Dean Markley Overlord

This pedal is very easy to use.

If you're into blues/rock, this is a must have. I've tried about 30 different overdrive or distortion units and for overdriven sounds you can not beat this thing. The good thing is it has 3 way eq. I really have started to hate those overdrive pedals with a single tone knob. They are never bright enough. The boss pedals are the worst, I've tried OD-3 and SD-2, they were both equally bad. They cut the highs out and if you play strat-type guitars like I do, you really shouldn't play with boss overdrives. Try them in the following way: Listen to your amp's clean sound, it should be as good as possible. Then kick on your pedal and listen to the sound and especially the highs! If the pedal cuts out the highs, make adjustments on the eq. Try again. With Overlord you can find a sound, where the only changing thing is the overdrive/distortion, no changes in eq balance and what's more important, no changes in highs!!! Try it, try it and try it once more. And forget those tone knob devices. They really suck! Only other od/dist boxes I like are Tech 21 GT-2, Marshall Drive Master and Vox Bulldog. They all have more than just one tone knob for eq adjustments. The Overlord suits best for blues and bluesrock, it's by no means a heavy metal pedal.

The footswitch is not so good, but mine works ok and I rarely use it, because the pedal stays on almost all the time.

As I stated before, it's best for blues. I've been playing for over 25 years and I've had two of these, since I stupidly sold the first one. The only other pedal I would like to buy back is Marshall DriveMaster, a very good pedal for rock and even some heavy metal. I wish it had a better (more reliable) footswitch. Other than that it's a great product and the prices are getting up.

Yep. Fairly straight forward.

83 Fender MiJ Strait. Fender Hotrod Deville 4x10. Overlord into Thomas Crybaby-Boss Re-20 space echo pedal-older memory man deluxe-roto vibe- Boss TR-2. I run a Boss RV-3 through the send/return to add a deeper hall effect to the spring reverb onboard the Deville. The Overlord puts out a sort of full tone (more amp like as others have mentioned) than I cutting distortion.

I really like this pedal. It's not an everyday effect. I'm pretty darn glad I've held on to it for so many years.

My Dad (RIP), bought this pedal years and years ago and remember thinking what a "metal" looking pedal it was, but how it didn't have a real distortion (ala Justin Broadrick, Page Hamiliton) that I liked, so I never paid it much attention. I've held on to it, using it occasionally for some recording, but never anything serious. However, after loosing my little big muff I brought it out and it is so perfect for me. I've had it all these years and it's been thrown around and all sorts of boxes during moving and yet I pull it out and it's worked flawlessly.

No Idea.

I play a sort of psych/ambient/folk/drone and the Overlord provides a warm, full tone for my sound and it's an overdrive so it never turns into a slick metal tone when you turn up the drive. I've been playing now for 22 years and I've had many overdrives (how I miss my Super Fuzz pedals) and many have worked better in some situations than others and all have shined in some way and the Overlord is no different, it's perfect for what I'm playing.
If it were stolen I'd be really bummed and I'd probably probe Ebay and other places for months, but would I die? Almost, it really is great.
I own (what I feel) is a pretty good assortment of cool pedals and instruments that were sort of 'overlooked' when they were around because they are really unique quality sounding pieces and the Overlord is a nice fit in that company.

Plugs into the wall , guitar in one side amp in the other , footswitch on/off , all the controls from an amp that you need to sculpt your sound without being too fancy ie. vol, gain, bass, mid, and treb.

at rehersall i use whatever amp is available at the moment its a marshall avt.
when in a gig situation i use my marshall mkII master vol and humbucking pickup loaded guitars of various origin but mostly a gibson les paul standard with burstbucker pro pups.

I change my pedals about very often so a signal path might be like
guit,digitech pds1550 direct >overlord >ibanez ddl>clone theory >dod a/b box >snarling dogs whine o wah >amp
the output from the pds 1550 goes to the other ab input and into the wah

Roughly

hmm. it does marshall very well , not for the nu-metal heads but will do real metal with ease but then again this pedal was made for "CLASSIC OVERDRIVE" dont expect modern tones . pah! why would you?

i would give it a ten BUT it does hiss a fraction , but then again all my pedals do . this is not for smooth jazz , if thy hiss offends thee go get a noise gate

Ahhh
this is the thing , i am on my second overlord the first one lasted a little over 6 months ( it was second handed )
i presume it was the switch as it appears to be a little temperamental from what i can glean from the web
anyway i gave it to a mate to fix and never seen it or him again so i presume he got it fixed and fell in love with it and had to dissapear in order to keep the pedal.
so reliability ???

she broke down and left me for the repair man , thats pretty unreliable.

they make strings dont they

style of music? , rock / punk / metal

How long have you been playing? longer than ive not in bands since i was 15 so 17 yrs

would you buy it again or get something else? Both , just told you am on my second one

What is your favorite feature? the name

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? i bought the akai shred `o` matic shortly after i lost my first overlord i felt cheap and used and on the re bound , it didnt last!!

