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School me on dirt boxes...

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  • School me on dirt boxes...

    So, I was recently asking suggestions for OD pedal for a specific sound. After searching for alternatives and trying to figure out what exactly it is I'm after, I feel I'm more lost than when I started... So let's start from basics: What do I need: Fuzz, Muff or OD?

    The way I would be using it is adding colour and extra push for already distorted amp. I'd prefer to have range from too piercing to too mushy and nice attack, not too saggy but not tight either.

    Nobles odr-1 Gibson175 suggested earlier sounds about one of the best od pedals I've heard in youtube demos, but being TS variant, I think it might be too bright and midheavy for my rig. Tube screamer was one of the first pedals I ruled out.

    I've looked Big Muffs for quite some time, but never quite decided whether it's usable for this. Sounds way too hairy and gritty to work well with preamp distortion from amp, but is it?

    I don't think fuzzes are my thing. I just threw it there because I don't know enough to rule them out, and they're (I understand) designed to push dirty amp.

    Maybe I just get Killing Floor. It sound like spot on what I'm looking for. How they are? Do they have any break up on their own, and how the high boost / cut switch adds to the range?
    Last edited by Jacew; 02-06-2018, 04:28 PM.
    "So understand/Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years/Face up, make your stand/And realize you're living in the golden years"
    Iron Maiden - Wasted Years

  • #2
    Re: School me on dirt boxes...

    Basically, you've got boosters, OD's, Distortions - with gain increasing in that order - and fuzzes.

    A muff is a model of fuzz, made by EHX. A fuzz is generally used into a clean amp, not a dirty one (althought feel free to experiment). They tend to have a very "hairy" and raspy sound.

    The higher the gain, the nastier things are going to sound into an already distorted amp. Some people get around this by using a dirt box set quite low to just hit the amp harder, some people crank them higher and keep their amp gain set lower.
    --------------------------------------------------------
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    1991 Heartfield Elan III w/ DMZ mystery pups
    1995 Aria Pro II TA-65
    2001 Gibson Les Paul Gothic w/ PG-1 & SH-8

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    • #3
      Re: School me on dirt boxes...

      I really like my BB preamp set as a clean boost to hit the front of the amp harder...turn up the gain and you’ve got a good Marshall-ish OD.

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      • #4
        Re: School me on dirt boxes...

        You need to go sit down at Guitar Center and try a bunch of different pedals.
        “I can play the hell out of a riff. The rest of it’s all bulls**t anyway,” Gary Holt

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        • #5
          Re: School me on dirt boxes...

          Lot of videos on dirt here




          Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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          • #6
            Re: School me on dirt boxes...

            JB-From-Hell is right: you just have to play a bunch of them.

            For what you want there is no right answer. I tried a ton of boost and overdrive pedals and what I ended up liking best is a distortion pedal with the "distortion" set pretty low. I don't know why, but I like that better than an overdrive pedal. Point is, no one can tell you what will work for you, you just have to try a ton of them and see. (In my case, that meant buying and selling a couple dozen pedals, but it was worth the hassle for the education I got.)

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            • #7
              Re: School me on dirt boxes...

              Originally posted by Jacew View Post
              Nobles odr-1 Gibson175 suggested earlier sounds about one of the best od pedals I've heard in youtube demos, but being TS variant, I think it might be too bright and midheavy for my rig. Tube screamer was one of the first pedals I ruled out.
              Its not a TS variant. It's the opposite of what a TS does. Visual Sound Open Road pedal is a clone of it. You can hear it here in these vids compared to a TS circuit.
              Jerry Mac, as he is known, is one of the most sought out guitarists in the world of Country and Christian and Pop music; both live and in the studio. A maste...

              This is the first of the new products videos from Visual Sound... Sit back enjoy Clint Lagerberg as he walks you through the GarageTone line. Clint did all o...


              It works great with a tele or strat bridge pickup, I find it too fat for neck humbuckers. I have the drivetrain, chainsaw & open road as well, all good stuff, all discontinued.

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              • #8
                Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                TC MojoMojo, $50, Paul Gilbert's favorite pedal

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                • #9
                  Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                  or you could get a single pedal that does lots of different drives...
                  Hotone Xtomp mini

                  https://youtu.be/z5antnVCgQI

                  Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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                  • #10
                    Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                    In order of distortion levels

                    Boost - pushes a mega loud but clean sound into the preamp. If there is little headroom in the amp, this may cause distortion. Into a solid state, it usually just makes things louder. Inherently no distortion, but might cause it.

                    Over-Drive - This is a boost + gain. You get some level of volume boost like a Boost (but often not quite as much) and you get to add some "hair" or dirt or distortion. It is often not much. These are often used to add more distortion to an already driven amp to get from an over-driven amp to a distorted amp. Created before super-hot pickups did a similar thing.

                    Distortion - this is an over drive pedal with a LOT of Gain. This might be helpful into a mildly overdriven amp, or as the entire dirty sound of a clean amp.

