I feel like distortion is the one effect where you really need one of each type. I thought I was just a fuzz and overdrive guy before I had to use a distortion in a track I'm making. Each have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all are delicious (especially with stacking).
The Boss OD-200 has 10 DSP distortion pedals and it sounds fantastic. I mostly use the Klon, the Tube Screamer and the Blues Driver. You can use one or two distortion pedals at a time, either in series or parallel. The 3 band EQ is very powerful and effective. The pedal has an excellent built in noise gate. And unlike some of the original analog pedals this unit has very low hiss and hum, below threshold of perception.
If you are starting out I would recommend not spending too much on each pedal so that you can get one of each fuzz, overdrive and distortion. The ones I have had which are a great place to start are- Fuzz , the Electro Harmonix Big Muff ( the “pi” or any of the variants),Overdrive, the tc mojo mojo or the EHX soul food, Distortion, the Boss DS1( industry standard for many years and cheap as chips!) .Once you have trained your ears and worked out the kind of thing you’re interested in then maybe look at the more tweakable higher end options. Also I have found that the cost of a pedal has very little relation to how long it stays a favourite, I won’t mention the expensive ones which now stay in the drawer, but for example my Boss digital delay ( mid priced option )has been a firm favourite for over 30 years! Good luck with your journey and best wishes from the UK
Tumus by wampler...great pedal. stays clean and ballsy when volume on guitar is turned down. great for switching from rhythm to lead without much fussing around with pedal settings...thanks again Bill..great vids sir!
My favorite distortion is the ProCo Rat. Very versatile pedal that does a great variety of distortion sounds and still has this very unique character. Can do anything from light crinch to almost fuzz-like tones. Love it. My favorite overdrive is one that I built myself, based on a schematic of the DOD 250, but with some modifications. I've put two such circuits in one enclosure so that they can be stacked, and that too leads to a great variety of tones, but with a different character than the Rat. My favorite fuzz is something in the vein of the fOXX Tone Machine - I've been using a Danelectro French Toast and a MXR La Machine, but I'm not using this very much in my ambient music.
Joyo UZI is a great affordable pedal, i stack mine with a ep boost in front. Its great for 80s hard rock and into metal. just my 2p worth! Love the channel dude
I like to have one of each. A flexible overdrive to do anything from transparent overdrive to dirty amp pusher, a crunchy distortion that really brings the heat, and a chameleonic fuzz that does everything from Gilmour-esque velvety smooth singing fuzz, to Jack White style utter insanity. This allows for a very nice, versatile range of dirt that can get you a wide variety of sounds by combining them, even without having to fiddle too much with the knobs while playing. For this, these are my current pedals that I can wholeheartedly recommend: - Overdrive: EHX English Muff'n. I'll admit, I have modified this one a bit by changing the tubes, but even though it's marketed as a Muff, this not so little fella can give a clean guitar just a lil' push or get into true dirt territory. Plus it's got a 3-band EQ built in, so you get to shape your tone a bit, or leave it completely neutral. - Distortion: DOD Boneshaker. This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely mine. A roaring beast in a box, also with a 3-band EQ, and enough crunch to bring down a building. Works great with baritone guitars and basses. - Fuzz: DOD Carcosa. An impressively flexible little thing, specially for the price. It can be a subtle metallic bird, whispering out of your amp, or the beast of the apocalypse, singing the song that ends the Earth.
My Source Audio Soundblox 2 Multiwave Distortion satisfies my needs very well. There are 23 different distortions plus a clean boost to choose from. The multiband selections split your input into 10 different frequency bands, then mixes them to the output. This allows you to play full on chords and actually hear the seperation of each note... no mud even at extreme settings! As a bonus it also comes with a 3 band eq and noise gate. You also have the choice of buffered or true bypass. Yeah, I'm thrilled with this sturdy and versatile box.
always get a kick out of when you make reference to the fact that 'you can't play like Allan Holdsworth' but strive to capture his tone.... that would put you into about a 99.999999999999% of the population my friend...Mr Holdsworth was truly on a planet all by himself!
