Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

[treyhaislip]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

I would look for something like the Mad Professor Ruby Red Boost. It can push your clean tone louder if the boost is low and overdrive with the boost turned up. Gets a really nice oranic overdrive sound that can get into the distortion territory.

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

One of the issues I continually face is with my compressor. I have two, the Marshall ED-1 and my Route 66. I love them both. Currently, the ED-1 sits in a drawer and I use only the Route 66. It's always on. It's part of my sound. Since I play primarily a Telecaster and more Country styles, it works very well.

Now the issue - whether you use a compressor/sustainer for guitar or a compressor/limiter for bass, you're doing pretty much the same thing; bringing the soft notes up and the loud notes down to a standard level. Some folks like that and some don't. Therein lies the issue. When you add a boost and it sits behind the compressor (my comp is first in the signal chain from my guitar), it gets squashed. It's kind of funny that I can have my pickups at whatever height I want and they're always balanced because of this.

I have had Telecasters with 4-way switches and both pickups in series is no louder than both pickups in parallel; only fatter-sounding. So, how do you have a compressor first in the signal path and still get a decent clean or overdriven boost?

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

I am soooo looking to grabbing a 805 for Christmas Seems very versatile. And definitely worth the dough. Like a TS with a 3-band-eq.

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

EHX Soul Food, great OD pedal, and cheaper than BOSS......

The sales guy at GC recommended that one. Two guys walking by also recommended it. I'll give it a try.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

For a little dirt on top of clean I like the Timmy and the Bluesbreaker type circuit. Timmys can be found used now and the Snouse Black Box is an awesome Bluesbreaker style pedal.

I like the Klon type pedals for pushing an amp on the edge into more breakup.

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

Soul Food or OCD.

[PipeRain]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

I may be misunderstanding the OP, but I really like the VooDoo Labs Sparkle Drive. Set the gain and tone to taste, setting the gain just a tad higher than I am initially shooting for. Adjust the Clean to get the blend I like and volume to "Unity" or just slightly higher. That's the recipe that works for me, YMMV, and probably will....

[Nightburst]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

Just wanted to add one more thing to think about when you are trying out some pedals: traditional OD pedals (let's call it the TS family) are pretty straight forward and have a drive, volume and tone knob (in general). But the more 'modern' type of circuits use a 'blend' knob for the gain plus they have increased headroom due to the internal circuit doing its magic. What this means is that the gain will blend into your own tone the more you turn it up. With drive all the way back it acts more as a clean boost rather than an overdrive. This is why you would turn up the gain more than a regular OD pedal too because the sweet spot is a bit further away on the dial.
I hope this makes sense.

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

Soul Food or OCD.

I bought the Soul Food. So far, it is delivering what I want very nicely.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

I didn't read carefully enough, I missed the Line 6 amp. I don't have direct experience with the Flextone III, but I've never had good luck with overdrives and boosts with Line 6 amps. I get better results by using the modeled pedals they include in the amp models. (Holding buttons and rotating knobs to add an OD/Boost/Distortion).

It seems as though the Soul Food is working, are you keeping the volume at unity then adding gain to taste?

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Looking for a new OD/Dist for Just a Little Added Dirt/Bite

I didn't read carefully enough, I missed the Line 6 amp. I don't have direct experience with the Flextone III, but I've never had good luck with overdrives and boosts with Line 6 amps. I get better results by using the modeled pedals they include in the amp models. (Holding buttons and rotating knobs to add an OD/Boost/Distortion).

Yeah, that has been a challenge. Unfortunately, the Flextone III has no OD/Dist. pedal models. You have to use amp distortion from the amp models. I have a Route 66 for comp/OD that I use that's pretty decent.

It seems as though the Soul Food is working, are you keeping the volume at unity then adding gain to taste?

I actually have the gain set all the down and am adjusting the level for volume. Even with the gain all the down, it still adds a little grit.