Interesting low gain ods

[mcatano]

Fuck/mini
Barbershop V2
Blues Driver
Anything SHO-based from zvex (super duper 2-in-1 rules)
Spaceman Saturn

[Pepe]

Blues Driver

Personally I absolutely dislike the decay of this pedal. I'm totally surprised that this has become such a popular unit.

[imJonWain]

+1 on the SHO/super duper or things in the same camp. The ROG fetzer valve is cool as well.

Jack Orman's mosfet booster is imho where zvex got the SHO idea from. You can play off that design?

http://www.muzique.com/schem/mosfet.htm

[imJonWain]

Muff fuzz actually makes a decent low gain ods/dist too.

[Gone Fission]

A lot of the older two-transistor fuzz circuits do good underfuzz/fuzzydrive things, so the Muff Fuzz doing that makes sense. Bosstone circuits tend to do that stuff well, too.

[PanicProne]

Gonna add +1 to the following that have been named here: ss/bs Mini, Line 6 Tube Driver-emulation, (Keeley mod) Boss BD-2.
I've used all to some extent over the years (though the blues driver not so much for low gain, I guess). and really liked them.

I still think a fuzzrocious Dark Driving would beat those, for what you're wanting. The Mini would be a good different sounding alternative imo.

[Kacey Y]

I will be another voice to back that EAE makes a bunch of great overdrives that aren't just tubescreamer rehashes and have a lot of interesting character and flexibility. The Surveyor, Halberd, and Dagger are all pretty cool

I will also just throw out that if you pair almost any cheap dirt pedal with an EQ pedal, you can get a hundred different unique sounds out of it with some patience and curiosity

[Zork]

Two transistor fuzz in low gain settings would be my attempt too if I was looking for a bit of a different sound but your typical OD with another effect in weird settings like super short slapback or a bit of a weird chorus would also work as a distinctive approach. The T-Rex Møller has a dry mix, could be interessting too depending on amp settings or choice of other pedals. Maybe you could also look for unusual amps with interesting sounds. My Peavey Musician has a weird fuzz that you can mix in.

[Gone Fission]

I dunno about current availability for feedback loopers since I think the Kniv is no longer in regular production. But wave folding with the dirty (and other stuff) you have on hand. Look for one that can do a polarity inversion so you can mess with negative vs positive feedback. I missed having one in the heyday of feedback looping here, but there’s always stuff to do with it.

[raj007]

You probably got something already but the Cosmodio Pet Yeti is dope af. Has a clean blend too. Ton of versatility. Can do light OD stuff to effed up fuzzy fuzzies.

Haven’t tried one yet but the Bleak District Terra could fit the bill, too.

[dubkitty]

.

[gila_crisis]

I recently got a second hand Boss OD3... and it's an amazing overdrive pedal!
Actually, it is the very first Boss drive/distortion pedal that I don't feel any needs to tweak it with some mods!
Otherwise for very lo gain overdrive I have this Altero Kaede overdrive.

[sutarappa]

Kinda got an infatuatty lately with the less and more of yon Muff Overdrive. One twist center, any shout either side...

[Pepe]

I recently got a second hand Boss OD3... and it's an amazing overdrive pedal!
Actually, it is the very first Boss drive/distortion pedal that I don't feel any needs to tweak it with some mods!

I haven't had an OD-3 yet, but as far as I have heard it is something like an improved BD-2. I just really don't like the Blues Driver. At all! I utterly hate the decay of the distorted sound. I'm absolutely puzzled that it has gained so much popularity over the years and that people keep saying that it reacts like a tube amp.

[backwardsvoyager]

I recently got a second hand Boss OD3... and it's an amazing overdrive pedal!
Actually, it is the very first Boss drive/distortion pedal that I don't feel any needs to tweak it with some mods!

I haven't had an OD-3 yet, but as far as I have heard it is something like an improved BD-2. I just really don't like the Blues Driver. At all! I utterly hate the decay of the distorted sound. I'm absolutely puzzled that it has gained so much popularity over the years and that people keep saying that it reacts like a tube amp.

The OD-3 is a bit like the BD-2, but the main thing it improves is the decay IMO, so maybe you'd dig it?
(It's my second fav Boss overdrive after the SD-2)

Side note- tried a BP-1w recently hoping for some nice low gain sounds, and was thoroughly unimpressed


As for the OP, i think a lot will depend on your playing style, but as someone also doing math rock-adjacent stuff for a while now it usually comes down to note separation.
A lot of 'interesting' booteek ODs might not be the best in that regard, but i feel like you can get good results stacking cheap pedals like the aforementioned Boss OD-3 into more idiosyncratic preamp peds with the gain set low (EAE stuff is great).