I've always thought that the core gain sound should come from your amp and and drive pedals used are really just there to add a touch more for solos.
I want my amp to have a mix of clean and gain so I can use it without any pedals when I haven't got them to hand or just want a quick blast. So a single channel clean amp wouldn't work for me.
However I see on here so many pedal boards loaded with various drive pedals and discussions about touring bands using clean channel with the venue amps and get gain from pedals, I'm wondering if perhaps I'm missing out and actually I should forget about the gain in my amp and use a blend of drive pedals instead.
It's not so much a question of whether I'm happy or not with the gain sound on my amp (let's face it we're never truly satisfied and constantly GASSING!), I'm just wondering whether I'm genuinely missing out on some incredible rich thick liquid lead tones without realising it.
Hmm?
Comments
Its what they do.
I have no idea how players with dozens of pedals to setup have any time left to actually play.
I like valve amp overdrive, but only up to heavy crunch - beyond that it gets too muddy or mushy. I like pedal overdrive/distortion/fuzz into a clean amp or into a crunchy amp. I never use the pedal to push the amp harder - that also causes mud/mush - only to add more dirt. I don't use clean boost pedals (or overdrive pedals used as clean boosts).
I generally prefer two-channel amps - clean and crunch - but I can live with single-channel. A volume or EQ boost on the amp is useful but not essential.
Three pedals is enough. Fuzz, midrange overdrive/distortion and scooped distortion - in that order. With three pedals and two channels I can get any sound I want.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The moment it changed for me was I was playing in a covers band and had a Marshall DSL, covered a lot of bases for the rock (not heavy rock) we were doing. We started to play The Fly by U2 and whilst I could crank the delay up, I just couldn’t get that sweet rounded OD sound, all I could get was abrasive Overdrive. Enter a Tubescreamer on a slightly broken up clean and hey presto, sweet city. I suddenly got it.
I’ve said it before. Solid state devices kicking the shit out of warmed valve amps is THE sound of electric guitar and predates two channel amps with cascading pre amp gain. Think Hendrix with fuzz pedals, Brian May with treble booster into AC30 etc. These sounds are so much sweeter to my ears than preamp gain. Although this is the way to go for articulate high gain IMO.
contactemea@fender.com
There are, to my mind, two basic pedal types? (and massive "crossover"!).
Type 1 is a essentially a gain boost that drives the first stage amp triode harder, something that does not really happen even with a very hot humbucker.
Type ll pedals have an internal distortion/eq circuit all their own and are designed to produce a "stand alone" distorted OD sound.
A certain company of my acquaintance make both forms and the T2 models can be "backed off" to perform as a simple boost. The top of range models also deliver an OD, emulated signal suitable for DI to a PA or recording rig.
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Dave.
playground. But then I live in the world of crunch and riffs more than searing lead tones.
Could it be as simple as good drive for one or two stings at a time is probably best from pedals. Three or more strings and a well cooked amp is hard to beat
I've pretty much always been an amp dirt player, using a single channel amp set to a mid gain rhythm tone then clean up with the guitar. Boost with a TS for heavier stuff and EQ in the fx loop for solos. I've considered going back to pedals especially now I'm without an amp - I like the idea of being able to get "my" sound with pretty much any clean rehearsal or backline amp and don't have to worry about the amp being in its sweet spot. Being able to have the post-dirt lead boost and delays without the faff of FX loop is appealing as well.
Thing is it just feels wrong as I never use true clean tones and I've never played a pedal that has quite the same punch/feel/harmonic overtones (insert other buzzwords) as the real thing. And despite the sheer number of MIABs out there, my favourite tone is a cranked JCM800 or 1987x, which I've still never really heard a pedal get that close to replicating.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I prefer an amp that is working hard enough so that when I turn on my fuzz pedals it’s a nice thick sound. I don’t like the amp working so hard that when I turn my fuzz on that it just sounds like one big fart. Also, because I use modulation the amp needs to have enough clarity to be able to get the sounds I like with chorus, phaser and Flanger. If the amp is compressing too much I don’t like the modulated sound.
I don’t like totally clean amps with a fuzz going into it. So things like a silver face fender twin, I just don’t like the tone with fuzz pedals.
In short - get a wet dry set up