A Quick Overview on the Best of the OneControl Mini Drives, Fuzzes and Distortions and their Alternatives

Björn's really clever take on 3 key Big Muff flavours - Pi, Ram's Head and Triangle - all accomplished by interplay between Tone and Sustain dials. You can go as smooth or as textured as you like, and when compared to Mooer's still decent Triangle Buff - this one offers more dynamics and articulation, as well as more textural richness overall. If you want to get a major flavour of Big Muff in a small pedal - then I still think this is the best one out there.

This is essentially a lower gain overdrive based on the flagship Strawberry Red Overdrive - for those who want slightly more articulation in the lower gain register. It has the same controls as the original - classic 3-pot topography plus Low Cut Trim Pot on the side of the pedal. I'm not sure why you would need both the Strawberry Red and the Cranberry, but if the former is a little too much for you - then this should be more to your liking.

I believe this was OneControl's first AIAB model (Amp in a Box) - essentially based on the classic Orange Amps sound - which I presume to be the flagship Rockerverb. I'm not the biggest Orange fan as such - but I do detect that slightly darker crunch tone which seems to be part and parcel of Orange's DNA. Obviously Wampler's CataPulp does the same in a compact-size enclosure and has a touch more body and range to it. But there's nothing wrong with this one either - I believe it's the only Orange-flavoured mini to date - so if that's part of your core sound and you wish to easily carry it with you, then this is a pretty solid bet. It's a good sounding pedal, just not necessarily exactly my sort of thing - Orange fans thought should be relatively happy.

This is still my favourite sounding mini Dumble clone. I somewhat prefer its core tone and articulation to say Mooer's Rumble Drive. Most Björn Juhl pedals have a degree of sizzle to them, and I feel that with the Golden Acorn - he more closely captures my favourite characteristics of the Dumble sound - that singing drive with just a hint of fuzz on the edges of the breakup. This has been on my wishlist for a long while - I still need to get my core Fuzz mission out of the way - before I revisit some of these more classic drive tones again.

This is kind of the odd one out here being a sort of high-headroom clean boost - with the character of keeping the signal clean as long as possible. If you put this in front of a drive - the push will thought add to the gain, while after a drive this pedal will only ever add volume - there's obviously no tone-sculpting here, just a single dial. It has plenty of range on tap, and is truly one of the best clean boost of its type.

This is the final corner of the Strawberry Red Overdrive triangle - we've already covered the Lower Gain Cranberry, and this one give you quite a bit more gain and aggression than the standard Strawberry Red. Obviously there were players that wanter both more and less of the Strawberry Red - so this caters to those that need a little more in the higher gain register - it sounds slightly darker too I find. This pedal does not seem to be in stock in Europe, but there are a number available on Reverb.com and Ebay.

I really like this recently released Marshall clone - has a lovely rich harmonic quality, and it really helps having both Mid and Treble Tone Controls. This is an instant star in the making, but has yet to properly reach distribution as I've seen next to none offered for sale yet. Truly a great sounding mini - should be on most players' wishlists!

This was for a significant while my favourite Tube Screamer style pedal, preferred even over Ibanez's own TS Mini. There is so much competition in this area now, and however great this one sounds and its does - I would still probably prefer the slightly more versatile KHDK Ghoul Screamer today. All these mini Tube Screamers sound slightly different - and you should really audition each one to see whether it hits your desired tonality. The Persian Green has plenty of range and rich harmonics, and still gets a rotation every now and again - I really like this one too.

Have no doubt that this is another great pedal - and fully represents that gorgeous chewy Marshall drive sound, for me though it gets somewhat overshadowed by the more versatile Xotic SL Drive - with I have in the very useful Alchemy Audio modified version with externalised voicing / dip-switches. I still really like the Plexifier which gives me a slightly more open sounding tone, while I tend to use the SL Drive for quite a dark Plexi tone. I feel most players will be highly satisfied with this one - it truly sounds great, it just does not have quite the same degree of flexibility / versatility that the modded SL Drive does.

Diametrically opposite to the Granith Clean Booster, this is more of a vintage-style tone-shaping booster - which also works really well as a low-to-medium-gain overdrive - really richly textured with plenty of body - and sort of amp-like dynamics. Most should appreciate the sweet tones that emanate from this tiny box - it's another one that I really like! Alas it is not readily available in Europe, but there are a few on Reverb.com.

This is essentially the Mini edition of Björn Juhl's much sought-after Dyna Red distortion - available in compact size from both BJF and Bearfoot FX and in mini size from OneControl. A richly textured mid-gain distortion with plenty of sizzle. It's got a slightly rawer style about it than some of the others here but does have quite a beautifully complex breakup. Alas these are in short supply with only a few second-hand ones currently on Reverb.com.

A slightly more mellow pedal for the Fender Blackface fans. I would really prefer more of a grittier Tweedy sound - but I can't deny that this one is right on the money for the territory it's aiming at, it's just not really for me I guess - I prefer a little more texture in my drives while this is mostly super smooth!

I guess this is sort of OneControl's flagship pedal - which I see as a considerably beefed up bluesy kind of Tube Screamer+. For me it sits somewhere between a Tube Screamer and a Boss Blues Driver. Its advantage is a significant gain range - which takes you right through the range of low and medium overdrive and into glorious mid-gain distortion. It sits in the middle of the Cranberry and Lingonberry Overdrives which are lower and higher gain versions of the Strawberry Red respectively. I find the Strawberry Red pretty perfectly encapsulated as it is - a really handy and versatile drive pedal. It's everyman status possibly does not give it a sufficiently unique voice of its own - but have no doubt that this is a great / classic even drive pedal, even though it's probably still not quite my favourite OneControl one, but a suitable flagship nonetheless!

I guess this is sort of the third OneControl AIAB type pedal - based on a vintage Supro Amp. I must confess that I have little more than a passing acquaintance of Supro amps, so cannot gauge its authenticity as such. It does sound suitably gorgeous though - particularly on mellow / smooth settings, but has a full range of texture and jangle if you need that too. I actually rather quite like this one also!