Find an original Ibanez Mostortion MT10 if your life depends on it. An incredible find in the wild as it's no longer made and sounds unreal -- unlike any other boost or drive on the guitar effects market. Partly, due in fact that Ibanez used IC Chips that are no longer made and the pedal is 20 years old. You can find them on many a Nashville touring and session board for a reason.
I tend to prefer overdrives that offer a unique feel that emphasizes what I'm doing at the guitar's end. Everything I choose whether it be on a studio pedalboard system or a live/touring system, I'm always looking for the best tool to emphasize what I'm playing and how I'm playing. The MT10 Mostortion is exactly that. I use two actually, one on my live pedalboard and one on my studio board. They're both rehoused as the originals are not true bypass and between the jacks, pots etc... they could use a bit of beefing up to live a longer life. I mainly prefer them being rehoused as one may find out that having a few non true bypass pedals can really alter your bypassed tone as well as how other pedals in your chain sound... which is an entirely different can of worms I'll discuss further in another Gearheads post!
You might be wondering how I use these rare birds in both situations... you also might not, but I'll be happy to tell you! Shortest answer is two ways.
My studio board I use the MT10 as a medium, bold yet with pleasing compression drive tone. The Thru-Tone version does sound different from the XTS version. Another future post! I find that this particular version really cuts well in a recorded piece of music. In other words it tracks well, which is why I use it for sessions. The 'right' amount of presence mixed with mid range content and compression makes it really pop in a track.
On my live board I use the XTS version as an extension of other pedals, specifically the Maxon SD-9. I use it after the SD-9 as a sort of EQ/midrange boost. Not boosting the volume necessarily, but more along adding more mids, more presence more of what you need in a moment of solos, or crazier parts where you need to jump above the band in a live mix but not change the inherent character of the initial tone. This is something that's very important to me. In fact my live board is basically based around the Maxon SD-9. I use other pedals either boost it before or after it for more tonal options. Look forward to a post on the SD-9 as well.
So, there you have it! Now go and scour Reverb.com & Ebay and get yourself one!
Ibanez MT10 Mostortion rehoused by XTS Xact Tone Solutions. Live LA Sound Design pedalboard
Ibanez MT10 Mostortion rehoused by Thru-Tone in Nashville, which lives on my studio LA Sound Design pedalboard