I currently use an Analogman King of Tone. I keep the gain maxed out on both the OD side and the Distortion side. Tone at 3 o’clock on both, I like things bright. Volume set to give me unity across the board, then use the guitar volume to get me where I want to be

When ya roll dat gain down

i use overdrive a lot more that distortion typically, currently using an ibanez tube screamer. tone at 10 o’clock drive at 1. level changes based on amp setup.

I mostly use Distortion and Overdrive with my combo amp. This amp is a VHT Special 6 Ultra, that I have modified. I added a Mercury Magnetics Choke, and changed the preamp tubes out for some very old (mid-60′s) Telefunken gems…. beautiful! As for the pedals, for Distortion, I really use it only to fatten things up during solos, with settings usually at around mid-point for all knobs, except for the distortion level itself, which I set minimally at around 10 o’clock. For Overdrive, again I use it minimally, to fatten things up, but more often then Distortion. I set the output to be only slightly higher than nominal, usually at around 2 o’clock, Bump=on, Gain at only around 10 o’clock, and the other knobs pretty much at mid-point of their travel.

i generally keep the gain on my od’s up around 7-9 or 2-4 o’clock. the tone is slightly bass or slightly treble depending upon what i’m doing. again, depending upon what i’m doing if there is a mids button, i’ll have it punched, but again depending. i often just use my vox da-5 around the apt. but, i have a kalamazoo, a jhs supro man — nice soft sound, a seymour duncan twin tube, and a demeter fod-1. my only fuzz is a pedalworx bender over under which provides alot of flexibility.

I like to rely mostly on natural tube saturation, so I tend to run my Modded TS9 as more of a treble boost, though it does kick in a bit more gain and saturation. I set the drive at about 11 o’clock for just a bit more gain, the tone knob at about 9 o’clock when I use my Les Paul, since it’s so thick and needs no added thickness, or about 10-11 o’clock with my Tele, and then run the volume at about 10 or 11 o’clock. I keep it pretty much transparent and rely on the tubes to get my kick and then just push into some rocking trebles/mids for lead parts and high energy parts using my TS9.

I’m an overdrive stacker. I like to run a Klon-style OD as my base tone then stack a transparent OD at low gain, midrange tone settings for most picking runs that require clarity w/ just a hair of OD on top of the original tone. I then like to use mid-higher gain OD/distortion (like the badasses) to cut through for ballsy solos and breakdown style riffs.

I use a high gain amp, so I add the OD to that. The Level at 2, Tone at 1 and the gain at 9 a clock. Just and extra push with and 10 Band EQ.

I use the clean channel on my amps then run a Bluesbreaker OD pedal into that so I get just enough breakup with guitar volume maxed to get that nice blues distortion, but back off on the volume and get the clear, clean sounds as well.

My Dual Overdrive Set Max High, No Distortion. And Just Annoy The Hell Out Of Everyone!

I use my distortion pedal at 2 o’clock for a warm crunch, and use an OD for a treble boost in addition.

I use a 2-channel Boogie, but I actually prefer playing through the clean channel most of the time, and using my MXR Classic OD and Keeley Katana to create different tones and levels of drive. I will switch the pedals off and kick over to the dirty channel on the Boogie for certain things though; I’ve got the Boogie’s dirty channel dialed for the big fatness – great for ZZTop kinda stuff. There’s really no point using another OD pedal w/ the Boogie’s dirty channel; I think it’s rather detrimental to the sound, actually. Anyway, my signal chain goes guitar > Keeley > MXR > Boogie. Generally, I like playing rhythm with a bit of gravel by using the MXR w/ the gain set pretty hot (3pm?) and the tone somewhere between noon-1. Output is set to match the amp, so I can drop the MXR out and get a truly clean tone w/o losing volume. The Keeley only has one knob (mounted on the side, so you can easily roll it with your foot!) – but it does have a push/pull pot for added snot. I keep the knob pushed in most of the time, and only use it on leads – for added volume & presence – but sometimes I’ll drop out the MXR, pop the knob on the Keeley and that really lights things up.

I currently play through a clean Fender amp. The only way I seem to get a nice push over the top (lead work) I have to stack two pedals. It’s currently a fd2>ts9 silver, a kot>ts9silver, or kinda wish I had this one back..a sunface boosted by the fulldrive.

