Earlier in 2020 I bought a Boss OD-200 dirt pedal. And I struggled with it for months. I could never get it to sound very good. It always sounded harsh no matter what I did. This was into the front of a Blackstar HT-5 MKII head. I'm really happy with the amp with reverb, delay, and mod pedals - but the OD-200 sounds terrible. Not the end of the world - the drive sounds on the Blackstar are fabulous, I got the OD-200 because I like new toys (it was bought with Christmas gift vouchers) and because it would give me more high gain options.
So I thought maybe I'll sell the OD-200 due to it sounding pish with the Blackstar. It's quite expensive and there's no point keeping it if I can't get it to sound good. On a whim I got my little used (because I bought the Blackstar) Laney Cub 12R combo out of the cupboard to try with the OD-200. And feck me, it sounds absolutely amazing. Suddenly all the sounds I wanted out of the Boss pedal are there.
And so this got me wondering. Why does the OD-200 sound great with the Laney and not with the Blackstar? Partly I feel this might be an issue with the Blackstar clean channel, it sounds great clean but I wonder if there's too much high-end for dirt pedals. Rolling the clean channel's tone control down helps a bit, but it still doesn't sound anywhere as wonderful as the Laney.
Anyway, my intention with the thread is less about troubleshooting an issue, and more inquiring about what makes some amps better than others for use with various effects.
Comments
I'm not using the pedal for overdrive. I'm using high gain sounds - which sound fabulous into one amp, not into the other.
Pedals in front of the amp send a signal into those early stages that is far removed from what was intended - maybe some aspects of the sound will be enhanced too much, maybe low end or high end will be lost, in all likelihood the compressed pedal tone will be further compressed by the amp.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
"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
Maybe I've got it wrong and the pedal sounds crap generally - but sounds nice through the Laney!
A bassman on the other hand inhales pedals because it's big and open with no massive EQ cuts and loads of headroom.
Take all this with a pinch of salt though, there are certainly exceptions.
"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
Sometimes I dig them all out and every one of them sounds great through a Hot Rod Deluxe or a JTM45, with no finicky, delicate settings.
Some amp tone stacks are brittle with drive pedals, or their position in the signal chain can make pedals sound artificial.
The Hotrod has a completely different (solid-state driven) reverb so doesn't have the problem.
On the two-channel BF/SFs you can get around it by using the Normal channel and jumpering to the Vibrato for reverb with the treble control turned down, but that doesn't help with a Princeton either...
"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
If you have an amp with a clean sound you like and a pedal sounds horrible through it, why is it the amps fault?
Why should the amp be the flexible one in the partnership and forced to work with all pedals, If you had an amp capable of doing that then there would be loads of knobs switches etc
I am offended for all amps and these horrible drive pedals should be publicly shamed.
https://youtu.be/CdKjhXWpjq8
Never had that issue with my tweed amps.