Ambient EffectsAnalog DelayAnarchy AudioBig Muff Style FuzzBitcrushing and Lo-FiBlues Driver Style OverdriveBondi EffectsBoostBoost and OverdriveBrown Sound DistortionChorus and VibratoCompressorCrowther AudioDelayDelay WorkstationDigital DelayDigital ReverbDistortionDouble TrackingDriveDual-DriveEchoverbEffects Pedal MakersEnvelope Filter and Auto WahExpressionFlux EffectsFuzzFuzz Face Style FuzzFuzz-Drive and FuzzstortionGated and Velcro FuzzGermanium FuzzKlone and Transparent OverdriveLastgasp Art LaboratoriesLightning Wave EffectsLo-Fi DelayLoop-SwitcherMarshall Style DistortionMC SystemsMetal DistortionMI EffectsMidnight AmplificationModulationMulti-DriveOCD Style OverdriveOctave FuzzOpAmp FuzzOscillating FuzzOverdrivePepers' PedalsPhaserPitchPoly EffectsRed Witch EffectsReverbReverb WorkstationSelah EffectsShimmer ReverbSilicon FuzzSpacey ReverbSplitter and Frequency SplitterTape DelayTone Bender Style FuzzTremoloTube OverdriveTubescreamer Style OverdriveUni-Vibe and VibeUtilityVolumeWah and Fixed Wah+-

Australia and New Zealand together have a fair few brands of international repute, and I for one certainly have a number of pedals of Australian origin in my collection. Foremost amongst those is Michael Ibrahim’s eponymous MI Audio / MI Effects - from which range past and present - I have 7 to date - with a couple more on the ’nice-to-have’ wishlist. Of the ones I have 2 are permanent features in my pedal-chain - the Super Crunch Box V2 (my Brown Sound pedal of choice) and ...
Analog.ManAnasoundsBlues Driver Style OverdriveBoostBoost and OverdriveBossCrowther AudioCustom TonesDemon PedalsDumble Style OverdriveFoxpedalFulltone EffectsGreer AmpsHamstead SoundworksJ RockettJHS PedalsJRADKlone and Transparent OverdriveMenatoneOCD Style OverdriveOverdrivePaul CochraneSide EffectsSnouse Electric CompanyThorpyFXTrue North PedalsTsakalis Audio WorksTubescreamer Style OverdriveWampler+-
For this particular selection I tried to get in as diverse number of types, along with all the usual favourites - every year I have readers asking me why I left this one or that one out - so this year is the time for including Menatone in the selection. Obviously between years some pedals rise in prominence while others fall - my intentions are always to provide as broad a selection as possible while still covering all my own personal favourites.
There are a few new entrants since 2018...
Analog.ManBlues Driver Style OverdriveBoostBoost and OverdriveBossCrowther AudioCustom TonesDistortionDriveDumble Style OverdriveFoxpedalFulltone EffectsGreer AmpsHamstead SoundworksJ RockettJHS PedalsJRADKeeley EngineeringKlone and Transparent OverdriveMad Professor EffectsMI EffectsMojo Hand FXMythos PedalsNobelsOCD Style OverdriveOverdrivePaul CochraneRockBoxSide EffectsTubescreamer Style OverdriveWampler+-
As an update to last year’s piece, and in line with my slightly tighter real estate now (39 pedals), I have decided to go all out on compact format pedals on this occasion. As a subset of my ’12 Degrees of Saturation’ we are dealing with stages 2 to 6 in essence, which largely covers 6 families of overdrives in order of how I set their gain level (increasing amounts) - ’Klon’ type, ’Tubescreamer’, ’Dumble’, ’Blues Driver’, &rsquo...
Boost and OverdriveCrowther AudioDanelectroDistortionDOD EffectsDriveElectro-HarmonixFulltone EffectsHamstead SoundworksJoyo EffectsMojo Hand FXMooerMulti-DriveMXROCD Style OverdriveOverdriveVick Audio+-
I will make lots of disclaimers and provisos at the start of this piece. To my mind there are actually relatively few proper quality intended OCD clones - the Joyo Ultimate Drive, Mojo Hand FX Rook, Mooer Hustle Drive and Vick Audio Tree of Life amongst them. The rest here all have significant overlap and share certain aspects of the OCD tone although not necessarily the whole frequency range / a direct correlation.
When I acquired the Hamstead Odyssey Intergalactic Driver shortly ...
Analog.ManBlues Driver Style OverdriveBoostBoost and OverdriveBuffalo FXBuild Your Own CloneBYOCCrowther AudioCustom TonesDumble Style OverdriveElectro-HarmonixFoxpedalFree The ToneFulltone EffectsIbanezJ RockettJHS PedalsJRADKlone and Transparent OverdriveLovepedalMooerNobelsOCD Style OverdriveOverdrivePaul CochraneTubescreamer Style OverdriveVan WeeldenWampler+-
This is probably the most hotly contested area of guitar pedalology - which is the ’best’ overdrive pedal you should get - should it be a mid-bump Tube Screamer type, or a more neutral so-called ’Transparent’ version, and should you go with something closer to the original inspiration or something which evens out and tackles its inherent flaws and weaknesses. The guitar world is a strange place - full of staunch traditionalists who persists with ancient tropes despite ...