What does an overdrive do to your signal?

You must have heard the guitarist talking about overdrive pedals and their effects. The Electro-Harmonix Hot Tube Overdrive is a perfect example of this type of pedal.

So what exactly is an overdrive, and what does it do?

An overdrive is a pedal that picks up the signals sent by your guitar and amplifies them. It continues to amplify this sound until the guitar signal is fully saturated.

In simpler terms, an overdrive pushes your signal to the highest limit possible.

What should you know about Electro-Harmonix and the Hot Tube Overdrive?

The Electro-Harmonix company has been manufacturing audio processors since the 1960s. They are well known for their guitars and effects pedals. 

In the late-1970s, the company made its first Hot Tube Overdrive. It gained popularity among many bands, including Sonic Youth.

The pedal contains valves that control the level of amplification. So, if you push the gain or drive knobs beyond the vertical interval, you can send the pedal into a deep fuzz mode.

The presence of single coils helps to maintain and sustain a level of overdrive longer than an average equipped guitar. While using Hot Tube Overdrive, the choice of amp makes a huge difference.

How is this overdrive special?

The Electro-Harmonix group claim that the Hot Tubes Overdrive possesses a unique filter. This makes it a very versatile distortion device. 

This pedal can provide warm overdrive, vacuum tube Big Muff sustains, the heaviest metal tube-driven screams, etc. You definitely won’t find a creamier distortion than the Hot Tubes. 

An AC adapter and toroidal transformer power the Hot Tube Overdrive. This combination helps to drive the two tubes to maximum voltage.

To hear the perfect effect of this pedal and even compare it with other overdrives, you can check the Tonepedia demo player.