Electro-Harmonix Glove

The Electro-Harmonix Glove is a compact overdrive and distortion pedal that uses MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) as its clipping elements, the part of the circuit that shapes the signal into distortion. Electro-Harmonix lists it today as the OD Glove, a MOSFET Overdrive / Distortion in the company's compact die-cast chassis¹. It was announced in 2013 under the name Glove².

The pedal's control set is small: Volume and Gain knobs, a Tone knob, and a Tone Shift switch that changes how the tone control behaves¹. Vintage Guitar described the layout as covering "natural, smooth overdrive to saturated high gain"². What sets it apart from most compact overdrives is an internal switch that lets the circuit run at 9V or 18V, changing the feel of the distortion without changing what you plug in³.

What it is and what it does

The Glove sits in Electro-Harmonix's range of overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals. When it was announced, the company positioned it as an addition to that line, and Delicious Audio read it as EHX's take on the versatile modern overdrive, aiming "at covering all the basics" rather than chasing one vintage flavor, unlike the vintage-sounding Hot Tubes or the transparent, classic-sounding East River Drive³⁶.

Sound On Sound's Paul White explained the circuit simply in his December 2015 review: "the OD Glove uses MOSFETs as non-linear elements to create distortion"⁴. In practice that means the transistors themselves clip the signal rather than diodes doing the job, which is the same general approach used in other MOSFET-based overdrives. An independent circuit trace published on the Guitar FX Layouts blog found the design closely related to a well-known MOSFET pedal, concluding "It is pretty much an OCD" in reference to the Fulltone OCD⁵. White made a similar comparison from the playing side: at lower gain settings the Glove "can be used in much the same way you might use a Fulltone OCD," with a broadly similar tonal character, though not identical⁴.

Controls

The Tone Shift switch is the control that most changes the pedal's character in a mix. MusicRadar's reviewer Trevor Curwen found it made a clear difference: "The tone switch controls the mid-frequency emphasis - flick it in, and you'll get a huge dollop of upper-mid presence that punches through the band"⁷. For a player whose guitar gets lost in a band, that is the setting to try first; for a smoother, less forward sound, leave it off and use the Tone knob alone.

Power: 9V or 18V

The Glove runs on a 9V battery, which is included, or on an optional 9.6V DC 200mA power adapter, which is not¹. Inside, a charge pump can step the circuit up: as MusicRadar's Alex Lynham described it, "The EHX Glove resolves this with an internal charge pump, which bumps the circuit internally from 9V to 18V"⁸.

The internal voltage switch chooses between the two, and each has its own character³²⁶:

• 9V: a tighter, more compressed sound, and it reduces the current draw³
• 18V: a less compressed, more open, more amp-like tone³⁶

Vintage Guitar's announcement coverage described the same trade-off: at 9 volts the pedal "produces a tighter sound and reduces current draw, while operation at 18 volts results in a less-compressed tone"². Paul White's listening impression matched: "Switching to the 18V setting reduces the sense of compression and sounds a little more open"⁴. Delicious Audio summed it up as "9 volt for a more compressed sound, 18v for a more amp-like, open sound"⁶.

Release, price and the name change

The pedal was announced in October 2013. MusicRadar reported the news on October 8, 2013 with no pricing or availability details yet⁹, and Vintage Guitar covered it on October 23, 2013 under the name Glove, noting it shipped with a 9-volt battery in E-H's compact die-cast package². Premier Guitar carried the announcement as the OD Glove³, and the maker's current product page uses the OD Glove name, dated 2013¹. The two names refer to the same pedal.

On price, the maker's current listing is $81.60 USD¹. Sound On Sound reviewed it in December 2015 at $67.99 in the US, or £40 including VAT in the UK⁴, so the listed price has moved since that review.

Where it sits among EHX overdrives

The Glove is one of several overdrives in the Electro-Harmonix lineup. Where the East River Drive aims at a transparent, classic sound and the Hot Tubes family goes for a vintage CMOS character, Delicious Audio saw the Glove as the one "covering all the basics" of a modern, versatile overdrive⁶. A later Premier Guitar review of the East River Drive referred to the Glove as "Brit-flavored," suggesting its voicing leans toward British-amp character rather than clean boost territory¹⁰.

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