Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Skater said:
Ohhh, I never knew that, I always liked what my Marshall has to offer as far as it's OD channel, but always wanted something to just push the signal a little harder. Thanks!
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You're gonna flip when you try that for the first time, man.
The usual approach is taking a Tubescreamer of sorts, or a Boss SD1 or something, and set the gain to zero, the level well past half (usually cranked is great) and tone to whatever suits you.

Into a crunchy Marshall that's your personal heaven awaiting for you.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Definitely, definitely a BOSS HM-2 with all the knobs dimed into a CRATE SS combo. Definitely.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Well a Tube Screamer can do that, but the Tube Screamer and pedals like it are great as the only source of gain, too.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Depends on the amp in question !

I prefer the amp's dirt tone. (i buy amps based on their dirt tone and NOT based on their clean tones)
But, seeing as 99.6% of all amps can not do a fuzz tone, i do use fuzz boxes and Treb. boosters.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Personally, I'm an amp gain guy all the way (but I include different preamp and poweramp combinations in that too) but I suggest whatever sounds best for what sound you're trying to get. Sometimes nothing will beat going straight into a modern, high gain amp (mesa dual, 5150, ENGL, Bogner, modern Marshall etc.) Other times, nothing will beat getting an older style British amp and making it go to 11 with an overdrive and sometimes you might just find a distortion pedal does the job perfectly with a particular amp.

We've come a long way in stompbox technology with some being able to act as a preamp to run into the FX return, essentially giving you a whole new amp! (AMT, SD Palladium, Bogner red & Blue, Diezel VH4 pedal etc.)

Just keep the number one rule in mind. Just with your ears. Not your eyes. I've heard ripping sounds with something as simple as a Wampler Triple Wreck into a Lamington (yeah, the little amp made of a lamington tray) of all things. There's just no wrong answers when it comes to suiting the song. Don't be afraid to try something new because someone said you're not "supposed" to do it that way.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

If your playing in a band I suggest picking amps based on the overall mix and sound of the band -not individual tone decided in a vacuum.

I saw a band in Philly last year -actually a really well known one that had all 3 Guitarists playing 335 through Marshalls which ended up sounding like mud because they are all on top of each other.

Hard to believe a band that was on Colbert the night before wouldn't know that.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

I can use my BD-2 into a sparkling clean amp and get a great sound . . . or I can crank up the volume on the gain channel of my Traynor and get a different but also great sound. Don't care how you get there, it's the noise at the end that matters.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Have done it both ways and got good tone both ways. It's all about the combos amp guitar pedal cab all of it. I prefer a dynamic high gain tube amp with a decent amount of gain then using touch and the guitar volume to clean up and at times throwing in a compressor for ebow like infinite sustain with nothing else in a dirt box.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

I flipped my way through one or two dozen pedals a year or two ago, trying to find one that I liked as much as my amp with the pre cranked. A couple times I thought I had it, but then I would A/B it and it's just never quite as good. This is almost certainly a taste & preference issue since that sound is why I bought the amp in the first place. Sure would be nice, though, to have "that sound" in a little box that I could click on & off.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Dave Locher said:
I flipped my way through one or two dozen pedals a year or two ago, trying to find one that I liked as much as my amp with the pre cranked. A couple times I thought I had it, but then I would A/B it and it's just never quite as good. This is almost certainly a taste & preference issue since that sound is why I bought the amp in the first place. Sure would be nice, though, to have "that sound" in a little box that I could click on & off.
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I feel the same regarding the 15-watt Orange Dark Terror that I use. I bought this model for it's 4 stages of gain and every time I mess with improving the amp's tone (or even think about it), I come away disappointed. Pedals seem so artificial now; after listening the organic tone this amp. I do use an external reverb pedal and may add a delay at some point, but messing with an already great drive tone is not for me.


Studioplayer
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

NegativeEase said:
If your playing in a band I suggest picking amps based on the overall mix and sound of the band -not individual tone decided in a vacuum.

I saw a band in Philly last year -actually a really well known one that had all 3 Guitarists playing 335 through Marshalls which ended up sounding like mud because they are all on top of each other.

