Still looking at overdrives

[King IzzO)))]

Has anyone compared the East River Drive to an 808?

Anyone compared a 808X to an SD 805 or a Dead Horse?

And I'll throw one more in here, Walrus Voyager, which seems cool in the store, but they don't have a high gain amp I can put it in front of, just some semi-marshally Egnater thing.

SHOW ME YOUR LIGHTNING BOLT!

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

Looking at OD's results in buying a lot of them. Hearing them with a particular amp is the only way to choose the right one. If there's a store that stocks a bunch of them, take your amp with you.

I've been messing a lot with matching OD pedals to amps in my collection, and the tiny nuances can make or break a perfect match. Surprisingly, the money spent on the pedal has very little to do with the success rate, especially when it's purpose is to boost an already gainy amp.

I just got a holy grail amp.....perhaps the only 1986 JCM 800 2204 in 100% perfect condition....as if it were pulled out of it's carton 29 years ago. I've put a bunch of expensive pedals like the Klon, TS808HW, Bogner Blue, Barber....all of them sound really good, but the pedal that sounds GREAT with it cost me $30.....MXR Classic OD/GT-OD.

Another relatively inexpensive OD that's good is the Way Huge Green Rhino for a fat Tube Screamer sound.
Cmatmods Brownie is pretty impressive too, when it comes to Marshally pedals.

[treyhaislip]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

Looking at OD's results in buying a lot of them. Hearing them with a particular amp is the only way to choose the right one. If there's a store that stocks a bunch of them, take your amp with you.

+1 To this! I've gone thru quite a few and running them through your personal amp is the way to make that choice.

Not mentioned in your list, but have you tried a Suhr Shiba Drive? I just got the Riot and Shiba and they supplanted all of my other overdrive and distortion pedals!

[Scott Olson]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

There's this recent comparison from Gear Gods that has 25 Overdrives (including the 805):

[Progbusters]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

or buy, try, and return

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

You need a Swell G Drive, 2 stages of 12AU7 tube driven tone, it's exactly what you want, but only because I'm selling one...

Lol, I'd have to agree with the comment about looking at O.D. pedals results in buying a lot of them! I have almost 30 Boost, Overdrive, & Distortion pedals and it's because I own a butt load of guitars & 11 amps. Three S.S.'s & 9 Tube amplifiers of various sizes, shapes, and colors. Some pedals work great with some amps, sometimes to the point where you almost think the two were made for each other? Plug that same pedal into another amp & it sounds awful! Some work pretty good with a lot of different amps but they don't make any one amplifier fart magic out the front. Best bet is to bring your rig down to the store and spend some time finding the perfect sound for you. The price doesn't mean a whole lot after the $80-$100 mark, my G Drive was $350 new & it's absolutely perfect for my AC-15 Twin & AC-30 but it doesn't work very well as a drive pedal with any of the others? Basically it's best for tone shaping out of anything else so I'll just replace it with a Soul Food or even a MXR Berserker if I really want a lot of gain? Different amps, different drive pedals, just the way it goes....

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

That's the truth about finding pedal/amp matches.

Once you've got a bunch of guitars, amps, and gain pedals, finding the perfect combo's becomes a great tonal journey.

As for Suhr pedals, I do like the Shiba a lot.
When it comes to high gain pedals into a clean amp, the Bogner XTC Red seems impossible to beat.

[TimmyPage]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

The Voyager is an absolute beast. Seriously. Even on it's own or into a low gain amp it has a really amazing 'roar' to it. When I first demo'd it in a store into a Supro I ended up playing stoner rock riffs with the gain nearly topped out and it sounded AMAZING. It's not TS style its like.. a more aggressive Klon style circuit. The Klon is smooth and upper-middy, this his upper mid roar. Really, it's something special, I've owned one for 2 months now and I have yet to turn it off for more than a few minutes at a time. It's 100% worth the extra cash over the other options, its SUCH a high quality pedal.

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

Well, I ordered the East River Drive. I really wanted the 808X, but for a full hundy more than a good straight TS808 clone I couldn't justify it. I needed a new tuner anyway, so with the difference I got a new TU-3 to replace my hardwire that only works on the adapter. I've been OK with the old MIJ TS9, just want more boost, so we'll see. I'm still planning an Aeon Drive build with some LED's, I just wanted something right now.

On the Voyager, I like it, but I couldn't get a feel for what it does to the low end on that Egnater and how that would relate to using it in front of a 5150. I've got a Soul Food that sounds better to me used more as a distortion than as a boost, and all the klon comparisons for the Voyager made me think it might be the same way once I got it home.

In the end I just cannot get around the price difference for the ERD vs everything else.

[treyhaislip]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

Well, I ordered the East River Drive. I really wanted the 808X, but for a full hundy more than a good straight TS808 clone I couldn't justify it. I needed a new tuner anyway, so with the difference I got a new TU-3 to replace my hardwire that only works on the adapter. I've been OK with the old MIJ TS9, just want more boost, so we'll see. I'm still planning an Aeon Drive build with some LED's, I just wanted something right now.

On the Voyager, I like it, but I couldn't get a feel for what it does to the low end on that Egnater and how that would relate to using it in front of a 5150. I've got a Soul Food that sounds better to me used more as a distortion than as a boost, and all the klon comparisons for the Voyager made me think it might be the same way once I got it home.

In the end I just cannot get around the price difference for the ERD vs everything else.

Hope you enjoy the ERD!

[Chickenwings]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

I just got a holy grail amp.....perhaps the only 1986 JCM 800 2204 in 100% perfect condition....as if it were pulled out of it's carton 29 years ago. I've put a bunch of expensive pedals like the Klon, TS808HW, Bogner Blue, Barber....all of them sound really good, but the pedal that sounds GREAT with it cost me $30.....MXR Classic OD/GT-OD.

I had a jcm900 MKIII which is a similar amp but with an extra gain stage. I really liked the gtod as well. Same as the fulldrive more or less. The other one i really liked was the bog standard boss sd-1 which feels a little squishier than the gt or the fulldrive.

Im sure th EH pedal will sound just as good as anything else out there.

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

I had the MXR Classic for a while, even wired in a toggle switch. It's a really good sounding pedal in either setting, I just preferred my TS9 in the end, but that was on a different amp. Maybe I should revisit that one, especially if they start selling them for $30 again.

The SD-1 didn't do it for me stock, I actually returned it for the MXR. I've got a DS-1 I'd trade for one so I could try the 808 mods though...

[Diego]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

GJ is so right regarding amp/pedal interaction.

Through my amp for example the Joyo Sweet Baby sounds killer. Tried it on a friend's Laney VH100R and it sounded so ordinary and blah.
He'd heard it through my amp and loved it. We didn't get anything even remotely impressive from it. Maybe it likes open back cabs better?

Through my amp the Metal Muff Top Boost is a piece of ****. Through his Laney? Holy crap. It's a bomb.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

Since my last post about a 2204 and OD's, I've narrowed down my favorite JCM800 boost to the Way Huge Green Rhino. It's the only one that makes the base tone gainier and bigger in the perfect way.

[Lampy H]

Re: Still looking at overdrives

Since my last post about a 2204 and OD's, I've narrowed down my favorite JCM800 boost to the Way Huge Green Rhino. It's the only one that makes the base tone gainier and bigger in the perfect way.

You're doing great things for humanity.