Their are many cheap good quality valve amps arround now. Does anyone still use overdrive pedals, to produce and overdriven signel 'per se', rather than just using them as pre-amps to make th amp overdrive itself?

If so, can anyone recommend a good one: there are loads to chose from, Boss alone make loads? Is their SD-1 any good?

I've heard quite a bit about the 'Analogue Man' mods to the repro TS808/T9; I'd be interested to know what anyone thinks of these too?

I have 'Pork Loin', and although it's Ok, it does noticebly 'muddy'-up the sound of my strats in my view.

Boss work nice, I use an OD-2 sometimes, I prefer the E-H Germanium but that makes a very specific sound not everyone will want.

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I have both SSS and HSS Strats and run them into either a small Vox Night Train amp, or a pair of Carvin 100W SS amps in stereo. The Vox on its own does a wonderful distortion on a Strat, surprising for such a small toaster. I have tried an SD Boss with the SS amps, but it seems like more of a gain pedal. I have a Boss Blues Driver that makes a rich and rewarding tone, and one of the new Vox Joe Satriani distortions that has a lot of range and makes many amazing sounds. So what gets used depends on the venue and what I want to hear. I think the pedals I bought compliment the Strats nicely.

Lately I have been using just my Telecaster and Amp with no effects, no stomp boxes no nothing, just simple Tele twang.

I use a Digitech RP-90 when I do use effects/overdrive but find myself using it less and less as I concentrate more and more on how my playing sounds without it.

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I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too.

I had 2 of them for a while. One was a MXR Zakk Wylde, the other is a Digitech X-Series Tone Driver.

I personally liked the Digitech WAY better. I could get the same exact sound as the ZW out of it, and it was quieter. It also had more distortion to spare if I needed it. So I still have it. I use it with my HRDV sometimes.

It's obviously not as good as an expensive Boutique pedal. But I'm pretty sure I can dail it in to sound like any of the lower level pedals. I'm quite impressed with what I got for the money. You can find them on ebay for $20-$30.

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HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
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which amp do you use?

i have a fender 59 bassman, ts808,and bluesdriver, and dimebag darrrel wah from hell that i rarely use.
i just ordered a boss 65 reverb pedal, and an mxr dynacomp so i can get a sweet clean.

how can i get the optimal sound using those pedals in my chain?
ive been using the ts808=>boss blues driver=>wah=>amp
now that i ordered those im thinking of using,
[ts808>>bluesdriver>>boss 65 reverb>>wah>>compressor>>bassman.]
what do you guys think?

I use a few OD's and a fuzz. I have my amp set clean and use the OD's to push it to drive. Basicaly I have a MXR zack wylde for slight breakup and a bad monkey for heavier breakup (like ramjam sound). Then I use a Burford Grid suzz for extra lift on lead sounds and a Burford mosquito for fuzz.

Its a bit of a dance between songs but its just hit one pedal for solo during songs.

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No no and no

haha, man all i have is a 5w Peavey Royal 8 ValveKing Class A tube, but for the bucks it is a killer deal. Looking to upgrade to a Blues JR or Princeton Reverb one of these days though.

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I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too.

hey drb, ill tell you what.
for the dough, blues jr nos is the best value.
if i knew any better, i would have purchased the nos blues jr instead of vintg 59 bassman

I have a BOSS SD-1, & it's a great overdrive pedal, but i got turned onto
a BOSS Blues Driver &, after some tweaking to minimize that super high
frequency thing they have, it's taken the SD-1's place in my pedalboard.
I like the way the BD-2 responds more to your picking than the SD-1.

I was gonna try the SD-1 @ the end of the chain, just to hear
what it's like if used for a clean boost, w/o getting any grit
from the pedal, but i just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I hear this is a very useful trick that a
whole lot of people use the SD-1 for.

+1 on The Satchurator.......Tone hog.... Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

I use the Fulltone Fulldrive and the Fulltone OCD. All fulltone stuff is awesome.

I wish it wasn't so, but I watched the video on YouTube with Satriani and the Satchurator and bought it. It sounded a bit worse than my amp turned up. Not a bad sound, just not better than my amp can do when turned up.

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-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

I don't know what I'd settle on if I were performing, but as it is I just grab whatever I'm in the mood for at home. Quite frequently that means nothing at all, as both my amps (5-Watt Swart Space Tone 6v6se, 17-Watt Moody BA17) have a beautiful natural breakup when they can be turned up a little. The Moody in particular is a blues distortion machine.

I have a bit of a fondness for that late 80s thick foghorn sound (I know... the "E.J." , although when I was first exposed to it I thought of it as more of an Allan Holdsworth thing), and the quickest way to it for me is to run a Cusack Screamer into an old Tubeworks Real Tube pedal. The Screamer is the perfect version of the TS-9 in my book, and it really livens up the otherwise slightly muddy and raspy Real Tube. The Real Tube on its own is good, don't get me wrong, it just has a tendency towards bass-heavy brutality that needs to be leavened slightly. Anyway, the result is a nice blanket of sound that still manages to cut through.

I suspect it would be a difficult sound to replicate at a gig; I'd probably just stick to the Screamer on its own there, or else I'd use a germanium-based treble booster. If I can turn up the amp, the booster is fantastic. At lower volumes it's not so useful.

As a keyboard player first, I'm the 2nd guitarist in my combo.

Playing mainly rhythm and only occasional lead, I need a flexible range of tones, preferably out of one amp. Otherwise I'm carrying a ridiculous amount of gear around for gigs.

For that reason, I use a Fender BJ (modded with Celestion V30 driver) set clean/just on the very edge of break up. I do need to play some clean tones so I just back slightly off the volume of the guitar for these. My crunch was coming from a TC Electronics Vintage Overdrive pedal which I really love - having experimented with other ODs along the way. I would then boost my crunch tone for lead, using a Blackstar Valve Boost (superb pedal) before the Overdrive.

Just changing things around a little now, as I've been lucky enough to buy a 2nd hand Full-tone Full Drive 2, for a brilliant price. I've always wanted one of these, and it does sound incredible - even better than the TC Vintage OD. For lead playing, the Full Drive 2 also has a boost side and it has the advantage of being built in. So I don't have to carry the Blackstar Boost around with me.

In an ideal world, I'd use the Blues Junior set for crunch as it sounds superb set this way - at least as good as the BJ with Full Drive 2. But I need clean too.

AS the original post referred to a Strat with an Overdrive pedal, it's worth pointing out that the Full Drive has an option to flatten the mids (FM switch) and this mode sounds incredible with a Strat neck pickup. A real change from the sound usually given by many OD pedals which are really Tube Screamer clones..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!