Anything you wish it had? a siamese twin , (might buy another one)


Does it help you make music? yes it does

Purchased in 1989.
It is a stompbox so it isn't too difficult to use.
5 knobs: 3 for EQ + drive and level
No manual

I agree with most of the earlier posts: this pedal needs a different tube to truly reach its potential. I tried both a JJ 12AU7 and a JJ 12AX7: the first yielding a smoother tone but the latter being the proverbial "icing on the cake". Both being 100% superior to the factory installed "lightbulb".
I've only played this pedal with solid state amps (Carvin, Fender and Dean Markley) but in all cases I got a very impressive tube sound. Maybe a little thin for leads but spectacular on chords. Also, I noticed the pedal sounds best with the distortion (drive) at 12 -- higher levels thin out a little too much for my taste.
The EQ is also voiced a little weird in my opinion, so I try to keep it as flat as possible opting to tweak the frequencies on the amp. I wish I knew something about electronics so I could modify the EQ. I truly think this pedal would be AMAZING with better EQ.

Also, a major drawback is how much this box affects tone, even when turned off. I usually smirk at all the snobs swearing by true-bypass (can you really tell the difference, dude?)... but in the Overlord's case, the need for true-bypass is quite apparent. Again, I wish I could operate a soldering wire and fix this thing!

Conclusion: Great tube tone (with tube replacement) but crappy EQ and very poor bypass sound quality. In a few words, get to work on this pedal and you'll have an amazing overdrive... but out of the box it's a different story.
Schematic modifications aside, just changing the tube makes a HUGE difference... and that only takes a screwdriver.

My rating pertains to the Overlord's potential

Very sturdy metal case.

Not Applicable

Great for power chords a la 70's or 80's. Might work for grungey sounds as well... actually, everything works for everything if you're creative enough!
I've been playing for 24 years and I prefer rock'n'roll and most of its offspring (except NuMetal!)
I think older/more experienced players would appreciate this pedal... and I say this because it doesn't make you sound like a guitar hero (this aint' no Digitech MetalMaster)... if your chops are shakey the Overlord will only amplify your shortcomings.
Again, my rating pertains to the pedal's potential once modified.

I bought this thing in the late 80?s? Early 90?s perhaps? I used it for years in every gig situation and on a shitload of recordings. It comes from the factory with a 12AX7 tube in it but I thought back then that it was too hard to handle, so I put a 12AT7 tube in it and I used it that way for 10 years (would you believe that I used the same tube! ? it is true!) I gigged 2 to 4 gigs a week with it plus rehearsals and recordings for all that time with the same tube! ? Cool or what? I still have that tube and it still works!

Alas, ? I have decided to change that ?magic? tube and I have chosen an EH 12AU7 tube and I will talk about that later along with some other mods that I have done.

This thing has 5 knobs; Drive, Volume, Treble, Mids, Bass, along with a power on off switch and (originally) a mosfet style effect bypass switch but now it has no switch at all.

Tubes are the best! Just beleive me.
Well to start with I?ll explain the fact that I use different setups for different things. I use this pedal with my JCM Marshall.
My chain is this: - Modified Cry Baby,- Modified TS9 (Monte Alums) Tube Screamer,- This Modified OVERLORD,- ( Boss Delay ? Harmonist 2 ? chorus) all in one true bypass bank,- then off to a 50watt JCM800 combo (no diodes) (clean input only). I use my favourite guitar (Ibanez RG770) and perhaps a noise gate if required.
It sounds great.
I did modify this old pedal. I tried putting a true bypass switch but I had to try to bypass the mosfet switching system as well and to cut a long story short I accidentally shorted out the board and blew the 2 original C4558C chips ? bummer!
So I bypassed the switch and bridged the mosfet and replaced the chips with 4558P x 2 (TS808) along with the EH 12AU7 tube. Now I use an external bypass and it all works again only BETTER.
The sound?... Well I?ll first mention that the new OP-amp chips have made the pedal sound smoother with a more refined frequency and gain response. This along with the new tube (12AU7) has made the pedal much quieter. The Tube allows for more headroom and I leave the drive set to full for that classic overdrived JCM800 sound.
You ?can leave it at that? because the tube really reacts well to how you play the guitar. When I roll off my guitar volume then it cleans up to a warm VOX sound, I can kick in a little TubeScreamer and get a great Stevie Ray sound, then turn off the TS and wind up the guitar volume and I get a great Eddie VH brown sound, add back the TS, change pickups then I get a Brian May Sound. It is soooooo bloody great sounding that it is just amazing. It is worth a 10 cause I love it that much!