I use strymon riverside and sunset. Had a tube screamer in the chain as well (maxon 808) but took it out as its redundant.. the riverside is like a quartet of 12 ax 7 tubes with fine tuning. The sunset is pretty much 6 pedals in one. Including a tube screamer. Stacked they have all the gain ill ever need. Great pedals but took a LONG time to pay for. Thats the rub.
I eventually settled with a Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal. Tried quite a few known and unknown models, but kept coming back to that very specific, sizzly gate sound. Most of my stuff is recorded direct at line level without amp/cam sim, so I wanted something that sounds monstrous no matter what I put through it. It'll likely never leave my board! Until they decide to make a stereo version, that is (which is unlikely, but I can still hope).
Cool tip about the EHX Cockfight, there's a small switch inside that allows you to turn the wah effect off and use the fuzz by itself. This made the pedal MUCH more useful to me, because I really like the fuzz but don't care too much for the wah.
The ones I use all the time are the Jet City Afterburner Dual-Stage Overdrive & the Shockwave Distortion. I dig these for the mid-range.I also use a Behringer SF300 Fuzz, which I like for the versatility, a Joyo Extreme for it's upper mid-range, and if I drive them 2 other Joyo Pedals, the American Sound & the AC Tone, which sound like a amplifier overdrive. VERY happy with them all, and all less then $100.
I've got an EHX English Muffn (twin valve), EHX Crayon (great for colouring). EHX Soul Food, TC Electronics Dark Matter, ProCo Rat 2 and a Jojo Voodoo Octave (great low cost fuzz with octave).
For fuzz I favour TC electronic rusty fuzz, for overdrives i have an embarrassment of riches but lately top 3 are the mojomojo which I can't praise enough, a klon clone and my ancient danelectro coolcat1 (the Timmy clone). I tend to avoid distortions and stack overdrives instead. I do own a metal zone but I use it as an EQ! Great vids keep em coming!
I like the Radial Tonebone Plexitube distortion and the Radial Tonebone Hot British Distortion. I'm a huge fan of Daryl Stuermer as ya may know. He the one guy I try to emulate. Those pedals are staples in his rig. Daryl also has used the Radial Texas Bones Dual Overdrive. I have that one too and I love it. I also have the Fulltone Soul Bender. Daryl Stuermer also has a history with that one. I have the Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion, used by my other favorite guitarist Michael Landau. Great blues tones from the SD-9. I also just got the Wampler Clarksdale Overdrive. Great tonal range. Very versatile. Great fer blues and ambience in my opinion.
I am a huge fan of "amp in a box" pedals, because I love the flexibility of having a compact, pedalboard-mounted rig that plugs directly into the speaker cab. In fact, I don't even use a traditional amplifier at all. Everything is pedalboard-mounted. Plus, if I know the venue has a competent sound guy, I don't even need the cab at all. All I need to do is plug the pedalboard directly into the PA, and I am good to go. So, to that end, my favourite "amp in a box" is the Effectrode Blackbird. * The clean channel is a Fender Blackface. The distortion channel is a Dumble. * Each channel has it’s own dedicated Bass, Mid and Treble controls, just like a traditional amplifier. * Instead of being solid-state, it has actual tubes. For that matter, it has three tubes, instead of the typical one tube you see in other tube pedals. * Even though I use 12ax7 tubes, it is capable of running any 12a tube. For that matter, 12a tubes are easy to find, whereas other tube pedals use tubes I never heard of. * The Blackbird has a direct-out, and that direct-out has a 600Ω buffer, and is a Class AB transistor. * I bought my Blackbird from the builder, so I paid $200. Now, the only way to find a Blackbird is the used market at over $500. * It is named after the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Better yet, I also have the Spaceman Mercury IV, and the Matthews Effects Astronomer, so I have a NASA-theme going on. And since I mentioned the Spaceman Mercury IV, that is my favourite overdrive. * It is marketed as a harmonics booster, and it does a spectacular job of that. It even has switches to precisely boost treble, high mids, low mids, bass, or any combination of them. * However, the gain knob can also be used as an overdrive. The sound of that into the clean channel of the Blackbird is pure beauty. Imagine a hot-rodded Fender. * I know this is vanity, but I love jewel LEDs. * Given how fast Spaceman stuff can be sold out, I needed to wait TWO YEARS for the chance to buy a Mercury IV, but it was well worth the wait. It is my always-on pedal. (Also, since I mentioned the Matthews Effects Astronomer, have you tried that? It is a shimmer reverb, so if you want ambient, this thing is amazing. It also works great for blues-rock.)
