Stacking and switching

[M29]

I was curious what you all use when you stack say an overdrive before a distortion pedal but want to use one or the other and not both at the same time. For example, I have found that with many of the pedals I have had the distortion pedals sound reeeaal good with my Bad Monkey in front of it driving the distortion pedal. This requires that you push both on if you are in a clean mode. I have not played out yet and wondered if there is enough time to step/on both pedals and then step/off both pedals to get back to a clean sound.
You might just want to use the overdrive for a blues and not the distortion but all this on and off switching seems like it might be a problem when you would be playing a gig. How do you deal with all this switching on a gig?

TYIA
M

[Spudman]

I like to run my overdrives after the distortions. The ODs take the brittleness off the top of the distortions and at higher volume that is a good thing. Plus, the mid range hump from the OD can help the distortion come through a band mix a little better. This is just my preference and I'm sure there are other methods that get good results as well. For instance: OD>Distortion>OD>Distortion. This gives a lot of flexibility and is easily done if you have a bunch of pedals or an M13.

[M29]

Thanks Spud!

Do you run an A/B switch say if you want to switch between clean to your stacked (distortion/overdrive) but then want to run just the distortion by it's self without stomping on two buttons?

[Spudman]

I've been using one of these for about 25 years. It allows me to turn on whatever effects I want ahead of time then just hit this pedal to activate the loop. So that way both distortions, chorus, flanger, delay etc can be all turned on and off with one stomp. It also has a power out so that you can power several pedals with it.
http://www.chrisguitars.com/boss-psm5-050825.jpg

[M29]

Oh wow that is cool! I have never seen that switch before.

Thanks Spud:AOK:

[markb]

You should find all your switching and looping needs covered at the url below. A clean/dirty switcher is good. You put your dirt pedals and anything you only use with dirt (flanger, short delay?) in one loop and your clean effects in another. Preselect for the song and you can go from say, comp + chorus to OD + delay with one stomp. Loop switchers help you group effects that you use in combinations.

www.loop-master.com

[M29]

Thanks Mark, awesome site.

M