OFF TOPIC : Good Overdrive pedal

[willbrowne81]

I have just bought a nice Keeley Compressor and iam looking to update my overdrive pedal.

Currently i have i tubescreamer which has been modded by CMat mods (with the following The following MODs performed:

RC4558 Chip Mod

Brown Mod

Several Hi-Fi Mods

Super smooth gain Mod

Transparent Tone Mod

Following parts are used:

RC4558 Chip and Socket

Two Tantalum 1uF Capacitors

Three .1uF Metal Film Capacitors

Two Boxed Metal Film Capacitors



Brown Mod parts:

One 10k ohm Carbon Comp

Resistor

One 100 ohm Carbon Comp

Resistor



i was just wondering what you would reckomend in terms of overdrive pedals. I do like the sound of a tubescremer i usualyl run it with everthing on full into a clean amp.


I have heard the BB Preamp is very good.

What would you guys Rec?

 

[Jimmyb]

Personally I'd reccomend Pete Cornish, but that's just me.

It's a very subjective thing, what works for one person may not work for another, plus it depends on the interaction with the rest of your rig and your playing style.

Depending on where in the UK you are, it's worth checking out one of the stores that carry a good selection of the more 'boutique' pedals.

In the North West, I'd try Sounds Great in Heald Green (near Manchester Airport). If you're anywhere near Hitchin, I'd give Dave B a shout at Machinehead and if your near the place Charlie Chandler always seems to carry a good line.

These are just 3 that I've though of off the top of my head, but google is your friend here.

If you've not already tried it, you'll also find that places like 'The Gear Page' has a multitude of discussion on effects (as does Harmony Central, although it's not for me, too many wars at times).

What EBMM do you use? it may give us some pointers.

 

[fbecir]

Hello

Personally, my favorite overdrive is the TubeBlower from jacques (jacques stompboxes !!!)
Jacques is a specialist of the Tube Screamer (he owns quite a lot). Besides, if you send him an E-mail, he will answer you.
There is a new pedal (the Overtube : two Tube Screamer chained together in order to have the SRV sound). I did not test it yet.
I own several Jacques pedals (a TubeBlower, a FuseBlower, a Trinity, a MeisterSinger and a Mercer Box) and they are all great. Great quality and nice price.
I don't know if it is easy to test them in UK. Perhaps you have to ask Jacques where you can find them near your home. There are some MP3 on Jacques sites but for me it's not enough (I prefer to test with my guitar on a real amp).

 

[DrKev]

I still think the best overdrive pedal ever is the Danelectro Daddy-O. The extra mid control makes it incredibly versatile. I'm quite sure somebody else here will chime in and agree.

 

[Ponch]

Try to get any pedals with real tube in it, maybe like AMT or Seymour Twin Tube if you like they just sounds good and yummy.

 

[willbrowne81]

Guitars - I use a JS1000 (ibanez) a Cort NZS-1 a Musicman ASS and a homemade HH with seymour duncans.

i've tried the dano i found it to be very noisy.

Iam based in leeds so manchester could be reachable

Thanks for all your help so far i will investigate everything youd suggested

 

[gerry d]

the simple Boss OD3 is a great overdrive.... people overlook it in favour of boutique stuff but I think its one of the best... oh and the Digitech Bad Monkey isn't bad either....

 

[robelinda2]

I use a few overdrives, a stock TS9, MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe, Fulltone Fulldrive II, Bad Monkey, Keeley SD-1. All are good.

 

[JMB27]

BB Preamp along with AC Boost and RC Boost from Xotic are both very cool .... have run all of 'em thru various Mesa Boogie amps and a few Dr Zs as well .... most like 'em when going from a clean sound to moderate drive to strong gain situations.

try 'em .... you might just like 'em

just my .02, ymmv, etc. etc. etc.

cheers always, eh

Joel

 

[fsmith]

Another vote for the Xotic line, I have the BB and RC.

 

[Thew Ebow]

klon centaur.. period!

 

[Chris G]

I've had a Keely modified TS-9 which was really good but I didn't like the the Ibanez style of footswitch so I sold it. I've also had (and sold) a Boss OD-3 which I thought was very good for the money. I have read good reviews of the MXR GT-OD and the Fulltone Fulldrive.

What amp you run and what you play makes a difference - I gave up on overdrive pedals because I like multi-channel amps (I currently use a Mesa F-30) and I mostly play rhythm so don't often need the boost.

I tend to set the volume to about 6 on my guitar when I set-up and if I need to crank things I use the ancient technique or turning up the guitar volume to crank the output (or switching to the single coil on the Y2D for clean - gotta love that Morse). If I really need extra kick I use distortion pedals - I may invest in an EQ pedal to give myself another option.

Don't know if that helps. Best advice is to try as many as you can.

 

[beej]

There are a zillion pedals out there, so this is pretty subjective. A lot depends on what sound you want to get (OD, flavour of distortion, fuzz, etc.), what amp you're running and what pickups you've got. Easier to say "I want to get this sound" and nail it.

That said, I also have a BB Preamp. I use it with my small amp (Badger) and it's fantastic.

 

[Nemesys]

One of my favorite overdrives is the Boss Blues Driver. It's very transparent, and doesn't have the upper-midrange frequency boost that a lot of other overdrives have.

 

[GuitarHack]

BB Preamp along with AC Boost and RC Boost from Xotic are both very cool .... have run all of 'em thru various Mesa Boogie amps and a few Dr Zs as well .... most like 'em when going from a clean sound to moderate drive to strong gain situations.

try 'em .... you might just like 'em

just my .02, ymmv, etc. etc. etc.

cheers always, eh

Joel

+1 on the BB Preamp, it sounds amazing through the Lone Star. I later found out Andy Timmons uses this set up, and his tone is kind of okay . I actually prefer the clean channel + BB on the Lone Star to the gain channel.

Barber Small Fry is another favorite on the boutique-y side, it has as many controls as an amp if you like that thing (four knobs plus three-position toggle on top, four adjustable pots inside the unit) but I also like the Boss BD-2, TS808 and TS9 reissues.

 

[dannymusic]

not this thread..... again......




lets make a smaller catagory:

BAD OVERDRIVE PEDALS

 

[Thew Ebow]

bad pedal..

one which doesn't work or does nothing audible!!

 

[GuitarHack]

Old MXR Distortion Plus is bad IMO. Mine sounds like like hot poisoned shards of glass fired out of shotgun into your eardrums...by Satan...

 

[mr.b]

Personally I'd reccomend Pete Cornish, but that's just me.

It's a very subjective thing, what works for one person may not work for another, plus it depends on the interaction with the rest of your rig and your playing style.

Depending on where in the UK you are, it's worth checking out one of the stores that carry a good selection of the more 'boutique' pedals.

In the North West, I'd try Sounds Great in Heald Green (near Manchester Airport). If you're anywhere near Hitchin, I'd give Dave B a shout at Machinehead and if your near the place Charlie Chandler always seems to carry a good line.

These are just 3 that I've though of off the top of my head, but google is your friend here.

If you've not already tried it, you'll also find that places like 'The Gear Page' has a multitude of discussion on effects (as does Harmony Central, although it's not for me, too many wars at times).

What EBMM do you use? it may give us some pointers.

Hey jim.

how are those Pete Cornish pedals? i've always been intrigued by them but never known anyone with one to get their ear of how they sound.

can you help? please.

cheers,

B.

 

[Roubster]

Andy Timmons sold me onto the BB Preamp...even though I dont have it yet haha. I shall once I get my JSX amp.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiW22O914Cg"]YouTube - Andy Timmons - BB Preamp - Mesa Boogie Lone Star[/ame]