What OD/Pedal will give a "slight gain, compression, overtones" ?

[Erlend_G]

Hey guys,

Since I asked the last time for a OD pedal that would give me just a slight, noticable boost for gain/compression/overtones and maybe some overdrive;

my forum bro (which might want to be anonymous) until later atleast . Sent me a Joyo "Ultimate Drive".

thanks alot. But my problem is, that with gain at "0", as low as it goes, it's still too distorted; and doesn't do what I want it to do;

just give more "chime and compression" to the signal, with no harsh distortion clips.

.. :/

My amp only got 2 preamp tubes, therefore I'm battling this "problem", to get a more alive, warm and dynamic clean sound, right when it break into overdrive, as I push harder with the pick/fingers.

Any pedals that work in "this range"?

No worries, I've already found a christmas present for my forum bro, that I'll try to send to him .

-Erlend

 

[Top-L]

Tube Screamer or Boss SD-1.

Those are the two most important boost pedals.

 

[Hsb]

TS or DS-1 or maybe a clean boost if the Joyo is already a bit too much for him.

 

[ErikH]

Maybe a compressor or are you wanting breakup when digging in? If you are wanting to keep it clean even when playing harder in clean passages, a compressor will keep the amp from getting too hot a signal making it clip. Not all compressors are created equal.

 

[Lewguitar]

Maybe a Soul Food? It's a pretty good Klon clone and relatively inexpensive.

A real Klon or Klon KTR is, of course, better.

But for an under $100 pedal it might do the trick.

Gets at least 4 out of 5 stars in most reviews.

Maybe you can find a used one?

 

[Mincer]

Most Tube Screamer- or Klon-based overdrives do this. At 0 on the gain, it is basically a clean boost. The gain doesn't add distortion right away either, but a fattening of the EQ and slight compression before the gain starts. This is why they are so popular.

 

[St_Genesius]

Depending on what you mean by "slight gain, compression and overtones" you have several broad categories to choose from:

1) (Clean) Boost: At their most basic, these make your guitar louder, which then hits the front end of your amp harder. Your amp is then responsible for compressing, getting gainy etc. Some of them also have various types of EQ circuits built in for shaping the tone.

2) Compressor: These limit how hard your guitar can hit the front end of your amp. You can then use the makeup gain (meaning just volume here, not distortion) to make it so that all of your playing, no matter how much your right hand technique varies, hits the front end of your amp at roughly the same level. So if you like your amp gain, but want to keep a lid on how gainy it can get, this may be the way to go. A lot of the classic pedal compressors tend to clamp down on the high end of the guitar too much for my tastes, but there are TON of variations out there that address this issue in various ways.

3) Old School Overdrive: the aforementioned Tubescreamer, DS-1 and their ilk. These pedals don't have a ton of dirt built into them, and a lot of players have historically removed even what little they do have, and used them essentially as boosts. Just..boosts with a very distinctive EQ curve baked in.

4) (Transparent) Overdrives: I've never loved the nomenclature, but 10-15 years ago, everyone became OBSESSED with "transparent overdrives." Basically, they're low-gain dirt pedals that are designed to impart less of their own character to the sound than their old-school counterparts. Some have a little more gain than others. Some aren't really "transparent" at all, but the term has become interchangeable with "low gain," when it comes to marketing dirt pedals.

5) Amp-in-a-box: It feels like these have fallen a little out of fashion, but they're still out there. They're pedals designed to impart the sound of a particular classic amp to whatever rig you're using. And a bunch of them are based on the AC30, which is kinda the quintessential slightly gainy, compresses, overtoney amp. So.


Between those five categories, I'd estimate that you've got roughly 1,000,000,000 pedals to choose from. Good luck.

 

[Lewguitar]

Depending on what you mean by "slight gain, compression and overtones" you have several broad categories to choose from:

1) (Clean) Boost: At their most basic, these make your guitar louder, which then hits the front end of your amp harder. Your amp is then responsible for compressing, getting gainy etc. Some of them also have various types of EQ circuits built in for shaping the tone.

2) Compressor: These limit how hard your guitar can hit the front end of your amp. You can then use the makeup gain (meaning just volume here, not distortion) to make it so that all of your playing, no matter how much your right hand technique varies, hits the front end of your amp at roughly the same level. So if you like your amp gain, but want to keep a lid on how gainy it can get, this may be the way to go. A lot of the classic pedal compressors tend to clamp down on the high end of the guitar too much for my tastes, but there are TON of variations out there that address this issue in various ways.

3) Old School Overdrive: the aforementioned Tubescreamer, DS-1 and their ilk. These pedals don't have a ton of dirt built into them, and a lot of players have historically removed even what little they do have, and used them essentially as boosts. Just..boosts with a very distinctive EQ curve baked in.

4) (Transparent) Overdrives: I've never loved the nomenclature, but 10-15 years ago, everyone became OBSESSED with "transparent overdrives." Basically, they're low-gain dirt pedals that are designed to impart less of their own character to the sound than their old-school counterparts. Some have a little more gain than others. Some aren't really "transparent" at all, but the term has become interchangeable with "low gain," when it comes to marketing dirt pedals.

5) Amp-in-a-box: It feels like these have fallen a little out of fashion, but they're still out there. They're pedals designed to impart the sound of a particular classic amp to whatever rig you're using. And a bunch of them are based on the AC30, which is kinda the quintessential slightly gainy, compresses, overtoney amp. So.


Between those five categories, I'd estimate that you've got roughly 1,000,000,000 pedals to choose from. Good luck.

Bill Finnigan says he invented the Klon to make a Stratocaster sound like a Les Paul.

