August 18th, 2026 | Jacob Holdsworth
M-EQ DRIVER – 13 Tips & Tricks
The M-EQ DRIVER Mid Booster & Drive is a versatile, studio inspired drive pedal for electric guitar. When designing this pedal, we wanted to create an alternative to the more traditional mid-forward, diode clipping overdrives that are common place in guitar rigs across the world; think the Tubescreamer and KLON Centaur.
The M-EQ DRIVER pulls inspiration from the Pultec EQP-1A, repurposing it’s high frequency EQ circuit to create a tweak-able mid-forward drive pedal for electric guitar.
In the video below, we show you how to utilise this pedal to get a variety of useful sounds out of it, enhancing your tone across a selection of situations.
Tip 1 – Basic Driven Tones
The M-EQ DRIVER allows you to to choose how much you boost the mids into the pedals simulated push-pull output stage. So what if you don’t boost the mids at all?
Doing this creates an amp-like overdrive sound that benefits from the subtle voicing of the M-EQ DRIVER, without an obvious mid-push. This tone can sound great going into both a clean, or dirty amp as an overdrive or a boost.
Tip 2 – Pushing the Mids for a Lead
For this sound we’re going to start utilising the pedals mid frequency circuitry. By selecting 1K and applying a healthy dose of boost, we can create a tone that has a noticeable mid-boost; perfect for cutting through a mix for a solo, lead riff, or a articulate rhythm.
Tip 3 – Exaggerated 800Hz
In the M-EQ DRIVER, the mid-boost comes before the simulated push-pull output stage, which means you’re boosting mids before the overdrive circuit. This means that the pedal will overdrive most at the chosen mid frequency. This creates a thicker overdrive tone, filling out more of the mix.
Tip 4 – Fattening a Clean Strat
With the M-EQ DRIVER set a bit cleaner, it can do some more subtle problem solving. We’ve left the M-EQ at 800Hz which fills out the mids and brings out some clean grunt in the playing. This helps you maintain your place in the mix without needing to turn everything up.
Tip 5 – Adding Bite
Whilst a Strat may benefit from some fattening, a Les Paul may require the opposite, more clarity and pick definition. For this we’ll switch over to the 1.3kHz setting to add bite to a Les Paul neck pickup. This, along with the M-EQ DRIVER’s tighter low-end response, removes some of the excess muddiness that can sometimes be found in this setup and brings out note clarity.
Tip 6 – Boosting an Overdriven Amp
As we said at the opening of this article, the M-EQ DRIVER is intended as an alternative to more traditional mid-forward drive pedals, so lets use it as such!
We’ll choose the 1kHz setting, and dial the mid-boost back to 12 o’clock, setting our DRIVE control for a moderate overdrive. Combining this with an amp on the edge-of-breakup allows us to dial in the right about of boost with the OUTPUT control, taking our edge-of-breakup amp into overdrive with the press of a footswitch.
With this setting, you may also choose to dial in some HIGH CUT to keep things from getting out of hand as you push your amp.
Tip 7 – Tightening Higher-Gain Amps
The M-EQ DRIVER doesn’t lose as much low-end as more traditional overdrives, but it still provides a tightening effect. When combined with a healthy boost at 1.3kHz, we can create a setting that helps bring out the bite and picking definition that works incredibly well for hitting the front of a higher-gain amplifier.
Tip 8 – Thick-Mid Boost, Cocked-Wah
Time to utilise that mid-boost to its fullest, by boosting 800Hz a lot! This creates a thick, but focused driven tone that responds well to different playing techniques.
By varying your picking or finger technique, you can conjure up thoughts of ZZ Top and Dire Straits.
Tip 9 – Adaptive Circuitry
The M-EQ DRIVER features our Adaptive Circuitry on its CUT control, meaning the CUT controls strength is determined by the dynamics of your playing and how much you’re driving the pedal. As you play softer and cleaner, the effect of the CUT control will be reduced brightening up your sound. As you play harder, more high-frequency content will be rolled off, preventing driven tones from becoming harsh.
In this setting, we balance a fat drive, with a fuller clean tone.
Tip 10 & 11 – Signal Chain
The M-EQ DRIVER can work well in the context of a larger pedal setup, providing mid-shaping before hitting other drives like our DCXBOOST or a Big Muff. Shaping the mids before hitting further drive stages allows you to focus and control the signal before it goes elsewhere to clip. This can focus the sound as low-frequency content is reduced, and the key areas of definition (your mids) are increased.
You’re likely to find the M-EQ DRIVER works best in front of things, rather than after.
Tip 12 & 13 – Bass
The M-EQ DRIVER isn’t designed for bass, so most bass players will likely want to skip this pedal and take a look at our EQDELUXE or DCXBASS for their tone-shaping and drive needs. That said, there are a couple tricks that, if you own an M-EQ DRIVER, are useful additions to your toolkit.
For sound one, we’re trying to add some vintage sounding bass drive. With a modern bass amp, we can boost at 800Hz with some high-cut and drive for something that gives a classic-sounding mid-forward driven bass tone. It’s similar to what you might do on an SVT when playing with a pick.
Alternatively, you might be using a more vintage flavoured amp or amp simulation pedal. In this situation, the high-cut will be less necessary and lower mid-boost settings may be more appropriate. This allows you to take a clean amp sound and push it into mild-overdrive for cutting through a rock mix, so your tasty bass riffs can be heard!