What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

[Diego]

For years I've set my rig kinda like this:

Jet City Afterburner OD + Boost pedal -> Egnater Tweaker 15, set for crunch.

Good, but I've grown tired of the "Low-gain crunch" of the Tweaker with the Jet City pedal off,
to the point where I'm prefering to roll back the volume on the guitar to clean up. So I'm missing a chance there.
But today I remembered I had a Joyo US Dream stored that could do the Tweaker's crunch instead.

So I went:

Jet City Afterburner OD pedal -> Joyo US Dream -> Egnater Tweaker 15, set clean.

It's an improvement, but I'm not sold with the Joyo. It's not too flexible and it's too high-gain to be doing this job.

What dirt pedal would you recommend for this?
I'd like:

• Low to mid-gain. I don't like high-gain pedals since they usually ruin dynamics. I'll put an OD before it for extra juice.
• Great EQ control (3 bands would be excellent)
• Marshall-flavored. I'm a simple man, not looking for anything exquisite or innovating here.
• Did I say dynamics? Must clean up very, very well.
• Hopefully not that expensive, but I could stretch things a bit if it's something amazing.

I'm looking for a solid tonal foundation here, that I can run into any amp and be in my ballpark straight away.
I used to have a Marshall Jackhammer and it's good, but a bit flat and cold/dead in the mids so I don't wanna do that again.

Tonal references? Metallica, Mastodon, Faith No More, Stone Temple Pilots, King's X, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains.
I'm not looking for a Thrash Metal sound or a modern djent thing.

Thanks!

EDIT: Oops, wrong forum page. Please move to Pedals! Sorry.

[atf]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

For years I've set my rig kinda like this:

Jet City Afterburner OD + Boost pedal -> Egnater Tweaker 15, set for crunch.

Good, but I've grown tired of the "Low-gain crunch" of the Tweaker with the Jet City pedal off,
to the point where I'm prefering to roll back the volume on the guitar to clean up. So I'm missing a chance there.
But today I remembered I had a Joyo US Dream stored that could do the Tweaker's crunch instead.

So I went:

Jet City Afterburner OD pedal -> Joyo US Dream -> Egnater Tweaker 15, set clean.

It's an improvement, but I'm not sold with the Joyo. It's not too flexible and it's too high-gain to be doing this job.

What dirt pedal would you recommend for this?
I'd like:

• Low to mid-gain. I don't like high-gain pedals since they usually ruin dynamics. I'll put an OD in front of it for extra juice.
• Great EQ control (3 bands would be excellent)
• Marshall-flavored. I'm a simple man, not looking for anything exquisite or innovating here.
• Did I say dynamics? Must clean up very, very well.
• Hopefully not that expensive, but I could stretch things a bit if it's something amazing.

I'm looking for a solid tonal foundation here, that I can run into any amp and be in my ballpark straight away.
I used to have a Marshall Jackhammer and it's good, but a bit flat and cold/dead in the mids so I don't wanna do that again.

Tonal references? Metallica, Mastodon, Faith No More, Stone Temple Pilots, King's X, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains.
I'm not looking for a Thrash Metal sound or a modern djent thing.

Thanks!

EDIT: Oops, wrong forum page. Please move to Pedals! Sorry.

Believe it or not, the good old boss sd1 with the volume knob doing most of the pushing works likes a charm for me.

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[chadd]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

I really liked my OCD clone for that type of use.

[atf]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

Also a bogner uberschall pedal is quite good. Not very heavy.

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[Empty Pockets]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

ZVex Box of Rock since you said Marshall flavored. I would have the Jet City before the ZVex then into the amp, though.

[Diego]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

ZVex Box of Rock since you said Marshall flavored. I would have the Jet City before the ZVex then into the amp, though.

Exactly how I'd do it. No point having the dirt pedal into the OD. It's the other way.
That's a great ****ing suggestion actually, and there's a BOR in a used pedal store near me that's been there for at least a year and a half.

Oh man. You got me rolling.

[Empty Pockets]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

Go for it. It's the pedal i use when i want cranked amp gain but i can't crank my Bassman, and it also works great for boosting a cranked crunchy amp into high gain. I was able to score a Double Rock a couple of years ago and it's still a pedalboard staple for me.

[Mincer]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

Go for the Palladium. Get your boost and your gain all in one pedal.

[nsnate02]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

EHX Soul Food. It's what it was designed for.

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[Blille]

What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

EHX Soul Food. It's what it was designed for.

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Completely agree except on the "Designed" part. . *cough* Klone *cough*

Not plexi-ish but worth a try.


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[devastone]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

So many options for a "Marshall" flavored drive pedal to use into a clean amp.

Off the top of my head:

http://xotic.us/effects/sl-drive

http://catalinbread.com/product/dirty-little-secret/

http://miaudio.com/effects/super-crunch-box/

https://www.jhspedals.com/products/guitar-pedals/angrycharlie/

If you are into DIY, you might also check www.generalguitargadgets.com and look at the BSIAB or the original Guv'nor clone.
And there are dozens more out there...

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

Not sure if the distortion side would do it for you, but I like the TrueTone Jeckyl and Hyde V3 for what you describe. It's stock configuration is with drive after distortion, which sounds nice, but you can also plug directly into the OD side and use a patch cable to run it into your distortion side.

The distortion is based on a Marshall Shredmaster. The OD is based on their own Open Road... Which, if you can find the original stand alone unit, is a great option for a low to mid gain crunch sound that stacks well with most other pedals. It's not a Marshall-esque sound, really; but it's a very natural, amp-like sound.

[Mononoaware]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

Another vote for the Boss SD1. Nothing fancy, just a well-voiced building block OD that also pushes other pedals (and takes pushing) very well.

There's also simple mod where you clip one component for a bit more openess and upper end if you want it.

[devastone]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

The Boss OD-3 is good too, here's a vid comparing it with the Monte Allums mod to the Bogner Red

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkiJadoMt6Q

Found this vid of a stock one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDgIKQTFurs

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: What OD to use as a "first stage" gain stage?

BOSS SuperOD set for low Drive and high Output, MXR Dist+ set for medium Output and Gain. Tweak the MXR from there.