5 Drive Pedals You Might Not Know (But Definitely Should)

If you’re talking about “dirt” pedals, one called “Dirty Boy” would definitely hit the spot. And it certainly does!

The Warm Audio Dirty Boy Jr. Overdrive Preamp is a recreation of one of the most popular overdrive pedals of yesteryear. It’s all about authentic pushed-tube overdrive sounds, and it does it with a unique variac control you won’t find in nearly any other overdrive pedal.

Twist the varaic switch and it’ll adjust the voltage to give your tone more heat and drastically changing how the low end acts and feels. Eddie Van Halen used to use this trick in his Marshall, so you know it’s good!

When overdriven tones started taking over the music world, there was one amp that stood out more than any others: The Fender Tweed. As you cranked the volume past 4 or 5, it would get more and more distorted, giving off those lovely crunchy blues tones.

Well, the Origin Deluxe55 Tweed Recreation, as the name might suggest, recreates those famous tweed tones. It’ll make your amp sound like a little tweed that’s about to die — but in a good way. It’s a truly authentic tube-driven edge-of-breakup tone that’ll make any guitarist happy.

When tone-master general Jack White makes a distortion pedal, you should take notice. This is the Eventide Knife Drop Fuzz and Octave Pedal, and it’s one of the most unique dirt offerings out there.

Eventide is obviously known for their harmonizers and high-end effects processors like the H90, but Jack White thought they’d be perfect for his fuzz and octave pedal. It takes all the fun of a hard-clipping fuzz and throws in a synth engine.

Not only can you get ridiculous fuzzy goodness, but you can also activate crazy synth and octave tones to really take your guitar tracks up a notch (or two). It might not one of your “always on” pedals, but it’s certainly fun to mess with. It saves up to 5 presets for easy recall once you find those perfect sounds.

Ever wish your distortion pedal would sound like “A raging sun stack blaring in your face and droning on and on in rapturous overdriven glory” — Ryan’s words. If you answered yes, then the EarthQuaker Devices Sunn Life V3 might be for you.

Co-developed with the band Sunn, this pedal is purpose built for heavy, doomy, sludgy drone sounds. It’s the hardest of the hard and proud of it. The secret comes from the Amplitude and Magnitude switches, which give you variable control over the boost and octave settings. It also has a three-way clipping switch, so you can change the way the clipping reacts.

According to Ryan, “This thing on 0 would still blow up most amps.” If you want the heaviest of heavies, this is the one for you.

Can’t decide between overdrive and distortion? Then it’s time to check out the Kernom Moho Fuzz Pedal. It’s the kind of pedal that can replace several effects on your board with its versatile sonic wizardry. You can dial in anything from lovely saturated sustain all the way up to crazy fuzz that sounds like a “big fuzzy can of bees.”

The secret of the Moho lies in the Mood knob. Give it a twist, and you can swap from relatively happy to “certainly pissed off” in a matter of moments. And when you find a sound you like, you can save it to the onboard presets — or connect to MIDI to save up to 128 presets. If you can’t find the fuzz tone you’re looking for with this pedal, “there’s something wrong with you” — again, Ryan’s words.