Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

I hope I can find a place to test it here... I don't mind buying online but I really want to get myself closer to the tone I'm looking for...

I actually expected more from some of the pedals listed here before testing them...

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

Don't forget to think about how you're testing a distortion pedal too . . . they'll sound completely different when you stick them in front of your amp with a bass and kick drum eating all of your lows, and the hi-hats chewing up all of your highs. All of a sudden something that sounds crappy/boxy/mid-rangy on it's own will give you just the right amount of punch to cut through.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

Don't worry about this part... I'm always looking for more mids...

I guess that the YJM pedal might be a good choice for players who really want to cut through anything. It uses high frequencies that most instruments don't have. On the other hand, there's a reason why you won't find those frequencies on most instruments...

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

No pedal have any high frequency....it is all mids!
Besides what should be reproducing those??
The mids only speakers
What you want is lower mids, no higher mids and an ineffecient headroom....
In other words a TS style pedal.
So the Ibanez and Maxon pedals are probally the way to go!

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

No pedal have any high frequency....it is all mids!

Ehmmm... what about treble boosters?

Yeah... I figured out yesterday that a TS should be the direction... I just need something that produces more gain...
Got any ideas?

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

what about treble boosters?

Those are high mids..Treblebooster is just the fancy name

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

I used to have (it was stolen) an original DOD 250 OD--this is the pedal the the YJM DOD is based on.

Now, I haven't played the YJM, but I will say that the DOD250 was one of the most amp-finnicky pedals I have ever used. It sounded GREAT through a couple of amps I tried it with--and HORRIBLE through everything else.

Sometimes when they copy or re-issue a pedal, they re-issue the faults, too. Apparently so.

Bill

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

No pedals will the same on different amps and speakers.
That is why I almost never recommends anything really, try what works for you.
A few are duds, no matter what you do, but then again some can get them to work for them.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

No pedals will the same on different amps and speakers.
That is why I almost never recommends anything really, try what works for you.
A few are duds, no matter what you do, but then again some can get them to work for them.

I think that any pedal that's in the market works for something... I guess that with high output pups and a high gain amp you would get some nice tones from the Smash Box for modern metal...

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

I do want to try a few Boss pedals but most stores only hold the DS-1 here. Not a bad pedal, but also not what I'm looking for.
BTW, compared to the SD Super Overdrive - how does the BD-2 sounds?

MF's sound clips - http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Boss-BD2-Blues-Driver-Pedal?sku=151392


They are not too bad, so it will give you a ball-park idea what it sounds like !
At least it is better than not knowing anything about the tonal range of a pedal before you buy !

Someone said the BD-2 is smoother than the SD-1 :eek13: I have both, and the SD-1 is much more smoother than the gritty tone of the BD-s, to my ears !

And the BD-s has probably 3times the vol. boost of a stock TS9 :smokin: (if not more)

 

[nebucanazza]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

I would be surprised if the BD2 were actually smoother than a SD1:laugh2:
I heard a Keeley BD2 in action, and it has plenty of treble,vintage mids and a great tone for, well, blues in general. All those muted rhythms and staccato notes will really come out, and its a good booster too.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

No matter how many OD pedals I try, I always go back to the Boss SD-1 or MXR Wylde Overdrive. I'm not using either one in my band rig at the moment but they are nice to have around for recording and experimenting.

I also like the Dallas Rangemaster circuit. I made a version of it but with a negative polarity germanium transistor. It's not just a treble booster (it really just cuts lows to make it seem like boosted treble) but a great distortion too. Those Ge transistors distort so beautifully.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

I would be surprised if the BD2 were actually smoother than a SD1:laugh2:
I heard a Keeley BD2 in action, and it has plenty of treble,vintage mids and a great tone for, well, blues in general. All those muted rhythms and staccato notes will really come out, and its a good booster too.

After I played through one of his modded BD-2s at a guitar show in his booth, it made me wish I had mine back so I could mod it like that. Great sounding pedal. I might get another one soon to play around with.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

Went pedal testing again (why start another thread when I allready have this one ).
Went past a store that sells other brands and tested the Boss distortions and overdrives they had.
BTW,
If you're searching for the definition of a nightmare - I stood in front of a wall of Marshalles and they were all solid state models.:smack:

So I've tested the pedals on two solid state amps - a Marshall Valvestate and a Roland Cube. While using two guitars: an ESP Paramount (dead tone, weird feeling Bigsby, are they using originals?) and a G&L Legacy (I loved it...).
Tested a Metal Zone - cold sounding but pretty full and not to harsh actualy.
DS-1- I liked the tone, for leads and for rhythm... beats the hell out of any other distorion I've tried last time. I liked it more today then the last time I've played it about a year ago. Then again, back then I was looking for something different (I'm so glad I'm out of the jazz business!!!)
SD-1: better the the TS-9 for rhythm playing IMO... but I'm pretty hooked on the TS-9. The guy who described it as more gritty, nailed it.
But for leads... I keep thinking about Santana, Gary Moore on Still Got The Blues and SRV.... and in a way, I'm hooked on the TS-9.
In my experience pedals go smoother with solid state amps but I think that overall, my experience with Boss is much better then the one I had with Rocktron and most of the brands I've tested.

The sad thing is that I can't bring the amp with me and compare them both. There is no store in Israel that sells Ibanez and Boss products under the same roof. Non.

The options I'm thinking of are modding an SD1 (it should be cheaper then buying a TS9), buying a TS9, buying a TS9 with a DS1- more pedals=more fun

Any thoughts?

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

Yeah...a good amp is crucial.
Most pedals will sound ok through any good amp!

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

Rid,
Is it possible that pedals sound better through solid state amps?
I don't think that a a Roland is better in any way then a Fender Blues Jr.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

Most of the time, just smaller.
Blues Jr is funny amp with some pedals!

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

No pedals will the same on different amps and speakers.
That is why I almost never recommends anything really, try what works for you.
A few are duds, no matter what you do, but then again some can get them to work for them.

I agree, and Rid has some of the best to offer there is out there right now.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

MF's sound clips - http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Boss-BD2-Blues-Driver-Pedal?sku=151392


They are not too bad, so it will give you a ball-park idea what it sounds like !
At least it is better than not knowing anything about the tonal range of a pedal before you buy !

Someone said the BD-2 is smoother than the SD-1 :eek13: I have both, and the SD-1 is much more smoother than the gritty tone of the BD-s, to my ears !

And the BD-s has probably 3times the vol. boost of a stock TS9 :smokin: (if not more)

I like the SD-1 for things. From Boss the OD-3 and BD-2 tend to be the better (form me). The OD-3 being the best of their line to me.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Went pedal testing today... a few impressions

If you are getting ready to start modifying pedals, you are into the price range where you will want to look at the higher end stuff as you will have that into them very fast anyway. The 'xotic BB is pretty smooth Santana like lead, several of the Carl Martin's may work for you, my favorite is the SD SFX-03. In that case you also get two for one really.

For me the pedals, if used for the tone and not pushing the amp, are as good as the speaker. My experience is that the more hi-fi the speaker the fizzer the pedal tone. I think, for me, the tube amps smooth them out a bit as well. But, I do not play a lot of SS past my preamp, and modelers. The Blues Jr (for me) tends to acutally be a great amp for pedals. I change out V1 to a 12AY7.