I like to use a combination of amp gain, overdrive, and fuzz for my sound. I use a Bogner Ecstacy Blue Overdrive, EQD Hoofs, and EQD Park Fuzz. I also use an MXR Ten band EQ and a Tech 21 QStrip parametric EQ running into the front end of an Orange 35RT. I did run the EQ's in the effects loop. But, I prefer the sound that I have now.
I use Friedman BE-OD as my main drive, then Lovepedal Zendrive boosted with Fulltone OCD v1.4 as a lead tone. And OCD in HP mode with the drive all the way down is the best boost for a clean single-coily sound. Pretty happy with it.
For distortion, I use the GOO from ToneConcepts (it’s their Nels Cline signature model). It produces rich, creamy sounds perfect for Frippertronics. (In fact, I learnt from the folks at TC that one of the sound samples they got from Cline to emulate was Fripp’s solo on Evening Star). For overdrive, I use JAM Pedals TubeDreamer.
When I do frippertronics I almost always use the EQD Hoof. Neck PU on my SG with the tone rolled all the way off into the hoof into the el cap into the ac30. *chef’s kiss.
I really wish more distortion pedals had more versatile EQ/tone control option.....when I got Boss Power Stack (part of series of Boss pedals emulating famous amps) I was pleasantly surprised that just having bass and treble control instead of one simple tone control made all the differences.
@@Sinvist Power Stack and series of other amp-like pedals from Boss (I think there was Duo Rec-emulation and Vox AC30 emulation) had bass/treble control and they were pretty affordable compared to other boutique/expensive options as well
I can tell you what I have and why I have chosen them. - MXR Super Badass Distortion, in terms of flexibility it does the job really well. Dynamic touch response is great and I do really love the tone of this pedal. - MXR/CAE Overdrive/Boost, this is the kind of pedal you mentioned in the tip "I don't use it often but when I use it...". It has a very distinctive character and it is not what you would call a smooth or gentle overdrive. I like to use it when I need nasty rhythmic riffs or driven solos - Source Audio L.A. Lady, yes I bought this one to get that kind of digital flexibility you talked about. But after a while I realized that I don't like the tone and that I could get that digital possibilities from my two trusty Eventide H9s. I rarely use this pedal. - Eventide H9, has several drive/distortion/fuzz algorithms. Mainly I use different H9's effects than drive/distortion. Even if we're talking about digital processing I do really love the tone, expecially of the fuzz, well balanced even if a bit compressed, it works greatwhen playing with a real amp.
About the Fuzz Face, I have a germanium Fuzz Face reissue (and yes it has "the sound"). Positives: Great classic fuzz sound. Additionally, turn the guitar's volume down until it cleans up and you get fantastic "fuzz face cleans" which are out of this world, a really first rate sound. Those are about all it does, but it does them very well. Negatives: It is an object from a different era and doesn't get along with other pedals, it always demands to be first, even before the tuner, and may emit random crazy loud noise if it isn't first. Its also temperature sensitive, so the sound changes at very hot and cold temperatures. It hasn't been a problem for me playing indoors, but cold, outdoor, or very hot gigs could get weird. It is my single most temperamental pedal. 7/10, sounds like Hendrix, ancient technology.