Read the above, What do you reckon?

The original switch must be replaced or put it into some true bypass system.

Always gig with a backup(the golden rule!). Actualy my Marshall is my backup, but I still keep a heap of pedals handy.

I have never dealt with Dean Markley and they just don't make these effects anymore so I guess that our relationship is stuffed from the begining.

I have been playing guitar for over 32 years and as a professional for about 22 years and I know what sounds good and right. This pedal sounds great for my style which is classic 80?s / 90?s guitar rock. When I pull back on my volume I can return to the 60?s or the 50?s and with a Telecaster I am in jailhouse rock.

I need to cover all those sounds and believe me when I say that this pedal with these mod?s make it happen for me. I wish that you could hear it.
I also wish that a hot young babe was on my face, but hey I?m a bastard!
:-)

easy to use but not easy to find the right tone with its weird eq controls.

setup: fender strat with bridge humbucker->dean markley overlord->fender pro junior small tube amp

first of all, i've also tried electro-harmonix hot tubes distortion pedal, but liked the distortion tone of overlord more than hot tubes.
i bought it second hand. However, i have some problems with this pedal.

1. there's a low pitch background hum, even when volume and gain is set to zero and there's no signal passing through (but no hum when bypassed).

2. eats some bass out of your guitar signal, even if the bass pot is set to maximum.

3. frequencies for the bass, mid and treble eq pots don't sound right to me, i find it hard to dial in the right tone. i'll change the capacitors on the tone circuit to fix this. especially the bass pot should control much lower frequencies and treble a bit higher frequencies.

also changed the no name tube in it with an electro-harmonix 12ax7, and the hiss in higher gain settings is gone now.

overall i give it 7.5, because of these problems.

Easy to use. Mine was used, so no manual, I think, but I can't remember. I was not in the USA when I bought it and had a friend/music dealer in Houston, mail it overseas. It is an older pedal, probably made in early 90s.

Raven RM 2000 (nice clone of Gibson 61 melody maker) solid body electric guitar with Rio Grande Big Bottom Bastard pickups, Epiphone 10 watt Galaxie 10 Class A tube amp (new just breaking it in and it's sounding better and better), and Boss VF-1 half rack mount studio/guitar signal processor (maybe four/five years old). Also, I mike the small Epiphone tube amp into a Fender 85 deluxe (solid state amp) or a no name 120 watt solid state amp with 2 12" speakers,or via our band's 12 channel PA with hefty power amp. For stereo panning, etc, or whatever stereo output via the VF-1 signal processor, I sometimes run a small bass amp out one side to add bottom end to the Epiphone Galaxie 10's ample highs. I've had this Overlord pedal for about five years and played it before that through several other amps, mostly solid state, and liked it more than all my overdrive or distortion pedals, but after I got my VF-1 with all its many more features, I didn't love the Dean Markley. But I was not using it on what it does best...bringing out the tube saturation and overdrive on your tube amp...at least it seems to do that best for my rig.

Because it improved but didn't drastically improve solid state amps, I had it sitting around, not doing much. Then, the other night, I thought, I ought to try this through the little tube amp, now that I've got another one (I used to have a '63 Princeton Brown Face tremolo tube amp). So, last night, I put it straight in line from the guitar to the Dean Markley Overlord, then staight into the amp, and it was great. Remarkable difference...best overdrive and fat sustain ever gotten out of my little tube amp, especially better than some humbucker modeling or marshall stack sounds that I get from the VF-1, though the VF-1 has much more variety.

Anyway, it brought incredible eq out of the tube amp, especially added bass, making a small amp sound bigger without getting muddy, clipped lows. Before last night, I was actually going to sell the Dean Markley since I figured I could just overdrive the tube amp and get all the tones I needed. Wrong. This thing opened up, fattened and multiplied synergy of tone on the tube amp, whereas before, on various solid state amps through the five years I've had this, or so, it just kind of enhanced the sound and gave a nice grungy kind of Neil Young/Crazy Horse sound, and that was about it. Now, it's a maybe 30 trick pony, especially with maybe a volume pedal, wah and ebow in line, I guess. But, lots of great surprise harmonics just from playing it and an amp and nothing else.

Instead of wanting to sell it, now I called the guy who sold it to me, and told him to find me another one so I could have one for our true killer guitarist. (I'm really more of a songwriter.) He's actually going to end up with the Epi tube amp and I'm going to look at a '72 Silver Face Princeton Reverb tube amp in a couple of days. For a gigging amp, I'm probably going with a Fender '59 Bassman Reissue combo with four 10" speakers, or some amp along those lines. Yes, I don't have 15 guitars any more. But I also don't have all those strings to keep sets on, and maintenance on all that and on and on...

