Recomendations needed for Distortion or OD pedals..

[Hfan]

Hi guys, been reading the Fender amp thread, brings a question to mind.

 

I've got an old Twin Reverb that currently only gets played at home. Anyone care to weigh in on pedals to help me get a decent OD tone at low volumes? last thing I want to do is wake the wife or kids (luckily all heavy sleepers) during my alone / guitar time. I'm mainly into blues or vintage tones but wouldn't mind the capability of heavier tones as well (hope that's not too vague). I have a Jaques Overtube pedal (doesen't get me what I'm looking for) so I am thinking a distortion pedal may be in order. There is a guy in town with a Marshall Guvnor for sale on CL but I hear these may be better for heavier / metal tones.

 

Heard one guy playing out recently who got good tone with a Boss Fender Deluxe pedal. Would this get me in the ball park with a Twin at low volumes? The thing isn't exactly easily portable to bring to the music store for pedal testing.

 

Kind of out of the loop on current technology, played electric back in the 70's then quit and only played occasional acoustic until several years ago. Any recommendations appreciated.

[Genericmusic]

I highly recommend a Pro-Co Rat.

[Hfan]

I highly recommend a Pro-Co Rat.

 

Thanks Genericmusic, just looked it up on Muscians Friend, reasonable price and sounds interesting. I was thinking of ordering a few on the net and keeping the best one as an easy way to shop and test.

[mars_hall]

I have the rack mount dual channel version of this design by BK Butler (RT-922) which goes directly in front of my Boogie Mark III (clean) and it is by far my "go to" preamp. The 922 is fantastic on both clean and driven, so if you have the inclination just buy the RT-922 and you will be completely satisfied. It is footswitchable and has the full compliment of audio I/O.

 

If you are looking for a small pedal get the floor version here and you will be happy. Tubes are where the tone is.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=febJSWnyBpA&feature=related

[koula901]

Thanks Genericmusic, just looked it up on Muscians Friend, reasonable price and sounds interesting. I was thinking of ordering a few on the net and keeping the best one as an easy way to shop and test.

 

Brentrocks was selling a Pro Co Rat recently - you might try him.

 

I have a Boss MD 2 Distortion - here's the description:

FeaturesSpecsAccessoriesSupportMD-2: Mega Distortion

Features

The MD-2 Mega distortion takes the bottom-heavy distortion sounds heard in today's new-school metal and pushes it to the extreme. The secret is a special dual-stage distortion circuit with an added gain boost-plus new Bottom and Tone controls--for crushing distortion with massive low end. Take your distortion into the future with the MD-2.

 

 

Produces extreme, low-end distortion for modern metal and hard rock

Gain Boost circuit creates huge distortion and sustain regardless of level

New Bottom control for bottom-heavy distortion matched to 6- or 7-string guitars

Tone control adjusts balance between high and low frequencies

BOSS 5-year warranty

 

I used a Boss SD-1 for blues/light crunch - very nice pedal.

 

You could always by pedals, take them home and try them out, take it back if you don't like it. I've heard Fulltone pedals - very nice.

[Hfan]

I have the rack mount dual channel version of this design by BK Butler (RT-922) which goes directly in front of my Boogie Mark III (clean) and it is by far my "go to" preamp. The 922 is fantastic on both clean and driven, so if you have the inclination just buy the RT-922 and you will be completely satisfied. It is footswitchable and has the full compliment of audio I/O.

 

If you are looking for a small pedal get the floor version here and you will be happy. Tubes are where the tone is.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=febJSWnyBpA&feature=related

 

Nice variety of tones saw a few on e bay and went to the manufacturers site http://www.butleraudio.com/tdorder.php . Looks like you pretty much have to order from them...a little pricey but they sound sweet.

[Hfan]

I have the rack mount dual channel version of this design by BK Butler (RT-922) which goes directly in front of my Boogie Mark III (clean) and it is by far my "go to" preamp. The 922 is fantastic on both clean and driven, so if you have the inclination just buy the RT-922 and you will be completely satisfied. It is footswitchable and has the full compliment of audio I/O.

 

If you are looking for a small pedal get the floor version here and you will be happy. Tubes are where the tone is.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=febJSWnyBpA&feature=related

 

Thank you mars hall. Nice variety of tones saw a few (Tube Drivers, no RT-922s though) on e bay and at the manufacturers site http://www.butleraudio.com/tdorder.php . Looks like you pretty much have to order from them...a little pricey but they sound sweet.

[mars_hall]

Nice variety of tones saw a few on e bay and went to the manufacturers site http://www.butleraudio.com/tdorder.php . Looks like you pretty much have to order from them...a little pricey but they sound sweet.

