Overdrive/Gain Pedals for PSG

[Tyler Friedman]

Hi Everyone, long time viewer and recent member here. I've been playing PSG for a few years now and have begun to add some effects into my rig. One of the effects I've had a hard time dialing in or "Finding the right one" is an overdrive or other type of gain box. I've tried a Nobles and a tube screamer overdrive (Not together), an old bosstone fuzz and I am currently using a Paul Cochran Timmy V2. The Timmy is close to the sound in my head but I am curious to see what everyone else thinks about all the different options we have for gain.

[John Larson]

Zendrive, or a clone of it. I use the Aion Azimuth.

I've never used one but a lot of people swear by the Sarno Earth Drive.

[Steve Hinson]

OCD

[Mark Perrodin]

i really like and own both the mythos olympus and the kingtone blues power. they are fantastic smooth sounding overdrives. my board has the kingtone blues power on it right now. either one works incredibly well with steel guitar. there is just a plethora of tone and controllability in either pedal.
good luck in your journey. your ears will tell you.

[Dave Grafe]

Having been a no frills player for many years I'm really delighted with the new Jackson Silvertone stompbox, it is the first pedal I have ever wanted to actually build a gigging pedal board around. I'm completely hooked now and so are my bandmates, and the trusty old Vibroverb gets to stay at home. From clean classic country to shredding Elmore James and Duane Allman, it adds so much versatility to the already superb sound of my Webb and Quilter amps that after only a handful of shows I can't imagine working without it now. It is a true bypass device so I have it directly after the VP and follow it with a Keeley compressor before feeding the organ synth, chorus, delay, and reverb, so that I can set the levels for a low gain clean sound at the same level as the fully bypassed signal and with the compressor engaged I can just turn the input gain up or down as needed without having to mess with the output level from song to song.

https://jackson.audio/products/1484

[Jerry Overstreet]

OCD

Which model of the OCD Steve?

[Steve Hinson]

OCD

Which model of the OCD Steve?

I'm only aware of one...little white Fulltone pedal...

I know there's"v.1,v.2,etc",and I have 3 or 4 of them...one has a blue light on it...

I can't tell any difference...I'd recommend a brand new one quick as I would the oldest one...

SH

[Jerry Overstreet]

Thx Steve.

[K Maul]

I like the BB Preamp by Xotic

[Jim Bloomfield]

Steeltronics STO. Made specifically for steel guitar. I have one. Has a much more usable range than an OD made for 6 string guitar. Sounds great and has no extra noise!

https://www.steeltronics.com/product/st ... -overdrive

[Fred]

Whatever I try I always return to my old SansAmp Classic.

[Larry Ball]

I also have the “Steeltronic’s “ STO pedal , which is utterly fantastic. This pedal is designed for steel guitar pickup’s.

[Karen Sarkisian]

I like the Jam Rattler for real saturated distortion slash fuzz. I use it in my psychedelic rock band with the strymon cloudburst and it sounds really cool. like an overdriven cello or a viola

[Joseph Carlson]

The only pedal that has stayed consistently on my pedal board for years and years now is the Sarno Earth Drive. Great for steel because you can hear the individual notes and it doesn't get muddy like some overdrive pedals.

If you want full-on over the top distortion I really like the Crazy Tube Circuits Starlight Fuzz

[Richard Soriano]

I use a ProCo RAT Distortion, it's a very versatile pedal.

[Rick Contino]

Dave, that twin twelve looks dreamy! Can you post a clip playing steel through it?

[Dave Stagner]

I’ve had good luck with a Bosstone clone (JHS Plugin), and my beloved old HAO Rumble Mod for overdrive rather than fuzz. Rumble Mods are rare and expensive now (they weren’t cheap new either), but the new-ish JHS 3 Series Overdrive is a clone of the circuit. I haven’t tried the JHS version yet, but I’m sure it’s good. The nice thing about the Rumble Mod circuit is that that it has well-designed buffers on both the input and the output, so it doesn’t freak out at the hot steel signal, and it feeds a really clean signal to whatever is downstream.

[Stew Crookes]

I use a ProCo RAT Distortion, it's a very versatile pedal.

Same here - the Rat is my favourite dirt pedal for steel and for normal guitar - versatile nails it!

[Lee Rider]

Sarno Earth Drive, best I have found....

[Andre Dardeau]

There are two that I have been enjoying recently. First, the Mythos High Road, in particular with a phase 90 turned all the way to slow before it. This gets a real sneaky Pete type sound. The other one is the Tskalis(spelling!?) Audioworks fuzz. I can’t remember what it’s called but I think it’s a Jordan Bosstone with COB pedal stuck in there. This can do everything from pretty tame fuzz to psychedelic meltdown.