Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

M

MrClark6

New member
Looking for some suggestions to do some research on. I'm in the market for a hot-rodded plexi type tone out of a pedal to run in front of a clean amp, mostly looking at the used under $200 US mark. If it has a boost function that's preferred, but I can make do without.

Initially I was thinking the Bogner Uberschall pedal, but have recently been really turned on to the Red Ecstasy pedal (older version, not the new small one) because it can get tight and aggressive, but has the ability to be tamed a little more than the seemingly one-dimensional Uberschall.

Other potential contenders thus far have been Friedman BE-OD, MXR EVH 5150 pedal, and the Blackstar HT Dual.

If it helps at all for anyone's frame of reference, I had an EHX English Muffin I ran in front of a Peavey Valveking a few years back. It sounded great if a little flabby, but didn't really hit the gain ceiling I'm looking for. Kinda miss that pedal once in a while...
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

And the Carl Martin Plexitone — the big one.
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

So many.


Boss Powerstack
Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret
Suhr Riot
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

Aceman, I did have a Power Stack briefly to save room on my pedal board back when I was using the English Muff'n. It was nowhere near as rich and full sounding, so I quickly sold it and went back to the Muff'n.

Gtrjunior, you've got the right idea. I guess I worded this incorrectly... I'm looking for something that is a step above the gain of a Marshall, I kinda thought that's what hot-rodded Marshall meant, maybe I meant more like Modded Marshall.

I'm thinking like newer Alice In Chains maybe Opeth kinds of tones, saturated, chunky, and grinding. My budget will never allow me to get a good amp like a Friedman BE, Bogner Uberschall, Engl Fireball, Laney VR100H, etc. So I'm looking for a pedal that's somewhat versatile and can get me those kinds of gain sounds to put in front of an c amp with a lot of clean headroom.

I thought the Hot-Rodded Marshall descriptor was accurate because I'm not looking for a modern tech metal kind of gain structure, like a Peavey Invective. I like warmer tones, but not big, fat Dual Rec kind of stuff.

Here's a list of some of the pedals I have/had and my thoughts on them:
DS-1 - not enough anything, always felt weak in the gain and tone
Metal Zone - too much buzz and brittle sounding when you try to back off the gain, but tight and chunky
VOX Satchurator - pretty good but a little limited in its tonal capabilities
EHX English Muff'n - great for that Plexi/JCM sound, less gain that I'm looking for, my alt/classic rock go-to, huge on the board though...
Boss Power Stack - Tonally a little flatter than the Muff'n and less usable gain
Digitech Grunge - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!............... Ugh
BBE Blacksmith - Not as much "openness" as I'd like and again a little light on the gain
DOD Boneshaker - Lots of decent tonal options, the Depth function is kind of silly, but again, not enough gain

Sorry if I've become the difficult poster... Maybe this is what happens when your first good amp was a 1st Gen 5150 and you sold it because the cleans suck. It sets the gain bar pretty high.
 
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Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

Another thought is to boost what you already have.
The Friedman Buxom Boost is phenomenal. I run one into my quickrod and it does magical things to it.

As far as your description of modded. I always saw it like this.

A JCM 800 or similar is the basis for a great rock tone. Guys that added a boost to it, like a tube screamer or guv’nor sort of turned it into what I would consider a modded Marshall. That’s the typical 80’s type gain levels.
When we start talking about the JVM, Splawn, Bogner, Friedman....now we are talking about a modded Marshall without any external help. It all happens within the amp itself.
That’s how I kinda view it anyway.
 
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Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

Angry Driver can do many things well. If you are going into a clean channel then you already most likely have a broad mid control to seat the mids, which is about the only gripe on the JB-2
Mint-used they go about $150.
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

When I'm hearing "modern metal but not Dual rec/Mesa" I'm thinking of stuff like the 5150, 5153, Engl or the Soldano SLO. Can't say anything about Diezel or Bogner because I've never heard any of those amps in real life (let alone even seen one).

Soldano SLO was turned into a stombox by Wampler (SLOstortion) and AMT (S2) respectively. MXR have the EVH 5150 stomp. So maybe look into any one of those?
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

Coma, I have a Jet City 100HDM just because the circuit was designed by Soldano. I was really hoping for the best, but the low end on that amp is too huge and flubby even after some light mods... Gain is good on open chords, but any palm muting ends up getting very loose and way too saggy.

I know it's not a real SLO/Soldano, but I was hoping it would get me closer.

Gtrjunior again, nailed it - "When we start talking about the JVM, Splawn, Bogner, Friedman....now we are talking about a modded Marshall without any external help." This is what I'm after, or as close as I can get on my shoestring budget.

I think an even bigger part of my problem is that I hold all these badass tones in such high regard because I can only hear them on Youtube where someone has them perfectly setup, miked, and post edited to sound awesome. I have tried to find some of these amps in my area to try them out to no avail. I'm looking to do this on a pedal platform because should it not work out, I can sell it on Reverb or eBay and not loose out so badly. Like I have in the past....
 
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Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

lots of the pedals being thrown around in this thread arent very marshally. is that what you really want? the dirty little secret run at 18v is a great mib pedal
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

Yeah Jeremy, in hindsight I mislabeled this post.

I'm looking for more of a Splawn, SLO, Friedman, Bogner kind of sound, but didn't necessarily want to call those amps out specifically. I refer to those amps as hot-rodded or modded Marshal types.

Again, Sorry if I've become the difficult poster...
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

Ok, now that I know what you want and what your budget is I’m recommending the Friedman BE-OD...without a doubt.
However, what speakers/cab configuration are you running. Is it possibly that, that may be causing the low end flubbiness?

Speaker choice has a huge effect on the overall tone. But, some amps just fart out and there’s not much you can do. The DSL40C comes immediately to mind.
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

I’d be trying all those pricey high-gain pedals and things inspired by the same amps. Once you get the muscle and the gain structure, you never know what a twist of an EQ knob is going to do.
 
Re: Hot-Rodded Marshall In A Pedal

I’ve got a Blackstar HT Dual and an HT Dist and really like both for the high gain Marshall sound.

How are you using your three? Do you have different tubes in them to change up the sound? I like mine so much I haven’t really messed with the tubes much.
 
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