Mostly OD with a bit of distortion for extra grit. I’ll kick up the distortion depending on what I’m playing but for blues it’s mostly OD.

I usually use overdrive to tighten up my rhythm tone on the high gain channel, with these settings: gain: 0, level: 10, tone: 6.

For overdrive, I typically set the Volume to be slightly higher than bypassed volume. Gain is usually set 3/4 of the way up. Tone setting usually depends on the type of tone stack involved, but I like to keep it neutral in favor of the pickup selector and tone knob on my guitar.

Mostly OD with a bit of distortion for extra grit. I’ll kick up the
distortion depending on what I’m playing but for blues it’s mostly OD

I’m a single channel tube amp guy, so i set my amp to be chunchy when playing hard at full guitar volume. I use OD to push more and boost as needed

Don’t usually use the two together. Prefer Distortion (almost full on) into OD. OD gain at 2 o’clock, volume at 10, tone at 12 noon.

I usually set the overdrive output level at just above unity gain, the tone at about 1:30 and the drive at about noon. This provides just enough grit to get nice and crunchy.

Fairly low gain with a higher level setting into a sparkly clean amp is how I like my OD!

I run my OD into my distortion. I really like messing around with stuff too much to have favorite settings. It really depends on what I’m in the mood for when I sit down to jam.

I use 2 overdrives,one for tone and one for clean boost for leads

When I use distortion, its all or nothing, gain that junk up. overdrive i prefer a lot lower but not all the way out. all this into a pristine clean amp for most versatility.

The best part of having multiple dirt pedals is being able to play with the settings to get different tones. Stacking, using one or the other….I dig the flexibility.

Crank ‘em both up and let the good times roll!!

Wow, I learned a lot just from reading this blog. As a beginning guitarist, I’m all ears to hear and envision great music the way it’s done right.

I generally don’t use the two together, mostly because I haven’t had a working overdrive in a few years. I did every now and then though to get more umph from my solos. Currently, I am running my distortion with the gain at about 1 o’clock, while I have the tone set at around 11. I have the volume set at 2 so that I get more cut through over the rest of the band when I am playing. I have this go into a marshall tube amp, with no gain on, and volume set at around 12. Really would love to try these two in conjuction with each other.

I use my OD to color almost every song on my sets. Low on the drive and bright, just enought to hit a bluesy sound. Then I have my MXR M152. 2 channels of gain! The bottom eq (low in bass, medium boost with the filter ON) gives my amp’s a nice gritt. The top channel (bass all the way, med and treble at 12) is for solos or very pronounced choruses. I preffer the both effects ON at the same time but using the distortion on its own in my Fender Deville 2X12 dirty channel sounds pretty nasty (in a good way!!!)
I play covers in a pro band and manage with these settings to go from an Interpol sound to Deftones and Muse… These 2 ladies could help me do more though

I mostly play bass but I can see that this pedal can do great things for guitar.

Tones at 12 o’clock, Gain all the way up!

I run my wampler SLOstortion into a tubescreamer, but I rarely ever have them both on at the same time. My Wampler is basically everything at 12 o’clock with a little bit more on the treble. On my tubescreamer drive is at 3 o’clock, tone at 12 o’clock and level differs from place to place.

Distortion: Tone can bounce between 11 and 1, gain between 12 and full, level usually at 12.
OD (as a solo boost): level around 1 and 2, gain at 9, tone set on the trebly side.

I use the Badass Distortion with a solid state mini Fender amp and it make some of the most delicious tones. As long as the CRUNCH button is off, every postion of the distortion control sounds awesome. Tone is backed off slightly and the volume is set a little over unity to push out those sweet saturated flavors.

I putting together a Holeyboard pedal board but have tended to use just amp distortion but I have used a Boogie v-twin before a clean amp and liked that, and have used a fuzz face to push a heavy distortion into mayhem. When I want insane feedback my Ibanez sound tank ts-9 is my choice. No standard settings! Whatever sounds really good or really bad! But of course I want some badass MXR pedals to anchor my new board! Haha!

To me, the point of using distortion is to use it at it’s maximum gain level. It’s gotta be all or nothin’

i used to constantly practice with my distortion on, but now i just practice with clean settings.

