Belcat OVD-302 Overdrive

Very easy to use, I use it as a booster from my another overdrive.

Initially I use it as my main overdrive but that time I experimented I realized it can be suitable as a booster adding that extra drive & sustain (good for leads).Now Im happier than ever!

Casing is metal but what do you expect from a cheapy pedal.

N/A

I like the mossy green color & the sound quality is more better than some cheap overdriven pedal at its range. I'd always keep this pedal as long it won't break or spoilt.

Easy OD, just like the TS with 3 knobs: Input(drive), Tone, Output (Level). No manual needed - it's green.
Metal housing, sturdy (though plastic) battery-clip on bottom of pedal.
Plastic pot-shafts, pots & jacks soldered directly to pcb, so you have to be a little careful not to step on them (other more expensive pedals have this 'feature', too...sigh).
No true bypass, but tone sucking is not very prominent e.g. only minimal loss of highs.
Plastic 'rubber'-pads on bottom are glued on with double-sided tape, and come off easily (when you attach velcro or so).

I bought it for next to nothing at cash converter (it was new, though). Cheap & Chinese, so I didn't expect much of it.
But IMHO, this little pedal delivers: It IS an OVERDRIVE, not a distortion. Therefore sounds are rather smooth driving, and not heavy-oriented.
The results are great though. The pedal offers a 'bautiful', round & nice sounding OD. It adds some compression and lets your guitar sing & sustain. A very mild amount of fuzz paired with a nice OD, reminding me of my 80's 'Ibanez Mostortion' (if you can get one of those, by all menas do!). On the first gig the night I bought it, it gained a permanent place on my pedalboard. Tone control works great to adapt this little fellow to your amp, drive allows for a usable bandwith of OD to light distortion. There are pedals out there whioch offer more dynamics, but overall it's really Big Bang for Buck, this I can say.

Well, after about 1 year of gigging, the on/off-switch ceased to work. Of course, this had to happen right during our first song at a gig. There were no signs of any trouble before, the switch just stopped, leaving me in permanent overdrive...

I didn't even bother.

Well, as I said before: Cheap & Chinese...give me my spring-roll, please!
Joking aside, apart from the on/off-switch, all other knobs on the pedal are still working, so I will just have the switch replaced, and assume all will be fine then.
For the money, it IS a good pedal if you like creamy overdrive that makes your rig sound 'nice'.

Three knobs. Easy to use. No manual and no manual needed. If you fiddle with it for awhile an adequate sound can be created

I'm using a 2006 Mexican Telecaster -> Ernie Ball VP Junior -> Korg DT10 Chromatic tuner -> Dextermods True bypass pedal -> Cry Baby Wah -> Belcat OD -> Marshall Jackhammer -> Electro Harmonix Polychorus -> Belcat delay -> Electro Harmonix hum debugger -> 1965 Jansen Bassman 50 (New Zealand made Fender bassman copy)

The Belcat Overdrive does add some noise to my rig. Admittedly I am using a vintage amp which is fairly noisy anyway, but the overdrive DOES add noise.

The sound of the overdrive is pretty smooth and rich sounding. The only knob I ever change is the drive knob depending on the intensity of the song. I usually have the drive around max. The order my pedals are in definitely complement this pedal. I played with this pedal for awhile at home to find the 'sweet spot' then marked the pedal with a permanent marker so I always have the best sound this pedal will create with my rig. On some settings this pedal sounds muddy and the notes sound indistinct. On other settings the pedal can really complement my playing. I give it a rating of 7 because it is generally pretty good, but I am positive there are better sounding pedals out there.

For the price ($52 NZ) it was a good deal.

This pedal has lasted better than my belcat delay pedal. I use them with the same frequency but this one has held up better. I also use a marshall jackhammer so if the belcat od fails me I'd just use the jackhammer.

I gig once per week and sometimes more. So far this pedal has held up.

Oh just remembered the rubber padding on the bottom got ripped up by my velcro sticking the pedals to the pedal board! This was a real disapointment in terms of quality.

Never needed to contact Belcat

For the styles of music I play (including praise, worship, rock, pop, indie, psychedelic rock, hardcore etc) this pedal works well. It is not brutal enough for hardcore though.

I've been playing for 5 years seriously and gig weekly. I have listed most of my other gear under the sound quality section.

If it were lost or stolen I'd probably buy a ts9 or an 808 or a crowther hotcake, or I'd like to try a biyang od. For the price this pedal is good and has the potential for a really nice sound if you take the time to play with it.

It definitely helps me make music.

Standard 3 knob cofiguration that most overdrive pedals have - Tone, Level and Drive.

The pots are smooth with no crackle or anything. They feel a whole lot better than the Behringer or Danelectro knobs, thats for sure!

Easy to dial in a range of smooth overdirve sounds.

The pedal has the look and feel of an MXR type pedal, as opposed to Boss style. My unit is branded as Crossfire, but these pedals are also known as Belcat or Nevada - same pedal, different name.

Sound quality is very good. The unit is able to provide a good range of smooth overdrive sounds - very creamy to more bite depending on how you arrange the Tone and Drive.


This pedal is not true bypass, but I did not notice any tone sucking, which is great.

One interesting point to make is that the Tone knob did not produce any sonic variation when in the 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock positions...going past 3 o'clock then gives you more treble. Its not a problem, I just thought it was a bit odd!

It feels really solid, and is quite heavy so construction wise its tops. Always nice to have a metal pedal instead of plastic. I'm sure this could take a lot of abuse, like Boss (yes, I could have said its 'built like a tank' but I'm sure Boss have a patent on this saying...!).

I have had no problems giging with this overdrive, although I always have 2 overdrive pedals in my rig for different sounds anyway...

Bought it online, so can't comment. Haven't had any problems with the pedal after1.5 years of live gigs.

I play rock and indie pop, so I dont need an over the top extreme distortion sound.

Remember it IS an overdrive pedal, and given it has a smooth creamy sound to it, I find it a useful pedal in my set up. I also have a Boss SD1 overdrive, and it can hang with the big boy/name brands. Plus its green and looks sexier than the Boss pedal :)