Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

G

gvis

New member
I’m in the market for a low gain OD pedal that has a tubular, fenderish vibe going on. Mostly used with single coils and strats.

It will be used against a reverend hellhound, which is a great tube amp that has a dark, thick tone overall, even though I believe it’s generally voiced closer to the fender side than british (at least when the schitzo switch is set to American).

I’m no expert on specific fender amps and their exact clean channel differences, though I’ve had a deville and listened to enough you tube clips and learned enough here to get a basic idea and realize there seems to be a general tonal similarity in fender clean channels when run clean or with just a bit of breakup.

It’s that general fender clean tone through mild breakup, which to me sounds airier and more tubular than brit voicings, that I’m after. Yes, the hellhound is a tube amp and has great clean tones, but it’s not exactly fender tubular, even after messing with the eq, and I was hoping to find a pedal that could get it closer, knowing it won’t exactly get me there.

I had a BD2 with the monte allum mod, as well as my own. It’s the only pedal I’ve owned so far that added any kind of tubiness to a clean channel, but even after the mods it was too fizzy and didn’t allow enough eq adjustments with one tone knob.

Currently my short list is:

Wampler Tweed 57 – I love its overall tone the best so far, and it sounds great with light breakup. I just haven’t found any clips of it yet with gain set lowest and with the least amount of breakup, against a clean channel not already set with breakup. I did find one demo that mentioned that gain set all the way down still results in breakup, but his amp’s clean channel was already running with grit, so it wasn’t the best measure imo. Can this pedal produce purely clean or almost no breakup against a clean amp?

Wampler Black 65 – I like how it sounds with gain way down over a clean amp. Seems to get the clean fender tone I’m after, with its more scooped mid voicing (blackface thing?), but I don’t like the mild breakup as much as the tweed 57, and I really don’t like it’s higher gain breakup compared to the 57.

Bogner Exctasy Blue – I also like how this one sounds with gain way down, although it’s hard for me to tell from the clips if it’s fenderish or more towards plexi, as the plexi toggle implies (I seem to like it set to plexi best). Some clips are running through fender amps anyway, so that probably skews the results. I love the variety and flexibility of the pedal, as well as it’s mild breakup, but, while certainly decent higher gain tones imo, I’m not a huge fan of them; seems to have the boxy quality I found with fulltone stuff that I’m not a fan of. But maybe the results would be better in person thru my rig. I just don’t want to drop $300 if there’s not even a chance it meets what I’m currently looking for.

Any other pedals or anything in general I should consider? Budget is $300. Actually getting a fender amp is not an option. Not trying to exactly duplicate, just get closer with the gear I have now.

Thanks for the help.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Sorry, not.
The Tweed '57 CANNOT DELIVER CLEAN TONES, but you can clean it with your guitar volume.
I've run my amp always clean and, even with gain at minimun the Tweed always sounds with a clear break up.
But, in the same ballpark you have the excellent Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive.
While the Wampler is more tweakable, the Sweet Honey sounds good from the beginning and does clean and slight breakup really nice.

This is my in depth walkthrough on such a pedal:



The Black '65 is another kind of animal and, does cleans absolutelly well but, as in your case, I didn't liked it overdrived so much. I've just used it in clean settings just as a tone shaper (EQ, if you like it), to bring that feeling of 6L6s and also to "clean" the sound of over drives stacked after it.

I think AMT has some nice amp emulations (and affordable), also.
 
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Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Thanks Hermetico, that's exactly the info/confirmation I was looking for on the Wamplers. Who knows, I may get both if nothing else seems get me there, which I'm seeing a lot of guys on fender forums doing. I really like the tweeds low gain tone and OD, and I really like the 65's clean tone.

I'll check out some clips of the sweet honey as well.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

gvis said:
Thanks Hermetico, that's exactly the info/confirmation I was looking for on the Wamplers. Who knows, I may get both if nothing else seems get me there, which I'm seeing a lot of guys on fender forums doing. I really like the tweeds low gain tone and OD, and I really like the 65's clean tone.

I'll check out some clips of the sweet honey as well.
Click to expand...

Then, get both.
Each has its use for particular songs.
You will cover the two main streams of fender amps.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

You know who makes a good OD? Barber Electronics.

They aren't the most versatile or over the top, but they have sweet spots that are like an extra gain stage on your amp.

Powdered Toast Man uses nothing but Fender amps and he loves the Half Gainer. Their Direct Drive and LTD are great as well. These pedals have a very natural tone, more gain, and that's it.

http://www.barberelectronics.com/halfgainer2011.html
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Don't laugh . . . i really like this one : Boss FBM-1

I am keeping my eye out on our version of eVilleBay for one.
As soon as i see a used one - it's mine !!!



38269_l.jpg
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

GuitarWorld Magazine had this to say about the Keeley Luna OD



"I thought I was done looking for overdrive pedals until I came across the Luna. Another unique overdrive pedal with added flexibility in gain structure and EQ. The Luna reminds me of how a cranked Fender amp sounds when it achieves that sinewy combination of overdrive and compression".

