amp vs guitar volume with pedals

[birv2]

I feel pretty dumb, and everyone probably already knows this but....:thwap:

I discovered by accident yesterday that if I turned the amp volume down, and the guitar volume up, I got some serious overdrive/sustain/distortion using any of my pedals.

When I tried the opposite at a comparable level and kicked in the pedal(s), I got hardly any of the dirt.

So while I feel pretty stupid, I'm also thrilled at the sound I'm getting! I tried it with every one of my pedals (see my sig) and got great results from all of them. THIS is what I was looking for!

The 2 best sounding pedals this way are the Tubulator (w/ Wampler mod) and my TS9DX, which sounds great even on the other 3 settings. Not sure how I missed this, but who cares?

Bob
:rockon:

[thearabianmage]

But if the volume's down on the amp, how can you rock out with your new-founded tone? Or am I missing something?

[birv2]

But if the volume's down on the amp, how can you rock out with your new-founded tone? Or am I missing something?

I can crank the volume, just so's the guitar volume is all the way up. Keep guitar volume at 10 (or 11) and crank the amp to taste. I'll try it at the jam tomorrow night and report right back. :)

Bob

[birv2]

Jam Report --

Sounded good! Got some compliments on playing and tone.

However, it wasn't a completely fair test, since I plugged into a Deluxe Reverb instead of my Pro Jr. Now I have a serious case of GAS for that DR (it was from the 80's but had a Jensen speaker from the 60's in it -- sweeet!).

Anyway, I played rhythm without the pedal on, and then stomped it for leads. Nice sustain and OD. It was also nice not to be in the Tube Screamer Army!

;)

Bob