Dr. Rock Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Hi everyone! Do you use pedal or amp overdrive/distortion? There is another post on the use of pedals in general that is very cool but what about drive/dist? I have a TScreamer, Big Muff and Boss DS-1 but always use the drive channel of my amp in my band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canine Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 When I play through my halfstack I use the MXR booster to crank it up a little, but I let the amp set the tone. I've tried everything, or almost everything, and not the RAT, not the Marshall Governor or the Tube Screamer, nothing replaces the actual sound of that overdriven head. I also tried the software-based effects and they're the worst POS ever! I do use my Boss DS1 when I play through the Fender, I hate the dirty channel on that thing, it doesn't help that it's a solidstate combo. I got a Champ coming soon, tube combo, let's see how that works. I also have the MXR Distortion pedal, it's very good, but still not the characteristic sound of the Marshall. The trick I found is to work with both the MRX EQ and the head's EQ to get that tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Everyone will have their favorites...But mine has always been a overdriven Tube amp, where you can clean up, simply by turning the volume on the guitar itself, down (or using a fully transparent volume pedal)...then when you need the grit, for a solo, you simply crank the guitar volume back up. That's MY favorite. But, I do use pedals (sparingly) too. Depends on the situation, and what I'm going for. CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjones200x Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I use my amp now as ive tried a few pedals and dont like them! The epi valve junior is lovely when cranked imo. I use the crunch and lead channels on my laney lv200 hybrid amp now and i love there tone. To me this amp kills my Vox ad30vt for tone! Selling my boss ds-1 and behringer um300 Ultra metal. Amp can do all nearly which is good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Lol... distortion pedal with a Mesa? I bought my amp for its' distorted tones, there's no way I'd put a pedal in front of that. On the Peavey Windsor, I do have a tube screamer in line for solo boost, but that's it. I love me some tube distortion, and the Mesa delivers it in spades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I'm with Charlie and he knows it. Tubes are the stuff. but.. I am looking for a nice overdrive pedal, too.. I'm trying to find something that will let me clean up using the guitar vol. as Charlie says.. and will give me a little more drive at less volume than the amp tubes.. but still be nice when it's cranked, too.. thinking bout the digitech hardwire series.. anyone got one of those? which one and whatcha think? TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I know I'm in the minority, but it isn't the first time. I love the sound of overdriven tubes, BUT, I use a volume pedal. Because of that, I can't get the full benefit of an overdriven tube sound. It's my choice, and I like the sound I get. So, I have a couple of modified TS-9s that I use, along with a Keeley Compressor and a modified Boss GE-7. Bottom line, I love what I hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 The way I have my rig set up, I get 5 different levels of Overdrive out of my two Fender Stage amps, (Clean-Dirty, Clean-More Dirty, Dirty-Clean, Dirty-Dirty, Dirty-More Dirty) all very different sounding. Then I have a TS-9 which I use for more af a lead boost and usually when I'm on the Strat, and an MXR Distortion+ which I Usually only use with my amps on Clean-Clean or Clean-Dirty for more modern metal tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gashole Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Both. Or not, depends on the amp I'm using. I have single channel amps that need a pedal to get gain w/o maxing volume...I also have a multichannel amp with gain-and I use it (the BC30) but even with that I sometimes want the meat that a bluesbreaker or bluesdriver can bring-so I'll use one of those(combined with a BBE treble booster) through the clean channel on the BC30. It just depends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostindesert Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 +1 for both, i use a TS808 and Full-Drive 2 for boost, crunch and drive. Btw if you play a Fender '65 Twin Reverb or seventies silverface you need a overdrive/distortion pedal. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gashole Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I'm with Charlie and he knows it.Tubes are the stuff. but.. I am looking for a nice overdrive pedal' date=' too.. I'm trying to find something that will let me clean up using the guitar vol. as Charlie says.. and will give me a little more drive at less volume than the amp tubes.. but still be nice when it's cranked, too.. thinking bout the digitech hardwire series.. anyone got one of those? which one and whatcha think? TWANG[/quote'] Twang- I don't have any of the digitech series-however, a Marshall Bluesbreaker 2 is a very versatile OD pedal. It functions in 2 modes-boost (retain your tone, just drive the tubes harder/louder) or a gain function. You get tone and volume and gain control in that setting, only volume in the boost-makes sense. Anyway, both modes are very useful IMO. It's largely replaced my tried and true 12 year old bluesdriver. I'm thinking of putting it out to stud. Good ol' pedal that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxman Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Amp!!!! My two amps (with VERY different distortions): VOX AC30 and Fender Princeton Chorus No need for overdrive/distortion pedals. I have one, never use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinb Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I hate using Distortion pedals. Im more into the tone that you get from the amps themselves, unles its a line 6 lol no offense to line 6 though. The one that they did wit bogner is one of the greatest half stacks ive ever played! