where did your OD journey take you?

tc4b

tc4b

Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
I've been reading up on OD pedals, and every pedal has at least one reviewer who says something like, "...and believe me, I've tried 'em ALL!" Each one describes a years' long quest through thousands of music shops trying hundreds of OD pedals until they found their soulmate. From which I infer that everyone has their own special OD pedal they cherish, and there's no 'best,' kind of like just about every music thingy, it's very personal.

So I'm just asking, which OD did you end up with after trying hundreds of thousands of them? Boutique? Cheap n cheezy? Modded? I'm just curious.

BTW, I already decided on a fulltone OCD as my first OD pedal (not counting the one in my shitty-sounding multi fx pedal), knowing full well I'll probably end up with something else. They seem to hold value OK.
 
Tone is a moving target,what's a hit today may be a miss tomorrow.


IOW,get a few pedals,they're not wives you know.
 
My OD journey has taken me nowhere. There's been no journey. :(

Should there be? I mean, if I've got an all-tube amp with some pretty hot hi gain sounds, and an attenuator so I can even drive the power tubes--do I still need an OD pedal?

I'm not being a smart-ass. I'm really curious as to how folks are using them--especially in combination with hi-gain amps.

Thanks!
 
I used an Ibanez TS-10 in conjunction with my JCM-800 back in the '80s - I left it on all the time. These days around the house, I don't use one much, but if I was gigging, I would use one for solos. An EQ pedal is nice, too. But around the house, I like the sounds of my guitars straight in most of the time.

Today, I've got a Fulltone Fulldrive2, another Ibanez TS-10 that I modded to sound more like the old one (but managed to screw up a little) and a Boss DS-1 that I heavily modded that sounds pretty good. I'd probably use the Fulltone for gigging.
 
Tube amps and a Dunlop Crybaby gives me all the OD I want. I think it depends on the style and genre a lot, for me the gain on my Fender Twin (I slave two Twins for live gigs) is all the OD I need.
 
I ended up with an Xotic AC that I'm reasonably happy with. It sounds pretty good with my Gibson and Ampegs. I find that OD pedals are amp specific and you can't get around testing them with your own rig.
I only use one on rare occasions.

You may want to tell people which amp you use most often and ask owners of that model what works well with it.
 
tc4b said:
Of course, that's the dream.
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Well that's where I think I am. I was curious as to whether or not there was some magic about using an OD pedal with the gain in the amp, and it sounds like folks are using them to compensate.

After years of modeling (for both live & studio) I bought a B-52 all tube 100W combo. The overdrive section can go from sweet to sick, and with the Weber Mass attenuator, I can got some powerful break up just from the power section.

So maybe I'm just fine as I am... :)
 
WhiteStrat said:
After years of modeling (for both live & studio) I ...
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I had no idea you were a model -- should have known from the handsome avatar. :D

I do think there was some (really heavy) magic to pairing the tube screamer with the JCM 800 -- extreme crunch plus still being able to make out the notes in a full chord, and I haven't heard the same sound come out of an unassisted amp. But that's just one particular (really heavy) sound that's not usually what I'm looking for these days.
 
WhiteStrat said:
My OD journey has taken me nowhere. There's been no journey. :(

Should there be? I mean, if I've got an all-tube amp with some pretty hot hi gain sounds, and an attenuator so I can even drive the power tubes--do I still need an OD pedal?

I'm not being a smart-ass. I'm really curious as to how folks are using them--especially in combination with hi-gain amps.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

This is kind of funny is I'm really NOT the technical metal type at all, but I've been doing the Andy Sneap thing, hitting the front end of a Rectifier with a modded TS-9 as a light boost.

The idea is not to add more drive (though some guys do that too), but rather to reshape the signal a bit before it hits the preamp, so the frequencies you want are hit a little harder and the ones you don't are attenuated a bit. It's sort of surprising how much an OD so light you can barely hear it on your clean tone impacts your distorted sound - the bass tightens up a bit, and the midrange feels quite a bit different.

If I get a chance I'll record a few clips tonight, metal-y rhythm without an OD, and the same riff with, with the same amp settings (and maybe a clean comparison so you can hear how the pedal sounds on its own...) I'm not sure I'd prefer the OD'd sound in every application - for leads, most of the time I prefer it without for the more open dynamics and a bit more "bloom" to the attack - but if you want that Nevermore/Andy Sneap rhythm sound, or even just a little more tightness from your amp, it's certainly worth the price of an OD.

FWIW, I'm using a Bodenhamer Electronics Chaos Mod TS9. He tweaks tube screamers (and a number of other pedals) specifically for the purpose of goosing the front end of a high gain amp like this, but the real surprise for me was just how awesome the thing sounds on my clean channel with my Strat for SRV stuff, too.
 
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