Distortion Pedals

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Rickson Gracie

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I WAS trying to get more distortion out of my Blues Jr. but after trying two pedals that get a lot of good reviews (BOSS ds-1 and BOSS Blues Driver) Ive come to the conclusion that distortion pedals totally kill the warmth and responsiveness of real tube overdrive. They totally "cheapened" my sound. I am going to stick with the volume control on my BJ to depend on distortion.

Considering how popular distortion pedals are i cant believe everyone would sacrifice their sound like that.

Is it just me?
 
Well yeah, we all cheapen our sound ...

usually happens the first time your run into a real sound engineer at a live gig who insists that you back your marshall off of 11 to say 2 so he can mix you properly in the house without you overpowering the PA.

But you whine about your sound and he says turn it down or he's leaving.

So you buy a distortion pedal so you can appoximate your sound and get some sustain at lower stack volume. .... at least that's how I learned to cheapen my sound :)

In the studio, stick it in a iso room and crank it all you want ... everywhere else, learn to deal with distortion pedals ...

There's a pretty good reason there are all those amp modelers around ... most folks don't enjoy you finding your sound with the volume knob nearly as much as you do.

No sarcasm here, just the sad voice of experience past :)
 
try a tube screamer. it's not nearly as bad as most pedals. also the dod OD-something or other........i think it has been renamed something to do with malmsteens signature pedal. the original is yellow though.

one of those 2 will sound better than the distortion pedals.....i mean i know that you said you've already made the decision to stick to overdriving your amp and i can't blame you(i use my amp distiortion also), but i think you may have tried the wrong pedals for you.

also...you could try one of those really low wattage amps. fender has 2 out (it might actually be the same amp in 2 different wattages....id on't remember for sure) right now......i can't remember what they're called, and gibson has the goldtone 5 watt amp(they also come in 15 watt and 30 watt versions). i've tried all three and if i hadn't just spent a lot of money on a new guitar, i would probably get one of them. the 15 watt ones would be loud enough when distorting to be heard over some drummers and the 30 watt ones would be enough for any drummer.
 
i actually just got the Epiphone Galaxie 10 10 watt all tube amp used at Guitar Center for only $159. I use it as a head into a 12 inch Fender cabinet. The distortion is a lot heavier with that amp compared to the BJ i guess because i can crank it all the way up. its only 10 watts.

ive noticed that the galaxie 10 amp doesnt sound so impressive with my USA strat but it has a great distorted tone with my SG.

the Blues Jr. sounds awesome with my american strat but the tone is just not as distorted.
 
Send your Boss pedals to Keeley for proper modification.These do NOT suck the tone out of your rig.
 
do the tube distorion pedals sound much better than the BOSS ones?
 
I'm looking for a boost myself. I DO NOT like how distortion pedals sound. Bad fascimiles of tube tone, in my humble opinion. However, I do like overdrive/clean boosts. I just havent found exactly which one is right for me. I have used an sd-1, a keeley sd-1 (which really wasn't that much different), a z. vex super duper, tubescreamer ts-7, ts-9, and now a mxr zakk wylde overdrive. To tell you the truth, the mxr still doesnt quite do it and sounds a bit cheap, but does "clean up" the bottom end and provide some nice gain boost.

In light of all of this, I think I am going to buy a few boost pedals and see which I like best. I think I'm going to try a catalinbread super chili picoso, a keeley time machine boost, and maybe one of the xotic effects. It should be expensive, but I think it will be worth it.
 
Rickson Gracie said:
do the tube distorion pedals sound much better than the BOSS ones?
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In my experience, tube distortion pedals usually dont have very much definition and sound very much like a fuzz. I had a tube driver that was very sweet for leads, but sounded very loose and almost impossible to discern one note from another on rhtyhm.
 
Turn the distortion on the pedal off and crank up the gain (output, volume, whatever it is called on the pedal) you just need something to boost the signal going into the amp. The boss overdrive and ibanez tube screamer are more of what you are looking for, but you still should keep the distortion effect to a minimum and crank the gain on the pedal.
 
check out www.analog-man.com for his mod on the DS-1 ... I use one of his' ... and its the next best thing to cranking it all the way up ...

it has a very sweet, by no means piercing sound and as mentioned earlier you can set the level high and the distortion low and it will just overdrive your amp (if you shouldnt have a pre-volume-knob)

best of luck
alfred
 
you could fork out for a mesa boogie v-twin. 2 channel tube pre. pretty sweet.
 
Rickson Gracie said:
two pedals that get a lot of good reviews (BOSS ds-1 and BOSS Blues Driver) Ive come to the conclusion that distortion pedals totally kill the warmth and responsiveness of real tube overdrive.
Click to expand...

The DS-1 will give you some pretty harsh clipping and works better through cleaner amp settings IMO. It has it's sound, complete with the scoopy mids. Sometimes I like it, other times not.

The Blues Driver is more like an overdrive a la the SD-1 and tubescreamers IIRC. If you like the sound of your amp cranked, try cranking the pedal's output volume and using the pedal's gain/ clipping control to taste like Farview suggested. IMO those pedals are meant to send a boosted and slightly dirty signal into a tube amp on the verge of overdrive; they do not work so well when played through a really clean amp. If you do not like the sound of your amp cranked, you need another amp my man!
 
I'm a big DS-1 fan. Having said that, it is what it is. If I could only put one pedal in my case it'd be the DS-1, oddly enough only one fits, and there's a DS-1 there lol.

It's not going to compete with a real amp, no way. You can get some jangly tones at low gain levels, and some good meat if you twist the gain up higher. IMO It's at its best overboosting the living shit out of some poor no name amp.

Whetehr it's usefull as part of the "A" rig or not I don't really know. I remember it as pretty complex sounding with my Marshall combo, probably because my amp already has some SS clipping in the signal path somewhere. Maybe with an older head to put it over the top. I've heard it was used by Kurt on Nevermind and some Stevie Vie stuff.

I've got no reason to plug it in most of the time, but Ye 'ol faithfull DS-1 is my #1 problem solver. If you absolutely, positively have to play through a pedal, accept no substitute.
 
Has anyone used the MXR micro amp to drive a small tube amp? I saw it in a catolouge and it seemed like it might work, just one control for the level of signal boost.
 
Pedals are much like anything else. You often get what you pay for. There are exceptions (Nobels ODR1, Proco Rat), but more often than not real quality comes with a price tag.

Boss distortions in general suck. The mods can help quite a bit, but I still prefer to use a quality pedal that was made with top notch components from the ground up.

It's much like the difference in Behringer and Neve. A beginner may not understand why one will cost so much more. The trained ear will.
 
i think its best to play with some of the most expensive amps/guitars their is and youll know what sounds like crap afterwards:)
 
Zona Mona said:
Has anyone used the MXR micro amp to drive a small tube amp? I saw it in a catolouge and it seemed like it might work, just one control for the level of signal boost.
Click to expand...

This pedal is used A LOT by professionals, at least from what I've read. MXR pedals in my experience are very well built and easy to use.

As someone else mentioned, Tfor the most part you get what you pay for. I have a DS-1. I got it for $30, so I figured what the hell. It sounds like a paper guitar.

There are some good pedals out there though: the Z-Vex Fuzz Factory, Expandora Distortion something or other, Phatman Zen, Sovtek Big Muff, Proco Rat (of course)...etc.
 
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