Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

GuitarGuy503

GuitarGuy503

New member
Is there anyone else that wasn't able to make a clean amp and distortion pedal work for them? Having said that, I've tried it before and the issue I ran into was that it seemed that the eq of the amp and the eq of the distortion pedal would interfere with each other making the distortion pedal sound weird and ****ty.
 
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Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

Yeah some pedals work better on other amps. Some pedals work better on clean while other on dirty. Others work on sim amps and other better on tube amps. Etc etc thats the name of the game.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

I don't like a lot of dirt pedals with my Mesa amps. I can only use the AC booster on a slightly gritty channel and fuzz pedals are usually way to harsh to my ears.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

I have not had much luck with pedals. Give me an amp with a good dynamic overdrive channel instead.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

GuitarGuy503 said:
Is there anyone else that wasn't able to make a clean amp and distortion pedal work for them? Having said that, I've tried it before and the issue I ran into was that it seemed that the eq of the amp and the eq of the distortion pedal would interfere with each other making the distortion pedal sound weird and ****ty.
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Yes. If your amp has an effects loop, see if the problem is resolved by cutting the amp's preamp circuit out of the signal path by going: guitar -> distortion pedal -> eq pedal -> amp effects loop RETURN.

If that resolves the problem, then you can use a line switcher like a Boss LS-2 pedal or Boss ES-5 unit to switch between having the preamp circuit active for your clean tones and your preamp out of the signal path for your distortion tones.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

You’ve got to choose the right pedal for your guitar, amp and preference.

I happen to like amp in a box style pedals (like the Wampler Pinnacle) as opposed to straight up distortion pedals (like the DS-1).
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

I hate distortion pedals.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

kingswebe said:
Yes. If your amp has an effects loop, see if the problem is resolved by cutting the amp's preamp circuit out of the signal path by going: guitar -> distortion pedal -> eq pedal -> amp effects loop RETURN.

If that resolves the problem, then you can use a line switcher like a Boss LS-2 pedal or Boss ES-5 unit to switch between having the preamp circuit active for your clean tones and your preamp out of the signal path for your distortion tones.
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This isn't a current thing with me. This was many years ago when I tried running a Wampler Triple Wreck in front of a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. Those amps don't have a loop so only option was to run in front.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

some_dude said:
I hate distortion pedals.
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Understandable as they don't sound nearly as good as tube amp distortion. Granted it's been 5 or 6 years since I last researched distortion pedals. Perhaps better ones have come out since I last looked at them.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

PFDarkside said:
You’ve got to choose the right pedal for your guitar, amp and preference.

I happen to like amp in a box style pedals (like the Wampler Pinnacle) as opposed to straight up distortion pedals (like the DS-1).
Click to expand...

I was actually using a Wampler Triple Wreck through Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I was more drawn to the amp in a boxes as well.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

I've had mixed luck with using a totally clean amp with all the dirt from a pedal. I've had consistently better results with a slightly crunchy amplifier instead, fed with either a boost, an OD or even a distortion pedal set with low gain, so the gain source is 50/50 or 70/30 or something.

Boosts are amazing at this since tend not to compress as much, so it all remains very dynamic, responsive and open, plus they tend to clean up a lot better from your guitar than say a Tubescreamer.
OD and particularly dist pedals compress a lot more and you want that sometimes, but not always for me.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

I’ve found plenty of dirt pedals to sound much better into a crunch channel, set clean, than into an actual clean channel.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

I used to not like it, thought it sounded way to artificial and often thin and fizzy
I don't really know what's changed cuz now I don't feel that way, most of my gear is pretty similar to when I was kinda annoyed by my own tone.

Like when I had a DRRI, lot of times it would be a MXR distortion III, a blues driver, and a crunch box or the les lius when I had one... I'm like why are these not working, pedal platform my butt, etc...

These days I have a supersonic 22 which had a clean channel circuit very much like a deluxe reverb. I also added a 68 Princeton custom "reissue"... Pedals are that same blues driver, changed the MXR distortion to a tube screamer (I don't use it that often though) and the crunch box is gone and I have a modded DS-1.

Maybe it's that I play with my guitar volume and tone knobs down more, and sometimes increase amp or pedal gain and volume to compensate, it really lets me control the amount of presence from the single coils.
Also on both my amps I feel like I'm more used to the fender two knob tone stack and how to get a good starting tone.

I should say my amps are only dead clean at low volume practice levels... At anything enough for a band they have some natural compression and breakup, and thickness

Sent from my SM-G930U using Tapatalk
 
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Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

Distortion pedals have changed a lot. Something like the Palladium sounds great through every amp mostly due to the extensive EQ. I think the better EQ a pedal has, the better it will sound. The 805 with its 3 band active EQ sounds better with a wider range of amps than a pedal with a simple LPF tone control.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

I've never gotten along with a dead-clean amp. I like to have a bit of grit and then roll back my guitar's volume for cleans. Then the pedals can give me crunch, chunk, and lead tones.

An amp that's already breaking up a bit is much more friendly to drive pedals.
 
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Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

My amps are generally dead clean. Unless I can turn the amp for the power tubes to distort, but that doesn't happen often, even with an 18 watt amp.
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

Fuzz on the other hand is ****ing awesome.

IMO
 
Re: Anyone else not been able to work with a clean amp and distortion pedal?

Some I have work great with nearly any amp - tube king, jackhammer, crunch box...
 
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