Best overdrive pedals for stratocaster

Name: Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Guitar Effects Pedal
Brand: BOSS

Steve Romanoski

Last Updated: Sep 17, 2022

Our experts know exactly how tiresome it can be to scour the endless online stores by yourself. The good news is that you don't have to do it if you're in need of the best overdrive pedals for stratocaster! We've done all the hard work for you, selecting and reviewing the 17 greatest options offered by top brands: STARS BY NATURE, PDP BY DW, D'Addario, WEYMIC. Read on to find out what exactly made us pick these ones.

At a Glance: Our Top Picks

#TOP 1

Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Guitar Effects Pedal

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Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Guitar Effects Pedal

#TOP 1

#TOP 2

Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive Pedal

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Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive Pedal

#TOP 2

#TOP 3

Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal

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Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal

#TOP 3

Top 17 Best overdrive pedals for stratocaster Reviews 2022

#TOP 1

Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Guitar Effects Pedal

BOSS

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Features

Tone
Gain Controls
Disttion Overdrive Effects Guitar Pedal with Tube Amplifier Simulation Blues Guitar Tone with Level

#TOP 2

Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive Pedal

BOSS

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Features

Overdrive Pedal f Electric Guitar

#TOP 3

Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal

Proco

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Features

Use the RAT 2 as a boost for solos and get the extra kick you need
Used as a primary distortion, it excels at arena rock rhythm tones and soaring leads
Nails that sweet spot where a tube amp goes from sparkly clean to warm overdrive

#TOP 4

Fender F Neckplate Chrome

Fender

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Genuine Fender '70s 'F' Style Neck Plate will renew your axe and keep it stock
'70s 'F' Style Neck Plate Chrome
Genuine Fender '70s 'F' Style Neck Plate will renew your axe and keep it stock

#TOP 5

Keeley Super Phat Mod Full Range Overdrive Pedal

Keeley

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Features

From country, to blues and rock the Phat Mod is the choice for those not wanting the over-refined sound of a common screamer.
Our famous mod now perfected with amazing sounding JFETs that emulate old tube amps in a unique way
With the Super Phat Mod you now have all of our refinements, the very best of tone-shaping electronics, and modern features like true-bypass.
Set the gain high and let your guitar's volume control or your pick attack do the work.
The Super Phat Mod pedal now has incredible dynamics. It is full range and very responsive. The phrase "transparent overdrive" was born of this design!

#TOP 6

J. Rockett Audio Designs Pro Series Blue Note Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal

J. Rockett Audio Designs

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Features

Suitable for everything from Jazz to Blues to raw Rock N' Roll, and works well with any guitar/amp combination
Achieves a very woodsy blues feel and more gain than a typical tube screamer
Built like a tank for road worthiness, but subtle and inspiring tonally
The inherent design allows for warm and musical tones
Can be powered by a 9V battery; battery is NOT included

#TOP 7

JHS Morning Glory V4 Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal

JHS Pedals

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Features

Features increased headroom and output for use as a Full frequency boost
Tame the high end on brighter rigs with the side mounted bright cut switch
Boosts a crunchy tone into thicker sustain and switches between two gain levels on the fly
Adds mid to low level grit to Your crystal clean tone and tube like touch response to a less than ideal amp
Delivers all the tonal and responsive nuance that Your amp is missing, and Nothing that Your tone alReady has
Gain Control sweeps from Completely clean to rock ‘n’ roll
Designed to be one of the most transparent overdrives out there

#TOP 8

EarthQuaker Devices Plumes Small Signal Shredder Overdrive Pedal

Earthquaker Devices

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Features

Fine-tuned Tone Control
JFET Op-amp Overdrive Guitar Effect Pedal with 3 Modes
Flexi-Switch

#TOP 9

JOYO American Sound Amp Simulator Pedal of Fd 57 Deluxe Amplifier

JOYO

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Features

JOYO is over decade of brand reputation, with the most popular budget pedals, amplifiers, wireless systems, controllers, metronomes, tuners winning the love of global guitarists and inspiring people's music dreams.
Level and Drive controls add incredible range, with it's full 3 band EQ and voice knob you can easily dial in any tone you can think of. Adjust for shaping EQ and overdrive response, it can simulate many kinds of Amps.
The sound you hear on the 60's surf classics, as well as the country and rockabilly hits from the 50's is the classic fenders clean sound. whole aluminium-alloy housing classic stoving varnish finish, stable and strong.
Before playing, please make sure the guitar is fully connected with the pedal. in order to make JOYO pedals work properly and avoiding unexpected noise, we recommend you to purchase an extra JOYO original power adapter, or choose the other reliable brands and make sure it meets the working current requirement of single pedal.
JOYO American Sound guitar effect pedal reproduces the sound of Fd 57 Deluxe amp, performs great sound from clean to driven and everywhere in between which can simulate lots of amplifiers.

#TOP 10

Squier by Fender Stratocaster Beginner Guitar Pack

Fender

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Features

Comfortable “C”-shaped neck profile
Available in Black or Brown Sunburst
Three single-coil Stratocaster pickups
Vintage-style tremolo bridge

#TOP 11

JOYO JF-01 Vintage Overdrive Guitar Effect Pedal

JOYO

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Features

Quality Switch, Tone, Volume and Drive Knobs.
Warm overtones when used as a clean volume boost.
Vintage Overdrive, a representation of the classic TS808 tube screamer pedal.
Overdrive is mellow,mild,smooth-simply exquisite, also nice sustain.
It features true-bypass design, and the world-renowned JRC4588 chip provides a full sound.