                    Fuzz - this is an extremely nasty fuzzy, dirty, hairy version of distortion. A Muff is a specific kind of Fuzz.

                    Popular combo's

                    Boost into Overdriven Amp (like a Fender) to make it dirty. MXR Micro Amp is a classic.

                    Overdrive into clean or slightly dirty amp to make it distort. The Ibanez TS-9 or Boss SD-1 are classics for into a Fender or Mild Marshall.

                    Distortion into overdriven amp to make it really dirty. Like a DS-1 into a driven Marshall. DS-1 sound meh into clean, but is awesome into a pushed Marshall.

                    Fuzz into a Clean amp (or maybe mildly driven dirty amp). An EHX Big Muff into a Fender Twin Reverb, for example, is instant Jimi Hendrix.

                    Also, people sometimes "Stack" dirt boxes. Example: Using a TS9 Overdrive pedal with the level high, and the Gain set low into a DS-1 with the distortion set high and the gain low gives a different sound than either pedal will get on it's own. Lots of experimenting needs done there.....every pedal into another is different and then there is how the amp is set.
                    Originally posted by Bad City
                    He's got the crowd on his side and the blue jean lights in his eyes...

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                    • #11
                      Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                      Everybody always looks at ODs & Distortions for more.

                      However...

                      ...if you dig the general tone & clipping (distortion) from your amp (and if you don't, you bought the wrong amp), but just want to push it more (skoosh more sustain, etc), try one of these:

                      - EQ

                      (And obviously, you can shape things with the EQ)

                      Alternatively, a boost.
                      Last edited by LLL; 02-06-2018, 10:45 PM.

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                      • #12
                        Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                        Oh yeah....and there are literally dozens of each type and they are all different.

                        Some are called overdrives and they are distortions, some distortions are really over drives, and on and on and on.

                        As said - spend some time at a GC, or hit a pawn shop and by four or five. I currently own:

                        Boost: MXR Micro Amp (70's), Mooer Pure Boost, Nose Mean Green Clean
                        Overdrive: TS-9, Stamps Drive-O-Matic (dual ts-9 style OD)
                        OD/Distortion: Catalinbread Supercharged Overdrive (sort of an in between OD to Distortion - which by the way, can wig out with some mega output pups...)
                        Distortion: Washburn Stack-In-A-Box, Boss HM-2, Proco Solo (A Rat variation), Joyo US Dream (Suhr Riot copy), Mooer solo (Suhr Riot copy - great into clean amp), Mooer Black Secret (Rat Copy - great into dirty amp), DOD American Metal, Ibanez SD9m,

                        and an EHX Metal Muff with Top Boost (Which, while called "Muff" is a ultra distortion pedal)

                        They each have a sound/use that is useful (to me) in different ways and situations....

                        I often use the US Dream into a moderately distorted amp channel to put it over the top and keep the gain down. To solo boost, I use the Mean Great Clean AFTER the US Dream.

                        I use the Mooer Solo to get a full distorted sound into a clean amp, followed by the Mooer Pure Boost for a solo boost, into a clean amp channel. I also use the Black secret (Rat clone) into the Solo. I set the Solo for mild as a crunch channel, the Black Secret is used to put it over-the-top as a Lead Channel, and then I use the Pure Boost (clean boost) as a solo boost for either Solo pedal or Solo + Black Secret pedals .

                        I also, of late, use the Ibanez SD9m into my crunch channel on a Mesa head to give me two different crunch sounds (regular + more gain and mid boost), as well as having a lead channel that I never use with the SD9m. That makes my amp sort of like Crunch A + Crunch B + Lead. There is built in volume boost that I use to make any of those three sounds louder.

                        Lots and lots of ways to do things....
                        Originally posted by Bad City
                        He's got the crowd on his side and the blue jean lights in his eyes...

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                        • #13
                          Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                          Originally posted by LLL View Post
                          Everybody always looks at ODs & Distortions for more.

                          However...

                          ...if you dig the general tone & clipping (distortion) from your amp (and if you don't, you bought the wrong amp), but just want to push it more (skoosh more sustain, etc), try one of these:

                          - EQ

                          (And obviously, you can shape things with the EQ)

                          Alternatively, a boost.
                          Yep - An EQ, and even a compressor can be the gain boost magic which you seek.
                          Originally posted by Bad City
                          He's got the crowd on his side and the blue jean lights in his eyes...

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                          • #14
                            Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                            Originally posted by JB_From_Hell View Post
                            You need to go sit down at Guitar Center and try a bunch of different pedals.
                            This.
                            Why don't you take your little Cobra Kais and get outta here?!
                            My collaborative PROGRESSIVE ROCK PROJECT, As Follows.

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                            • #15
                              Re: School me on dirt boxes...

                              Originally posted by JB_From_Hell View Post
                              You need to go sit down at Guitar Center and try a bunch of different pedals.
                              Is there something like Guitar Center in Finland?
                              “I can play the hell out of a riff. The rest of it’s all bulls**t anyway,” Gary Holt

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