Achieving a hard-hitting, saturated guitar tone was straightforward in the pre-pedal era: plug your guitar in, crank the volume, and brace for incoming tinnitus. Thankfully, the countless overdrive and distortion pedals available today make world-class tones easily achievable at suitable sound levels. But it can be challenging to decide when you have essentially endless tonal choices.
Compounding that confusion is that the art of stacking gain pedals has become a prerequisite in the modern guitar-tone world, where clean platform amplifiers and apartment-safe levels rule the roost. But rest assured, stack-curious guitarists — the process is far easier than you might think.
Through four examples of interesting overdrive/distortion pedals in four different genres, this article will give you the lowdown on the basic rules and regulations of stacking your gain pedals. And we’ll subsequently break those rules and regulations because, well, why not? Instead of laying down the stompbox law, I’ll provide a basic stacking tool kit and encourage you to try a few overdrive/distortion combos.
- What Is Stacking? Why Should I Do It?
- The Rules (& How to Break Them)
- A Note Before We Continue
- Time for a Few Sound Clips
What Is Stacking? Why Should I Do It?
Stacking is the simple act of engaging two or more pedals simultaneously — it’s that simple. Of course, this applies to all types of pedals, but dirtboxes are the most common stacking combo. Why? Pedals like overdrive and distortion (in addition to boost pedals, fuzzes, etc.) tend to have an additive quality where both pedals seamlessly come together to form a single new sound.
For example, if you played a clip of an overdrive and distortion pedal stacked in succession, then even an experienced guitarist might be unable to tell that the sound utilizes two pedals. Compare that to something like a delay/reverb combination, which, though sounding very pleasing, is obviously two distinctly different effects.
There are various other reasons you might want to explore the potential of overdrive/distortion stacking — many of which I’ll cover in this article. But at the most basic level, this stacking allows you to turn the distinct sonic signature of two different dirt pedals into an entirely new “super pedal” of sorts.
Even better, by switching the order of the two pedals, you’ll have another completely new sound to experiment with. Mixing and matching your dirtboxes open a truly endless font of tones to experiment with, and I highly recommend it to the most tenacious tone shapers.
The Rules (& How to Break Them)
There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules for stacking gain pedals, but a few general guidelines serve as suitable starting points for the stack-curious guitarist:
- The last pedal in the chain will largely dictate the character of your tone. If you have a pedal that you really love the voice of, then your best bet is to keep it as the last dirtbox in your chain.
- Cranking up the level on the first pedal will only marginally raise the volume of your overall sound. However, it will result in hitting the next pedal with a much hotter signal, resulting in more clipping and a more saturated sound.
- While stacked overdrive pedals sound great together, they also give you access to four “tones” on your amp: the amp’s base signal, the first pedal, the second pedal, and both pedals in tandem. This is a great setup for a guitarist looking for pristine cleans, a crunchy rhythm tone, a heavy distorted sound, and a searing lead tone in a single setup.
- For the most part, you want to place pedals with superior EQ options second. A pedal with a full 3-band EQ won’t do much if there’s a Tube Screamer after it, tearing your perfectly crafted curve to shreds with its mid-heavy bite.
- Remember how the last pedal in your chain takes charge over your tone? This is also true of a dirty amplifier. For this reason, many players with stack-heavy boards run into a clean amp with a somewhat flat frequency response to allow the pedals to do the heavy tonal lifting.
- Here’s the most important rule: read these rules, try them out, and then throw away everything you don’t like. Tone is so incredibly subjective that advice from even the most grizzled 6-string veteran is meaningless if you don’t have similar sonic tastes. If you genuinely want to find your dream tone, then I can provide you with the advice and the gear. But experimenting is a necessary part of the journey.
A Note Before We Continue
Most guitarists have a clear sonic idea of what distortion, overdrive, fuzz, and boost sound like; the issue comes when trying to get them all to agree on where one ends and the other begins.
Frankly, the lines are always a bit fuzzy (rimshot, please). But that’s not the point of this article — I’m here to suggest some cool pedal pairings, not etch the taxonomy of dirtboxes into the proverbial Sweetwater stone! However, since you’re here, I’m guessing you’re interested in that sort of thing. In that case, Sweetwater has an excellent in-depth article linked below!
Time for a Few Sound Clips
For consistency, all these clips were recorded with the bridge pickup of my Fender Telecaster through the line-out of a 100-watt BOSS Katana MkII straight into my DAW. Pedal stacking is most useful for players shaping up their sound from a clean platform amplifier, so the only setting used here is the “clean” channel with all the EQ knobs at noon.
One last note: while I had the luxury of picking some of my favorite overdrive and distortion pedals for this article (can you tell that I’m a JHS fan?), I’ll provide a wide range of alternatives that will function equally well in the applications described. I might choose this Tube Screamer–style pedal or that Klon-style dirtbox, but you’ll be all good if you stick to the same type of pedal. Therefore, I’ll list alternative offerings for each pedal mentioned.
Classic Rock Crunch: JHS 3 Series Distortion & JHS Morning Glory
I’ll start with a fairly basic sound that most guitarists have tried to achieve — a powerful classic-rock rhythm tone. I experimented with several more “traditional” pedal combos for this sound before finally settling on a thoroughly JHS-approved pairing of the company’s Morning Glory V4 transparent overdrive pedal into a 3 Series Distortion pedal.
I’m a big fan of the Morning Glory for light-gain rhythm applications, yet it was a little wimpy for the ’70s-style hard-rock sound I was trying to achieve. This “just on the edge of breakup” tone would be a perfect choice for a more restrained application, but my ultra-generic classic-rock rhythm came off as way too tame.
