What about these od/boost pedals?

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Speeddemon

Speeddemon

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O.k. I have a very fine Hughes and Kettner Tubefactor, but I want something like an overdrive/boost to place in front of it, so the tube gets kicked harder. I have tried this with my Metalzone, and with a store's Boss SD-1, OD-3, BD-2 and Ibanez TS-9 and TS9DX.

Before I continue, I must stress that I hate the Tubescreamer's sound. It might work in front of a half cranked 70's Marshall, but not for me, right now.

Anyway, I was also looking at these pedals:
-DOD 250 Overdrive/pre-amp
-DOD 308YJM (Malmsteen's version of 250)
-MXR Distortion +

Which of these (incl. the Boss SD-1 and OD-3) would you recommend?

I'm looking for a mid/high gain 70s and 80's rock/metal sound, and although the Tubefactor almost gets me there, I still need a bit more, but the Metalzone doesn't work too nicely with it. I'm gonna sell it.

For reference, this is my chain:
Ibanez S540FM TTS (HSH pick-config.)-->Vox V847 TB mod Wah-->some OD/Boost pedal-->H&K Tubefactor-->(Boss CS-2 compressor, soon)-->Boss CE-2 Chorus-->Korg 301dl Dynamic Echo-->amp.
 
Well, I took the plunge and scored a DOD 250 (mint, w/box and all papers) off Ebay for $37 (+$10 shipping).

I think within 2 weeks my guitar-rig is complete (fx wise).
 
i would just get some realy hot pickups, the seymour duncan megadrives like george lynch used will push the tubes very hard, the sound you are looking for was a trademark from hot pickups sending tubes into overdrive, sometimes active pickups will do this to if you can put up with the darn noise they are so noisey, but sounds like you are getting the pedal and if your not happy with that be sure to try a hotter pickups. good luck the flash
 
The only piece of DOD gear I've ever heard that sounds worth a shit is the R848 reverb unit in my live rig. It sounds cheezy too, but in a good way.:p

All Tube Screamers are not equal. Mine has the TLC2202 opamp, and it can sound quite nasty when set properly. I bought it way back in '82.:cool:

My favorite way to overdrive my JCM800 50 watter is with lots of clean gain via my Todd Electronics (look that one up!) "Demon" isolator/pre-amp. It's the tactical nuclear approach to distortion.:eek: Scott Ian of Anthrax used a similar approach with a TC Electronics pre-amp.

I think the TS-9 sounds better in front of my MKIII & Super.

BTW the EMG active pickups in my '84 Flying V are the quietest, most powerful pickups I've ever heard.;)

YMMV :D
 
Well, the thing with hotter pickups is, that your clean sounds ain't that clean anymore (I'm talkin JC120-kinda clean)...
My 2nd axe is a GrassRoots Horizon with SD 59'er in bridge and Lil' 59'er in neck... They have a fairly high output and rich mid, which helps the Tubefactor.
 
My EMG's are the 89's, which are actually 2 pickups in one casing (single & humbucker). I use push-pull pots on the volume controls. The other advantage to active, low-impedence pickups is you can lower the volume without losing any highs.:cool:
 
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