What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

People that say there is no need for dist/OD boxes just don' get it...I prefer older style non master volume amps and it's not all the time that I can crank them up to get crunch. Plus, I do like the tone of some of my dirt boxes, here are a few of my favs...

Pro Co Rat-Classic tone IMO, I have 2 and always make sure I have one with me

Love Tone Brown Source-Best mild OD EVER...sounds great all the time, killer into a clean Fender amp and also amazing into an already "pushed" amp...

TS808/SD-1 -Mild OD with a very signature kind of tone...cuits off the bass, has a hump in the mids but has a cool tone that I do use from time to time...these are also good boxs for pushing an already driven tube amp.

[That90'sGuy]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

One of my secret weapons is my Pro Analog Dual Drive. It's the most transparent and dynamic pedal I've ever played. Unlike other pedals, when I put it through my amp, my amp still sounds like my amp. No playing mistakes are unturned, they're right out there in the open (it's beautiful hearing everything ).

I use the overdrive side of the pedal to add some volume to my rhythm channel and add some mids and a little gain to cut through the mix and stand out for solo work. It's smooth and high fidelity, so it adds a perfect 3rd channel to my amplifier.

[adrian]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

I use a Boss OD3 and a Rat2 with my Fender Blues Deville. The OD3 for smooth overdrive and jazzfusion, and the Rat2 for loud distorsion and heavy rock. The stock overdrive channel in a Blues Deville does not sound like I want it to.

[DesertRose]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

I recently dug out an ART Xtreme effects pedal.
I'm currently using it as to facilitate the sound that I want
The stock OD is good, but not really good enuf despite having the MXR EQ =o

[fretburner]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

Easy there.

George Lynch (used to anyway), Yngwie Malmsteen to name a few. There's countless others that used Plexi's or Plexi-style amps with a tubescreamer to push the amp's front end. Zakk Wylde still does (using is MXR OD) with his 2203 and the 2203 is not high gain by today's standards at all.

He never said anything about a device imitating the sound, he simply stated what other use to push the front end of an amp harder to get the tubes overdriven.

Yngwie, I think, already have his plexis (no master volume) already cranked up and stomps on his DOD when soloing. His live tone is just awesome!

And yeah, the HS3 and YJM are low output pups too.

Yngwie rules!

[XSSIVE]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

I'm using the prototype Seymour Duncan SFX-03.

i think one of thse prototypes needs to be oh, let's say in NY with a metal/punk player/gear junky lol...hint hint! send it to a picky high gain junky and i'll let you know the truth

as for me and the topic of the post. i don't use any distortion pedals, i'm like odie, i like amp distortion and not one pedal i've ever tried has sounded as good as some screaming high gain tube amp distortion! however i do have a tube screamer clone i use in the clean channel for a slightly gritty pushed sound but not in the gain channel.

however if i HAD to use a distortion pedal the only ones i would consider (as of now since i haven't heard the duncan pedal) would be a G2D morpheus, a damage control demonizer or perhaps a mesa v-twin.

-Mike

[The Golden Boy]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

Easy there.

George Lynch (used to anyway), Yngwie Malmsteen to name a few. There's countless others that used Plexi's or Plexi-style amps with a tubescreamer to push the amp's front end. Zakk Wylde still does (using is MXR OD) with his 2203 and the 2203 is not high gain by today's standards at all.

He never said anything about a device imitating the sound, he simply stated what other use to push the front end of an amp harder to get the tubes overdriven.

The point is, why would you use a Plexi, if you're going to change the entire character of the sound? I'm not talking about a solo "kick" or a boost for a passage; using a pedal to achieve a sound is masking or covering up the sound the Plexi gets.

To fork out the bank and use a Plexi for nothing other than a power amp and bragging rights seems kinda silly. Kind of like getting the Mona Lisa and putting a velvet Elvis over the top of it. Yeah, you have a classic as a base, but it's completely covered by something tacky.

[ErikH]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

The point is, why would you use a Plexi, if you're going to change the entire character of the sound? I'm not talking about a solo "kick" or a boost for a passage; using a pedal to achieve a sound is masking or covering up the sound the Plexi gets.

To fork out the bank and use a Plexi for nothing other than a power amp and bragging rights seems kinda silly. Kind of like getting the Mona Lisa and putting a velvet Elvis over the top of it. Yeah, you have a classic as a base, but it's completely covered by something tacky.

But it depends on what OD you use. There are OD pedals out there now that don't color the sound very much and still allow the natural sound of the amp overdriven to come though. The MXR ZW OD is a perfect example. Your tone remains intact.

The Ibanez Soundtank Tubescreamer is going to sound aweful compared to an original, or a Fulltone, or a Boss SD-1 or the MXR Wylde. A good overdrive will achive good results. Just like anything, garbage in, garbage out.

People use Plexi's because they sound great, plain and simple. Yeah, there's other amps out there with gobs of gain in them, but sometimes the tried and true just work.

[The Golden Boy]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

I kinda went through this a few years back. A friend was selling his '66 Showman and 2x12 cab. It was a cool amp, and I got it for cheap. He always sounded great with it, but he played nothing like me. As you know, a Showman is pretty much a Twin head, for the most part. I wanted it to be like my Marshall. It's not going to do that. Even cranked, it didn't have the character I was looking for. So I tried pedals, and lots of them. Over the counter pedals, boutique pedals, custom pedals... It occurred to me, 'I've got an amp a lot of guys would kill for, but it doesn't do the sound I want, and in fact, for the sounds I'm getting I could just stick these pedals in front of my GK800rb and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.'

[walt]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

Who?

If you have a Plexi, you're using that as your gain device. If you're relying on a pedal to push your amp, you probably shouldn't be using a Plexi.

If you can show me a pedal that accurately and believably imitates the sound, feel and dynamics of a tube amp overdriving, I'll show you money.

Where do you live at??

[walt]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

Easy there.

George Lynch (used to anyway), Yngwie Malmsteen to name a few. There's countless others that used Plexi's or Plexi-style amps with a tubescreamer to push the amp's front end. Zakk Wylde still does (using is MXR OD) with his 2203 and the 2203 is not high gain by today's standards at all.

He never said anything about a device imitating the sound, he simply stated what other use to push the front end of an amp harder to get the tubes overdriven.

Thank you

[walt]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

Yngwie, I think, already have his plexis (no master volume) already cranked up and stomps on his DOD when soloing. His live tone is just awesome!

And yeah, the HS3 and YJM are low output pups too.

Yngwie rules!

I've spoken with Yngwie's Guitar tech and he has told me that Yngwie maxs out his DOD 250/YJM308 boxes and leaves them on all the time. Yngwie then controls the amount of volume on the guitar, rolling it up for solos and down to about 7-8 for rythmns.

[CompleteGuitard]

Re: What kind of distortion pedal do you use for your Tube amp ?

My jackhammer sounds great to me, i'd prefer to use my laneys natural distortion but volume issues prevent me from cranking it to the point of nice breakup