Before you choose an overdrive pedal, you should know how to use one. I'll show you the 3 primary uses for overdrive pedals in this video. You'll learn how the distortion in the pedal interacts with the distortion in the amp and how to adjust the settings based on which kind of tone you want.

Here are the basic steps described in the video for each of the 3 primary uses of overdrive pedals.

Boost

1. Set Amp Dirty
2. Set Pedal Clean
3. Set Volume For Boost
4. Set Tone To Match

Partial Gain

1. Set Amp Partly Dirty
2. Set Pedal Partly Dirty†
3. Set Volume For Small Boost
4. Set Tone To Match

Full Gain

1. Set Amp Clean
2. Set Pedal Dirty
3. Set Volume Even
4. Set Tone To Match

Tags

Gear Used

• Zexcoil Pickups Custom Set
• Fender SRV Signature Stratocaster
• Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
• JHS Soul Food Meat & 3 Mod
• Wampler Pedals Ecstasy Overdrive
• Wampler Dual Fusion
• Samamp VAC 40 Series 2 - 1x15 Combo
• Ted Weber Neo-mag 15in Guitar Speaker