Hard to believe a band that was on Colbert the night before wouldn't know that.
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Very good point, something that I learned many years ago. I played in a touring band in the later 70's, I used a non reverse Firebird through a Marshall Major stack....so P-90's into a stack. The other guitarist was using a Les Paul through a Marshall (don't remember model)......one practice I tried a Telecaster with all other things the same....in the band my sound was so much clearer, it still sounded great, and it punched through everything easily where before it would get lost. I also learned that home tone has nothing to do with band tone, generally, whatever distortion you are using at home, turn it down in a band situation, and also turn the bass way down with a band.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

NegativeEase said:
If your playing in a band I suggest picking amps based on the overall mix and sound of the band -not individual tone decided in a vacuum.

I saw a band in Philly last year -actually a really well known one that had all 3 Guitarists playing 335 through Marshalls which ended up sounding like mud because they are all on top of each other.

Hard to believe a band that was on Colbert the night before wouldn't know that.
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Perhaps they took their Colbert pay checks, cashews them at a sleazy check cashing place in Yonkers, & decided that they wanted to spend them on 335’s & Marshall’s??? Maybe some coke, cuz you know “while you’re there”, & you’ve got yourself one heck of a weekend!!!

I’m just kidding... Obviously after buying a new 335 & a new Marshall you wouldn’t have any coke money left....

What was this thread about again???

Oh yeah amp vs pedal gain... Personally for a long time I was perfectly happy with a nice clean CH & my collection of various dirt boxes, especially the “amplifier in a box” type pedals from Wampler, Freedman, Etc.!!! However since then I’ve gotten into using older Fender Tweed & Brownface circuits which are pretty gainny (I know, made up a word) if you play them at any real volume.

I find this natural tube breakup cuts much better than any pedals that I’ve ever used & the touch sensitivity/dynamics are much better, but it’s also contingent upon being able to get the amplifier up to said volume? So while a dirty amplifier with a good driver in front is a beautiful thing, I find that I still depend on my board for a lot of my playing because even cranking up my 5F2A Tweed Princeton to the point of breakup is pretty darn loud, let alone my 5F6A Bassman or 6G13 Vibrasonic!!!
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

im with ya. if i can crank the amp, i dont really need a pedal but since that isnt always the case i have a large collection of drive boxes. a cranked amp is a beautiful thing though!
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Nostalgic Distortion said:
Perhaps they took their Colbert pay checks, cashews them at a sleazy check cashing place in Yonkers, & decided that they wanted to spend them on 335’s & Marshall’s??? Maybe some coke, cuz you know “while you’re there”, & you’ve got yourself one heck of a weekend!!!

I’m just kidding... Obviously after buying a new 335 & a new Marshall you wouldn’t have any coke money left....
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YEAH, Cocaine and 335 w/ Marshall stacks are inversely proportional -unless you have a top 40 hit. :lmao:
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

I rarely can crank an amp live to the point where it sounds good to me. Even lower wattage amps (my Mesa is 18 watts) get too loud- it has to be loud for power amp breakup, though. I am using pedals professionally most of the time.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

NegativeEase said:
If your playing in a band I suggest picking amps based on the overall mix and sound of the band -not individual tone decided in a vacuum.

I saw a band in Philly last year -actually a really well known one that had all 3 Guitarists playing 335 through Marshalls which ended up sounding like mud because they are all on top of each other.

Hard to believe a band that was on Colbert the night before wouldn't know that.
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Reminds me of when I saw QOTSA live. Three guitar players with fuzzy, heavy on reverb tones, AKA a mudfest.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

Diego said:
Reminds me of when I saw QOTSA live. Three guitar players with fuzzy, heavy on reverb tones, AKA a mudfest.
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+1

longcat and I saw them in the Fall of 2017 and it was probably the worst sounding pro-level show I've ever seen. The kind of sad thing is that longcat won tickets to see Iron & Wine the same night from a radio station here and we turned them down. In hindsight I wish I'd sold the QOTSA tickets and gone to the other show. I probably would've enjoyed it more.
 
Re: Overdrive/Distortion Amp vs Pedals

NegativeEase said:
If your playing in a band I suggest picking amps based on the overall mix and sound of the band -not individual tone decided in a vacuum.

I saw a band in Philly last year -actually a really well known one that had all 3 Guitarists playing 335 through Marshalls which ended up sounding like mud because they are all on top of each other.

Hard to believe a band that was on Colbert the night before wouldn't know that.
Click to expand...

Seems we're in agreement.
 
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