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Overdrive pedal. I have a Fender Hot Rod DeVille and its distortion sounds are something awful. I don't like it at all - and until I can get something a little more hard rockin' (probably when the economy turns around..... so never) I use some decent pedals. The pedals do a good job of pushing the amp into a really good place. I have an Option 5 Destination Overdrive for medium and an analogman modded MetalZone for really over the top stuff. The MetalZone has gone out of use with the new band, want to unload it. But the Destination Overdrive is pretty sweet. It has some power jack issues (I had to send it back to the factory) but it runs 24v and has an A/B output so I can push two amps if I really want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I know I'm in the minority' date=' but it isn't the first time. I love the sound of overdriven tubes, BUT, I use a volume pedal. Because of that, I can't get the full benefit of an overdriven tube sound. It's my choice, and I like the sound I get. So, I have a couple of modified TS-9s that I use, along with a Keeley Compressor and a modified Boss GE-7. Bottom line, I love what I hear.[/quote']Why does a volume pedal make a difference? I have one, and I still use the Mesa's distortion... How do you have tours set up? I'm not understanding why a volume pedal would prevent tube distortion, unless you use it in place of the amp volume, with the amp wide open... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Gashole I'm gonna check that Marshall out.. I think they've got one around here at Sioux Falls music or GC.. thanks TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Why does a volume pedal make a difference? I have one' date=' and I still use the Mesa's distortion... How do you have tours set up? I'm not understanding why a volume pedal would prevent tube distortion, unless you use it in place of the amp volume, with the amp wide open...[/quote'] I'm not sure if it does prevent tube distortion, but it effects the signal of my guitar going into the amp and driving the tubes, which in turn effects the sound that I get. It's like turning the volume knob on the guitar down, it effects how hard you drive the tubes. I play in a church, so we don't play at rock concert volume levels, but we do get fairly loud. I use the volume pedal for swells a lot, with and without a slide, and also just to maintain my stage volume. I love the sound of the overdrive channel on my Marshall DSL. When I starting using a volume pedal again, I noticed that I just wasn't wasn't getting that saturated tube sound. I talked to one of the guys at the shop where I got my Marshall, and he confirmed what I thought. By using a volume pedal the way I am, I am not going to get the full effect of the overdriven tube sound. The only way I'm going to get what I want is to use overdrive stompboxes and put my volume pedal at the end of my chain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djroge1 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Like most here, I've used both at different times. However, right now all I have is a solid state amp (bought 19 years ago for playing in a jazz band). So what I have is a Mesa Boogie V-Twin pre-amp pedal that has 2 tubes. This sounds ok, but it's not the sound I'm searching for right now. There is much good to be said about pushing the power tubes of an amp not just the pre-amp tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slogold Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I like the sounds of my OD/Distortion from my Mesa Boogie compared to Boss at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy1281734128 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 not a fan of my boss distortion, does anyone else have a delay on theirs? i.e you press it........and then it turns on. its not instant like my tubescreamer. i love the overdrive on my marshall amp, but for solos i use my tubescreamer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rock Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 I'm not sure if it does prevent tube distortion' date=' but it effects the signal of my guitar going into the amp and driving the tubes, which in turn effects the sound that I get. It's like turning the volume knob on the guitar down, it effects how hard you drive the tubes. I play in a church, so we don't play at rock concert volume levels, but we do get fairly loud. I use the volume pedal for swells a lot, with and without a slide, and also just to maintain my stage volume. I love the sound of the overdrive channel on my Marshall DSL. When I starting using a volume pedal again, I noticed that I just wasn't wasn't getting that saturated tube sound. I talked to one of the guys at the shop where I got my Marshall, and he confirmed what I thought. By using a volume pedal the way I am, I am not going to get the full effect of the overdriven tube sound. The only way I'm going to get what I want is to use overdrive stompboxes and put my volume pedal at the end of my chain. [/quote'] Do you put your volume pedal in front of your amp or into the FX loop? Into the loop, you will keep your distortion in the preamp section at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostindesert Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 +1 for the volume pedal in the FX loop. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I like amp overdrive distortion just at the breakover point. I back off a little on the guitar volume to get cleaner and crank for solos. I do have an Ibanez tube screamer on the floor nect to my Fender tuner pedal for more distortion when I need it. One of these days I'll spring for a tube amp and ditch the modeling amps for a stack of floor pedals. I just haven't seen the need to spend the money yet. I have never used more than 4 pedals. When I was playing classic rock in the 70's and 80's, I had a compressor, chorus, delay, and wah-wah on the floor. Those were all I needed. Someone needs to build a tube amp with a modeling front end and complete control of all this with a matching floor pedal. Fender introduced a new line of tube amps with VM modeling that recreates lots of the sounds of the past couple of decades. I'm thinking that a hot rod deluxe with modeling would be a good investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielaraujo Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I'm a big fan of amp modelling, like the Pods. If you set it up right you can have any type of distortion you want... creamy, heavy, bluesy, you name it. But they can be tricky to get the right sound. Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gashole Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I'm a big fan of amp modelling' date=' like the Pods. If you set it up right you can have any type of distortion you want... creamy, heavy, bluesy, you name it. But they can be tricky to get the right sound. Daniel[/quote'] I do find it handy- I have a Vox AD15-and it is nice-I think. It's the only modeling amp I've owned-though I have a dusty Boss GT6 that models too...but it IS dusty...never grooved with it. Just the same, I prefer my tube amps and pedal board, though I find alot of utility for that little vox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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