Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

My primary amp is a big, vintage, clean sounding tube amp. Most of what I play is clean rhythm guitar in a 60s/70s r&b band. We do play a few old rock n' roll songs, and I personally like to play with a distorted tone for fun, and so I looked around and played with quite a few OD/Distortion pedals over the past 3 or 4 years. Pedals like the tubescreamer clones and the Fulldrive2 have some cool sounds, but did not get distorted enough to satisfy my personal wants. The OCD gets some nice light overdrive sounds as well as some good distorted tones...all on its own. I also owned a Soul Food for a very short period of time, but I don't remember stacking it with the OCD, although I probably tried that.

Anyway, I agree with you about how daunting it can be to find just the right drive pedal, and this thread certainly proves your original statement. Do try the OCD if you haven't yet. It's common & relatively cheap, but to my ears is a great sounding pedal. Not sure if it will "color" your tone enough, or how it will stack with the soul food, but still, it's worth checking out.

Good luck!!
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

King IzzO))) said:
Just pick one and make it work for you. Explore it's limitations, then decide if you need more from there.

Too many people go the other way.
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I think personally that he has a very important point here. Most people don't bother to spend time tweaking their gear to explore how diverse it can be, and consequently fail to realise its true potential capabilities, just skimming the surface of all the tones available from it, judging it by just that much, and deciding that it can't do the job. Personally, I think if you go to a comprehensively stocked store like Andertons and spend enough time exploring your options, you will end up with something that will suit your needs perfectly and deliver more versatility than you will need.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

TimmyPage said:
Actually a bit of the opposite! I want something that will colour my sound entirely, I'm essentially looking for something that will be the 'gain' in my rig, kind of like a second channel (though I don't have any illusions of 'sounds like a real 100 watt tube amp). I want something that my soul food can boost, because while I don't like the gain sound of the soul food, I really love the thicker, louder tone it can push a gain stage to do.
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At the risk of repeating myself...

Check-out the Carl Martin Plexitone (V1 or V2). I use mine to get ALL of my gain.


The gain on my Ceriatone plexi clones is run very low, so that they're more like Fender Blackfaces. I like to get my base tone from the amps, but in a clean way. And then use the pedal for all of the crunch. The Plexitone truly is an amp-in-a-box. Moreso than any other OD/distortion pedal that I've tried.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

I think this thread is about as useful to you as a forum debate over which is the best topping for pizza, or what goes in the best sandwich... We're all just going to voice our personal preferences and disagree with each other, and you're just going to have to lighten up and play with toys until you find one you like... But I'll play along...

My "gain channel" pedal is a ZVex Double Rock... before that i used the cheaper Vexter Box of Rock and loved it, too... When I use my 69 Bassman or the 200w Univox from the same year, the Double Rock gives me a very convincing Marshall voice... turn it off and it's just the loud, clean tube amps.

And just because you mentioned Muffs... my Black Arts Toneworks Coven pedal has been kicking distortion boxes off of my board ruthlessly. It has their Pharaoh fuzz which is the best Muffy fuzz I've ever played, and it has their Black Forest overdrive (which is pretty fuzzy in its own right) and the way they interact with eachother is amazing. Both can be dialed in anywhere from clean boost to fuzzwall... the Pharaoh emphasizes the lows and highs, but the Forest is focused on the mids... both at once and you might break your amp.

But yeah. Don't stress about pedals. Just play with them. They all sound pretty good...
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Empty Pockets said:
I think this thread is about as useful to you as a forum debate over which is the best topping for pizza, or what goes in the best sandwich... We're all just going to voice our personal preferences and disagree with each other, and you're just going to have to lighten up and play with toys until you find one you like... But I'll play along...
.............................................................................................................................But yeah. Don't stress about pedals. Just play with them. They all sound pretty good...
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yep, What he said. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yes, I used bold, I made it bigger, hope it does not annoy anyone! Oh, best toppings on a pizza....extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage, black olives, pine apple, and ham. Best Sandwich.... a Monte Cristo!!!!
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

When I posted this I wasn't even asking for help! I was just complaining at the lack of help I was finding elsewhere. It's to the point where I'd hear a pedal demo I liked, I'd google it, and in all the forum threads across the internet it would just be a 'That pedal is okay, try a [pedal] instead!'

But you guys have been helpful, I have a few options now that I'll be trying out this weekend or so and I'll be able to cull a few I dont like and get closer to an opinion.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

BrianS. said:
My primary amp is a big, vintage, clean sounding tube amp. Most of what I play is clean rhythm guitar in a 60s/70s r&b band. We do play a few old rock n' roll songs, and I personally like to play with a distorted tone for fun, and so I looked around and played with quite a few OD/Distortion pedals over the past 3 or 4 years. Pedals like the tubescreamer clones and the Fulldrive2 have some cool sounds, but did not get distorted enough to satisfy my personal wants. The OCD gets some nice light overdrive sounds as well as some good distorted tones...all on its own. I also owned a Soul Food for a very short period of time, but I don't remember stacking it with the OCD, although I probably tried that.

Anyway, I agree with you about how daunting it can be to find just the right drive pedal, and this thread certainly proves your original statement. Do try the OCD if you haven't yet. It's common & relatively cheap, but to my ears is a great sounding pedal. Not sure if it will "color" your tone enough, or how it will stack with the soul food, but still, it's worth checking out.

