Pedals Poll- Overdrive pedals

[Tone2TheBone]

Since acquiring a new amph and being pleased with it's inate ability for screaming solos *tips hat to Super Swede* I am pondering a thought here. I would like for each of you to discuss your reasons for using a pedal for overdrive....or for sonic differences in sound (ie. treble boost, volume boost, tone boost). I'm talking some type of overdrive or gain device specifically. I would like to know what you use and the reasons for it. What are you trying to achieve etc.

I'll start. I have a Bad Monkey, a Blues Driver and an MXR Micro Amp. I have used all of them but very sparingly, if at all, as I have been able to get my amps to react the way I like with the amp's circuitry. In a way I feel like I am "cheating" if I do anything otherwise. NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG....I know almost all of you use pedals and like I said I use them too! This is why I am starting this poll. Just within the past couple of days I've been playing my amps side by side, appreciating the differences between them. I got tempted to utilize my pedals to see how the Classic 30 responded. I felt that the amps own circuitry did it for me by itself BUT I was really leaning toward the MXR Micro Amp for the simple fact that it "enhances" the amp's existing sound. In my case it's a great treble boost as I feel the Classic 30 to be a darker amp than my Marshall Jubilee to which I am used to hearing. Have I cheated? Is this a bad thing? You tell me!

Lets hear your preferences and why.

[Tone2TheBone]

I see 2 brave members who openly cheat on their amphs by using pedals. But come on guys tell me WHY. I'm conducting extensive research and your information is vital!

[Nelskie]

Back in the Nelskie Metal Days, the overdrive pedal was an absolutely essential part of my sound. In stock form, my Crate 2x12 could not get that essential "over the top" tone that was needed to push songs like Crazy Train and Too Fast For Love into saturated, solid-state oblivion. The weapon of choice was the venerable Ibanez TS-808, which to this day remains one of the best OD / distortion pedals you can get. As my playing style evolved, and my musical tastes pushed me in different directions, I found that the OD pedal was less essential. True, it could boost, or overdrive the signal in a number of effective ways. But the difference at that point in time was that I was actually "hearing" my tone, rather than dictating how I thought it should sound (if that makes even the slightest bit of sense.) My next amp, a Yamaha 112II, was perhaps be best clean-sounding solid-state I'd ever played, and because it had a push-pull type gain control (essential for screaming solos, but bad for crud build-up), I soon found myself using the TS-808 less and less. Once I'd acquired my first "decent" guitar, my Epi LP, and started focusing in on finer points of good tone, it served only to gather dust in a quiet corner behind my amp stand.

Shortly after I'd purchased my first tube amp (Classic 30), the whole "tone" thing came fully into focus. The joy of plugging in and just playing was something that I never thought would happen, esp. from the distortion end of things. But it did, and in a very big way, thanks to the more-than-ample grit and grind that could be coaxed from the Classic's pre-amp gain control. From that point on, OD pedals became long-forgotten relics of days gone by.

Until my recent purchase of the Valve Jr., I'd felt that my tone didn't need any more OD than what I could get from using a good guitar with good pickups. But sensing that the Jr. could be "more", I went out and bought a Bad Monkey, and seemingly re-discovered the joy of what a decent pedal can do for an over-driven sound, esp. with a tube amp. All of which places me firmly in the present, where I own three - the Monk, a Digitech Tone Driver, and now a Tonebone Classic. All have their respective uses, and points to which they add valuable characteristics to my tone.

But that Tonebone Classic. Wow. I mean, there are few words that could accurately describe how good that pedal sounds. Through every amp, and with every guitar, singing sustain; warm, even overdrive; variable frequencies; adjustable filter and gain controls. Just when I thought my Peavey C30 couldn't sound any better, or any fatter, this little box of tube-powered magic enters my life, and turns it upside down again. Such fun!

So yes, I'm a overdrive pedal junkie once again. And totally lovin' it!

[Tone2TheBone]

....So yes, I'm a overdrive pedal junkie once again. And totally lovin' it!

Nelskie - So I'm ok using my Micro Amp as a treble boost then? WHEW! Glad you came around and told me it was ok!

Seriously thank you for your insightful insightedness....ess. As always you have some honest words of wisdom. Back in my Shred2thebone days I too maximized the input of my preamps using pedals and it sure as heck worked. Like you, and probably like a lot of us here, my tastes have changed. I prefer to be engulfed in pure unadulterated tone of straight up amp. Be it clean or dirty. In a way though I think I'm ok boosting my treb with the Micro since you and Jimi and Stevie and the other Jimmy (and probably Bill) enhance your sound somewhat using boxes with buttons....I guess it's not all that bad.

