Re: ISP THETA PreAmp Pedal questions ***
The Theta is analog, not digital, although they do have a digital multi-effects out now with a digital version of the Theta preamp in it. The analog version is great, sounds great, and "feels" great. But again, for a distortion in front of an amp, not my first choice, if I was looking for an pedal based preamp, it is on my short list. Have you tried one Hank?
I haven't personally tried the Palladium or the Amptweaker pedals, but the reviews and videos sound great and I have a pretty good point of reference.
Here's the pedal preamps I've tried/used:
ISP Theta
Tech21 British and Leeds
AMT SS-20, SS-11b, SS-30, S2, P2, and D2
Believe it or not, I'm currently using a Boss GT-100, you can get some good sounds if you dig into it and tweak the preamps, but I am running it through an ISP Stealth power amp and speaker cab with a WGS British Lead, and sometimes in to a 2nd Earcandy cab with a Peavey Delta Pro (EV clone). I do find the direct sounds less than satisfying but I have to admit I haven't really tweaked on them much.
Distortion pedals, holy crap, a lot of them, specific to this thread I've used:
Suhr Riot - Great sounding pedal, kind of a Guv'nor with lots more gain
Marshall Shredmaster and Guv'nor - Both of these are great, the Guv'nor probably doesn't have enough gain for the OP, the Shredmaster probably does
Boss DS-1 and Keeley mods, probably some other mods too, the best DS-1s are the original MIJ and early MITs with the Toshiba opamp chip, the new ones are completely different.
Boss Metalzone, stock and modded, just say no...
Wampler Pinnacle - Good, but wasn't blown away like I expected to be
GGG BSIAB - Awesome Marshall type distortion from a kit
The short list of amps is Mesa Mk IV, Soldano HR50+, Randall MTS50 head (awesome with the right modules), Mesa Single Recto, Fender Prosonic, Peavey XXX, Randall T2, Marshall Superleads, JCM800s, and JCM900s.
My favorite sounding rig was a Kasha Rockmod III preamp with a Rocktron Intellifex in the loop, may have had a Replifex at some point too, into a MosValve 962 power amp running 2 Avatar 2-12 cabs with Emincence speakers. I don't recall exactly, but I think they were either Man-O-Wars or Wizards, or maybe some mix. I also had a few pedals in front of the Kasha, a modded SD-1 for a little extra push on occasion, and maybe a phase 90 or something. That rig sounded awesome even at manageable volume, you didn't have to run it at earsplitting levels like a Superlead or something, you could, but didn't have to.
So, yeah, I have a pretty good point of reference on tones, specifically high gain ones.
Lol