I use a Keeley-modded TS9DX ‘flexi’ tubescreamer, never needed another overdrive pedal since! Keeley doesn’t make them anymore but you can still find them secondhand on eBay occasionally, I highly recommend it if you can find one.
EQD Zap Machine. It's been my main distorted sound since release (2012?). Usually complemented by a smallsounds/bigsound Buzzz for a thicker, different voice and octave fuzz option.
Bill, in my humble opinion, in both the "power to weight ratio" and "value for money" categories, the absolute winner is the Source Audio LA Lady (or Kingmaker Fuzz / Aftershock Bass Distortion - they run the same software). In the "Option Paralysis" category, the LA Lady wins again, but that's probably a "con" rather than a "pro" for most people. ;-)
My pedals are not what often are called “distortion.” Play bass, acoustic and electric, I’m just starting electric. I moved away from digital five years ago, so I have an AM Astro Tone and a TC Mojo Mojo. Both of these work on all the instruments. The Mojo was a surprise, can add light drive to acoustic which you hear on Steven Curtis (Christian) a lot and I sought that sound, it compresses a lot too, welcome for me on acoustic. Works on bass. Has bass control and can go very subtle to strong drive, not really distortion. It’s range is a key. I guess I’d call it a line distortion sound. The Analog Man Astrotone can’t go very subtle like I’d like, but it is dynamic like a fuzz should be, front of chain, so I guess the volume knob is they key. Of course only my electric has a single coil, my bass and acoustic have active pickups, and I have yet to see how reactive they are, Have a Blues Driver W and a soul food. I play at church and right now we are not that loud, so I haven’t used these gigging sounds much yet. The more controllable Mojo Mojo is in fact the go too for that quieter setting.
I've yet to find an OD I like better than the Boss BD-2. You can easily find them used for around $60. If you dime the gain and the volume on your guitar you'll get close to fuzz. Also, I love the plain ol' Proco Rat2 and the EHX Big Muff.
Iam dying to know what Fripp used on "babies on fire" in the Brian Eno album Here comes the warm jets. Was it a fuzz? How does he get that incredible sustain? I am happy with my tc electronic dark matter distortion, but Iam looking into the rams head big muff
It's very likely he used whatever Eno had lying around in the moment, but listening back to it right now it sounds an awful lot like a Big Muff, and he did have a Guild Foxey Lady (relabeled EHX Triangle Muff) on his pedalboard. So yeah, just get a Triangle Muff and a 1959 Les Paul :D
Yes , indeed! Here's a playlist with the full song I am playing in the clip, along with the story of my 1964 Mustang: ruclips.net/p/PLseB5HzFJKVxRxz7sBA0MRcq6o_j4dwTk
I just buy them all LOL I'm fine with it though; dirt boxes are my single favorite thing. My favorites are the Boss Blues Driver (Blues is about 1/3 of what it can do) Boss HM-2 (Metal is about 1/3 of what it can do) Big Muff Pi (Smashing Pumpkins and Pink Floyd warped my mind as a child) Wampler Tumnus Deluxe (Centaur clone, great distortion sounds and fantastic hi-pass filter) The "saturation" parameter on my Strymon Deco (Why is it so good? Why does it work so well with everything else? I have no idea).
BOSS HM-2. Absolutely hands down best distortion I've ever used. Everyone says "Oh, dime it all out." Everyone that says that is just plain wrong. You can get some really, really creamy sounds out of it if you tinker with it. David Gilmour used it in the late 80s a bit. It's a damn decent pedal. Love it dearly. Overdrive, going to have to say the BOSS OD-20 twin pedal. It can do so much, and get so many sounds. It's just so useful and great. I wish I had one... Soon. Very soon. Fuzz, there's really only one. Also BOSS, the FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, a.k.a. Electric Wizard in a Box (you might be getting the impression I'm a bit of a Doom Metal fan--you'd be right). Run any or all of those into the right 'verb, delay, and the BOSS TR-2, and you're going to have a good time. You're going to like the way you sound. I guarantee it (just dated myself with that reference)!