Ok anyone else want to tell me why you do it?

[Spudman***]

I've had a TS 9 since before I got out of high school. I used it to give my Marshall JMP50 a bit more punch. Since then I've used and still use other tube amphs. Most of the time the amphs always seem to sound like they benefit from a little push on the front end.
With the Marshall the tone knobs didn't seem to do much so I could get a little more tone option with the Screamer. Now I set my amphs clean and use distortion for the crunch or searing lead sounds. I use 2 or 3 distortion pedals when I play. Essentially that gives me a 4 channel amph. Clean - slight crunch-distortion-toned distortion.

I use all the time a DS1>TS9 and now I've added a Bad Monkey-Tone Driver and a Tonebone Hot British distortion (yowsa!) I'm still playing around with the order of those effects to see which works best.

It seems that the guitar responds better into the amph with extra gain going in. It just works for me. I also now have a Behringer Preamp/Boost pedal I'm going to play around with. I was loosing signal volume into my effects chain and got it to keep the level up.

Ya I use them and I love em too.

[Katastrophe]

The "Gain" channel for my amph is completely unused... The RP80 does all the work, which gets routed through the clean channel in my Crate. However, If I could ever get the fundage to finance the amph I want now (Classic 50 with 4 - 10" speakers, thanks for showin' me THAT amph, Nelskie! ***drool***) I'd probably still buy and use an overdrive pedal for lead work, just for that little bit o' oomph to cut through the mix.

[Nelskie]

. . . the amph I want now (Classic 50 with 4 - 10" speakers, thanks for showin' me THAT amph, Nelskie! ***drool***)

Really. It's my pleasure. And if I would care to guess, I'd say that you'll have one sooner than later.

[Tone2TheBone]

Hell yeah lets all have PV Classics and start an exclusive club!

[SuperSwede]

I dont use stomp boxes anymore but I guess that the tonelabs built in od/ds pedals qualifies me to answer.... I love to play with clean sounds, and if I need any overdrive I prefer to crank up the amph instead. However, a tubescreamer or a rat set to low distorsion to give that extra sustain and punch is nice. (I love to set the treble boost to "almost breakup", it helps out a lot with the darker amp(h)s , like the AC15 )

(And we all love to play with that bzzz turbo overcharged distorsion sometimes when we are alone, right? )

[Tone2TheBone]

SS - Do we?

Well I'm back to using no pedals again on the Classic *snort*. While it does seem to accentuate treble response it also seems to take away the natural "oomph" of the amp and that is what I like to hear. I'm not sure if the amp is still oomphing and I'm just hearing more treble. I'm wanting to hear both at the same time. This does not occur on the Marshall though and it's probably because it's a different circuit. It seems like Class A amps are inherently darker as SS pointed out....which is ok though. Apples and oranges are still good food.

[SuperSwede]

SS - Do we?

Hehe, well I´ll bet two of my finest front teeth that your marshall amph has tasted quite a lot of distorsion on festive occasions

It seems like Class A amps are inherently darker as SS pointed out....which is ok though.

I wonder why that is... I think some Class A amps needs a little extra pre-eq, and a top boost is perfect for that!

Apples and oranges are still good food.

Of course Apples is better than Pc..opps.. ehrm oranges..

Here is a fresh apple for you..

[Tone2TheBone]

Mmm a blue shiny transparent apple thanks. *chomp*

I appreciate everyone's comments and participation. Looks like a high percentage of pedal users here.

[Robert****]

Hey Tone, I'm curious to hear why you think using an OD pedal would be cheating. My goal is to get the best tone I can get out of my gear. If the pedals accomplish that, then all is good. I don't see it as cheating. Take a guy like Scott Henderson, who has one of the best amps you can buy (CAE OD-100, it costs over 3 grand I think) - he uses OD pedals on his amp channels, even though the distortion on that amp is phenomenal. Why does he? He likes the sound of his pedals.

Distortion/OD from pedals sounds different than amp distortion. Many players prefer the distortion they get from pedals - I think I'm one of them. However, amp OD can be combined with pedal OD. I often use an OD pedal through an amp which already is being overdriven a tad. The pedals sound better that way to me. Obviously, the starting tone has to be really good. A pedal can never fix a poor tone.

I often use pedals for a specific purpose - so I can change my tone on the fly when playing live. I don't have any footswitches for my amps, so my OD pedals work like a channel switcher.