Good luck!!
Click to expand...
I have an OCD clone and really like it. It also stacks well and takes a clean boost in the front end to push it harder very nicely. It really is one of the more versatile pedals I have owned.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

TimmyPage said:
Actually a bit of the opposite! I want something that will colour my sound entirely, I'm essentially looking for something that will be the 'gain' in my rig, kind of like a second channel (though I don't have any illusions of 'sounds like a real 100 watt tube amp). I want something that my soul food can boost, because while I don't like the gain sound of the soul food, I really love the thicker, louder tone it can push a gain stage to do.
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Well derp I missed that one by a mile. In that case you'll probably want something in the medium gain range so that way you can kick it into heavy saturation with the soul food. My gut says a transistor-based distortion or fuzz like the dirty deed pedal SD offers or the triangle and ram's head fuzz pedals.

The reason I say this is because a transistor-based pedal uses the same thing for boost as for clipping (most of the time), so if you juice the front end you either get (1) harder clipping from q2 or even (2) clipping from q1 and q2 simultaneously if you're over a certain threshold. So the transistors would function more like cascading gain stages in an amp, whereas I don't know if I've ever heard a distorted/clipping opamp - the opamp is just used to clip diodes so they don't behave quite as... Unpredictably as would a transistor based pedal.

Don't get me wrong, they sound great, I'm just not sure they would give you what you want, which is a beautifully colored and rich second channel-esque addition to your rig.

Now understand that while germanium sounds more earthy and woody, it's silicon transistors (like jfets and mosfets) that have more clarity and better EQ reproduction. Whereas a germanium fuzz/booster will make your amp sound HUGE, modern silicon transistors will maintain the tonal and feel characteristics you're used to a little better, just IMO.

Another recommendation would be for something tried and true like the proco rat, or the mxr distortion plus.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Give the SoulFood by EHX a spin. Modeled after the KLON Centaur pedal, it is a dead ringer for a replica, but is untouchable in price. $69 on average at most music retailers. If you are seeking low to mid gain overdrive this is the pedal for you. This pedal can clean boost for days and can push the amp in just the right way.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

FretFire said:
I can't believe you own an Orange and believe this to be true...
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fuzz pedals have very different sound than amp tones. same with my keeley modded proco rat. I love pedal tones and there is no way an amp will do it, unless there is a pedal built into it ;)
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

qaiso said:
I just got over this. I purchased about 8 pedals until I found the "one", or in my case, the three that will do the job. One advantage I had was I knew the sounds I wanted, just needed to find the pedal form of it.

The three I settled on, blakemore effects dreamsicle fuzz, zvex double rock, marshall jackhammer.

I was on the search for high gain marshall in a box, and I found it with the jackhammer I bought for $30. Even pedals I checked out in the $300 range (bogner, ect) didn't cut it for me, but the jackhammer was it! I was shocked how nice the marshall pedal line is. Maybe you could describe what your looking for?
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The Jackhammer, despite a couple of flaws, is a WONDERFUL dirt pedal.
Terrific tone and even with the contour off it has a slight scoop in the mids that sounds just right.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Diego said:
The Jackhammer, despite a couple of flaws, is a WONDERFUL dirt pedal.
Terrific tone and even with the contour off it has a slight scoop in the mids that sounds just right.
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I was going to PM you. You have a shredmaster right? I recently sold my sm because the jh is waaaaayyyy better. I even found a setting on the jh that can copy the sm pretty well. I picked up a guv'nor 2 as well, but the jh is still way better and much more versatile. What flaws do you find with the jh, besides the distortion side of it?
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Buy one of every pedal you can find. Then, throw them at each other until only one of them works.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

qaiso said:
I was going to PM you. You have a shredmaster right? I recently sold my sm because the jh is waaaaayyyy better. I even found a setting on the jh that can copy the sm pretty well. I picked up a guv'nor 2 as well, but the jh is still way better and much more versatile. What flaws do you find with the jh, besides the distortion side of it?
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Nope, I've got a regular Jackhammer. I don't like that you can't boost the mids, just cut them.
Also it could have a usable distortion side like you said.
Also I hate the cluttered controls. But it sounds amazing in front of everything I've tried with it.

A underrated pedal that IMO beats the crap out of every distortion pedal Boss has ever released.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

TimmyPage said:
When I posted this I wasn't even asking for help! I was just complaining at the lack of help I was finding elsewhere. It's to the point where I'd hear a pedal demo I liked, I'd google it, and in all the forum threads across the internet it would just be a 'That pedal is okay, try a [pedal] instead!'
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That's why trial and error is the only way to go. You go looking for a reason why you should try one particular pedal over another, and all you get is vague assurance and unqualified recommendations. Start cheap to avoid spending more money than necessary. Some will say there's a minimum amount you should spend, but they probably won't give you a good solid reason why that should be necessary. I picked up a $20 Behringer OD and A/B'd it with a Maxon OD-808.. no detectable difference.
 
Re: Looking for gain pedals is stressful.

Little Pigbacon said:
Buy one of every pedal you can find. Then, throw them at each other until only one of them works.
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Again ...the clear winner:


 
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