#TOP 12

Nobels ODR-Mini Overdrive Pedal

Nobels

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Features

Mono/Stereo: Mono In, Mono Out
Control: Drive, Tone, Level
Bypass Modus: True Bypass
Analog
9-18 Volt, center negative

#TOP 13

Overdrive Function Guitar Effect Pedal

LokFy

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Features

Full metal shell Compact size, Durable and Portable.
3 Control Knobs (TREBLE, OUTPUT, and GAIN) to adjust your guitar effect.
Guitar Effects Ideal gifts for your children, friends, families or lovers who is a guitar enthusiast!
True bypass Footswitch for switching overdrive effect and bypass status.
Overdrive/ Boost effectWith 2 modes of voice to choose (Normal/ Soft).
LED light for Indicating Effects or Bypass Status.

#TOP 14

NUX MG-300 Multi Effects Pedal TSAC-HD Pre-Effects

NUX

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Features

Use Data Cable for USB port any time.
Load 3rd-party IRs to expand sound ability,56 drum beats and 60 seconds Phrase Loop Synchronization with Rhythm.
IR (Impulse Response), USB audio stream (recording interface with re-amp function), and more.
Expression Pedal can be used to control the volume or the effects.
Update the firmware from the official website for the first playing.
TSAC-HD Pre-Effects and Amp Modeling algorithm providing optimum sound response and play ability. CORE-IMAGE Post-Effects sound library offering you studio sound quality.

#TOP 15

NUX Steel Singer Drive pedal overdrive effect pedal

NUX

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Smooth high end and sweet mid-range.
NUX STEEL SINGER DRIVE pedal from the Reissue Series is an overdrive pedal with the tonal character of the boutique amp from Califormia

#TOP 16

FLAMMA FS07 Stereo Simulation Pedal 7 User Preset Slots Support IR Loading Software Editing

FLAMMA

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Features

Comes with specialized editor software for quick management of your presets.
Includes 7 user preset slots that can store two different cabinet simulation setting each.
High-quality stereo cabinet simulation/IR loading pedal.
11 factory cabinet simulation files with support for loading third-party impulse response files
Choose between mono or stereo setups.

#TOP 17

Fender Tre-Verb Digital Reverb/Tremolo Pedal

Fender

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Features

Tap tempo
Classic reverb voicings based on spring units form '63 - '65
Independent trem and reverb effects
Tone shaping controls
Easy to use

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Things to Consider When Shopping for the Best overdrive pedals for stratocaster

How do you make a Strat sound heavy?

Tips on Using a Strat for Metal

Use the middle or neck pickup.
Increase the bass and mids on your amp.
Decrease the treble on your amp.
Use a distortion pedal.
Use a noise gate pedal.

When should you not use overdrive?

It's not bad to drive with overdrive off and does no harm to the transmission. However, you will get worse fuel economy and have more noise at high speeds. There's really no reason to leave it off unless you need to ascend or descend a steep hill. You can turn overdrive on or off at any time or speed.

What happens if you always drive in overdrive?

You should drive with overdrive on almost all the time. It provides many outstanding benefits such as lower fuel consumption, extending engine life, producing less noise, and much more.

What is the difference between a Tube Screamer and overdrive?

Is it an overdrive or distortion pedal? The Tube Screamer is an overdrive pedal, and not a distortion pedal. It adds grit and crunch to your tone and is popular with classic rock, indie and blues guitarists. Distortion pedals on the other hand are more aggressive and suit heavier styles of music.

What overdrive does Eric Clapton use?

Eric did and does not use an overdrive pedal. He gets all of the overdrive from the 25dB boost in his guitar, a Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster. Eric used a Samson Synthetics wireless system on stage.

What overdrive pedal does Eric Clapton use?

Eric did and does not use an overdrive pedal. He gets all of the overdrive from the 25dB boost in his guitar, a Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster. Eric used a Samson Synthetics wireless system on stage.

Did Jimi Hendrix Use overdrive?

Preferring to use all of them in unison through multiple Marshall 4×12” cabinets, Hendrix's live performances were not only notoriously loud, but this huge setup also helped him to form his heavily overdriven sound.

What is the difference between an overdrive and a distortion pedal?

What's the difference between overdrive and distortion? In short, a distortion pedal is a lot more aggressive than an overdrive pedal in the way that it affects your tone. An overdrive amp will boost your amplifier or will mimic a sound, whereas a distortion pedal will entirely alter your sound.

Is a Timmy like a Tube Screamer?

The Timmy is the classic 'transparent' overdrive. Based on the Tube Screamer, but without the same compression and without its trademark 'mid-hump' EQ profile. We'd say the Timmy is much more versatile as a drive.

How many guitars does a normal person have?

Research suggests the average player now owns between seven and eight guitars (though the figures referenced here are, at best, anecdotal), meaning the guitarist with one good amp and electric is increasingly an anomaly.

Is the Tube Screamer transparent?

The distinctive factor in the Tube Screamer style is that it's not transparent. This overdrive is meant to be heard. It actually adds and boosts the mid frequencies, causing your guitar to cut through a mix really well. It makes things feel thicker than they should and more saturated than other soft clippers.

Editor's Notes

In total, our experts spent 51 hours on the research prior to come up with the selection of the 17 best overdrive pedals for stratocaster out there. We've found over 830 of real buyers' reviews to get the full picture of the current situation on the market. In our review, you'll find models with an average rating of 154 - so rest assured all of them are worth your attention.

Written by

Steve Romanoski

Steve loves music. Steve Romanoski and his wife live in Alaska. They are always on the go, exploring new places and trying out new products (especially those which can help them enjoy the great musics even more). When he's not writing about products, Steve Romanoski enjoys reading books about history and science. He likes to think of himself as a renaissance man, but his wife would probably say that he's just a big kid at heart.