Overdrive pedals vary so much, and while there’s some crossover with boost, distortion and fuzz pedals, without going too much into the technical side of things, an overdrive pedal essentially helps add some gain to your signal.
The best overdrive pedal for one guitarist may be something that pushes their tube amp into a more natural overdrive keeping all the tonal characteristics of the guitar, whereas someone with a solid-state amp may prefer something that adds a bit more ‘something’ to their existing sound. You can even get overdrive pedals that offer the breakup sound from some classic tube amps.
There’re so many options out there for overdrive and distortion, pedals are an incredibly useful tool for such a wide range of players. Much like having a quality guitar and a good amp, having a decent overdrive pedal is something that a lot of guitarists can’t live without.
With that being said, let’s take a quick look at Fulltone’s OCD V2 and Boss’s BD-2 Blues Driver to see what each pedal offers and which option is better.
| Features: | Fulltone USA OCD V2 | Boss BD-2 Blues Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Price: | £130 ($154) | £90 ($107) |
| Type: | Overdrive/Distortion | Overdrive/Distortion |
| Versatility: | Good | Good |
Fulltone USA OCD V2
The Fulltone OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Drive) has been knocking around for a while now. Every so often its creator, Mike Fuller, introduces newer versions, and despite all the tweaking, a lot of guitarists still consider the OCD one of the finest overdrive/distortion stompboxes on the market.
It’s for good reason as it’s one of the few drive pedals that nails the sound and response of an overdriven tube amp so convincingly. More recently, Fuller has again tinkered with his classic circuit, releasing a V2 version, and it’s the best one to date.
Tone
The tone control on the OCD V2 is essentially a treble roll-off. Although a fair bit of treble is filtered at the main amplification stage, its tone control is used for removing treble above a fixed frequency right before the output of the pedal.
Performance
To begin with, the OCD is different from most overdrive pedals on the market with its dynamic qualities. It’s easy to find in the setting allowing you to play softly, maintaining a non-overdriven sound (assuming your amp is set to clean), and then get that warm, punchy, overdriven sound when you bite into the strings. The rich sound of this overdrive pedal can achieve chimes of a nice class-A amp or you can run it harder to achieve a thick, almost distorted sound, with all the ringing overtones (harmonics). The pedal also works well in front of master volume amps as well, driving them harder compared to the majority of other overdrive pedals. The OCD has been described as one of those pedals that’s hard to get a bad sound out of.
Features of the OCD V2 include a drive, volume and tone knob, along with an HP/LP switch. Its drive knob controls the drive of the pedal, turning it clockwise for getting warm, meaty overdriven tones; or by keeping it in a lower setting, will give you a cleaner sound or more subtle overdriven sounds. Its volume knob controls the amount of signal coming from the OCD.
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
Since it was released in 1995, Boss’s BD-2 Blues Driver has been a staple for blues guitarists the world over. It’s a great and economical way for achieving Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton tones with the stomp box. While the Blues Driver has earned plenty of critical acclaim over the years, it has noticeably been talked about less and less by guitarists today.
Sound
Boss’s BD-2 Blues Driver is a standard pedal for many guitarists, offering a clean, crisp vintage amp-like break-up all the way to speaker ripping blues and everything in between. Many Guitarists have had this on their pedal boards for everything from crunchy clean sounds, and fiery solos to even boosting other Overdrives/Distortions with its unique style of tone and sustain.
The BD-2 simulates the sound of a vintage tube amplifier, giving the user instant access to timeless tones. The Blues Driver also responds to your playing dynamics, so you can pull out a range of tones, giving each note the perfect flavour and feel. Overall, you should love the warm overdrive and emotive distortion the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver adds to your set-up.
It has simple features; giving the user level, tone and gain. Level control’s the pedal’s output, which helps the tone shape the upper mid/treble range of the pedal, while the Gain gives us everything from a subtle breakup through to face-melting bluesy sustain. Using this pedal at any setting never compromises its ability to clean up with the guitar’s volume control. It has an unparalleled response to pick attack dynamic, and it can really wake up any clean amp platform.
Conclusion
If you look at any of the Fulltone OCD reviews online, they all say the same thing. There’s a reason the pedal is regarded so highly by the community. Overall, the OCD is one of the best overdrive pedals out on the market right now.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a rounder, more natural sound, then you should make space on your pedal board for the BD-2. Its smooth gain and warm punch has been a fundamental element of many players’ tones and there’s a good reason why the pedal hasn’t changed since the ‘90s, it’s brilliant.