I use a Zvex Fuzz Factory for squealy,, self-oscillating/Velcro ripping sounds and a Big Muff for sustainy Fripp stuff....i wouldn’t say no to a Ratt either..
I hate the muff circuit, as well as metal pedals HMs and all that bs. I love the rat 🐀. I’ve always liked rats I think they sound amazing. Pretty much I think I own every type of classic overdrive there is. I have two Klones, a Manticore, and a Wildwood Mjolnir. For TS I use a Keeley Red Dirt, for fuzz I use JHS Tone Bender and Cheeseball, and a MK II Fultone as a fuzz face. I have the Rat plus the JHS PAC Rat. For a blues breaker style I use the Snouse Black Box that pedal is going with me to my grave. I just sold 2 Fuzzes a Red Witch Fuzz God IV and a Fire Red Fuzz from Mad Professor. I don’t like muff circuits. Lol anyways these are the pedals that I will never part with. The most versatile is the Manticore by far you can really dial that sucker in. I use it primarily as a boost I have used it in the front of my chain and in the back. It really lets you dial in the tone. It’s a beautiful pedal. I don’t feel like it gets enough love. I think people don’t understand the pedal. I feel like they think it should do a Klon thing and it does. It does a great Klon overdrive but only if you use it as a primary overdrive. It does it’s own boost thing the best out of any overdrive/boost I have ever played. Including the holy grail. It’s like turn your amp up as loud aas you can and crank the mids and we all the way treble and bass. Then just use the Manticore to dial everything in. I’m not saying I do that but this pedal is that adjustable. That magical diode of the Klon has its own non on the manticore. I’m done talking about the Manticore. I am not deleting this post I’m not editing it I sending it full send.
The little clips in this video are not demos. They are just clips pieces that I have played with each of the pedals that I mentioned, so they are in the context of my full signal chain, which always include a volume pedal.
![How To Set Your Overdrive & Distortion Pedals [In A Band]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dfPOt7V9YR0/mqdefault.jpg)
I feel like distortion is the one effect where you really need one of each type. I thought I was just a fuzz and overdrive guy before I had to use a distortion in a track I'm making. Each have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all are delicious (especially with stacking).
The Boss OD-200 has 10 DSP distortion pedals and it sounds fantastic. I mostly use the Klon, the Tube Screamer and the Blues Driver. You can use one or two distortion pedals at a time, either in series or parallel. The 3 band EQ is very powerful and effective. The pedal has an excellent built in noise gate. And unlike some of the original analog pedals this unit has very low hiss and hum, below threshold of perception.
If you are starting out I would recommend not spending too much on each pedal so that you can get one of each fuzz, overdrive and distortion. The ones I have had which are a great place to start are- Fuzz , the Electro Harmonix Big Muff ( the “pi” or any of the variants),Overdrive, the tc mojo mojo or the EHX soul food, Distortion, the Boss DS1( industry standard for many years and cheap as chips!) .Once you have trained your ears and worked out the kind of thing you’re interested in then maybe look at the more tweakable higher end options. Also I have found that the cost of a pedal has very little relation to how long it stays a favourite, I won’t mention the expensive ones which now stay in the drawer, but for example my Boss digital delay ( mid priced option )has been a firm favourite for over 30 years! Good luck with your journey and best wishes from the UK
Glad you mentioned the Holdsworth pedal - its also great for shaping and improving the overall sound of your amp.
I just bought all of them, to be sure.
Lol
Hmm, this is very helpful 🤣
A great video Bill. You presented some excellent ideas and questions to consider. Very informative.
Tumus by wampler...great pedal. stays clean and ballsy when volume on guitar is turned down. great for switching from rhythm to lead without much fussing around with pedal settings...thanks again Bill..great vids sir!