Actually, my Hellhound doesn't have a footswitch, and it doesn't have enough gain either. So, another reason I use the OD pedals would be because I have a great clean or semi-clean tone to start with, then use pedals to "kick it into gear"!

By the way, I gigged last night, and I got a fantastic tone with the Vox AD50VT on the AC30TB model and kicking in the Bad Monkey. Yaaow! People were saying it sounded fantastic. I am just giving myself options in getting good tone!

[kerc]

I have a Boss DS-1 and a hand-built Fat Boy Fuzz. I almost never use them...

[Tone2TheBone]

I think I equate pedals with cheating because it's an external device that is a 3rd party to your intimate experience with you and your amph.

There are a lot of players that I admire who only went direct to amp from their guitar! I think I'm old school when it comes to that so I would also say that my age probably has a lot to do with my preferences and prejudices? But then again let me repeat.....I have used OD pedals many times in the past and present and have commented positively on how they sounded.

I see what you mean about Scott Henderson. See...I'd feel tremendously guilty if it was me and having paid $3000 for an amp and still used pedals. *ducks* hahahaha J/K!

Spud made a great point in that he uses several pedals in line so that he's able to add a little gain here...a little more there...etc. So for the sake of argument I agree that it's the versatility of pedals that make someone's job easier (ie. Spuds and Scotts and yours). That I clearly understand and if I played live gigs right now you bet I'd be a pedaling fool so that I could have that same versatility. I couldn't just reach down and twiddle gain knobs while playing live. When I'm playing alone or with friends at jams I'm merely enjoying my amps as simply as I can because...well, thats how I like it! But in a live application you almost need to run pedals yes.

In reading your post Rob I should have made myself more clear. Both my amps are channel switchable with gain possibilities in both. Had I a real AC15 amp only....I probably would have not posted this poll. Good point that you made. *thumbs up*

[Robert****]

You see, I don't see it as pedals as replacing amp OD. I will never feel guilty for using a pedal (maybe for BUYING them, but that's a different story...).

For me, it comes down to "I want the best possible sound, what can I do about it?" If a cheap pedal through an expensive amp gives me a better tone, I will have no complaints or feelings of guilt!

Many famous players have/had great tone and used pedals. Let's see.... Jimi, SRV, Scott Henderson, Yngwie, Eric Johnson, Zakk Wylde, Mike Landau, John Scofield, etc.

One exception would be Slash... he doesn't like pedals.

[Tone2TheBone]

And Slash also plays Marshall Jubilees.

I'm being tongue in cheek with my responses obviously and I love playing Devil's Advocate but I also like hearing why people do what they do. It makes music interesting. Eric is obsessively serious about the way he sounds. His tweed stack does sound nice with pedals though.

[Katastrophe]

For a number of years there, after I gave up the idea of playing music regularly, and after I sold off my cabinet, I played with just a Crate 65W SS 1X12 amph. ESP was plugged straight into the amph, with only a footswitch and a touch of reverb to color the sound a little bit. I played one gig with that setup and sounded fine, with no other effects or pedals... That's when I learned that pedals and effects, when used sparingly sound great. Loading down a guitar's tone with huge reverb, chorus, flanger, wah, delay, and distortion doesn't color the sound, it only drowns out mistakes (although, I do think that there is a place in music for that over the top, heavily processed sound)!

[t_ross33]

By the way, I gigged last night, and I got a fantastic tone with the Vox AD50VT on the AC30TB model and kicking in the Bad Monkey. Yaaow! People were saying it sounded fantastic. I am just giving myself options in getting good tone!

Thanks for test driving that setup for me, Robert. I'm playing next weekend and have been digging the AC30 model on my AD30VT with a bit of Blues OD kicked in. Smaller amp and cheaper OD, but seems to do the trick. *Thickens* the tone without over-distorting (if that makes any sense). Starting to figure out the difference between OD and distortion and how each affects the overall sound.

Again, playing covers from many different eras and styles, need to get the most I can out of the least amount of gear as possible. Just not practical to show up to a gig with my Fender Reverb, Tweed Bassman, AND Marshall stack, along with my Strat, Tele, LP, SG, Casino, Rickenbacher, Martin D-28 etc.

The way I figure, if I have lots of pedals, effects and stompboxes at my disposal, I will at least *look* like I know what I'm doing The rest I just wing it.

FAKIN' IT 'TIL I'M MAKIN' IT

Trev