Best Overdrive Pedals for Stratocaster

Are you looking for perfect overdrive pedals for your Stratocaster?

This blog post is designed for you to help you find the best overdrive pedals for Stratocaster.

Let us get into it straight away!

Best Overdrive Pedals for Stratocaster

Here are the best overdrive pedals for Stratocaster:

1. Nobel ODR-1

I think the first thing I need to make clear is that this overdrive pedal is not a tube screamer clone at all. It is a beast on its own. It’s been around for years even before I was born, since 1985.

It is a natural transparent overdrive that gives your tone some sort of beautiful seasoning of natural gain.

Do you know the kind of seasoning that feels like icing on the cake? Yeah, exactly.

The price of this overdrive pedal is great for the value it offers.

So if you need a beast for an overdrive pedal and you don’t want to break the bank, this is a good option for you.

It’s so good that it can go into a clean amp or even a bass guitar, and still sound awesome.

There are three controls on the overdrive pedals

• Level: This adds or reduces volume to your sound, without it losing color.
• Drive: It controls the level of gain or overdrive. I don’t know but this overdrive sort of feels more like a distortion pedal than an overdrive pedal. I guess there’s no wrong in being masters of two worlds.
• Spectrum: It filters your sound. You can make your sound go brighter or darker with this control.

One thing that is lovable about this pedal is the location of its battery compartment. It’s unlike many other pedals I’ve seen.

Just remove the nameplate, and there you go, you have the battery. 

Under the battery compartment, you will find the bass cut that cuts the level of bass in your tone.

Overall, this pedal is a great one for your Stratocaster

PROS

• Value for money
• Clarity and warmth
• Position of the battery compartment 

CONS

• Such a beast that it feels like I can’t find any fault with this overdrive pedal (That’s definitely not a con. Smiles)

2. Wampler Euphoria

It is no news that Wampler makes hot pedals. Everybody knows this.

But this natural transparent overdrive is one of a kind. One way to describe it is superb!

Euphoria has four controls and one switch. The controls are:

• Volume: This controls the level of the volume of the pedal
• Tone: This controls the presence of treble in the tone produced by the pedal
• Gain: This controls the amount of overdrive produced by the pedal
• Bass: This increases the low-end responses pre-gain and makes the sound produced thicker.

One thing that really impressed me about this pedal is the gain mode switch. 

You can switch between three gain modes which are smooth, open and crunch.

This gives you the opportunity to be able to do a lot with the pedal. 

Let us talk about its ruggedness. Its metallic chassis makes it perfect for whatever situation you want to place it — concert gig, studio use or whatever it is.

The knobs are white in color, and the pedal has a true bypass circuitry.

PROS

• Great sound
• Versatile controls
• Transparent 

CONS

• Things might get awkward if you can’t set the pedal properly.

3. Boss Blues Driver BD-2

One of the things is that there are two options when it comes to powering the pedal.

You can power it off a 9V DC power supply, with a battery option. This means you can power with a 9V battery.

The simplicity can deceive you but don’t be deceived. I love the fact that it is simple to use.

It has 3 controls:

• Level: It pushes more or less volume into your amp.
• Gain: This controls the gain. It starts off with a clean tone, and goes into rock tone on the high end. The strength of the gain control is 2  o’clock and below. One thing to know is that the pedal has a whole lot of gain.
• Tone: It controls the tone. The tone sounds dark around 9 o’clock of the control, and sounds bright at around 3 o’clock.

The tone produced by the pedal is so authentic, making it perfect for blues. It is so good for rhythm and lead playing.

You can also use the pedal as a boost into a channel.

PROS

• The sound produced is creamy yet crunchy
• Perfect for blues player.
• It’s simple to use.

CONS

• When the gain gets to about 3 o’clock on the control, it can get a little muddy.

4. BOSS Super Overdrive SD-1

The three controls Super Overdrive came with makes it quite pretty easy to use.

• Tone: This can control how broad or thin the produced sound can get. I think the power of the control is from 12 o’clock (on the knob) below.
• Drive: This controls the overdrive produced by the pedal.
• Level: This controls the output volume of the pedal.

Just like blues driver, it also has two options for powering it which are:

• 9V DC power supply
• 9V battery

The battery lasts for a reasonable amount of time. The pedal doesn’t drain the battery. 

The gain of this pedal is really more than enough. The tone produced is cool.

If you love big fat lead tones, Super Overdrive (SD1) is perfect for you.

The versatility in use of this pedal is also crazy. It can boost signal for solo, and can be great for blues or metal players.

If you have a lot of use for the pedal you want to get, SD-1 is a rugged overdrive pedal. 

You can use it for studio gigging, concerts, etc. It can serve you so well.

And when it comes to the price, for the value it comes with, it is too low for the value it gives.

PROS

• Very cheap
• Perfect for big fat lead tones

CONS

• It has so much presence or bite when it get to the high end. (you may like this but I don’t)

5. Fulltone OCD

This guitar pedal is a huge-sounding one and also an equally mammoth-sounding overdrive pedal.

The overdrive has three controls, which include the

• Volume: This controls the master volume of the pedal
• Tone: This is useful in darkening a bright amp and also toning up a dark amp.
• Drive: This controls the level of overdrive or distortion in the pedal.

This pedal can be used as a boost by just tuning the volume up and the drive down.

Then there’s the HP/LP filter switch that I’m really tempted to say that there’s no big deal about.

The high peak gives boosted mid, boosted high, boosted gain, etc.

Using this pedal, with much gain, the note separation and clarity are really crazy incredible.

Talking about the strength of the pedal, it’s covered with a metal casing and plastic knobs. This can really last well even in the midst of rugged use.

PROS

• Quality sound.
• The pedal is responsive, tight and percussive.
• The company also has good customer support especially if you are a private customer.
• The pedal is very versatile and well-built.

CONS

• Is it that this pedal is just too good? Or I’m the one who can’t find fault with it?

Best Overdrive for Stratocaster – Before You Go

I hope you found the best overdrive pedal for Stratocaster suited for your taste. Here are other blog posts you can check:

• Best overdrive for Vox AC30
• Best overdrive for Boss Katana
• Best overdrive for Orange Tiny Terror