Next, I sent the Morning Glory into the 3 Series Distortion — which sounded good but wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. Rat-style distortion pedals can get into extreme territory rather quickly when they’re pushed, which is exactly the issue I kept running into with this combo. I wanted a medium-to-high gain sound, not an all-out ’80s crunch.
Sending the 3 Series Distortion into the Morning Glory instantly gave me exactly what I wanted — a very dynamic and amp-like distortion with a far more aggressive and glassier feel. The 3 Series Distortion’s gain was set at around nine o’clock, with the level just a bit higher than that, allowing me to hit the front end of the Morning Glory with a much hotter signal. Some of the Rat’s natural midrange bark is still there, but the tonal character still feels true to the Morning Glory’s “Marshall-in-a-box” roots.
Twang with a Twist: Wampler Tumnus & Wampler Belle
When it comes to overdriven country tones, the Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive pedal reigns supreme. It’s a not-so-secret weapon among Nashville’s elite studio players and perfect for adding a touch of grit to any Tele’s twang. For this combo, I started with Wampler’s unique spin on the ODR-1-style pedal — the Belle transparent overdrive pedal — and then picked out a southern-style lick on my Telecaster’s bridge pickup.
It sounds fine — certainly fatter and fuller than the dry tone, anyway. ODR-1-style pedals have a knack for accentuating the bottom end of your guitar, which is ideal for smoothing out some of the Tele’s inherent brightness. Still, I wanted a slightly punchier sound with a touch more honk.
A standard trick among ODR-1 enthusiasts is to hit the front end of the pedal with a clean boost, essentially upping the output of your guitar’s pickup without fundamentally changing its tone. Doing this is especially helpful here, as my Tele has low-output, vintage-style pickups.
However, there’s one problem: our article limits our choices to overdrive and distortion pedals. So, no boosts! Luckily, I had a world-class Klon-style pedal in the Wampler Tumnus Deluxe transparent overdrive pedal. Klon-style pedals can get aggressive on their higher-gain settings, but they’re much more commonly used at tamer settings in place of a clean boost. So, I placed the Tumnus Deluxe directly before the Belle with a neutral tone setting, high level, and a touch of gain.
To my ears, the change is subtle but sounds superior in almost every way: more depth, fullness, and punch. And it almost takes on a slightly compressed feel when snapping the strings with hybrid picking.
Gritty Blues & Rock Leads: JHS Morning Glory & Wampler Moxie
When running a single-coil-style guitar like a Telecaster into a clean amp, achieving a rich, saturated lead sound with a single dirt pedal can be tricky. Players who were strongly associated with raw and ripping bluesy rock tones usually ran hot tube amps that provided their own natural breakup — with perhaps an overdrive pedal thrown into the mix to push things over the edge.
The BOSS Katana’s clean setting and my low-output Tele bridge pickup offer no such luxury. Even with the Marshall-in-a-box-style JHS Morning Glory running near its highest gain setting, my questionable blues-rock chops sounded more questionable than usual.
It was time to bring out the big guns. To make my signal chain’s nonexistent tubes scream, I picked out a pedal steeped in the green overdrive tradition: the Wampler Moxie overdrive pedal. It’s a seriously top-class TS-style overdrive that offers exceptional flexibility; it was just the thing to add a bit of heat to this tired lick.
That’s more like it! The mid-heavy bite of the Moxie pairs perfectly with the Morning Glory’s transparent EQ curve, adding a significantly greater heft and sustain to my tone — especially during single-note bends. Considering a Tube Screamer–style pedal slammed into a Marshall-style amp is just about the most stereotypical blues-rock setup one could imagine, it’s no surprise that this combo works as well as it does.
Raw, Indie/Alt-rock Rhythms: JHS 3 Series Distortion & Victory Amplification The Copper
For this combo, I wanted a sort of sloppy, post-grunge, Pacific Northwest, indie/alternative-rock rhythm tone — naturally, a Rat-style distortion pedal was my first choice. Starting with a JHS 3 Series Distortion pedal, I dialed in an appropriate tone with plenty of gain to spare.
I like this sound on its own, but it comes off as too muddy and full. The indie/alternative guitar sound I’m shooting for utilizes plenty of open strings, angular chord blasts, and a somewhat sloppy feel (in a good way!) — a perfect combination for a muddy, indistinct guitar track. So, I needed to tighten up this tone for sonic clarity. I love a good Rat-style pedal, like the JHS 3 Series Distortion, but I needed a more robust EQ section.
I placed a lighter-gain pedal after the Rat, which allowed me to keep quite a bit of the clipping character of the JHS 3 Series Distortion but with a whole new EQ curve. The pedal in question? The Victory Amplification V1 The Copper, a “Vox-in-a-box”-style pedal. This was a perfect choice, considering a Rat-style pedal into a Vox-style amp has been a standard-issue gear combo in the indie/alternative world for decades.
In this scenario, “The Copper” cuts out quite a bit of woof and flub, imbuing my tone with far more articulation and cut. The BOSS Katana I’m using is a rather neutral-sounding amp in the clean mode, so the Copper’s Vox-inspired EQ curve provides a more colorful and exciting feel.
Plus, since the Copper boasts three different tone-shaping controls (bass, tone, and treble), it gives greatly enhanced tweakability when placed after the JHS 3 Series Distortion. If it’s placed before the JHS pedal, then the Rat-style pedal’s single filter control takes charge. Finally, while I specifically used a Vox-in-a-box-style pedal here, you could likely achieve similar results by picking an overdrive pedal with an extensive EQ section to fine-tune your sound.
Seek Out Your Own Stacks
These are a few fundamental distortion and overdrive pedal pairings, but the real fun begins when you start experimenting with your own wild dirtbox combos! However, you’ll likely need a few extra pedals to make those combos. Call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 for expert advice on picking out a few new stompboxes of your own.