Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

[everdrone]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

I'm just so overburdened for choice, every google search I do, every forum I look at I just end up with MORE pedal options. Even walking into a store has become stressful because every store will have one shelf for all the other effects, then about 4 shelves dedicated to gain pedals. I'm half tempted to just give up and play clean exclusively forever.

well, sounds like you are not obsessed about it, and are entering a world of obsession

just buy a standard one that sounds good to you for your rig, and avoid the world of obsession

a lot of pedals are very simple design but are made to suit certain amps and styles of music. its like buying golf clubs matched to your swing.

[chadd]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

I'm just so overburdened for choice, every google search I do, every forum I look at I just end up with MORE pedal options. Even walking into a store has become stressful because every store will have one shelf for all the other effects, then about 4 shelves dedicated to gain pedals. I'm half tempted to just give up and play clean exclusively forever.

Randomly pick one and see if it gives you the tones that you want. If so, buy it. If not, move on to the next one. Don't worry if there is something better or more popular out there, just see if it works for you. Don't get caught up in the tone chase that so many people get wrapped up in. Pick something that works and tune out the rest.

[AudioWonderland]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Ts9, bad monkey, OCD, DS1, Rat, MXR bad@$$, muff of choice. Money not an issue? Bogner pedal or Klon.
How hard can that be?

If one of those doesn't do it, you are wayyyyy over thinking it.

I have to agree. The differences between all of those dirt pedals you see is largely so minimal it doesn't matter. I have tried or owned a lot of pedals over the last few decades. The closest thing to boutique I have is a CM Plexitone, Fulldrive2 or a Reverend Drivetrain. None of them qualify as boutique to me. I have a $30 MXR Classic Overdrive on my board currently. An SD-1 is commonly used as well.

[FretFire]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

I chased dirt pedals until I got an amp with a dirt channel I liked.

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

I chased dirt pedals until I got an amp with a dirt channel I liked.

Can I get an amen to this!

Bill

[everdrone]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

nah; its cool to have a tube amp that you dig the dirt, and I have that in my Orange Thunderverb 50 which is a dirt wielding monster.

but my pedals: black arts pharaoh fuzz pedal, and keeley modded proco rat

my pedals just add so much more than any amp has. for instance, an amp without a fuzz pedal sounds like just that! no way else to get that fuzzy-pedal type tone.

[Red_Label]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

He has a superiority complex. In his mind, if you don't gig or record, you're not worthy of nice gear.

Yeah, I've been watching him display his complex over the past few years. I let him get under my skin now and then.

I've been gigging and recording for most of my 30 years of playing. There are guys out there with much nicer gear than I, who've probably never even played one gig or maybe have never even sat-in with other musicians. Big deal. It doesn't bother me in the least. Making music is a very individual pursuit in terms of what we're all looking to get out of the experience. I only get irritated when someone with nice gear pretends that their opinion is more important than most simply because they can afford nice gear. EXPERIENCE earns my respect, not yearly salary total.

[jimijames]

Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

TP, it sounds like you're looking for a pedal that will do standalone dirt without coloring your sound too much and will have enough of a boost for your soul food. I know it's on the more expensive side but the prince of tone from analogman might be worth checking out. It has a switch that will let you select between clean/od/dist and does all of those sounds really well.

All the blues breaker based pedals I've played do a very good job of not attenuating your eq, unlike a tube screamer which kind of pushes the mids a bit.

Another pedal to consider is a used full tone full drive, which IMO is a really professional sounding overdrive, especially live. Having the separate boost channel lets you goose the Klon too whenever you want. The Xotic bb plus isn't cheap but is another good 2 channel drive to think about.

Or, if you want to take up as little space as possible, I don't see what's wrong with an Xotic SL drive.

I know that didn't really solve anything but hopefully it helped point you to a class of pedals you might not otherwise have considered.

[Hoss]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

I agree on the blues breaker type pedals. Try a Keisman Earlybird or JHS Morning Glory.

