What overdrive?

Gamera

Gamera

New member
I'm playing mostly HSS Strats into a Genz Benz El Diablo amp. The amp tends to sound a little dark. I like to boost it with an OD for some sparkle and sustain in an effort to get a classic rock/early metal tone. Currently I'm using a TS9DX "turbo" tube screamer in regular TS9 mode. It gets me close to where I want to be but it introduces a bit of a sterile, harsh tone to my ears so I'm looking for alternatives. Suggestions? The simpler the better. Boss OD? Bad Monkey? Sparkle drive?
 
Re: What overdrive?

erksin said:
You want a decent Treble Booster.
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Perfect for darker amps...

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Re: What overdrive?

I have no recent experience, but when the Turbo TS was first introduced, I found it to do exactly what you're having problems with.

The Bad Monkey is an inexpensive choice that I like. It was hard to resist buying one when I first tried it. But I already had a SD Twin Tube Classic.
 
Re: What overdrive?

T-Rex pedals can be pretty bright. They're some of the bes pedals I've ever heard, but they can be a bit expensive.
 
Re: What overdrive?

Rocktron Austin Gold, maybe not enough OD for some tastes, but it has lots of boost, and a tone that is anything but sterile and harsh. It's fairly bright, but really does the more from your amp thing well. Very juicy and fun to play.
 
Re: What overdrive?

There's been some plexi pedals around the last few years, what about one of those? They'll add some character and tone.
 
Re: What overdrive?

I was officially going to say, in this order...

(He really needs a treble booster maybe...)
Maybe the Naughty Chimp
Turbo Screamer
 
Re: What overdrive?

The only reason I mentioned the Rhino, is the 100HZ knob. Not only will it boost the low end, it will take it out as well. Plus, it has the curve knob for setting the corner frequencies. You can get the dark out of that amp with it.
 
Re: What overdrive?

Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I'll investigate some sort of treble booster. Come to think of it I have an old GE-7 EQ somewhere. I could probably try that although it's kinda noisy. The last thing I want to do is start collecting a bunch of OD pedals that are only moderately different from each other and don't really solve the problem. Thanks again.
 
Re: What overdrive?

Bad Monkey is great!

Also check out the Robert Keeley line of pedals. He has a treble booster as well as plenty of overdrive choices all very good. I am very happy with my Keeley modded SD-1.
 
Re: What overdrive?

Cheap, a bit reminiscent of a tube screamer but way better, dirtier, clearer and more powerful.....basically better on all counts:
MXR gt od/classic od
 
Re: What overdrive?

gibson175 said:
Cheap, a bit reminiscent of a tube screamer but way better, dirtier, clearer and more powerful.....basically better on all counts:
MXR gt od/classic od
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+1 or get a MXR Distortion III/ Classic Distortion. The nice thing about the Classic OD is that it has the switch to turn it to a ZW OD which scoops the mids.
 
Re: What overdrive?

Gamera said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I'll investigate some sort of treble booster. Come to think of it I have an old GE-7 EQ somewhere. I could probably try that although it's kinda noisy. The last thing I want to do is start collecting a bunch of OD pedals that are only moderately different from each other and don't really solve the problem. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

A Treble Booster is not the same thing as boosting the treble freqs with an EQ pedal - yes there is some high end slice added to your sound, but a Treble Booster is really all about upper mids and additional gain.

Your neck pickup will never sound better through that amp.
 
Re: What overdrive?

the zakk and the gt and the classic are all exactly the same pedal with different paint jobs. The zakk only differs in that the little internal toggle switch is flipped one way, switch it back and it becomes the gtod. The reverse is true of the classic and the gt.
All are killer pedals, cos they are all the same killer pedal.
 
Re: What overdrive?

I had one of those amps and it was great to me. Heavy as all get out which is why I sold it. You should be able to get a great classic rock tone from it without a pedal. What speaker are you using? the active EQ will do a great deal on one of these, and the hot classic setting along the voicing control should get you there pretty easily.
 
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