Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

BombsAwayJ

BombsAwayJ

New member
Hey guys I've been reading the forum and their seems to be alot of talk about putting distortion of overdrive pedals in front of amps to get a good lead sound. My DSL sounds killer, but I'd like to have a sort of boost or something to get some good screaming leads. I know their is the lead 2 button, but it doesnt really do it for me, plus i have to push a button which is kinda hard.

I was thinking along the lines of a tubescreamer or boss overdrive pedal. Anyone use a pedal in front of a DSL or had any experience with this?
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

Sure, I think for that extra push-over-the-edge on a lead sound the pedal is the best way to go. With a good pedal you can get a great boost, which still retains your rhythm tone - the trick is to find one that's fairly transparent (i.e. doesn't add too much of its own characteristics to your sound) whilst providing the necessary volume. As you mentioned, the tubescreamer would do this job excellently, and boss also has notables (OD, SD etc.). Try some out!
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

I don't use a pedal in front of my DSL. The distortion the DSL puts out is perfect for the tone im looking for.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

Go with the tubescreamer man!
I'm gettin a DSL 401 and stickin a tubescreamer, boss eq and a crybaby in front of it.
You get Stevie ray to stevie vai with that!
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

If you want to keep the tone of your amp but boost the signal you could buy an EQ, set it flat, and put the level up a bit.
All you have to do is kick it on when you need that lead boost.
Tom Morello did that in Rage Against The Machine for most of his lead work. It's pretty transparent as well, or at least it sounds pretty transparent.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

I was pretty happy with the distortion on the DSL. When needed, I'd use the MXR Micro Amp. It's a nice boost pedal that's pretty transparent with regard to your tone.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

Joel from Killswitch Engage uses a distortion pedal that runs clean without additional distortion to boost his Recto's volume so he doesn't have to ooze on additional gain and sound nu-metallish. You could probably do the same with the DSL. You could also get a chorus pedal or a harmonizer to make the lead parts sound bigger without rising in the mix too much.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

Early Rat pedals give a great lead tone to a Marshall. Same with the Maxon 808 & 820.

My favorite two OD's are the mondo expensive Klon, but the banzaieffects.com
is the best pedals in the $200 range. Coldfusion will give you a huge lead tone on a
DSL. The Fireball, too. It's a bit more versatile than a Fulltone FD II
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

I tried the TS-9 tubescreamer in front of a DSL today and it sounded killer.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

Spoonman said:
I tried the TS-9 tubescreamer in front of a DSL today and it sounded killer.
Click to expand...


on a clean or dirty channel?


I also have a DSL and am looking for a pedal to thicken up/boost my lead tone. Right now I'm just using an ernie ball volume pedal, but I'd rather have a stomp box.

Anyone else have any suggestions? I really have no experience with pedals. Would an octave pedal or chorus be able to boost the volume as well?

Do you put all pedals in the effects loop?


This is what my band sounds like to give you an idea of what I might be going for: http://www.rorybreaker.com/mp3/second/03_23.mp3
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

You can really put overdrive pedals in the effects loop - they're not line-level, but designed to work with a low-level guitar output. Normally people tend to plug them into the dirty channel, but you can experiment with both (it'll make more of a volume difference on the clean channel).

Could try a fulltone fatboost for a totally transparent boost, and it has a treble cut to help reduce the inherent brightness. Chorus or octave pedals rarely have any volume boost.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

What I was thinking for this is that like Justin of the Darkness, I could put a pedal in front of a Marshall and get a nice compressed and thick lead tone off of the dirty channel (lead 1, lead 2 is just buzzy). I'm not really looking to buy a $200 pedal, just a regular one for a boost and fatness enhancer. A chorus pedal is a good idea too.

Quick thought: Anyone had any luck with multi-effects units for distortion or boost purposes?
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

mr breaker said:
on a clean or dirty channel?


I also have a DSL and am looking for a pedal to thicken up/boost my lead tone. Right now I'm just using an ernie ball volume pedal, but I'd rather have a stomp box.

Anyone else have any suggestions? I really have no experience with pedals. Would an octave pedal or chorus be able to boost the volume as well?

Do you put all pedals in the effects loop?


This is what my band sounds like to give you an idea of what I might be going for: http://www.rorybreaker.com/mp3/second/03_23.mp3
Click to expand...

Clean more often than dirty, I suppose, but I'm sure that I'll use it on the dirty channel for a clean boost when the whim takes me.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

i was messin around earlier with puttin the boss os-2 in front of the amp and trying different settings, boss on its own on clean chanell then dialing in a little bit of gain in both lead 1 and 2 and a whole lot more different settings and found no usable seting with the boss os-2, this pedal seems to take away >"ALOT"< of bass from the signal and makes the sound quite thin..and this is when i have the bass boost switch on also , so mabye i should sell the os-2 and get a tubescreamer...
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

Jonny C said:
Could try a fulltone fatboost for a totally transparent boost, and it has a treble cut to help reduce the inherent brightness.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. I haven't heard of this pedal until you mentioned. From what I read, it sounds like this is exactly what I'm looking for. A dealer near me is selling this for $180 new, is this a reasonable price?


How much does this pedal effect your tone?
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

If I remember correctly the new MXR Zakk Wylde OD pedal is suppose be a clean boost. Just something to to kick the front end of the amp a bit harder. You might want to check that out as well.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

The Zakk Wylde pedal a clean boost? I'm pretty sure it's just a copy of a boss overdrive with more bass or something and his signature bullseye. I was looking at the boss site today and the od-3 really stood out to me as one that might do a nice job. Anyone tried this pedal and/or compared it to a tubescreamer?

Also, what's the difference between a turbo tubescreamer and the regular one?
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

what is the difference between putting the fat boost or other boost-type pedal in the effects loop and putting it in front of the amp?

Again, I'm playing a DSL on the overdrive channel, and I'm just looking to boost the lead tone, maybe add a little extra distortion along with a volume boost.
 
Re: Anyone use a pedal in front of their DSL?

Your best bet would be to try all that stuff out at a guitar center or something. Make a big listof what you want to try and go and do it. Spend a few hours.
 
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