My favorite distortion is the ProCo Rat. Very versatile pedal that does a great variety of distortion sounds and still has this very unique character. Can do anything from light crinch to almost fuzz-like tones. Love it.
My favorite overdrive is one that I built myself, based on a schematic of the DOD 250, but with some modifications. I've put two such circuits in one enclosure so that they can be stacked, and that too leads to a great variety of tones, but with a different character than the Rat.
My favorite fuzz is something in the vein of the fOXX Tone Machine - I've been using a Danelectro French Toast and a MXR La Machine, but I'm not using this very much in my ambient music.
Joyo UZI is a great affordable pedal, i stack mine with a ep boost in front. Its great for 80s hard rock and into metal. just my 2p worth! Love the channel dude
I like to have one of each. A flexible overdrive to do anything from transparent overdrive to dirty amp pusher, a crunchy distortion that really brings the heat, and a chameleonic fuzz that does everything from Gilmour-esque velvety smooth singing fuzz, to Jack White style utter insanity. This allows for a very nice, versatile range of dirt that can get you a wide variety of sounds by combining them, even without having to fiddle too much with the knobs while playing.
For this, these are my current pedals that I can wholeheartedly recommend:
- Overdrive: EHX English Muff'n. I'll admit, I have modified this one a bit by changing the tubes, but even though it's marketed as a Muff, this not so little fella can give a clean guitar just a lil' push or get into true dirt territory. Plus it's got a 3-band EQ built in, so you get to shape your tone a bit, or leave it completely neutral.
- Distortion: DOD Boneshaker. This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely mine. A roaring beast in a box, also with a 3-band EQ, and enough crunch to bring down a building. Works great with baritone guitars and basses.
- Fuzz: DOD Carcosa. An impressively flexible little thing, specially for the price. It can be a subtle metallic bird, whispering out of your amp, or the beast of the apocalypse, singing the song that ends the Earth.
Just outstanding videos. Your playing, presentation, and discussion are fantastic. Thank you.
My Source Audio Soundblox 2 Multiwave Distortion satisfies my needs very well. There are 23 different distortions plus a clean boost to choose from. The multiband selections split your input into 10 different frequency bands, then mixes them to the output. This allows you to play full on chords and actually hear the seperation of each note... no mud even at extreme settings! As a bonus it also comes with a 3 band eq and noise gate. You also have the choice of buffered or true bypass. Yeah, I'm thrilled with this sturdy and versatile box.
Good to hear!
always get a kick out of when you make reference to the fact that 'you can't play like Allan Holdsworth' but strive to capture his tone.... that would put you into about a 99.999999999999% of the population my friend...Mr Holdsworth was truly on a planet all by himself!
Oh I hear ya. Every player in my earlier guitarist world wanted to be just like Allan. :-)
As cool of a player Allan Holdsworth was, I know how difficult of a time I'd have tryna emulate him.
I use strymon riverside and sunset. Had a tube screamer in the chain as well (maxon 808) but took it out as its redundant.. the riverside is like a quartet of 12 ax 7 tubes with fine tuning. The sunset is pretty much 6 pedals in one. Including a tube screamer. Stacked they have all the gain ill ever need. Great pedals but took a LONG time to pay for. Thats the rub.
I eventually settled with a Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal. Tried quite a few known and unknown models, but kept coming back to that very specific, sizzly gate sound. Most of my stuff is recorded direct at line level without amp/cam sim, so I wanted something that sounds monstrous no matter what I put through it. It'll likely never leave my board! Until they decide to make a stereo version, that is (which is unlikely, but I can still hope).
I've paired an overdrive with an eq pedal. This way I can get any sound I want from it.
Cool tip about the EHX Cockfight, there's a small switch inside that allows you to turn the wah effect off and use the fuzz by itself.
This made the pedal MUCH more useful to me, because I really like the fuzz but don't care too much for the wah.