I have a Klon KTR Bill made and to me it's the best transparent overdrive I've ever used and a much better clean boost than a Tubescreamer.

It doesn't get those SRV tones the way a Tubescreamer does, but it doesn't seem that's what Erland is looking for.

Really, based on his previous posts, it seems he just doesn't like his amp.

Don't know that any pedal is going to cure that.

 

[St_Genesius]

Wait 'til you see what he says about his guitar.

Really, based on his previous posts, it seems he just doesn't like his amp.

No, but he's not actually gonna buy anything anyway, so it's all theoretical.

Don't know that any pedal is going to cure that.

 

[ehdwuld]

I have the Joyo mentioned
if you turn down the guitar volume
as well as the gain knob on the Ultimate Drive
It cleans up
At least mine does

 

[Securb]

I think you are asking for a lot of one pedal to do well and correctly.

 

[Condemned soul]

Don't remember seeing the MXR Timmy mentioned on the board?

This isn't the cheapest pedal, however, it might handle the above duties.

As for the original, I've never used it so I can't give a comparison between between the two.

Usually I run an eq pedal with my Orange amp and decided to try a booster of some type. There are several similar type pedals on the market - TC Electronics, Earhquaker, Mooer, and probably more. The local store just got a couple of these and I thought it would be worth a try.

This pedal will keep the bass tight and help fill out/ control the high end.
Also, It stacks well with my drive pedals - FD2 and DLS.

The pedal goes from very slight compression to a little bit of compression and light drive.

Might be worth your while to check out.


https://www.jimdunlop.com/mxr-timmy-overdrive/

 

[Cynical]

I have a Klon KTR Bill made and to me it's the best transparent overdrive I've ever used and a much better clean boost than a Tubescreamer.

Meanwhile, I think the Klone I played through is the worst pedal I've ever encountered for boosting a distorted amp that's widely touted for that purpose. Its EQ pushes all of the exact wrong frequencies for a distorted amp, leaving you with a sound that's both muddy and shrill at the same time. It's awful.

@OP -- what you're looking for is an EQ pedal that can boost, not an overdrive. Try a Boss GE-7 or an MXR 10-band if you want to do this on the cheap, or, if you want to shell out for a pedal that does basically the same thing but with a really cool workflow, try the VFE Standout, Pinball, or Focus.

 

[St_Genesius]

There are so effing many options, you could even do both: the J. Rockett Melody!

@OP -- w hat you're looking for is an EQ pedal that can boost, not an overdrive.

 

[chadd]

Philosopher's tone compressor, the full size version. You can add compression, add volume and add distortion (grit knob)

 

[Lewguitar]

Meanwhile, I think the Klone I played through is the worst pedal I've ever encountered for boosting a distorted amp that's widely touted for that purpose. Its EQ pushes all of the exact wrong frequencies for a distorted amp, leaving you with a sound that's both muddy and shrill at the same time. It's awful.

Cynical. I'll bet.

Among the many guitarists who use the Klon are: Jeff Beck, Mark Tremonti, John Mayer, Warren Haynes and Joe Perry.

Pretty good company.

If you get a muddy shrill tone using a Klon when those guys get a great tone playing through one, I wouldn't blame the Klon.

But just to cut you some slack, you've never played through a real Klon either.

 

[Lewguitar]

Want to hear a master guitarist playing through a Klon?


Watch how he manipulates the volume and tone controls of his Strat to get everything from clean to...hyperdrive!

 

[Cynical]

There's nothing magic about the "real" Klon vs. the Klones. Electricity doesn't care about "mojo".

The EQ curve of a Klon is bad for pushing the front-end of a distorted amp. It's got waaaaaaay more low-end than a TS (and even more than a Super Overdrive) which makes things overly muddy, an outright obscene amount of treble (and a tone knob that works on waaaaaay too wide of a range, so cutting it also cuts out the entire midrange, which is absurd), and a much higher mid-peak than most OD pedals (over 1000Hz, vs roughly 700Hz for a Tube Screamer) -- all of this makes it really bad for pushing a heavily distorted amp (putting lots of high and low frequencies into a distorted pre-amp leads to lots of boom, mud, and ice pick no matter how you dial in your EQ to compensate). It's great for putting it in front of a clean amp and letting the pedal be your sound (whereas a TS can make your tone unnaturally nasal if you do this), but awful for boosting a distorted amp.

 

[Lewguitar]

There's nothing magic about the "real" Klon vs. the Klones. Electricity doesn't care about "mojo".

The EQ curve of a Klon is bad for pushing the front-end of a distorted amp. It's got waaaaaaay more low-end than a TS (and even more than a Super Overdrive) which makes things overly muddy, an outright obscene amount of treble (and a tone knob that works on waaaaaay too wide of a range, so cutting it also cuts out the entire midrange, which is absurd), and a much higher mid-peak than most OD pedals (over 1000Hz, vs roughly 700Hz for a Tube Screamer) -- all of this makes it really bad for pushing a heavily distorted amp (putting lots of high and low frequencies into a distorted pre-amp leads to lots of boom, mud, and ice pick no matter how you dial in your EQ to compensate). It's great for putting it in front of a clean amp and letting the pedal be your sound (whereas a TS can make your tone unnaturally nasal if you do this), but awful for boosting a distorted amp.

Didn't mention "mojo" but I did mention that you've never played through a real Klon.

 

[Cynical]

Klon vs. Klone doesn't make any difference; if the circuit is the same, the pedals will do the same thing to the signal hitting the amp. You might have an argument here if we were talking using the pedal primarily for its clipping instead of as a boost (since the guy who built the original Klon hand-picked the clipping diodes because it's a part with so much variance, which I doubt most Klone manufacturers do), but as a clean boost, that won't matter.