... takes pedals well... ~ what does that mean ?.

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ChrisMusicChrisMusic Frets: 1133
It's a phrase I have often seen, but I don't really understand.
Certainly haven't got my head around this.
Shouldn't they all ?

How about a little help for my two surviving brain cells ?

Thanks  :)

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Comments

  • not_the_djnot_the_dj Frets: 7306
    It's just the usual bollocks that people put in their for sale threads.


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  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited July 2014
    Well there can be good reason for saying it:

    - Able to switch between line and guitar level FX units in the loop, or just able to handle guitar level FX.  Some amps have too hot of a signal for guitar level FX in the loop.

    - High enough power handling/clean headroom to use certain pedals e.g. Fuzz/distortion pedals.
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  • If you use a bandit in bright mode and put any mid boosty or clean boosty overdrive or distortion into it, you'll know what it is to take pedals badly! I've heard similar results on the fender DRRI (I think - some fender with a bright switch). In general, valve amps are more forgiving though, and if it's in regular warm mode, the bandit is fine and takes pedals well (lol).

    In that regard, though, you often just need a pedal with a powerful eq to shape the sound around the amp to avoid crazy and genuinely horrible sounds. Or leave the bright switch alone. I just take out loads of treble on the pedal so I can have a nice bright clean.
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    I know what takes pedals badly is. Some digital and SS amps won't take a boosted signal ( not just overdrive here but anything that adds some wallop) and you get unwanted digital distortion or the sound compresses up. So a Peavey Bandit, for example, takes pedals well because it doesn't do those things and you can use your pedals as you want. With valve amps I guess the reference is that pedals with an output higher than unity will push the valves into an ever nicer more distorted/ crunchy tone. So, I think Takes Pedals Well means one of these two things dependant on context.
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589

    With a valve front end there should be no problem but I have seen schematics where there is no grid stopper resistor on the first grid (usually about 68k)  and I suspect such a stage could suffer "blocking distortion"?

    Amps that use IC front ends SHOULD have high enough supply rails such that the output from a 9V supplied pedal would cause them little grief.

    But then there is marketing bllx, the reviewers have got to find SOMETHING to say!


    Dave.

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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26450
    Surely it just means, "It sounds quite nice to my ears with my favourite pedals"?
    <space for hire>
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  • not_the_djnot_the_dj Frets: 7306
    You'll be giving the average seller too much credit if you think they're being specific about anything. It's like writting "fast neck" in a guitar description. 

    If they are being specifc about a particular feature or benefit then they'll say so.
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  • Drew_TNBDDrew_TNBD Frets: 22445
    Generally I take it to mean that it doesn't start farting out or sound utterly peircing and brittle when you put a pedal in front of it. I've played some combos that have been like this, no matter how you tweaked the amp or the pedal itself. Mostly solid state ones to be fair. They seem to hard clip rather than nicely saturate at the input.
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  • dchwhitedchwhite Frets: 182
    edited July 2014
    .edit
    Stonevibe: 'The best things in life aren't things'.

    Trading feedback: Previous (+18) and Current

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  • randomhandclapsrandomhandclaps Frets: 20521
    edited July 2014
    It's a corruption of a musical reference (dating back to the late 90s) when Tommy Lee said that one of his favourite features about Pamela Anderson was that she "takes punches well!".  It just seems to have been rehashed and reused in musical circles since then.
    My muse is not a horse and art is not a race.
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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2324
    edited July 2014
    I think it's just the voicing of the amp (and/or its speaker), i.e. if it's really bright then a lot of pedals might sound very bright/harsh/spiky/edgy. Ironically enough (IMO) often the amps which do this have the nicest cleans but less good OD channels so they're often the amps which need dirt pedals most. :)) As TPD says, though, pedals with a decent tone control range (e.g. rat) often will solve this.

    But I also agree that a lot of it is sales spiel or online forum nonsense, as well.
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  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    Anything with Marshall-like (ie not terribly bright) cleans will work well with drive pedals.

    The clear, extended treble response of Fender-like amps emphasises the 'wrong' frequencies to produce good drive sounds with certain pedals.

    Though why people portray this as some kind of magic synergy, I've no idea.

    It could equally mean 'won't give the kind of cleans Richard Homer will like'....

