16 Favourite Drunk Beaver Overdrives

Controls - ACTIVE 3-BAND EQ } Bass (±80Hz), Mid (±800Hz), Treble (±1.5kHz), Volume, Drive, Clean level.

A quite superb evolution of the Klon / Klone - with split volumes, Active 3-Band EQ, and Enhanced Clipping - for a supreme rock and roll texture. I think this is my current core rock sound - with the following settings :

My Preferred Settings : Bass @ 8 or 9 o'c, Mid @ 3 o'c, Treble @ 4 o'c, Volume @ 3 o'c, Drive @ Noon, Clean Level @ 10 o'c.

Controls - Bass, Mid, Treble, Output, Tight (Low-Cut), Mode : Drive / Boost, Gain.

A spectacular take on the FA-1 FET Amplifier - which ramps up really elegantly to a fantastic sounding overdrive - with beautiful breakup textures.

Controls - Bass, Treble, Gain, Master, EQ : ISS4 (More Bite)/ ISS6 (Softer), Input Gain : Normal / Low.

An excellent visceral / punky / gritty Overdrive Preamp - perfect for garage punks - with an unusual slightly gnarly and punchy output. I toyed with making this my number 2 choice - while I've made more use of the (Boba) FET - so that one pips this - while it was very close! And on another day it could have been the other way around.

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, Saturation, CLIP : Mosfet / LED / Si, BRIGHT : Dark / Bright / Stock.

A superior sounding Blues Breaker - with more texture and nuance than most - fully extracted from the excellent Toshiba TA7727P OpAmp Chips - which sounds extra special. I have a few favourite Blues Breakers - and this is definitely up at the top tier!

Controls - Volume, Tone, Gain, Mode : Overdrive / Crunch / Distortion / Fuzz, Voice : Ge / LED / Si, Fat : Fat / Tight / Classic.

One of my favourite Expandoras / Expandora+ takes - fully extended range - which reaches parts other Expandoras can't reach - makings of a an excellent Toshiba MC1458N OpAmp (Dual LM741).

Controls - Volume, Tone (from OD-3), Drive, Clipping : LED / None / Silicon.

I always wanted an enhanced original 14-leg / 14-pin chip first edition OD-1 type - with some kind of tone-stack added too. And that's exactly what Vitalii has done here - where he was able to get his hands on some Motorola MX3403 OpAmps which are the exact equivalent to the Boss used Raytheon RC3403 ones. You essentially have on original OD-1 style circuit - with the tone-stack from the OD-3!

Controls - Treble, Mid, Bass, Master, Presence, Gain.

An excellent extraction / expansion of the Lead Channel from the Boss SD-2. I often refer to this as like a slightly smoother Rat-style distortion - but many disagree with me. Has a wonderful attack and saturation.

Controls - Volume, Treble, Bass, Voicing : Smooth / Hard, Drive.

A highly unique and unusual Magnetic Saturator - which hits a lot smoother / more blooming than a conventionally clipped signal. This one is somewhat softer - but still with significant amounts of saturation - a fantastic alternative to conventional overdrives - which a feel all of its own!

Controls - Volume, Resonance (500Hz + 800Hz Peak Filters Cut/Boost), Drive, Mode (Clipping) : Boost / LED / MOSFET / Si / Ge / Asym Si, Volts ≈ 18 / 30.

Vitalii's very unique High Voltage take on a Tube Screamer - with Multiple Clipping Options and unusual Resonant Filter EQ. It hits quite differently to your typical Screamer - and has quite a different style and degree of saturation - along with the unusual tone-stack - a really compelling take.

Controls - Bass, Mid, Treble, Level, Drive.

An exceptional sounding super versatile MOSFET Overdrive - which hits really sweetly. Features a fabulously shapeable 3-Band EQ for maximum impact. This one won me over almost instantly - has a supremely easy dial-in.

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, MODE : Smereka (Classic Screamer) / Buk (Punchy MOSFET Mode).

Mostly intended to go in front of high gain amps - this is a superb Classic Overdrive on the Smerek setting, and an exceptional punchy and full-fat Overdrive on the 'Buk' setting. For me it's the Buk setting that really makes this pedal so killer - while the Smerek setting is a beautifully textured Classic Screamer too!

Controls - Bass, Middle, Treble, Volume, Hi-Treble.

A really cool sparkly Clean / Low Gain Overdrive - which is currently my second favourite clean sound after the recently landed DSM & Humboldt Dumblifier. The Mariupol has a certain chimney brightness to its tonality which sounds amazing! I don't typically go dormant cleaner sounds - but this one has a very special timbre on its output!

Controls - Bass, Mid, Treble, Master, Drive.

This one is a sort of cousin / sibling to the BK Butler Tube Driver - which actually hits quite differently. The Hostomel makes use of a cool 6N16B-V Mini Triode Tube which delivers a very pleasant style of saturation - it is a little harder hitting than the Butler Tube Driver - and sounds quite different at its core.

Controls - Master, Tone, Gain.

Cool simple Vitalii Tube Preamp take on the 5E3 Fender Tweed Amp - using a fairly unique Ukrainian 6Ж45Б-В Pentode Tube. Sounds very decent, while not at the level of the ThorpyFX The J - which is the current reigning Tweed Champion!

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, EQ : Stock / Fat, Op-Amp : Classic / Modern.

The second coming of the Kherson Drive - a slightly more evolved and enriched edition the the original PD #1. The PD #1 is the only recent Drunk Beaver pedal that I don't have in the reference collection - while that was kind of remedied with the arrival of this superior Kherson Drive Retro edition - which is an excellent take on the Sound JS DS-5 - in turn a unique Ukrainian take on the Boss SD-1.