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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 5:25 pm
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Sérgio wrote:
BMW-KTM wrote:
Sérgio wrote:
Now, how exactly and what for do you guys use your overdrive pedals?

It depends entirely on the song.
Sometimes I use an OD pedal with a clean amp as the basic tone and stack another one on top for a boost.
In that case, I always place my rhythm pedal before the lead pedal in the signal chain.
Conversely, if I want the lead tone to mimic the rhythm sound then I'll use a clean boost ahead of the drive stage.
Other songs I use the amp to get a bit of grind and step on a pedal for boost.
I always sound like me and there's not much I can do about that as a significant part of tone comes from the hands and my hands are never the same as somebody else's.
That said, when doing covers I still try to get a sound that is reasonably close to what the recording sounded like.
By that I mean I don't use a heavy, mid-scooped mega-grind for a classic rock song and I don't use a mid heavy Marshally classic rock tone for a modern rocker or a Fendery bluesy number.
I try to roughly approximate the tone for the sake of listener recognizability.
Within reason, of course.



Sure, that's my approach too. But my question was more like "do you use the OD for getting the sound dirty (not as much as with a distortion but real dirty, say, Southern rock dirty) or do you use ODs just for boosting/crunching your clean tone (let's say Eric Clapton's Cocaine)?

Since I use mostly single coils, I can't really seem to get real dirt with most OD pedals, I trust my RAT for that.


About the same here. I use my overdrive pedal for boosting my clean tone. If I want all distortion or fuzz, I'll use my Turbo Rat or Big Muff.


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:10 pm
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So, fuzz is in the mix?

Hmmm...the size constraint rules out most of my dirt pedals. I have 12 fuzz pedals, and the only ones as small as (or smaller than) a Boss pedal would be the DOD Carcosa, Danelectro French Toast, and a Dunlop Mini Fuzz Face 1. I like all 3 of them, but I wouldn't want any of them to be my one and only fuzz pedal.

I also have a TC Electronic MojoMojo overdrive pedal, and a DOD Boneshaker, both of which fit the description. DOD called the Boneshaker a distortion pedal, but it's really more of a hotter overdrive pedal with great EQ options.

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose one, I would probably choose the French Toast, because it's an exact clone of the venerable Foxx Tone Machine. It's also my only fuzz with an octave option, which is a lot of fun.

And these look tempting, and would also fit the description (since we've added fuzz). EHX has reissued both the Russian, OpAmp, and Triangle Big Muffs in enclosures about the size of Boss pedals.


Musical style - psychedelic noodling

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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:17 pm
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spacewolf wrote:
So, fuzz is in the mix?

Hmmm...the size constraint rules out most of my dirt pedals. I have 12 fuzz pedals, and the only ones as small as (or smaller than) a Boss pedal would be the DOD Carcosa, Danelectro French Toast, and a Dunlop Mini Fuzz Face 1. I like all 3 of them, but I wouldn't want any of them to be my one and only fuzz pedal.

I also have a TC Electronic MojoMojo overdrive pedal, and a DOD Boneshaker, both of which fit the description. DOD called the Boneshaker a distortion pedal, but it's really more of a hotter overdrive pedal with great EQ options.

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose one, I would probably choose the French Toast, because it's an exact clone of the venerable Foxx Tone Machine. It's also my only fuzz with an octave option, which is a lot of fun.

And these look tempting, and would also fit the description (since we've added fuzz). EHX has reissued both the Russian, OpAmp, and Triangle Big Muffs in enclosures about the size of Boss pedals.


Musical style - psychedelic noodling


Have you tried MXRs Variac Fuzz?


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:19 pm
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jasonsteffe wrote:
spacewolf wrote:
So, fuzz is in the mix?

Hmmm...the size constraint rules out most of my dirt pedals. I have 12 fuzz pedals, and the only ones as small as (or smaller than) a Boss pedal would be the DOD Carcosa, Danelectro French Toast, and a Dunlop Mini Fuzz Face 1. I like all 3 of them, but I wouldn't want any of them to be my one and only fuzz pedal.

I also have a TC Electronic MojoMojo overdrive pedal, and a DOD Boneshaker, both of which fit the description. DOD called the Boneshaker a distortion pedal, but it's really more of a hotter overdrive pedal with great EQ options.

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose one, I would probably choose the French Toast, because it's an exact clone of the venerable Foxx Tone Machine. It's also my only fuzz with an octave option, which is a lot of fun.

And these look tempting, and would also fit the description (since we've added fuzz). EHX has reissued both the Russian, OpAmp, and Triangle Big Muffs in enclosures about the size of Boss pedals.


Musical style - psychedelic noodling


Have you tried MXRs Variac Fuzz?

No I haven't. I'll have to check it out.

Do you have one?

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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:26 pm
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Sérgio wrote:
Now, how exactly and what for do you guys use your overdrive pedals?

Just for boosting and crunching a little or for actual "dirt"?

I'm doing the "SRV thing". I have a vintage Super Reverb Amp. It took me some time to understand what he was doing based on the descriptions online.

