Looking for my first OD pedal

What kind of natural? Tube farts or solid state crunch?

 

You have a pretty wide range of options available to you luckily!

Here are a few that I've tried within your price range that fit the bill:
Southampton Fifth Gear
Fuzzrocious Demon
Broughton SV-Pre
Smallsound/Bigsound Mini
Dunwich ODB

Bass Soulfood is okay IME, I'm not a subscriber of Klon-types for bass

 

Aftershock is the best solution for when you're not quite sure what you want.

 

There's a lot, and I tried a bunch, but I've stuck with the Earthquaker monarch. It's more on the vintage side of things. I run the gain at 1/4th, just to give my amp a little dirt, and it sounds perfect to me.

 

Just a general difference in sound - tube style OD tends to be more round and fat and pillowy than sharp and jagged and crunchy, and includes a range of farty type tones =0)

I really like my little micro Rodenberg "Flux Mr. Fusion Mini 808" overdrive - despite all that longass name it's simple, only has ONE knob! And that knob is just gain, far as I can tell, yet it keeps all the low end and volume in check somehow! there aren't even internal trims!! It's a somewhat tubey sound that is a little bit dark but thick. Less transparent than a Barbershop, which is the other one I'd probably recommend in that realm.

 

There is a guy in the classifieds selling a Rodenberg dual pedal that has the 808b drive and a boost as well, might be worth a look. I do love the barbershop too tho.

 

Earthquake Westwood pedal is the one you are looking for

 

You likely won’t see Broughton in stores anytime soon, he’s a one man operation currently. Despite that, the thread here on TB is filled with people who can tell you about their experiences with his gear!
Broughton Audio Super Thread

 

I know it's a bit out of your price range but the SansAmp YYZ is great. Lots of tone shaping and as much or as little grit as you want.

 

Creation Audio Grizzly? A little out of the price range, but worth the stretch.

 

Definitely can do low gain, plus it has a clean blend.

 

You are describing the Broughton Terraformer. It has a 3-band EQ and a very useful blend knob, which makes it extremely flexible for everything from light hair/crunch all the way up to distortion territory.

 

This is the right answer to the OP’s question.

Also though, do consider the Southampton Fifth Gear, Fairfield Barbershop, Hudson Broadcast, Cog Knightfall, Wounded Paw Black Sheep, and SolidgoldFX Beta as well. All solid choices that will do what the OP is looking for.

 

+1. I've used 3 of these 6 pedals mentioned (5th Gear, Barbershop, Beta), and agree they'd be good choices as well.