[TimmyPage]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

TP, it sounds like you're looking for a pedal that will do standalone dirt without coloring your sound too much and will have enough of a boost for your soul food. I know it's on the more expensive side but the prince of tone from analogman might be worth checking out. It has a switch that will let you select between clean/od/dist and does all of those sounds really well.

Actually a bit of the opposite! I want something that will colour my sound entirely, I'm essentially looking for something that will be the 'gain' in my rig, kind of like a second channel (though I don't have any illusions of 'sounds like a real 100 watt tube amp). I want something that my soul food can boost, because while I don't like the gain sound of the soul food, I really love the thicker, louder tone it can push a gain stage to do.

[BrianS.]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

My primary amp is a big, vintage, clean sounding tube amp. Most of what I play is clean rhythm guitar in a 60s/70s r&b band. We do play a few old rock n' roll songs, and I personally like to play with a distorted tone for fun, and so I looked around and played with quite a few OD/Distortion pedals over the past 3 or 4 years. Pedals like the tubescreamer clones and the Fulldrive2 have some cool sounds, but did not get distorted enough to satisfy my personal wants. The OCD gets some nice light overdrive sounds as well as some good distorted tones...all on its own. I also owned a Soul Food for a very short period of time, but I don't remember stacking it with the OCD, although I probably tried that.

Anyway, I agree with you about how daunting it can be to find just the right drive pedal, and this thread certainly proves your original statement. Do try the OCD if you haven't yet. It's common & relatively cheap, but to my ears is a great sounding pedal. Not sure if it will "color" your tone enough, or how it will stack with the soul food, but still, it's worth checking out.

Good luck!!

[Letus]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Just pick one and make it work for you. Explore it's limitations, then decide if you need more from there.

Too many people go the other way.

I think personally that he has a very important point here. Most people don't bother to spend time tweaking their gear to explore how diverse it can be, and consequently fail to realise its true potential capabilities, just skimming the surface of all the tones available from it, judging it by just that much, and deciding that it can't do the job. Personally, I think if you go to a comprehensively stocked store like Andertons and spend enough time exploring your options, you will end up with something that will suit your needs perfectly and deliver more versatility than you will need.

[Letus]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Klon.

Another easy solution!

[Red_Label]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Actually a bit of the opposite! I want something that will colour my sound entirely, I'm essentially looking for something that will be the 'gain' in my rig, kind of like a second channel (though I don't have any illusions of 'sounds like a real 100 watt tube amp). I want something that my soul food can boost, because while I don't like the gain sound of the soul food, I really love the thicker, louder tone it can push a gain stage to do.

At the risk of repeating myself...

Check-out the Carl Martin Plexitone (V1 or V2). I use mine to get ALL of my gain.


The gain on my Ceriatone plexi clones is run very low, so that they're more like Fender Blackfaces. I like to get my base tone from the amps, but in a clean way. And then use the pedal for all of the crunch. The Plexitone truly is an amp-in-a-box. Moreso than any other OD/distortion pedal that I've tried.

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

I think this thread is about as useful to you as a forum debate over which is the best topping for pizza, or what goes in the best sandwich... We're all just going to voice our personal preferences and disagree with each other, and you're just going to have to lighten up and play with toys until you find one you like... But I'll play along...

My "gain channel" pedal is a ZVex Double Rock... before that i used the cheaper Vexter Box of Rock and loved it, too... When I use my 69 Bassman or the 200w Univox from the same year, the Double Rock gives me a very convincing Marshall voice... turn it off and it's just the loud, clean tube amps.

And just because you mentioned Muffs... my Black Arts Toneworks Coven pedal has been kicking distortion boxes off of my board ruthlessly. It has their Pharaoh fuzz which is the best Muffy fuzz I've ever played, and it has their Black Forest overdrive (which is pretty fuzzy in its own right) and the way they interact with eachother is amazing. Both can be dialed in anywhere from clean boost to fuzzwall... the Pharaoh emphasizes the lows and highs, but the Forest is focused on the mids... both at once and you might break your amp.

But yeah. Don't stress about pedals. Just play with them. They all sound pretty good...