OD/Distortion pedals addicting?

[SlagJones]

Does anyone find it hard to stop buying dirt pedals? I know that a pedal isn't going to make me sound like so and so or magically create some awesome tone and that isn't the reason I buy. They just seem cool to me and I like to see how each sounds differently but now matter how many knobs there are and how much I fiddle and with no less than 6 different pedals, I somehow end up dialing them all in to the same basic tone. So basically, I really didn't need any more than one pedal but I can't resist looking for sales, deals and bargains so I can pick up another. Why? Why? Why?

Anyone else suffer from the same affliction???

[stumblinman]

My problem is I want to set them all up at various gain levels in a chain and see which ones really work well together and drive each other better, then I'll switch them around and try them in a different order. My TS is still my favorite, but with it pushing my Pod when I'm using a low-gain level Marshall Plexi tone, it's pretty special. I have a Line 6 Tone Core Crunchtone pedal that I'm currently fiddling with too. It's got 3 different voicings to it, and each one is truly different. I'm right there with you. Keeps sucking me in, even though I don't need any more.

[ickythumper99]

Does anyone find it hard to stop buying dirt pedals? I know that a pedal isn't going to make me sound like so and so or magically create some awesome tone and that isn't the reason I buy. They just seem cool to me and I like to see how each sounds differently but now matter how many knobs there are and how much I fiddle and with no less than 6 different pedals' date=' I somehow end up dialing them all in to the same basic tone. So basically, I really didn't need anymore then one pedal but I can't resist looking for sales, deals and bargains so I can pick up another. Why? Why? Why?

Anyone else suffer from the same affliction???[/quote']

 

I too struggle with pedadiction. i guess i'm constantly striving for that tone i can hear in my head and really want for my guitar. it's fun, but annoying when i know i need the money for better things. also... i have about 8 guitars right now... and 4 amps... and a billion cables. I don't think i need rehab though. No turnin' back now

[Suek]

I suffer......Yes and my family suffers. lol I was trying to learn guitar again after 25 years and I don't learn anything. All I do is mess with the pedals. lol I find I'm happy just doing that. My daughter says my playing sounds like a cow. lol

[SlagJones]

I suffer......Yes and my family suffers. lol I was trying to learn guitar again after 25 years and I don't learn anything. All I do is mess with the pedals. lol I find I'm happy just doing that. My daughter says my playing sounds like a cow. lol

Pretty much the same story as me!

[RobG]

Sadly, I too have problems with pedals....mostly my inability to not purchase pedals that I don't need. I rationalize the purchase by telling anyone that will bother to listen that I'll sell it on ebay when I'm done with it but they just end up going into a drawer to keep company with other pedals I have accumulated over the years. It's a sickness.....

[m-theory]

When I started building my own a few years ago, I became obsessed with building every variation of dirt circuit that I stumbled across. I was in the process of defining "my tone" at the time. During the course of that, and after having built dozens of different circuits, I finally settled on three that I feel fit me perfectly, and have remained staples ever since I settled on them. I run my amps hot, so my "clean" to crunch tones are all through twisting the guitar volume knob. The pedal circuits are for solo boosts.

 

This is all a highly subjective topic, though, so every person is going to have different sets of needs/desires. The first step is to define the amp that works best for you, because that, and your guitar, are the foundation. You choose an amp by determining what type of music you generally like to play, identify players in that genre and find out what they use for amps, and then determining how many watts you'll need. All of this requires experimentation, of course, and it's entirely possible, if not probable, that what YOU end up favoring in terms of an amp is something that simply isn't available in production, and has to either be custom built or be the offspring of modifications.

 

You've also got to decide, if it's a tube amp you favor, whether you're going to be driving that amp hard enough to produce distortion of its own, or if you're going to be running it clean or mostly clean, and using pedals for ALL of your dirt. There are benefits and drawbacks to each path. Both can produce excellent tones. It's really just a matter of personal preference.

 

Regardless, once you get that foundational tone decided upon, you can start to experiment with pedals, if you wish. Perhaps, you'll find a favorite amp that you feel doesn't even require a pedal at all. If not, and you wish to use pedals for solo boosting or for various flavors and thickness of distortion, you really have to try several, not just in the basement and not just in rehearsal, but also on stage. That's the only way to truly find out whether a given pedal/amp/guitar is right for you.

