Tube Amp + Pedal combo?

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bendeho

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Although it sounded okay to me when I first got it, I feel like I've really grown out of the sound of my marshall solid state MG15DFX and am ready for something nicer. I've had a play of a fender blues jr and i really like the clean sounds but if i was to buy one i'd want the ability to get a variety of distortion and so forth. At the moment i'm thinking of getting that amp and then buying a pedal to go with it, but i thought i'd consult the great minds at for forums before i did anything too hasty.

This amp will be used as a bedroom amp and for amp micing/recording and i'd like to have a variety of sounds from clean blues/jazz to heavy distortion for punk/rock and so forth. Sound quality is a high priority and i do like the natural warmth of the tubes, but I'm not sure if a (lesser) pedal will act like a DI and sap me of that tube feeling, or am i being paranoid?

Are there any suggestions for the pedal i should get (i'd like something decent but don't want to go overboard $ wise) or maybe suggestions amp wise if the re's something better than the blues jr for the money.

Thanks in advance people!
 
Although lately I've been leaning more towards amp distortion, I still like the sound of a distortion pedal in front of a clean amp.

My main pedal for a long time was an old Japanese-made Boss DS-1 Distortion in front of a '74 Fender Twin (using a Gibson Les Paul). Here's a live recording of that tone: [url=https://en.audiofanzine.com/guitar-distortion-overdrive-fuzz/boss/DS-1/user_reviews/]Boss DS-1 Live Recording[/URL]

As another example, this is a live recording (from the same night) using a Danelectro Daddy-O Overdrive...same amp and guitar as above (and before anyone gets all wound-up...this song is a parody, please take it as such): Danelectro Daddy-O Live Recording

I also like the MXR Distortion +.

I dunno...to me you can never have enough distortion pedals. :cool:
 
Yep, I love my Distortion pedals!!......even thought I don't need em on half my amps -- Especially my Carvin Legacy! ;)

Not only do I like having a lot of pedals around, now I've become obsessed with having the modded in one way or another.....true bypass or what ever. :O

Here's my current pedal board - a few others that I swap out on occasion like the trusty vintage MXR D+ :

ModdedBelairandpedalboardrs.jpg


I always tell people this: If I had to choose just one overdrive/distortion pedal, it would be my Keeley Modded Boss Blues Drive (BD-2). If you're playing on the clean channel, you can have it set up to give you that perfect "Blues Breakup" sound, and if you add it to a already driven sound, it gives you that extra edge for your solos! --- It's the one to have!!!

Rick
 
WERNER 1 said:
I always tell people this: If I had to choose just one overdrive/distortion pedal, it would be my Keeley Modded Boss Blues Drive (BD-2). If you're playing on the clean channel, you can have it set up to give you that perfect "Blues Breakup" sound, and if you add it to a already driven sound, it gives you that extra edge for your solos! --- It's the one to have!!!

Rick
Click to expand...
Nice rig! I'm very familiar with the Boss Blues Driver. What does the Keeley mod do?
 
I use a HRD amp, which is sonically very similar to the Blues Jr. I love, repeat, love the sound of using a Fuzzface pedal in front of it, with very little fuzz dialed in, but volume boost all teh way up. It truly is exquisite.
 
yeah dude its the way to go. I play a fender twin, a musicman twin, and a crate vintage club 50. I play with 5-6 different dist boxes, but only 3 on board at any time. The one pedal that comes to mind that would 'kill' the tube sound so to speak is the RAt, which I use..but even then I would have to imagine it still sounds better through a tube amp then any solid state. and at low-medium gain settings, I can still control the amount of breakup, to a degree, with my playing.
 
I'm a fan of a RAT at low gain settings (not much higher than 9 o'clock) used as a lead tone. I usually combine it with my champ's built-in distortion for a nice thick lead tone that cuts through EVERYTHING.
 
+1 on the Keeley stuff!

He's had a hand in modding 7 of my pedals.......well to are original designs - The Katana (Clean boost), and the Keeley compressor.

:D

I love the old Rat / ProCo pedals!
 
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'll look into all of those pedals. Do people generally approve of the blues Jr though, or is there something similar that is cheaper/better, of does anyone think an on-board distortion is a must have?
 
bendeho said:
Do people generally approve of the blues Jr though, or is there something similar that is cheaper/better, of does anyone think an on-board distortion is a must have?
Click to expand...
Well, I don't know what you mean when you ask if people generally "approve of" the Blues Jr. I mean, after all, everybody has different tastes in amplifiers. I would say that some people like 'em and some people don't. However, I do know that the Blues Jr. is a very, very popular amp, indeed. There certainly are quite a few people who like them enough to own one. I came very close to buying one, myself, and ended up with Traynor YCV 20, which has a whole lot more features, but has the exact same tube compliment as the Blues Jr. (It also costs a whole lot more.) And, to tell you the truth, now that I've got it, I'm still not sure that I wouldn't have been happier with a Blues Jr.

Basically, here's the pros and cons (as I see it, anyway):
Cons:
1) Being a 15 watt amp, it probably won't QUITE have enough juice for live gigs, unless your band plays small venues and has a lot of restraint, volume-wise. (It can work for rehearsals, however, unless your band is really, really loud.)
2) It's only one channel, so there is no switching back and forth between "clean" and "drive" channels via footswitch while you play.
3) It it certainly NOT the most flexible sounding amp out there. It basically specializes in one, specific tone, with a few slight variations of this basic tone.