    Maybe people selling pedals should say 'sounds lousy through a Fender Twin'....
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  • 57Deluxe57Deluxe Frets: 7329
    edited July 2014
    I have one amp I love and another pedal I love as much... put them together mind you and nothing happens... nothing - no magic at all - if anything worse...

    Mate them with other partners and I wet my pants...

    Funny old world...


    <Vintage BOSS Upgrades>
    __________________________________
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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2324
    Anything with Marshall-like (ie not terribly bright) cleans will work well with drive pedals.

    The clear, extended treble response of Fender-like amps emphasises the 'wrong' frequencies to produce good drive sounds with certain pedals.

    Though why people portray this as some kind of magic synergy, I've no idea.

    It could equally mean 'won't give the kind of cleans Richard Homer will like'....

    Maybe people selling pedals should say 'sounds lousy through a Fender Twin'....
    Yeah :)) That's what I don't get- a lot of the people who like pedal-only distortion use Fenders (or similar). Yet to my ears, while the cleans and cranked OD sounds are great, they actually sound worse with pedals than other amps. Maybe I just don't get it (I'm more of a high gain amp distortion player anyway)- but I'm always sceptical when some guitarists say, "Why would you get an amp for good distortion? Good cleans are the foundation of a good distortion tone!", because in my experience it's anything but!

    To clarify- I have nothing against pedals, pedals are great fun. I just am sort of mystified that a lot of pedal lovers seem to like pedals through amps which, to me, don't actually take pedals all that well. :)) Maybe it is just preference...
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  • hugbothugbot Frets: 1528
    Yeah its funny, the amps which sound best with pedals are often the ones with great drive channels anyway. 
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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2324
    edited July 2014
    Yeah :)) Plus they're normally paired with speakers and cabinets which are more geared towards distortion tones, too.

    Now, of course you can use pedals with them too to get different tones which the drive channels don't do... but yeah. It is kind of funny.

    Funnily enough though my engl takes pedals really, really badly through the clean channel- really bright and tinny like the worst blackface fender-type thing (maybe even far worse!). :)) Admittedly you can run them through the crunch channel to round off the harsh edges a bit. But yeah. I guess it just goes to show that there are always exceptions, too.
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    Not taking pedals well can manifest itself in a few ways. 

    Some modelers sound like fizzy piss if you put an overdrive in front of them Fender Mustang, Zoom G3 (I know it isn't an amp)

    Some solid state amps sound horrible if you boost them to the point of clipping 

    Some nice bright clean amps make fuzz pedals and distortions sound bloody horrible. Often Fenders with the bright switch engaged suffer from this. 

    Totally agree that amps that have good drive channels usually take pedals better in the first place. It stands to reason as it's not just the preamp that matters, it's also the speakers and power amp.
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  • ChéChé Frets: 302
    Given my belief, an amp that takes pedals well is an amp that takes all your pedals away because it's that good you no longer need them for drives or gain. 

    …but that's just me ;) 


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  • mellowsunmellowsun Frets: 2422
    Dave_Mc said:
    To clarify- I have nothing against pedals, pedals are great fun. I just am sort of mystified that a lot of pedal lovers seem to like pedals through amps which, to me, don't actually take pedals all that well. :)) Maybe it is just preference...
    Perhaps it depends on what types of drive sounds you like. I like to hear a lot of string separation so I prefer a clean amp with a bit of overdrive from a good pedal, and not too much midrange. I like Fender amps a lot, but I would never try to push one into fully saturated drive as it would sound shit, to my ears at least.
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  • DrJazzTapDrJazzTap Frets: 2158
    See I kind of view it as a "not all hope is lost" kind of approach. My blues deluxe has no real distortion channel (just not that sort of amp). But I loved the clean so I bought the amp
    Luckily the amp sounds great with pretty much any distortion/drive pedal. So if you were selling a single channel amp, and you said "takes pedals well", that would probably stupidly draw me in :P

    (plus pedals are easier to sneak in and out of the house rather than a big old amp, mu ha ha).

    but yes the lil night train bless it, sounded like crud with the a slostortion, just not enough head room i guess?
    I would love to change my username, but I fully understand the T&C's (it was an old band nickname). So please feel free to call me Dave.
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