I have not heard this one myself.



luna_3.jpg
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Does the Zendrive fall into your list? Lovepedal is making them now.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

What about the Tech 21 Blonde? I don't know if these pedals sound good into an amp or if they're just good for emulating an amp sound when going direct to a mixer, but AFAIK, the v2 versions allow you to disable the speaker simulation.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Jeremiah said:
What about the Tech 21 Blonde? I don't know if these pedals sound good into an amp or if they're just good for emulating an amp sound when going direct to a mixer, but AFAIK, the v2 versions allow you to disable the speaker simulation.
Click to expand...
I've not used the Tech 21 Blonde, but I do own and use the JOYO clone, the American Sound (JF-14). It is a preamp that can be used direct to record or into a PA system, but I've used mine as an OD stomp box into a guitar amp as well. It gives a 57 Deluxe Rvb Tweed sound and does so very nicely. The only negative on this pedal is it has a hiss, but that is remedied with a noise reduction pedal (such as the Behringer NR300). Together they cost $67. From the demos I've heard on the Tech 21 blonde, sounds much the same to me, so probably it would work well through an amp as well.

https://www.geartree.com/p-39089-jo...xe-tone-pedal-us-dealer-w-2-patch-cables.aspx
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-BEH-NR300-LIST

I've bought a number of the JOYO pedals and like many of them. Only one I thought was useless was the Noise Reduction....didn't work anywhere near as well as the Behringer.

SirJackdeFuzz's recommendation on the FBM-1 is worth looking into also. I use one with a Fender BDRI and it's my favorite with that amp.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Thanks for all the help everyone. I think I'm going to start with the wampler 57, because I really like every clip I've heard of it, which is rare for you tube pedal demos. I do need a light, fender style OD to compliment my other dirt pedals.

Before I address a more clean/fender tubey tone, I think I'm gonna change my tubes first. I forgot that I haven't changed them in....gulp....12 years/ever. while I seem to recall it still being a dark, thick voice when I bought it, maybe there's been a gradual loss of tubeiness over the years. Prior to modding my deville, I had been using the deville for clean tones instead of the hellhound.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Lovepedal makes a couple options as well, Les Lius and Tweed Twin.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Gearjoneser said:
You know who makes a good OD? Barber Electronics.

They aren't the most versatile or over the top, but they have sweet spots that are like an extra gain stage on your amp.

Powdered Toast Man uses nothing but Fender amps and he loves the Half Gainer. Their Direct Drive and LTD are great as well. These pedals have a very natural tone, more gain, and that's it.

http://www.barberelectronics.com/halfgainer2011.html
Click to expand...

The Barber stuff is top shelf hand made quality without the pretentious boutique builder markup. Half gainer is very versatile and gets me very close to a broken up Super Reverb tone.

I had a Direct Drive but sold it. It's amazing for a Marshall Plexi sound - if that's your thing (it was not mine).

chadd said:
Lovepedal makes a couple options as well, Les Lius and Tweed Twin.
Click to expand...

I actually got a Les Lius about a year ago and it's taken the place of my #1 OD away from the Barber Half Gainer. If you want a TWEED style tone the Les Lius is amazing. I use the Twin setting all the time and it's a pedal I leave on for probably 26 of the 30 songs I'll play in a gig. Had they been making their newer Tweed Twin pedal when I originally got my LL, I would have probably gotten it instead.

BTW, I actually have a 57 Tweed Deluxe amp clone and the Les Lius really does nail that sound.

Note that if you are someone who values tweakability in a pedal, then the Lovepedal is NOT going to be your thing. It's a fixed gain pedal. You can't adjust the gain, EQ, tone, or drive. It has a knob that adjusts the volume - that's it.
 
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Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Powdered Toast Man said:
I had a Direct Drive but sold it. It's amazing for a Marshall Plexi sound - if that's your thing (it was not mine).



I actually got a Les Lius about a year ago and it's taken the place of my #1 OD away from the Barber Half Gainer. If you want a TWEED style tone the Les Lius is amazing. I use the Twin setting all the time and it's a pedal I leave on for probably 26 of the 30 songs I'll play in a gig. Had they been making their newer Tweed Twin pedal when I originally got my LL, I would have probably gotten it instead.

BTW, I actually have a 57 Tweed Deluxe amp clone and the Les Lius really does nail that sound.

Note that if you are someone who values tweakability in a pedal, then the Lovepedal is NOT going to be your thing. It's a fixed gain pedal. You can't adjust the gain, EQ, tone, or drive. It has a knob that adjusts the volume - that's it.
Click to expand...


thanks. I had bought the direct drive when it first came out and had it a long; sold it last year. it was nice, but never a go to pedal for me.

I'll check out the les Lius.

Yes, adjustability is important to me. I tend to end up keeping the pedals with 3 band eq's versus one tone knob.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

The BD-2 too fizzy? Well, either way, how about an OD-3? To me that's got the roundness and warmness you may want. It is very Santana-ish.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Robert Delahunt said:
The BD-2 too fizzy? Well, either way, how about an OD-3? To me that's got the roundness and warmness you may want. It is very Santana-ish.
Click to expand...

I actually got a lot of the fizzy out with mods, but then I couldn't get the tubeiness back. I just gave up messing with that pedal.

I've owned an OD-3. It's a nice pedal, but not what I was looking for. Thanks though.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

Yeah I don't mod my pedals. I know, I'm strange, but I just don't. Even if I did, it would be to add a pedal so that I could change something on the fly, not the circuitry behind the tone itself.

Then again, right now I use a Boss ME-70 and Boss BR-80 for all my needs, at least now. I have an OD-3, an OS-2 (?), and I'd like to get a Fender SuperSonic.
 
Re: Fender Vibe Low Gain Pedal

I really liked the Wampler Tweed 57 for low gain and with it cranked you get a sputtery fuzz tone with a loud tube amp so its like two pedals in one
 
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