders and other 6L6 amps and we need help to get a better distortion sound

haha the "stupid idiot bucker" comment got me laughing

The OCD is much more than a distortion. It's a great low gainer and boost too!

That is the BEST Ds1 I've ever heard

I suggested to Chris George that they reissue the original guv'nor, and he said they looked into it but the dealers felt there'd be little interest in it! Damn, I'd be interested in one.

To me, the difference between overdrive and distortion is the clipping of distortion - that high-mid grind that you either love or hate. Due to the clipping, you hear less of the guitar coming through and have a harder time cleaning up with the volume knob. If you need more gain, try stacking overdrives before resorting to a distortion :)

Immediately searches eBay, Reverb etc. for the Gov'nor. Add to cart, purchased! Thanks for feeding the monster guys! PS - I have a Shredmaster and it's one of my favorite all time pedals so I can attest there is some sort of magic in the 90's Made in England Marshall pedals.

can you guys make a video on the Kemper?

6:55 the blue Strat is alive!!

Mick, what are you waiting for? Been waiting three episodes now for you to pick up that les paul.

I want that backline... all of it! :D

Just Discovered Your Show and Love it. Question: Why use pedal when can get great overdrivin sound from tube amp? I'm trying to choose amps, between 1 channel and using pedals or 2 channel to get great tube overdrive. advise or suggestions?

Speaking as a player who lived through the 80's - it was a rough time, I've never been able to bring myself to buy either a DS1 or a guitar with a locking trem! The older DS1's supposedly sound much different and if a "jazz" guy like Mike Stern can use one to such great effect, they cannot be all bad?!

so how does The Guv'nor mk2 compare to the classic one? I'm tempted to go for the GV2, it's really cheap compared to boutique offerings.

Is that a modified AC30? It sounds nice, so different from the current C2 models.

The DS1 sounds good because he has the tone rolled back The Rat wouldve sounded so much better with the filter backed off so many tonal possibilities

The ES-Govnor-Marshall takes the cake for me. I'm just scratching my head wondering how I can get that tone without a JTM45 half stack. Wampler Plexi-drive? Pinnacle? I've been looking at amps on and off for years, have been leaning towards used EL84amps- Vox Handwired15 /Morgan AC20 or Dual 20/Matchless Spitfire/Dr. Z Maz 38sr/Valvetech Hayseed30. .. trying to keep it under 2k. Could I get that sound out of an EL84 amp with the right pedal? It's such a great sound. I've had a Gibson SG Special for 15 years, and have been playing through junk or a friend's amp forever, was never the guitar player in the bands. .but I really want to finally get my own magic maker. Definitely an EL84 or EL34 type amp. I love a beautiful singing bloomy clean, and I don't feel like I get that through a Fender or 6L6/6V6 style (though they're GREAT in their own right).

Ultimate video guy's thx

Did you say that the distortion pot was low & that the level pot was cranked on the DS-1 at 4:40? Are dials opposite in England, kinda like their roadways, ? lol

What strat was Mick using? It's really great!

thanks guys, really enjoyed that 3 parter. Les Paul > Treble Booster > Vox, that's the tone for me. just rude & raw. bit of a shame we didn't get to hear enough of the Les Paul > RAT > Marshall sound.... but there's only so many minutes you can spend on each combination. and thankyou for confirming yet again why I hate Strats! they sound weak for everything except Hank Marvin material. cheers guys

Ultimate fuzz shootout!!

As a hard rock and metal player, I've always hated distortion pedals and been more keen on overdrive pedals. But, in retrospect a good amplifier mod or added gain stage is by far more pleasing. Also, the newer preamp type pedals that offer more adjustability are a world apart from distortion and overdrive pedals. My recommendation is moding your amp, adding that gain stage, or the preamp pedals. With that said, I find that to many guitarists are frightened of using 31 band equalizers in their rigs, because it's too daunting. The key is to only remove very little amounts of each frequency at a time. Take time to understand what is so nicely going on, play for a bit, and then move on to either restoring the equalizer to its former position, or remove something else annoying. The wonderful thing about a 31 band equalizer is that you can remove some of that annoying high end hiss without affecting the overall guitar sound at all, also removing frequency that is annoying leaves more room for the good sounding stuff. Good luck.