 

They come up used often enough on ebay and you use the "Real Tube", "BK Butler", or "Tube Works" search strings in "Musical Instruments" to see what is really there. The string "tube" is so generic that the results are often hidden. The RT-901 is a decent single channel alternative as well.

 

Completed Ebay

[Hfan]

Brentrocks was selling a Pro Co Rat recently - you might try him.

 

I have a Boss MD 2 Distortion - here's the description:

FeaturesSpecsAccessoriesSupportMD-2: Mega Distortion

Features

The MD-2 Mega distortion takes the bottom-heavy distortion sounds heard in today's new-school metal and pushes it to the extreme. The secret is a special dual-stage distortion circuit with an added gain boost-plus new Bottom and Tone controls--for crushing distortion with massive low end. Take your distortion into the future with the MD-2.

 

 

Produces extreme, low-end distortion for modern metal and hard rock

Gain Boost circuit creates huge distortion and sustain regardless of level

New Bottom control for bottom-heavy distortion matched to 6- or 7-string guitars

Tone control adjusts balance between high and low frequencies

BOSS 5-year warranty

 

I used a Boss SD-1 for blues/light crunch - very nice pedal.

 

You could always by pedals, take them home and try them out, take it back if you don't like it. I've heard Fulltone pedals - very nice.

 

Sorry for the double post.. Koula thanks, I've heard good things about Boss in general, decent quality and prices, the SD-1 for blues and light crunch is a possibility. Has anyone tried the Boss Deluxe reverb pedal? I was considering ordering from Muscians Friend, they have a good return policy I believe and no tax in my state. Suppose I could order several and return all but one. May call them first.

[Hfan]

They come up used often enough on ebay and you use the "Real Tube", "BK Butler", or "Tube Works" search strings in "Musical Instruments" to see what is really there. The string "tube" is so generic that the results are often hidden. The RT-901 is a decent single channel alternative as well.

 

Completed Ebay

Thanks mars, they are out there and some sell pretty reasonably priced I see. May be an option though will require a little more effort to find one. Is there a big difference in your opinion when compared to a solid state pedal?

[JeffB]

The Jacques over tube is a TS design. Dont know how good it is. Ive never played through one. But its a "cliver" design. He says so himself.

Ive used a TS9 and a ProCo Rat together for a long time. As individual pedals and as a stacked pair.

Through a clean Fender this combination worked well to give me light to classic high gain, which is now low gain I suppose.

Ive replaced the TS9 with an Xotic BB pre and the Rat with either a TRex Mudhoney or a cheap, but honestly very cool, Danelectro Transparent Overdrive. They all stack nice.

Still love my 80's Rat and TS9 but I had disposable income and people Ive never met in lands Ive never been to said the new pedals were the most sonically awesome stomps and the secrets of real tone lay inside them. They are TS9 and RAT pedals in reality.

For heavier tones and more gain for moments when the urge to drop d and riff largely attacks me I stomp on a Black Star HT-Dual. It gives me two channels of thick chewy gain that makes my clean Fender sound like a.......another amp. Marshally Rectoish kinda vibe. Not saying its tonally pure or all the subtle nuances of my playing are high lighted but It does something that I cant get by stacking pedals. It does make any amp I put it in front of sound like a BlackStar amp. Even my Mesa LS. I dont actually like the sound of BlackStar amps. But they are flavour of the month and that counts. You know it does.

I have been told that the HT Dual doent have enough gain for the sounds Im trying to get and that I should try the HT DistX. Cool something else that takes a big open manly sounding amp and reduces it to a spiky, compressed, nasally little raspy spit.

If you want I could make a few clips to give you an idea of how the HT dual sounds. It is midnight here so it will give you an idea of how it sounds played varewee qwietly. Answer in the next 2mins. My attention span isnt that great. Neither is my sense of commitment.

[koula901]

Hfan

 

I have a Boss RV 5 Digital Reverb that I like a lot.

The thing about Boss pedals, though, you want to be careful, there may be some tone suckage.

I've found they work well with my strat, but when I use the Heritage with them, 1 or more of them is sucking tone - and I haven't yet figured out which one. Boss pedals are extremely durable and affordable; but if you start with them, make sure they're not sucking tone - play each one singly, before you string them together if you get more than one.

[mars_hall]

Thanks mars, they are out there and some sell pretty reasonably priced I see. May be an option though will require a little more effort to find one. Is there a big difference in your opinion when compared to a solid state pedal?

 

I would say night and day.

 

I am yet to see a solid state pedal that allows the roundness (full range) of the tube tone bloom. I have one of the older modded TS-9s and while it sounds quite nice, it is a bit more compressed and like listening through a pipe.

