Got your first Overdrive Guitar Pedal? it may take some time for you to figure out how to get the sound you desire using the guitar pedal. So understand these basics of how to use an overdrive pedal, you can then play around with the settings.
How to make the connection?
You need to connect your guitar directly to the overdrive pedal and then connect the guitar pedal to the amplifier’s INPUT jack.
How to make it work
Once the connection is made, there are a couple of common ways to set the overdrive pedal.
- Trying to add more girth/depth to your current overdriven tone, in which case leave your amp settings as is.
- Want to replace your amps okay sounding tones with that of the pedal, in which case switch over to your clean channel and select a suitable volume.
Now what follows is not a hard-and-fast rule but its something that experienced guitar players have figured out through trial and error. So here we go.
First turn the pedals volume down, prevents any possibility of bursting your ear drums as you change the settings. With the volume knob all the way down, set the tone knob to the center position (also called 12:00), set the gain knob at about 9o’clock. Now turn on the overdrive pedal, and gradually bring up the volume until it reaches the same volume with the pedal on or off. You might have to turn the pedal on and off a few times for reference.
Now if you’re after the ‘first’ option, just leave the gain knob as is, and use the volume knob to make the signal going to the amp a little louder. This will make the amp produce overdrive, and even distortion (depending on your model).
For the ‘second’ option, leave the volume knob as is and play with the gain knob. You might need to reduce the volume as the gain is increased, to keep the overall volume at a comfortable level. Once you’re happy with the volume and gain, move on to the tone knob. Set the tone knob to around 2:00 – gives enough treble while maintaining a solid low end. After setting your tone knob, feel free to tweak the gain or volume settings to find your new sweet-spot.
Also Read: Guitar Effects & Pedals Guide
As I said, this is how most experienced guitar players do it; once you have tried these settings do play around with the settings of your Guitar Pedal.
Watch: EFFECTS 101: Overdrive
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