I’d love to have the opportunity to try them both out.

first, dist. not too gainy, dorta like old judas priest, that sort of tone. then, od, as a boost or on its own as a rich bluesy tone.

I love thick fiery distortion
And smooth buttery overdrive

using od I set my boss ds-1 to:
tone – 6
level – 8
dis – 7

My distortion is always set wide open,

I use a digital modeling amp at the moment so no pedals. Wanting to switch to tube here very soon, so it’s good to see different ideas on how to use overdrive pedals.

I often run some overdrive… cranked a little above unity gain, with level and tone adjusted to suit the guitar and the music.

Distortion on the edge of fuzzy into OD for barely breakup. OD will smooth out the Dist when I need it to. Slightly dirty amp up loud. Easy!

Light overdrive, crunchy distortion!

I use an MXR Classic Overdrive as a boost for my cranked Marshall.Awesome tone!

Dime ‘em and rock out!

I run the ’78 distortion at 11 o’clock on all settings with the crunch on and the dynacomp at 4 o’clock on the output and 1 o’clock on the sensitivity.

B.K. is of course correct when stating that there is really no correct order to connect pedals in (including modulation , delay and reverb). Some very interesting effects can be had by simply going eany, meany, miney, moe. I would imagine though that most people go in the standard order. That being said, I can hear exactly what Bryan is saying when putting the Modified Overdrive AFTER the ’78 Distortion. I would LOVE to get a pair of these pedals to experience the difference in tone created by this “reverse” setup.

Interestingly, I had 4 MXR pedals from 1978 (Red Compressor / Blue 6-Band EQ / Grey Flanger / Green Analog Delay, set in that order) which gave me my unique tone of the era. I was using a ’76 Custom Strat with split-coil Seymour Duncans and a 100 watt Ampeg V-4. It was an awesome setup which gave me my unique tone to play my band’s cover songs of the era. What makes me REALLY want to win these pedals is the link between the “78 Distortion and the fact that all MY pedals were “’78′s”!!! I miss them like you wouldn’t believe and am very sad they were sold in 1985 when moving from NY to Hollywood!

Use the OD to push the Amp harder for those Zakk Wylde artificial harmonics. m/

I use twin Marshall stacks in stereo and (of course) the sound is great without any help, but, as a cover guitarist, I find I often need to modify the stock sound to “mimic” who I am covering. That requires pedals with a good amount of variation available through their settings. Sometimes I use low distortion / OD settings to tickle the Marshalls for a little extra cream and is just what is needed. Conversely, I sometimes wish my pedals went to eleven so the people in the audience get the same rush I am having while playing some highly saturated lead (like the Satriani / Vai/ Petrucci variety). I’m sure the ’78 Distortion and Modified Overdrive would be just the ticket whether through their order OR settings!!

I play an ’08 Epi LP through a ’90 DOD FX57 with delay. Crank the Distortion, 12 o’clock for the presence and level and add delay(season to taste).

OD settings vary.. Tone 7 Gain 5 Volume 5. Sometimes have run 2 vintage 808 style pedals together for maximum tone!

I keep my TS9 with the output and gain at around noon and the tone at around 2 o’clock, makes it nice and bright so the sound really cuts through.

For overdrive I usually have the gain at about 2 o’clock at the volume at whatever seems appropriate – usually a tad louder than unity. Of course it depends somewhat on the pots used, etc.

I like a real midrangey sound w. most distortion pedals

I currently play thru a Vox AC30, I would tweak them both out to find the perfect mix for blues old school rock n roll… ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

I usually keep the OD at the point where I get a nice early breakup in the sound, distortion minimally depending on what I’m playing. The more natural overdrive sound fits my style best.

I sure hope Jim Dunlop has my correct address to send me these pedals……Happy Holidays

I usually crank it up until it breaks up, then i turn it down a bit, of course it all depends on the amp and guitar combination.

