Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

[StrangeSound]

My Engl Screamer is at the bassist's house and I got my Marshall MG30 here.
So, I hooked the MI Audio Tube Zone pedal up to the MG and it sounded :banghead: :sad:

You have to use a decent tube amp to get a good tone, that means if the tubes in my Engl die and I have no spare tubes left, I can't use the pedal.

Scott Henderson always mentions how important it is for him that no pedal should color his tone, what about you? Sometimes I wish the pedal had the sound I'm looking for, so that I could dial my sound in anything.

Do you have any pedals that just work with a decent tube amp?

 

[James Rock]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

Well I like to colour the tone a bit (as I use single coils I need a bit of beef added) and use an EQ pedal to totally change the sound of my distortion pedal and i can use it quite succesfully with different amps but they cant be totally **** amps and do sound quite different with other amps (huge difference between even a pro junior and AC30 which are both el84's and the pro junior had a blue speaker in it too!)

 

[wahwah]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

I like both for different purposes. I have a pedal made here in Australia by Dave Ulbrick called a 12AXE, which he has also made for Robben Ford, which sounds like you have added tube another preamp stage to whatever amp you run it through. But then I also like my MI Audio Crunch Box, which is a very coloured pedal, but its colour is so beautiful and 'Marshally' that it serves a distinct purpose. I also use both together, which sounds like you've added another preamp stage to a Marshall, even through a Fender amp!

I think the host amp is always going to be a major factor in the overall tone, and obviously there's little point in having a transparent pedal when the basic amp tone is not good. Sometimes with a lesser quality amp, a good quality coloured pedal can be more useful. Personally, I prefer to raise the standard wherever possible, good transparent pedals, good coloured pedals and a good amp.


Cheers........................wahwah

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

It really depends on the effect. For a boost I really want to keep the tone intact, just make more of it.

However I picked up Keith's old EH Deluxe Memory Man and it is not true bypass, and has a gain function, so it DEFINITELY colors your sound. In fact when the pedal is off you still get a bit of delay. I really dig what it does to the sound so it's here to stay for a while.

Luke

 

[jeremy]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

in general i like my pedals to be fairly transparent, a little color is ok but i like to hear the personality of the guitar. i have a barber ltd and it was ok at 9v but now that i run it at 18v i love it. it has less gain but its much more transparent and dynamic. ive been using that and the duncan pup booster and im really happy with that setup

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

I tend to prefer more transparent drive (boost, really) pedals, although I really love the mid-hump in my Tubescreamer when teamed up with the tweed amp.

- Keith

 

[timorousme]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

Depends on the guitar for me. For my Preacher, I tend to roll the gain and tone of my Sparkle Drive up to about 3 o'clock if not all the way, and turn the clean at about 9 o'clock. Really gives it a good tone. The bridge pickup is already rather bright and somewhat single coil sounding, and, as said earlier, the overdrive pedal really helps beef it a bit, while still maintaining the brightness with the tone knob.

With my Ibanez, I usually use it for jazz. I flip over on the neck pickup, roll back the tone on the Sparkle Drive, and turn the clean up almost (if not) all the way and use it as a clean boost. Doesn't really change the tone much, but really smoothes it out and simple makes it sound better.

Depends on what style and what guitar I'm using.

 

[marvar]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

umm- I thought the whole purpose of using pedals was to 'color' the tone- otherwise, I'd just plug straight into the amp.

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

umm- I thought the whole purpose of using pedals was to 'color' the tone- otherwise, I'd just plug straight into the amp.

Indeed, my Vox Pathfinder15 is a pretty bright amp but when I plug a DS-1 into it makes for a nice, darker, and generally gainier sound.

Same with my phasers and ODS, I always want them to darken/brighten the existing tone of the amp so the effect is more pronounced...you know, to "effect" the sound/tone of the amp. I'm all for subtly in pedals (bad monkey, small clone, etc) but there's nothing worse than a pedal that's too subtle to even hear!

 

[Rich_T]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

I use both. I like y boosts to be prett tranparent, because my Marshall sounds the tits. But my fuzz needs to be thick, dirty and obnoxious, which is a very coloured tone.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

umm- I thought the whole purpose of using pedals was to 'color' the tone- otherwise, I'd just plug straight into the amp.

Not always. Pedals are intended to affect the output in various ways. A boost can be transparent in that it gives the effect of boosting the input signal without changing its inherent equalization; it's like a stomp box that turns up the volume or gain, without walking up to the amp and futzing with knobs. That's an example of a transparent effect.

- Keith

 

[tubeman87]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

As long as it sounds good to me, I really dont care. I've looked at both sides and it really just came down to my personal taste.

 

[marvar]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

As long as it sounds good to me, I really dont care. I've looked at both sides and it really just came down to my personal taste.

A+
I suppose everyone has a different idea of what the definition of 'color' is.
:1:

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

I have a modded Arion Tubulator for that adds a little grit and a signal boost, but no real tone coloration. Aside from that, if I'm gonna bother remembering to step on the pedal, not to mention take the time to plug it in, it sure as heck better color the crap out of the tone

 

[Mincer]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

if i am going to use pedals other than overdrive, there is a reason- I want the listener to hear it. I tend to like pretty extreme changes in the guitar sound too- so I don't always want it to sound like a guitar.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

well keith stated it well.
The Effects that i don't want to color my sound are: Delays ,Boosters ,whammy and all pitch shifting effects ,Harmonizing effects ,detuners ,and sometimes octavers!
The Effects that i love them to color my tone are : Phasers ,Flangers ,Wahs ,Chosur and reverbs ,Distortions ,and ofcourse rotary speaker effects!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Do you prefer pedals which don't color the tone?

If the sound good, I do not care much