The Rat overdrive is dimed out, but the OCD's volume is way low. Is that a valid comparison? Shouldn't the settings be close to the same on each overdrive?

Distortion generally changes the sound curve to a flat wave. Overdrive is a compression but the the wave remains in a curve.

9:27 i.e. JHS Andy Timmons, JHS Angry Charlie, JHS Charlie Brown, Wilson Effects Sparkle Blue..

The Govnor hands down. WOW. Anyone know of a good clone of it since I figure it's hard to get one today?

IMO The DS-1 sounds good here because the amp is set to sound good with it. Actually without the pedal the sound is super muffled, there’s a massive cut in the treble frequencies.

I'll say this about this whole series... a bad workman blames his tools...

Yay I have the ds-1

"idiotbucker" XD

Satriani used a DS-1 through a Marshall until he started using Peavey. His tone was consistently great at every show I went to.

The analysis of the "OCD" was so surprisongly different then how ive heard that pedal , there are just too many variables to give a proper demo. Running the "OCD" with my 1967 Marshall Plexi and my 1971 Marshall superlead The OCD sounds phenomenal !The Ocd pedal when dialed in correctly can give you not only the TONE of a vintage Marshall but most importantly THE FEEL of a vintage Marshall or tube amp. The OCD PEDAL reacts very much like a TUBE amp in every way when dialed in correctly and sounds spectacular when you roll down the volume on your guitar.The OCD has just too much gain on tap as the1oclockposition to the two o'clock is just enough, However the OCD can also be used as Great Boost pedal bu swirching the gain very low and cranking the volume.The Ocd Pedal isa very important Pedal as it changed how many guitarist think about pedals.

the DS-1 tone rolled back gave more bass than it should've

@guitarist amazing videos guys! What about a "ultimate Fuzz shootout" kinda thing?

Everyone loves these boutique pedals angry Charlie, suhr riot, crunchbox but don't bother trying the one who inspired them all, the guvnor. The guvnor doesn't have that much bass but if you paired it with the right amp you will get a great crunch. These old marshall pedals are the most underrated pedals (until Mayer sticked the BB on his board), and I wonder how on earth did they get discontinued especially for their low price. I love how people actually believe that when they buy boutique pedals they are paying for premium expensive components. You are just paying for slightly modified tweaked clones of amazing little circuits such as the BB ( king of tone) or the guvnor.

FROM 1996 TO ABOUT 2009 GAZZA USED A DSL AND TUBESCREAMER.

Just to clarify: Basswood guitars are quite the contrary. They're NOT scooped. They actually have pure mids and thats why they cut thru the mix that much. The bottom end is super tight and almost no treble. What you described, was actually swamp ash guitars, if you want a mid-scooped bodywood. Just 2c

the idiotbucker joke made me laugh so f@#$% hard

For those Neutrik cables do you need a whole bunch of them, like for each pedal?

I dont get why they set the level so high and the gain so low on the DS-1. It sounded to me like they got a mushy sounding overdrive from the amp breaking up, instead of the nice " in your face" distortion the DS-1 is capable of. Maybe their own taste towards overdriven sounds got the better of them.

If You wanna good sound Buy Left and Right Wet - Fender Amp x 2 Center Dry - Marshall boom good sound come up

I, too, just bought a Guv'nor... Next up: The Dude and JHS @.

I just want the 'idiotbucker' :-)

I wanted to hear more from the deluxe reverb

The Edge plays a lot of the best rock tones using Les Paul and AC30's, just listen to the Solo of Love is Blindness Live.

I do love these, but it would also be great to see these devices demonstrated through an average guitar and an average combo amp, rather than the more high-end stuff. Of maybe I'm just cheap...

I wet my trousers a little, savage tones!!!! unreal!!!

Clint Eastwood said "Nobody... I mean nobody puts catsup on a hot dog" That said... more people are gonna do that than run their ES335 into their AC30 - via a RAT pedal! ha-ha Kidding around - great info and fun as always guys!!

Guv,nor starts at 9:28

call me crazy, but the Marshall sounds more like how I imagined the AC30 sounding.. more treble, more glassiness even, where the AC30 sounds like mids mids and more mids (with these pedals). I know a lot of that frequency response is the speakers. Do you guys remember what either amp was loaded with? And have I just been in the dark?- is this the norm for these amps, or am I mishearing through my laptop speakers?