Behringer OVERDRIVE/DISTORTION OD300 Instrument Effects Pedal, Purple

I'm not going to talk about technical things or comparisons to other pedals because I really don't know anything about any of that. I'm going to talk about how I became a Metal God for less than $40.I bought a Squier Strat/amp set a few months ago and was having some fun learning a few chords and generally goofing off. I've played electric bass for about 30 years, so it was novel and fun to have a 6-string. After a few weeks I realized that my little practice amp was not adequate for summoning the dark metal powers that I required. I plugged into my much more formidable bass rig and enjoyed the sheer volume available, but that wasn't enough. My bass setup is for providing clean and clear bass guitar sound, not the evil distortion cacophony I sought. I knew that it was time for a pedal.I spent some time on Amazon looking at the various pedals available, and I was generally impressed by the reviews of this and other Behringer pedals. To be clear: my needs are not those of a professional musician. I'm sure that the Ultra Metal, Heavy Metal, or any other similar pedals would be fine for unleashing the savage fury that is no longer contained. I went with this one because it gives me overdrive and distortion, the purple case is more agreeable to me than the hot pink shades of the other pedals I considered, and the price is low enough that I wouldn't be too bent if demonic apparitions did not burst from the netherworld upon the first notes' issuance from my amp. I noted the reviews that mentioned that battery installation is a grim struggle, so it was an easy decision to go with the Planet Waves 9V power adapter and skip all the mucky-muck.After my order arrived I was set up in minutes, and the evil that spewed forth from my guitar amp was powerful and humbling! What I like the most about it is that with this pedal my lacking of skill, experience, and talent that is so evident to anyone in earshot when I'm playing clean guitar is replaced by a frightening and undeniable wall of sonic doom. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a hack, but I sound great when I'm mutilating Sabbath, Cream, Zep, and a lot of other bands from long ago. I'm a hack now, but since I have such fun with it I'll get better and better and one day I'll be the Metal God in reality that I am in my head today. Also, my kids hate it, so your parents probably will too. It's so worth it!To summarize: You should buy this. If it starts you on your path to inevitable rock-n-roll stardom, soothes your midlife crisis, or provides an economical way to upgrade your guitar apparatus it's a relatively small investment with a nice return. If it breaks or collects dust you aren't out a whole lot of dough. If it's like mine and still doing what it needs you have scored and still have some cash for some other sweet gear.

I've always liked the idea of a drive pedal with a variable clipping control. That's all overdrive and distortion is: Soft clipping and hard clipping.This pedal sounds great. And yes it's made out of plastic. But it's ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) Plastic which is an extremely high impact plastic used in every new car today because of it's weight and hardness profile. It's football helmet level hardness.Behringer pedals are lightweight so you can have a versatile, affordable, and lightweight pedal board. Could you imagine the pedal board pictured being comprised of old style huge and heavy pedals? It would be 10 feet long and weigh 80 pounds.The weakest link in Behringer pedals are the jacks. They are delicate so I would advise not plugging and unplugging them a lot. Leave them plugged in and you'll be golden.I like this pedal so much that I bought a second one.I'd also like to see Behringer start using center detent sliders on the EQ.

Pedal is a 2 in 1 and with turn of a single knob can do pure overdrive or distortion or blend the two. Other knobs for other features volume, tone, etc. Interesting sounds especially with other pedals. I do recommend this pedal mainly because of the price, it is a good deal as are some of the other Behringer pedals. The compressor/sustainer is a good companion with this one. Both can be had for cheap compared to Boss pedals, of which Behringer touts as copies. Boss is metal and these are plastic, not an issue for me. And, they have held up trouble-free for several months so far. Pleasantly surprised for the lack of hiss from my amp using the pedal. Anyways, I'd purchase it again as it does the job to my expectations. Of course, you may have a different result with your setup.

I bought this pedal because it is supposedly a less expensive "clone" of the BOSS OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion pedal. The BOSS is about three time the price, and is a great, versatile pedal. I have not been able to detect any difference in performance between the two (I tried the BOSS pedal at guitar center). The Behringer is housed in a plastic body and has plastic control knobs while the BOSS is metal, but the plastic seems quite substantial and the controls seem to work the same. I don't abuse my equipment and I am primarily a self-taught, play-at-home guitarist and I like pedals. I think the Behringer is a GREAT value. I also love the way it allows you to blend two separate effects (distortion and overdrive). The rangeof each control is very usable. The only criticism I have is that the battery access is awkward, but that has no effect on performance. You have to insert a ball point pen tip into the hinge mechanism of the foot switch cover to compress the spring and then lift off the cover revealing the battery underneath. Once you get the hang of it, its no big deal, and there is a jack for a plug-in power supply if you want to skip the battery.

Amp used: Fender Mustang 1Gtr: Epi LP100On a clean channel this pedal performs:Overdrive = fat but lacks highsDistortion = has highs but sounded tinny.best setting for the OD/Dist is on the 12 oclock position.Noise = low noise, low hiss. Better than the TM300 tube amp modeler (though the TM300 has great tones!)Sustain is not that great. Its better to use this on a dirty OD channel to compliment.I dont mind the plastic casing. You get a $24 pedal and you shouldnt complain about the plastic.It feels tough even for a plastic case.I bought this one together with the TM300. I would buy the TM300 again, this one i would not.You can find other better sounding pedals than this, but hey you cant go wrong for $24!