I have a penchant for overlooking the obvious I guess, but I was trying to get my sounds by collecting different guitars, and wasted, consequently, a lot of money and time re-eqing for different guitars, pickups, digital patches, etc., when I should have put the money into a) probably one good tube practice amp and b) one good tube gigging amp and c) for me anyway, a good dfx box, which the VF-1 is; for the variety I need, as poor as I am, the Boss VF-1 does the job, but tube amps still have the magic dust and string responses, for some sounds, I think.

My mistake. I should've thought about it long ago but I was so busy jacking with the buying lust and adventure of about 15 guitars, that I overlooked the obvious: namely, put a good guitar with good pickups into a good tube overdri

Yea, dependable. Foot switch looks a little fragile. I'd like to see a metal button that really sticks up. Sometimes I stomp on the little plastic black button and it doesn't go deep enough to switch. But, it's never broken. Yes, I'd gig without a backup, because I'm poor and don't have many gigs anyway.

I've owned a lot of gear; played guitar 25 years. Been in five or six working bands. Been in the studio for about five projects. Never playing as much or with whom I would like, but I keep trying. I play melodic acid folk blues, I guess, right now. I don't want to mention gear now. I'm tired. But a lot. I'm a small guitar shop, gear dealer in Texas, actually. It's a great pedal I guess. Not gimmicky. I think you have to be good at the basics to be excellent at getting your own style. This thing helps you do that.

It takes a bit, depending on your choice of tone.

I use this at the moment as my primary overdirive.I play in a heavy rock band nd my setup is ibanezRG540-vox wah-OVERLORD-cool cat chorus-ibanez bi-stage phase-JCM 800 100 watthead.
The overdirive produces a fuzzy weak crunch without much balls and definition.it would be okay for alternative rock and stoner rock and maybe some sixties stuff.Dont be fooled by the 'tube amp sound' described on the box.The tone isnt very versatile it is a 360 degree knob with two settings really! the drive is pretty pissweak but the volume works like a volume knob should.but this is my opinion.Sounds like a fuzzface.

Yeah not bad in this department,its pretty tough construction.
I want to pawn it as soon as i get a real overdrive pedal.If someone stole it id laugh because they've wasted there time.

If u see one leave it and buy and something else.For the price you can get a whole different range an class og OD/Dist pedals with a tighter sound .

Feature-wise it's very simple. I'm giving it a 6 though, because I found the EQ to be very badly voiced, thus making it difficult to find the right setting. I wish I could use it with batteries.

Maybe it's not intended for my rig, Fender Stratocaster, Marshall 100 Watt Valvestate head into 2x12 celestion equipped cabinet. The sound quality itself is not that bad, but it lacks sustain, which makes it useless for leads. What it's good for, is a warm bluesy crunch. But I didn't like it at all for rock leads, it is acceptable for rhythm guitar.

Very reliable, you'll might need to change the valve someday, but that happens to all valve units.

Haven't dealt with them, but as far as I know it's the only DM pedal and it's not even featured on their website!!

Good for rhythm playing. I didn't like it for leads. It's possible that another axe/amp gets a better sound out of it.

It's got a gain knob, an output knob, three-band EQ and a footswitch. Dead easy to use, and it's difficult to find a bad sound, except when boosting the treble, which is voiced nastily and turning it up is asking for bacon-frying sizzle. But I just leave all the EQ bands flat anyway.

I have a Gibson Scout (dead simple small tube amp) and have used this with a variety of instruments from a Les Paul to an early 1900s mandolin. It is fairly noisy, especially with the treble turned up.

The distortion is very good, from mild overdrive to high-gain almost-fuzz, and has a distinct tube roar. No, it doens't make my tiny amp sound like a melting Marshall stack, but it's far more musical than the solid-state pedals I've tried with it (Exar DS-2 and Danelectro overdrive).

It's hefty and seems solid, but mine has some mismatched screws on the bottom, indicating it's been opened at some point in the past, perhaps for repair or retubing. Seems to not have been treated gently, either, judging by the scratches and scuffs in the paint, but it's worked perfectly as long as I've had it, other than a bit of crackling in a dirty pot.

Looks like some hideous hair metal pedal, but it seems better at bluesy overdrive or psych-fuzz blowouts than at meaty riffage. I mostly use it on max. gain for recording leads. Not quite as aggressive and over-the-top as some vintage and boutique solid-state fuzzes, but has some of the same flavor mixed with a more musical tube warmth.