This is a list of guitar overdrive pedals with MIDI control
I’m building this list of guitar pedals with MIDI control as useful list for guitarists heavily into MIDI control pedalboards. It’s al ever-growing list.
Last updated November 25, 2025.
Strymon Sunset
The Strymon Sunset is a digital overdrive pedal with full MIDI control. It will take PC message for presets as well as full CC control. This pedal has two channel and a number of different voicings. It more or less does the Tubescreamer thing but it can also mimic a RAT on some settings, a treble booster and more. While some criticize the nature of it being fully digital, there’s no question it’s very well respected and the consensus is that it sounds great.
Strymon Riverside
The Strymon Riverside is also a well respected digital overdrive. This is based more on overdriven amp sounds than the Strymon Sunset which is meant to sound like a pedal. It features full preset MIDI control and CC control for parameters. It doesn’t have two channels. The second button serves as a favorite switch.
For a comparison between the Strymon Riverside and Sunset see this story: Strymon Sunset vs Strymon Riverside
Kernom Ridge
The Kernom Ridge is a unique overdrive pedal with MIDI control that can produce a plethora overdrive, distortion and even mild fuzz sounds. It’s very smartly designed, features a very unique and classy look and is overall very innovative. It’s known to be able to produce many classic overdrive sounds that you can save as presets. The controls are somewhat unique. This means it’ll take a little bit of progressive thinking to dial in as it doesn’t have the usual low, mid and treble controls, but rather a pre-tone, post-tone and mids.
Chase Bliss Brothers
This is the original Chase Bliss overdrive and distortion pedal. Like many of Chase Bliss’ pedals, this one has an analog signal path with digital MIDI control. It’s also well known for being able to produce a varied palette of overdrive tones.
Chase Bliss Brothers AM
The follow up to the original Chase Bliss Brother, the Brothers AM is the collaboration between Chase Bliss and Analogman to produce a unique and modern version of the venerable Analogman King of Tone. However, unlike the original KOT, the Brothers AM features full MIDI control and many other features like a treble-booster.
Jackson Audio Broken Arrow V2
The Jackson Audio Broken Arrow V2 can be described as a Tubescreamer, but with much more distortion available on tap, and a number of different clipping modes. It also has an onboard boost which is one of the best sounding boosts I’ve ever played. This is the same boost found in the Bloom V2 and the Golden Boy. This pedal doesn’t have preset capability or full parameter control via CCs. The MIDI functions are solely for turning the channels on and off, and to change clipping modes and gain levels. That said, this can be useful as it keeps things rather simple and it’s better than not having MIDI control at all.
Jackson Audio Asabi
The Jackson Audio Asabi is a collaboration between Jackson Audio and Mateus Asato. This pedal features two channels – An overdrive, that sounds really good by the way, and a distortion channel. The distortion channel is really high gain and some find it to be too much. I would compare it a lot with the Friedman BE-OD. This is is another pedal that’s called an overdrive, but really is heavy distortion pedal. With the Asabi you have the ability to change internal modules to get other sounds, for example a RAT. Like the other Jackson Audio MIDI pedals, the controls are limited to switching.
Jackson Audio Golden Boy
We really can’t have a list of overdrive pedals with MIDI control that mentions Jackson Audio without including the Golden Boy. While technically the Broken Arrow came first, if I recall correctly, the Golden Boy quickly became their most popular overdrive pedal. It’s a lot like the Broken Arrow V2, but voiced as a Blues Breaker rather than a Tubescreamer. They both have the same awesome boost circuit as well. Now that the hype has settled on this pedal, the way to choose is clear. If you like BB circuits, this is the one for you. But if you’re more of a mid-hump guy, like me, then the Broken Arrow is the way.
Jackson Audio The Optimist
This pedals is is collaboration between Jackson Audio and guitarist Cory Wong. It features two channels often described as a Klon and a Dumble. It also features an EQ circuit that can be turned on by hitting both switches or via MIDI. This pedal is more on the lighter side of overdrive, but stacking both channels can bring up more gain. It’s also on the bright side, so the EQ can be very useful in taming it. Again, like other Jackson Audio pedals, the MIDI control is there for switching and not for presets.
I have a full review of The Optimist on here: Jackson Audio The Optimist Review
Source Audio L.A. Lady
The Source Audio LA Lady is one of the more popular digital overdrive and distortion pedals on the market. They are usually mentioned alongside the Strymon Riverside and Sunset. The flexibility of this one cannot be ignored given you can load tons of different tones into it via the Neuro App. From that point of view it’s a lot more flexible than others. Keep in mind however that until we see a new revised version of the Source Audio LA Lady, the current version has very limited MIDI support. So, only buy it if you fully understand what those limitations are.
Source Audio Ultrawave
The Source Audio Ultrawave is more than a regular distortion pedal. In fact, it’s actually designed to create overdrive and distortion sounds that can be very purposely digital in the way they sound. This can be useful if you are trying to come up with tones that are very different than your traditional overdrives. That all said, I own two – A guitar version and a bass version, and you can definitely create presets that sound just like an analog overdrive. This one get full MIDI control, but you have do it via USB. I like to run a Morningstar MC6 Pro using USB out to control it.
RJM Music Overture
The RJM Music Overture is a MIDI controlled overdrive pedal that’s 100% analog and features 6 different voicings. Unlike most of the pedals in this list, it features full MIDI In and Out connection with standard MIDI DIN plugs. It also allows you to create presets.
Chase Bliss Preamp MKII
This pedal made quite a splash when it first launched. It seems EVERYONE was talking about it. It really is an amazing piece of work and it’s incredibly versatile. It’s one that offers a genuinely good fuzz circuit apart from the overdrive tones. The Chase Bliss Preamp MKII offers full MIDI support for presets and parameters. It also features full size DIN plug in and out MIDI connectivity. Something worth noting is that it’s one pedal that can do almost any overdrive sound you want expect for tight and chuggy high-gain metal distortion. It leans more towards the fuzzy side when the gain is pushed. The Preamp MKII has been since discontinued due to restrictions related to some of the components that go into it.