Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

B

britishgeetah

New member
roight. I have a glorious Fender amp but it's 45 watts and I want to distort it without cranking it up but I still want a great Fender distortion tone so I need recommendations for a pedal that'll distort but color the tone as less as possible.

thanx, boys.
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

Fulltone OCD
Keeley Modded B2D Bluesdriver

Both are extreemly transparent and allow the amps voice to shine through.
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

+1 for both of those pedals, theyre the best.
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

Seymour Duncan Twin tube?
Link

Electro Harmonix Hot tubes?
Link

I saw those last night in my searchings and might be something that could work
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

btw, what do you guys think a Tubescreamer would be like with a Fender Super Reverb? I heard it gives a nice warmer sound to the overdrive...would it alter too much from the Fender tone?
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

www.miaudio.com

Crunch Box for very heavy stuff (but more Marshall like)..Blue Boy or Blues Pro for, well the name says it, less heavy stuff.

They don´t color the tone and that said Scott Henderson too (in general MI Audio pedals)
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

Transparent? Forgive me here if I sound juvenile, but you should try the Arion Tubulator. Not because it "beats" the Keeley BD, it doesn't. But because it's $13USD from Musicians Friend and it has the TS chip. It will tell you everything you need to know for only $13. You might find it's the only pedal you needed. If not, it was $13. I bought three of them and I cascade two sometimes. It is extremely transparent, with a touch of warmth to the OD signal. It has to be transparent, or I couldn't cascade two of them. If I have one on, and I turn the second one on, you can't really tell I did anything. I mean, the overdrive increases, but what I'm saying is that one fed into the other still sounds like one pedal, like they've merged. If it wasn't transparent, then the tonal character (good or bad) would compound exponentially when one feeds the other. I've even run all three for fun, and it's the same way. And they're dead quiet, too. They will totally retain your amp's sound.

There're two kinds of transparent IMO. One is the TS9 style transparency where there's a clean signal coexisting with the "sizzle" signal. (tubulator is this way as well) There, it's easy to maintain your amp's character because the amp's character is actually still entact on a portion of the signal.

The other type is where the overdrive is actually all happening in the pedal. It doesn't mean you can't drive it more at the amp, just that the sound you hear is not a blend of clean and OD. The Keeley BD is like that, AND it retains the guitar and amp's character immensely.

But this is a good thread, because most pedals are trying to sound like something. They're trying to give you a certain sound for your money. The Twin Tube is like that. It's a great pedal, but completely wrong for your request. It has a very distinct tone and OD character, and should be purchased to compliment your amp's sound, and get sounds you aren't getting from your amp. Few pedals actually try to get out of the way, and let your gear sound like your gear.
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

I'm not sure if I'm starting to change my opinion on the tone I want. I could think of just use the Fender amp in clean and then get a Crunchbox for Marshall-esque overdrives (what other pedals would you choose for this? I'm looking for throaty growly thick tone from overdrives and I'm starting to think that these would cut it. Espeically cos Fender isn't exactly known for thickness). I'm still not sure how well the Fullltone OCD will retain my tone though, and even if the Fender's overdrive will sound good at all.
 
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Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

I have a Keeley modded Tube Screamer which I am pretty confident will be the last overdrive/distortion pedal I will ever own. It has a full range of sounds from a small power tweak to emulate an overdriven tube amp to a full on distortion sound.

I have owned a lot of Boss pedals and a few of the later model Tube Screamers, but nothing even comes close to the sound out of my Keeley pedal.

Here is the one I have: http://robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=5


britishgeetah said:
I'm not sure if I'm starting to change my opinion on the tone I want. I could think of just use the Fender amp in clean and then get a Crunchbox for Marshall-esque overdrives (what other pedals would you choose for this? I'm looking for throaty growly thick tone from overdrives and I'm starting to think that these would cut it. Espeically cos Fender isn't exactly known for thickness). I'm still not sure how well the Fullltone OCD will retain my tone though, and even if the Fender's overdrive will sound good at all.
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

you can disagree with me if you like but i think a tube screamer is anything but transparent. a klon is much closer and the clean setting on the king of tone is pretty transparent too
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

jeremy said:
you can disagree with me if you like but i think a tube screamer is anything but transparent. a klon is much closer and the clean setting on the king of tone is pretty transparent too
Click to expand...


I agree . . . the tubescreamer is a very mid rangy pedal that cuts your bass . . . If you want somthing very transparent, try hitting your preamp with a strong boost . . . then the distortion you get is the sound of your amp . . .
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

How about the duncan pickup booster pedal? Isn't that good as a colorless overdrive pedal.
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

britishgeetah said:
I'm not sure if I'm starting to change my opinion on the tone I want. I could think of just use the Fender amp in clean and then get a Crunchbox for Marshall-esque overdrives (what other pedals would you choose for this? I'm looking for throaty growly thick tone from overdrives and I'm starting to think that these would cut it. Espeically cos Fender isn't exactly known for thickness). I'm still not sure how well the Fullltone OCD will retain my tone though, and even if the Fender's overdrive will sound good at all.
Click to expand...

Well, I have tried a million pedals for this from the cheap to very, very expensive. It would have been far cheaper for me to have just bought a Marshall to go with the Fender amp and an A/B box for me. I would guess the same is true for a lot of the folks here, and on every other guitar board. Eventually all arrive at what works for them personally, and these tend to be somewhat unique to the individual. Everyobody has a different Marshall tone in their head. Here are my choices ...

I hear a tone like you describe as the same tone I look for from here. Throughgood, AC/DC growl and grit but with a smooth top. Most like to lest for this for me (in a pedal) ...

Obviously - JMP-1 into the effects loop of a Fender wouldbe a start

1.) Silver Dragon channel 1 (semi-tube pedal)
2.) Gov'2 or Jackhammer (in OD mode)
3.) Several of the custom folks' Plexi/British/Marshall Pedal (most tend to be either too fixzzy or fuzzy or sound muted to me)
4.) Tonebone Classic or Hot British (semi-tube; seems muted to me)
5.) Duncan Twin Tube (A bit too smooth for this vibe to me; but I wanted one pedal to do a lot of things this is it)

Other are going to be just as sure they have an answer for this as well, but will hate what I said (some might not). They are right. It is a very indivdual thing. You will also have to deal with the flavor of the month thing here. This being that there is a hot pedal or 2 the at are the end all for about a month to 6 months before the next end all arrives.
 
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Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

I agree completely. If you're going to shift positions, and now you might want something contrasting to the Fender's sound, then it becomes the neverending "what's the best OD pedal" thread, and will include the Twin Tube with all the rest.

That's why I was saying for 13 bucks you can kick it off with a TS based booster, and it will teach you all you want to know. It'll show you how the Fender's preamp responds to a clean boost (because it does that well, too) and a gritty TS boost as well. You might find you'd rather have a "sound in a box" pedal. The tubulator is not the "best" at anything, but for 13 bucks if you don't keep it forever, it will at least clearly define for you what you do want.
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

BOSS SD-1, i guarantee you will be able to achieve the sound
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

There are a lot of good responses .....I'm not going to recommend a pedal......How about a power attenuator and use your volume knob for the most transparent tone? It would color the tone the least.
 
Re: Recommend Colorless Distortion/overdrive pedals, kthxbai

i just watched a dvd of me playing a show and the tone was KILLER until i stepped on the pedal.
 
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