Pros:
1) At 15 watts, it's perfect for home playing and recording. Breaks up nicely without becoming unbearably loud.
2) While it doesn't have a plethora of different sounds, the one sound that it is known for (a sort of medium-gain, slightly grungy sound) is pretty darn good.
3) It can be modded almost endlessly. Because it is such a popular amp, there are TONS of websites out there detailing various ways to modify the amp to change the tone in a variety of ways. Some mods are very simple ones that you could do yourself. Some are quite radical, involving major changes to the internal wiring, and cause a significant change in the tone of the amp. These would require that either you know a lot about working with tube amps, or have a professional amp guy make the mods for you.
4) Quality of construction is actually pretty darn high, especially for the money. A Blues Jr. should hold up to professional use. You probably couldn't say that about ANY other tube amp in the price range or lower (those cheap Epiphone tube amps, for example, look like they are made of cardboard).
5) Dollar value is quite impressive. Remember that you usually can't touch an all-tube amp for anything CLOSE to the price of a Blues Jr. For relatively little money, you are getting a nice sounding all-tube amp with quality construction, which appears to be built to last. And if you become dissatisfied with the tone at some point, you can mod the hell out of it. (More likely, by the time you start looking for some other sound, you'll be ready to shop for another amp that provides that different sound, but you'll STILL want to keep the Jr. around.)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but these are, basically, the pros and cons that I came up with when I was trying to decide if I wanted to buy this amp.

Hope this helps you.
 
I used to have a Marshall MG50, I almost bought the 30, but I didn't feel it had enough "umph" to keep up with a full band. At the time I was purchasing this just for the sole purpose to practice with a band in a very tight room.....where even a 2x12 combo would not fit well. After playing the 30 for a while I knew that I needed the 50 to get to that comfort level of not have to drive the amp for all it's worth just to keep up. The 50 worked fine for me in those practices, small (Very small) gigs, and noodleing around at home.

If you're using the 15 now, you may want to look into getting something that is at least 30W.

I'm not familiar with the BLues Jr., so I can't comment on that. I DO know that most overdrive pedals respond well to being used in front of a Fender tube amps clean channel......I've used lots of Devilles and Hotrods over the years. :)

Hope that helps some....


Rick
 
WERNER 1 said:
If you're using the 15 now, you may want to look into getting something that is at least 30W.

......I've used lots of Devilles and Hotrods over the years. :)
Click to expand...


He is using 15 watts os solid state power, why would he need 30 watts of tube power? Thats like going from jogging up a hill to trying to scale the Alps.
 
WERNER 1 said:
I'm not familiar with the BLues Jr., so I can't comment on that. I DO know that most overdrive pedals respond well to being used in front of a Fender tube amps clean channel......I've used lots of Devilles and Hotrods over the years. :)

Hope that helps some....


Rick
Click to expand...
The Blues jr. is a great amp for what it does, but what it does is NOT the fender clean sound. It does a typical blues rock sound, from mild distortion at the least to a pretty good amount for leads. It can't get too clean, and it can't get too over the top distorted.

Personally I don't understand the need for distortion pedals with a tube amp, I have both, I like them both. However I don't use them together. I have tried to get a tube amp and pedal combo to sound as good as the amps distortion but I have never done it. I'm not a purist, or a tube snob, but I think that its just simpler to haul your gear around and set up if you gig without the extra pedal, and I think it just sounds better.

An overdrive pedal on the other hand I think works really well, you should atleast try one out in front of a blues jr. and see what you think. Either that or when using a distortion pedal turn the gain knob all the way down and then crank the output level. That way you can get a boosted signal that is footswitchable, without adding any harshness to your tube distortion.

I like the sound of the Blues jr. but I don't recommend it for someone that wants more than one sound. I'd recommend spending a little bit more and getting a fender hotrod, its not way more expensive and you'll get more power, and more versatility.
 
If the Blues Jr. is what you want, then by all means purchase it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Blues-Jr...ryZ38074QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Since I've not played it, I don 't know how clean or how dirty it gets. You may want to consider a 2 channel amp along the same lines. (15W)....If that's all the power that you will require now and in the future (Always think of the possiblilities of what you may encounter in the future :) )

This may be a big step up for you, but it's a great amp w/ two channels....I have one, and it's great! :

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=Carvin+Belair

One thing you really haven't stated is the type of music you will be playing, or the sound you will be going for. You did mention Jazz, blues, punk...., but there are other things to consider as well in making a decision for a new amp.

One of the most important is your guitar. Is it a strat style w/ single coils, or a LP w/ humbuckers.....this will have a HUGE effect on the sound you will get out of the amp....regardless of the amp or overdrive pedal. :)

Just some things to think about.

Rick
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone.

To answer some of the questions, my main priorities are these:
1) quality tube sound
2) variety of sound - ideally most things from sweet clean fender style to heavy thick distortion (which i thought pedals could give me, but maybe not)
3) not too big (since it will be used in a bedroom/studio generally i'd like to be able to get the natural tube sound without breaking my windows)

I thought that the blues jr with some sort of combo pedal might give me these things but i'm starting to wonder. If something like the fender hot rod can give me all this then i'd consider paying the extra (double) although it looks like it might be too big (loud).

Is it really not possible to find a small clean tube amp and then pedal a variety of quality different sounds into it, or are on board knobs the go?
 
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