 

If you're obsessing over dirt boxes, it would probably be wise to learn how to breadboard and/or build your own, so that you're not constantly buying and selling costly store-bought versions. It really doesn't take a tremendous amount of effort or money to do this, and it be of tremendous aid in dialing in "YOUR" tone. Of all pedal circuits, boosts, overdrives, fuzzes, and distortions are the simplest to build. Once you start building, you'll very likely become immersed in and obsessed with that for some time, perhaps forever, and you'll undoubtedly come across several very interesting circuits that you'll find useful to one degree or another.

[mrw1960]

Does anyone find it hard to stop buying dirt pedals? I know that a pedal isn't going to make me sound like so and so or magically create some awesome tone and that isn't the reason I buy. They just seem cool to me and I like to see how each sounds differently but now matter how many knobs there are and how much I fiddle and with no less than 6 different pedals' date=' I somehow end up dialing them all in to the same basic tone. So basically, I really didn't need anymore then one pedal but I can't resist looking for sales, deals and bargains so I can pick up another. Why? Why? Why?

Anyone else suffer from the same affliction???[/quote']

I was the same way. I figured I could buy a 1/2 a dozen different Blues Overdrive pedals thinking I will sound like SRV. I mean I have the "GOOD" Tubescreamer, but Just couldn't get what I wanted. The Lady kept asking me "What's that colored pedal do?". Since Blues/Jazz is my thing I am staying away as much as possible from the effects peds. I run my gits mostly through my BC30 and I can get the clean and grind that I want. But it is still fun to do the "switch".One of my amps is a 20 Watt All Tube without reverb, so I did get a reverb pedal for it. I figured that was justified. Sounds awesome since it has Eight different Reverb options. As a matter of fact SlagJones I have a Digitech X-Series Heavy Metal Distortion for sale. I bought it as a novelty. Pretty AWESOME distortion. Can dial from vintage Sabbath to today's Morph Metal.It's in MINT condition. I do not gig,my gear is well taken care of. If the addiction is still there I could do a deal on it, feel free to PM me if interested or anyone else. I've even thought of getting a FUZZFACE like JH used. Never used one. It sounds fun.....But No go...

[m-theory]

I figured I could buy a 1/2 a dozen different Blues Overdrive pedals thinking I will sound like SRV.

 

This is probably the motivation for most multiple-dirt box users. They want to sound like some other player and become convinced that a pedal will do automatically do that. The fact is, in spite of what the hype might lead us to believe, MOST of a player's tone comes through those magical fingers. The guitar, pickups, pedal(s), cables, pick, and amp color the tone, but the overall meat of the tone comes from those fingers. Plug any famous guitarist into any rig, and they'll still sound very much like themselves.

[touron]

I suffer......Yes and my family suffers. lol I was trying to learn guitar again after 25 years and I don't learn anything. All I do is mess with the pedals. lol I find I'm happy just doing that. My daughter says my playing sounds like a cow. lol

LOL!!

 

I obsess on the internet over what peddle I should get.

I finally got a peddle the other day' date=' it was on sale at the shop. (my wife was amazed i didn't go home to research it first)

I am using a micro cube and was just getting very disappointed with the tone.

This od peddle just lit it up!!

LOVE IT!

 

[img']http://www.beringmusic.com/store/images/Krankshaft_MED.jpg[/img]

[Dave]

My tone comes from just enough pre-gain to approach the overdrive point so that when I dig in with the pick and the guitar volume is cranked, I get a dirty sound. I add a little TS on some of my presets to augment that.

 

It's a subtle difference, but having a 12ax7 driving a couple of 6L6s in the chain vs SS does wonders for the clarity of overdriven tone.

 

Even with that combination, the tone I get from muting and bending while digging in with the pick puts the tone over the top for me.

[m-theory]

You're singing my song, Dave. It's astonishing how many tones you can get from a tube amp that's creating its own crunch and a guitar volume knob. Anyone who can plug into one with a Les Paul and still call that guitar a "one trick pony" just isn't doing it right at all.

[Dave]

You're singing my song' date=' Dave. It's astonishing how many tones you can get from a tube amp that's creating its own crunch and a guitar volume knob. Anyone who can plug into one with a Les Paul and still call that guitar a "one trick pony" just isn't doing it right at all. [/quote']

 

 

I was a Strat player from about 1982 until around 2006, when I changed over to a Les Paul. I actually owned and still have a Gibson LP Studio with 490/498's but thought it sounded too dark. An amp change made the difference and I found that EQ is the magic bullet for making humbucker guitars sing.

 

I still own the Strat and a Tele, but still can't pry my hands off the Les Pauls nowdays. I like them all, but the LP wants to go out and play more than the single coils. Even my P90 Goldtop sits home and sulks more than my other LPs.