EHX Tortion vs Operation Overlord

  • Hello,


    I'm a hobbyist. I've no complaints about the Kemper whatsoever, but I'm looking for a distortion pedal to match an old solid-state practice amp at my parents' house. Two Electro Harmonix pedals have caught my eye: the EHX Tortion and the Operation Overlord, which is newer and cheaper but seems to have less tonal options. The JFET circuitry in both seems to produce great results on youtube, but does anyone have first-hand experience with either or both of them? I guess I'm interested in the overall differences in distortion/overdrive quality, responsivness and general opinions. Thanks in advance!


    Ps. My setup wouldn't be too complicated (isn't that how it always starts) - I'm thinking guitar -> distortion pedal -> reverb pedal -> amp (clean)

  • JAC They sound very different but both very good. I was just playing both.
    Originally The Overlord was designed for keyboards and the reason for it being stereo and having the switchable level pad on the input .
    When we guitar players heard it we loved on guitar as well.
    Hereare the bigger differences to my ear.
    The Overlord has more gain(you can even take the output of one channel and drive the second channel for big distortion.)
    The mid control works over a very wide range and there is a dry mix control..
    The Ehxtortion sounds more like a tradition guitar amp has great clarity and more tube amp like in the top end..
    less overall gain.
    The tone controls work more like a traditional guitar amp.
    Again they sound very different. Both great.
    I wish you could have a chance to try both and see what floats your boat.
    Bill

  • Thanks for your quick reply Bill. These are the best kind of problems! I think I'm edging towards the EHX Tortion. Your demos are great by the way; your playing convinced me to get a C9 last year and it's been a lot of fun :)