Basically, SRV always wanted a little dirt in his tone. He would pump the volume up on his TS9 to drive a nice loud signal into the amp input, and how much drive from the pedal he used would depend on the venue. So if he was playing where he could really crank that Super Reverb up loud, maybe he wouldn't need any drive at all, relying on the natural distortion from the amp. But in a smaller venue, he couldn't turn the amp up as loud, so he would mix in a little distortion from the pedal by turning up the drive.

This was one of Stevie's actual pedals and it looks like someone was smart enough to leave the dials where he had them set:

Image


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:34 pm
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spacewolf wrote:
jasonsteffe wrote:
spacewolf wrote:
So, fuzz is in the mix?

Hmmm...the size constraint rules out most of my dirt pedals. I have 12 fuzz pedals, and the only ones as small as (or smaller than) a Boss pedal would be the DOD Carcosa, Danelectro French Toast, and a Dunlop Mini Fuzz Face 1. I like all 3 of them, but I wouldn't want any of them to be my one and only fuzz pedal.

I also have a TC Electronic MojoMojo overdrive pedal, and a DOD Boneshaker, both of which fit the description. DOD called the Boneshaker a distortion pedal, but it's really more of a hotter overdrive pedal with great EQ options.

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose one, I would probably choose the French Toast, because it's an exact clone of the venerable Foxx Tone Machine. It's also my only fuzz with an octave option, which is a lot of fun.

And these look tempting, and would also fit the description (since we've added fuzz). EHX has reissued both the Russian, OpAmp, and Triangle Big Muffs in enclosures about the size of Boss pedals.


Musical style - psychedelic noodling


Have you tried MXRs Variac Fuzz?

No I haven't. I'll have to check it out.

Do you have one?


Yep. Really enjoy it. It gives you tone, volume, gain, and a variac contirl which changes the voltage of the pedal from 5v to 15v range. Gives you a ton of tonal options - goes from nailing Hendrix and Gilmour to Smashing Pumpkins and Grunge. The voltage control gives you a lot of gain or a dying battery tone that’s really thick on the low end


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:37 pm
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Excellent thread.
Great reference vid, FSB.
I guess I like the early 50's sound mostly, no pedal just tube distortion.
I have a Fender drive pedal for added emphasis when needed, good for gain increase/mild distortion/tone shaping in the preamp section mostly of the DRRI & SR. My smaller amps usually don't require extra front end drive.


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:59 pm
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jasonsteffe wrote:
Yep. Really enjoy it. It gives you tone, volume, gain, and a variac contirl which changes the voltage of the pedal from 5v to 15v range. Gives you a ton of tonal options - goes from nailing Hendrix and Gilmour to Smashing Pumpkins and Grunge. The voltage control gives you a lot of gain or a dying battery tone that’s really thick on the low end

I just took a listen to this demo, it sounds great. I may have to add that to my future must-have list.

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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Question
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 7:11 pm
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spacewolf wrote:
jasonsteffe wrote:
Yep. Really enjoy it. It gives you tone, volume, gain, and a variac contirl which changes the voltage of the pedal from 5v to 15v range. Gives you a ton of tonal options - goes from nailing Hendrix and Gilmour to Smashing Pumpkins and Grunge. The voltage control gives you a lot of gain or a dying battery tone that’s really thick on the low end

I just took a listen to this demo, it sounds great. I may have to add that to my future must-have list.


Yeah it’s pretty awesome. Wanted one that had a range of tones and not just a one trick pony like the Big muff You’ve got 12 so what’s one more?? Lol


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Poll
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:32 am
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So I went looking at that MXR fuzz pedal posted above. ⬆︎
I found this.
It looks like it may be a bit of a one-trick-pony but it also looks like it does that one trick pretty well.
I may have to give that one a try.
It may serve as a good lead boost at low/mid gain settings.
A little over the top for me when cranked up I expect.


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Poll
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:54 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
So I went looking at that MXR fuzz pedal posted above. ⬆︎
I found this.
It looks like it may be a bit of a one-trick-pony but it also looks like it does that one trick pretty well.
I may have to give that one a try.
It may serve as a good lead boost at low/mid gain settings.
A little over the top for me when cranked up I expect.



That’s the Superbadass distortion. They also have a SBA Fuzz Variac as well - the latter is what we’re talking about

But I have their distortion as well and really like it. It can do the low gain thing but not as well as a blues driver or a TS It does mid to heavy distortion quite well bc it has a 3 band EQ on it.


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Poll
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 12:35 pm
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Yes I knew that but after seeing the fuzz I also found the distortion and was immediately far more interested than I was in the fuzz.

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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Poll
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 1:12 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Yes I knew that but after seeing the fuzz I also found the distortion and was immediately far more interested than I was in the fuzz.


Oh got it. They’re both pretty Superbadass!!


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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Poll
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 2:13 pm
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The JHS Bonsai 9-way Screamer Overdrive Pedal does it for me.

For my needs it's the ultimate tube driver. I like it for it's versatility being that it
can replicate 9 different classic pedals and it does each one very well.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... rive-pedal


I use it for rock, fusion, blues, soul, funk and country.

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Post subject: Re: Overdrive/Distortion Poll
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 3:00 pm
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They did a pretty good job, Mike.


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