 

I usually don't place anything between the guitar and the first tube, so I can not judge all solid-state pedals. If I were to choose a ss pedal, it would have a blend function where the processed signal is passed to the amp in parallel, not series, with the original signal from the guitar.

[tbonesullivan]

The Boss OS-3 is a good pedal, and has knob to blend the hard clipped distortion sound with the soft-clipped overdrive sound.

 

If you don't mind modelling, I've found the Boss OD-20 to be an excellent twin pedal. The "heavy octave" is something I don't really ever use but everything else sounds true. I sold my Proco vintage Rat because the OD-20 didn't sound or feel any different.

[blackjack]

Wampler Ecstacy. It's a solid state pedal. Don't move the twin. Find a tube amp at the store that has some headroom, one that runs 6L6 or 6V6 power tubes. That should give you a sufficient baseline. Back to the pedal: the Ecstacy is so named because one of the toggles on it allows 3 levels of tightness. The levels are Bogner Ecstacy, the Wampler setting, and Dumble. All solid state pedals use similar design techniques so it comes down to execution, and Wampler is just great. See the youtube demo by gearmandude, informal but somehow more "alive" than the others (hey I'm just opening a door here).

 

Generally on SS pedals they will use various chips, by which people swear, and some taut the JFET chip (TL072 if memory serves), but it's only JFET at the input stage. The upshot is that they all try to get some control over the very narrow range of "soft clipping" allowed in solid state. That's why all the buzz/heat/noise is generated over the secret magic component choices: use this chip, try these caps. There's a lot of good info there, but unless you want to mod and reinvent, go with quality design, not necessarily big name, fancy logo. As for execution, it means keep the signal path fairly simple. Don't leave out Wampler when you begin the earnest demos.

 

As for pedals bearing 12AX7 tubes, the older brands would run them at only half the voltage, rendering a thin tone. Not worth doing, and the new brands may be better, but I'm not up on that.

[Assumer]

Really like my MXR Distortion III.

[koula901]

Hey Blackjack - just heard that Wampler clip by germanndude - sounded great!!

[schundog]

On the Cheap: Digitech Bad Monkey (Really.)

 

Spend a Little Coin: (Fulltone OCD; best pedal, hands down, I own. Cleans up nicely by lowering guitar volume.)

 

More Marshall-y; won't clean up: MI Audio Crunch Box; Marshall in a Box.

[blackjack]

One point I forgot to add about the Wampler pedals is that they are so "warm" that you won't sound like you're playing through a pedal. I did a double take more than once. It was totally unexpected for a pedal. This may be common to good pedals, but I have not heard a Boss or Digitech that could do that.

[smurph1]

i use several..I have the old standby Tube Screamer TS-9 which is (IMHO) a great all around distortion, eespecially for blues..And, I've become quite fond of my Tone-bone classic pedal..it actually has a tube pre amp stage, and is very adjustable..Good luck on your search!!

[koula901]

Blackjack.

 

PM'd ya.

[Hfan]

Just got back online, thanks to everyone for the advise. I have a good starting point for my pedal hunt. Will report back when I find one.

 

Thanks again.

 

Pete

[brentrocks]

sorry i showed up late to this one...

 

i have a Boss MT 2 and a Electro-Harmonix BIG MUFF.

 

Dont let the METAL in the MT 2 fool you, it is a a great pedal with a lot of adjustability!!! The BIG MUFF is also a great OD pedal with a big vintage vibe and lots of tone variation.

 

[Hfan]

sorry i showed up late to this one...

 

i have a Boss MT 2 and a Electro-Harmonix BIG MUFF.

 

Dont let the METAL in the MT 2 fool you, it is a a great pedal with a lot of adjustability!!! The BIG MUFF is also a great OD pedal with a big vintage vibe and lots of tone variation.

 

Thanks Brent, A couple more for me to ponder. Back when I played a lot of electric (early-mid 70's) I remember we only had a few "fuzz boxes" available. Think mine was orange, can't remember the name of it though. It's amazing to me the amount of gear out there now from effects to amps to guitars. The choices seem endless.

[kbp810]

On the Cheap: Digitech Bad Monkey (Really.)

 

Spend a Little Coin: (Fulltone OCD; best pedal, hands down, I own. Cleans up nicely by lowering guitar volume.)

 

More Marshall-y; won't clean up: MI Audio Crunch Box; Marshall in a Box.

Funny thing is, those cheap little Bad Monkey's do in fact rock!

 

Here is kind of a neat little Pedal Comparing shoot out site: Not sure how much this might help since there are so many different factors that come into play that these clips can't account for... but it's still fun to play with

Old Tone Zone