What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

mwalluk

New member
What pedals do you use in front of your high gain amp? They can be used as another distortion flavor over clean, helps add girth to an edge of break up or pushes the amp harder while on crunchy/dirty goodness?
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

Jeckyl side of jeckyl/hyde, because it's tube screamer based, it tightens up the bass, it thickens up the tone, it adds a bit of a tonal change, and it adds some sustain. It could be used to add a bit of boost, as in a volume increase. I've never had much luck with a clean boost on the high gain channel; seems to work better for me when pushing lower gain, mild OD.

Not much else seems to work for me on high gain, at least in front. I have to run delay in the effects loop, and I don't get good reuslts with chorus on high gain, even in the loop.
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

For my high gain sound I only use the TCE Nova Drive to tight up a bit my Mesa DC-5, and very little reverb. that's all.
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

MXR Classic OD on the ZW setting, Mark III Boogie lead channel, just to tighten it up a little and add some more tangy zip. I also can use the OD on R2 and it's like a nasty Marshall.
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

The best overdrive I have ever used to push an all ready overdriven, high gain amp, is the Hardwire CM-2 Overdrive. It has a TON of level on tap it just makes me gain channel to much more tight, crunchy, punchy, and driven. I've used several overdrives and this is the one I have found works the best for this purpose. It even blows away the MXR Classic OD/ZW/GT-OD for pushing a gain channel.
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

i use the BYOC tri-boost at times and i also have the EMG afterburner on my guitar but that is mainly for the 2nd channel on my 3120, the 3rd channel sounds good ala carte...
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

Any sort of Tube Screamer variant would be a good choice. For non-boutique stuff, you can't go wrong with the SD-1 IMO.

I use my Raptor (TS-based pedal I built myself - a few other guys here have one) to boost the gain of my Stiletto.
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

An MXR Classic OD set up Jake E. Lee style (volume dimed, gain all the way down). I use a H.B.E. Detox EQ to get a somewhat "clean" tone from it too, and a modded Crybaby Wah.
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

I usually use a TS based OD and tune the amp to taste first and then use the pedal to tighten up that base sound without adding noise.
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

Isnt this what Paul Gilbert Does? sounded better in a YT video with him than i thought.

Yup, exactly. That's why he had it built. Quieter than a Boss GE-7 too. There is no boost with it, just cut or unity.
 
Last edited:
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

I just use a simple tuner, boost & gate setup:

Poly Tuner>VS Route 808>ISP Decimator
 
Re: What Pedals for HIGH GAIN amps

Yup, exactly. That's why he had it built. Quieter than a Boss GE-7 too. There is no boost with it, just cut or unity.
Yep, that is a great choice if you are looking for some clean-up on a single channel amp. I use a Heavy Electronics Descend for the same effect ...
 
Back
Top