Great tip and thanks for sharing it!
The ones I use all the time are the Jet City Afterburner Dual-Stage Overdrive & the Shockwave Distortion. I dig these for the mid-range.I also use a Behringer SF300 Fuzz, which I like for the versatility, a Joyo Extreme for it's upper mid-range, and if I drive them 2 other Joyo Pedals, the American Sound & the AC Tone, which sound like a amplifier overdrive.
VERY happy with them all, and all less then $100.
I've got an EHX English Muffn (twin valve), EHX Crayon (great for colouring). EHX Soul Food, TC Electronics Dark Matter, ProCo Rat 2 and a Jojo Voodoo Octave (great low cost fuzz with octave).
Ooh. The Crayon. I've wanted to try that one!
@@chordsoforion It is very good, I have the Two Notes LeClean pedal and putting that in front of that with an IR (Celestion cab) is magic.
For fuzz I favour TC electronic rusty fuzz, for overdrives i have an embarrassment of riches but lately top 3 are the mojomojo which I can't praise enough, a klon clone and my ancient danelectro coolcat1 (the Timmy clone). I tend to avoid distortions and stack overdrives instead. I do own a metal zone but I use it as an EQ! Great vids keep em coming!
YES - a fellow admirer of the MojoMojo!
I like the Radial Tonebone Plexitube distortion and the Radial Tonebone Hot British Distortion. I'm a huge fan of Daryl Stuermer as ya may know. He the one guy I try to emulate. Those pedals are staples in his rig. Daryl also has used the Radial Texas Bones Dual Overdrive. I have that one too and I love it. I also have the Fulltone Soul Bender. Daryl Stuermer also has a history with that one. I have the Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion, used by my other favorite guitarist Michael Landau. Great blues tones from the SD-9. I also just got the Wampler Clarksdale Overdrive. Great tonal range. Very versatile. Great fer blues and ambience in my opinion.
Daryl is certainly no slouch and worthy of emulating. I have an old Tonebone Classic - really nice!
I am a huge fan of "amp in a box" pedals, because I love the flexibility of having a compact, pedalboard-mounted rig that plugs directly into the speaker cab. In fact, I don't even use a traditional amplifier at all. Everything is pedalboard-mounted. Plus, if I know the venue has a competent sound guy, I don't even need the cab at all. All I need to do is plug the pedalboard directly into the PA, and I am good to go. So, to that end, my favourite "amp in a box" is the Effectrode Blackbird.
* The clean channel is a Fender Blackface. The distortion channel is a Dumble.
* Each channel has it’s own dedicated Bass, Mid and Treble controls, just like a traditional amplifier.
* Instead of being solid-state, it has actual tubes. For that matter, it has three tubes, instead of the typical one tube you see in other tube pedals.
* Even though I use 12ax7 tubes, it is capable of running any 12a tube. For that matter, 12a tubes are easy to find, whereas other tube pedals use tubes I never heard of.
* The Blackbird has a direct-out, and that direct-out has a 600Ω buffer, and is a Class AB transistor.
* I bought my Blackbird from the builder, so I paid $200. Now, the only way to find a Blackbird is the used market at over $500.
* It is named after the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Better yet, I also have the Spaceman Mercury IV, and the Matthews Effects Astronomer, so I have a NASA-theme going on.
And since I mentioned the Spaceman Mercury IV, that is my favourite overdrive.
* It is marketed as a harmonics booster, and it does a spectacular job of that. It even has switches to precisely boost treble, high mids, low mids, bass, or any combination of them.
* However, the gain knob can also be used as an overdrive. The sound of that into the clean channel of the Blackbird is pure beauty. Imagine a hot-rodded Fender.
* I know this is vanity, but I love jewel LEDs.
* Given how fast Spaceman stuff can be sold out, I needed to wait TWO YEARS for the chance to buy a Mercury IV, but it was well worth the wait. It is my always-on pedal.