I use 3 different distortion/overdrive settings. I have a old Block Logo MXR Distortion + that I use for just a slight overdrive, another overdrive pedal for medium gain, and the lead channel on my amp for high gain. I used to play in a cover band, so I had a lot of different tones I had to cover in a night. I used the Distortion + for songs like Learn To Fly by the Foo Fighters and bluesy stuff. The other overdrive pedal set at medium gain was used for classic rock (ACDC, Guns N Roses, Etc.) and for Ozzy and Judas Priest I used the lead channel on my amp. The medium gain overdrive pedal has more midrange than my lead channel, so it makes for a good contrast. I’ve never been a big fan of “boosting” a amp with a pedal, I like using them for their different tones.

I would just love the chance to run these both through my Twin Reverb, experimenting as I go along.

I usually turn my amp’s volume up then turn up the overdrive until it’s noticeably engaged; then I turn it up just a little more so that it’s noticeable with just single notes as well as chords.

I like a slightly overdriven tone. How I get their depends on the pickup & amp combination. With single coils need more gain than humbuckers to drive the amp.

I generally just crank a good tube amp into natural overdrive, but I’d like a decent overdrive in front of it just to give my sound a little more gain and fullness. So any overdrive I use would be set very subtly.

winner will be chosen at random and announced the following day. where is the list??

Nothin to loose with more more more more gain

Daily winners have been contacted directly via email (or via direct/private message on Facebook or Twitter, if that’s how they signed up), and announced publicly on our Facebook page. We’ll post a list of all the winners here on the blog once the whole giveaway series is wrapped up.

- Tone: 10 o’clock
- 100hz: 2:00
- Output: 4 o’clock (all the way up)
- Gain: 3 o’clock (all the way up)
- Bump: On

I don’t have a distortion pedal. My OD setting is usually Drive almost all the way up at about 4 o’clock; Tone at 3 o’clock; Volume at about 10 o’clock. This for me results in a hard crisp crunch.

I don’t own an OD pedal or distortion…so I can’t say…..but I’d have fun playing with these pedals if I won them!!!

I play through a clean Valve Jr with a preference to dirty it up using pedals.

Distortion’s in front of the OD. Distortion’s level @ 1:30, low @ 12:30, high @ 11:30, & gain @ 3 o’clock. When it’s time to kick it up, OD’s activated, with gain @ 2 & level @ 12 o’clock.

I haven’t had a distortion or overdrive pedal.

The knobs on both pedals are usually always set somewhere between the 11 and 1 o’clock range, sometimes a bit more or less depending on the pedal. Never use both in tandem.

I set the Drive Ch. on my 20 W Laney Lionheart so I get a sweet distorted sound a la Carlos S. and my CMATMODS Signa Drive to taste to push the Laney a bit or more over the top depending on the cover or original song and guitar I’m using, usually my 85 Les P. or one of my Strats for the funk grooves. I bet using one of these Custom Badass pedals to the chain would be a wonderful thing to ad for even more tone Mojo.

OD to low midlevel, keep it bright, distortion drive around 3, tone at 12 o’clock

get the OverDrive pushing without mass distortion,,, then fuzz/distort as needed,,,

Thank you, sir.

I like to set the amp with some tube break up and use the distortion to push it over the top. Setting the distortion around the 11 to 3 o’clock position. The over drive is set around 1-6 o’clock spot.

I prefer my overdrive cranked slightly below half power, for that very smooth, blues overdrive sound.

I like my homemade fuzzface, gain halfway, volume at 4:00, and a dirty amp. Sounds like a crunchy, fat violin!

I crank up the gain

I have a mixture of both OD and distortion…it depends on the way I want the song to represent.

I want to add this to my collection.

I run everything pretty much t 1 oclock on my overdrive

Here is my settings. Hughes and tube mister 36 with everything at 12 oClock on the clean channel. Guitar volume at seven, then into the overdrive set low on drive and 2/3rds up on the volume. It acts like a boost with slight harder drive when I turn it on for some crunch. I still have some more if I need it with the remaining guitar volume to go over the top and archive a heavy distortion and sustain. This way I have one pedal doing the job of two. IE: distortion and overdrive

For OD, I run the tone setting at more bass, & the gain & output, about 3/4 —For dist, output & Dist. about 2/3, with tone more treble

Keeley modded TS808 – Gain at 12:00 – Tone at 10:00 – Level at 11:00

Love to try this one out with my amp!

Bryan thanks for sharing that, always like to hear what others are trying.