(Also, since I mentioned the Matthews Effects Astronomer, have you tried that? It is a shimmer reverb, so if you want ambient, this thing is amazing. It also works great for blues-rock.)
Sounds like a great grouping of pedals. In particular the Blackbird sounds really interesting. I love pedals that use real tubes!
I guarantee that grouping will change your life, and your rig.
I like to use a combination of amp gain, overdrive, and fuzz for my sound. I use a Bogner Ecstacy Blue Overdrive, EQD Hoofs, and EQD Park Fuzz. I also use an MXR Ten band EQ and a Tech 21 QStrip parametric EQ running into the front end of an Orange 35RT. I did run the EQ's in the effects loop. But, I prefer the sound that I have now.
I use Friedman BE-OD as my main drive, then Lovepedal Zendrive boosted with Fulltone OCD v1.4 as a lead tone. And OCD in HP mode with the drive all the way down is the best boost for a clean single-coily sound. Pretty happy with it.
For distortion, I use the GOO from ToneConcepts (it’s their Nels Cline signature model). It produces rich, creamy sounds perfect for Frippertronics. (In fact, I learnt from the folks at TC that one of the sound samples they got from Cline to emulate was Fripp’s solo on Evening Star). For overdrive, I use JAM Pedals TubeDreamer.
When I do frippertronics I almost always use the EQD Hoof. Neck PU on my SG with the tone rolled all the way off into the hoof into the el cap into the ac30. *chef’s kiss.
Nice!!
I really wish more distortion pedals had more versatile EQ/tone control option.....when I got Boss Power Stack (part of series of Boss pedals emulating famous amps) I was pleasantly surprised that just having bass and treble control instead of one simple tone control made all the differences.
Agreed!
Recommend MXR's "Custom Badass Modified OD" and "Super Badass Distortion". Very versatile and easy to get 2nd hand for very small money.
@@Sinvist Power Stack and series of other amp-like pedals from Boss (I think there was Duo Rec-emulation and Vox AC30 emulation) had bass/treble control and they were pretty affordable compared to other boutique/expensive options as well
I can tell you what I have and why I have chosen them.
- MXR Super Badass Distortion, in terms of flexibility it does the job really well. Dynamic touch response is great and I do really love the tone of this pedal.
- MXR/CAE Overdrive/Boost, this is the kind of pedal you mentioned in the tip "I don't use it often but when I use it...". It has a very distinctive character and it is not what you would call a smooth or gentle overdrive. I like to use it when I need nasty rhythmic riffs or driven solos
- Source Audio L.A. Lady, yes I bought this one to get that kind of digital flexibility you talked about. But after a while I realized that I don't like the tone and that I could get that digital possibilities from my two trusty Eventide H9s. I rarely use this pedal.
- Eventide H9, has several drive/distortion/fuzz algorithms. Mainly I use different H9's effects than drive/distortion. Even if we're talking about digital processing I do really love the tone, expecially of the fuzz, well balanced even if a bit compressed, it works greatwhen playing with a real amp.
I loved the sound but found it really noisy.
About the Fuzz Face, I have a germanium Fuzz Face reissue (and yes it has "the sound").
Positives: Great classic fuzz sound. Additionally, turn the guitar's volume down until it cleans up and you get fantastic "fuzz face cleans" which are out of this world, a really first rate sound. Those are about all it does, but it does them very well.
Negatives: It is an object from a different era and doesn't get along with other pedals, it always demands to be first, even before the tuner, and may emit random crazy loud noise if it isn't first. Its also temperature sensitive, so the sound changes at very hot and cold temperatures. It hasn't been a problem for me playing indoors, but cold, outdoor, or very hot gigs could get weird. It is my single most temperamental pedal.
7/10, sounds like Hendrix, ancient technology.
I use a Keeley-modded TS9DX ‘flexi’ tubescreamer, never needed another overdrive pedal since! Keeley doesn’t make them anymore but you can still find them secondhand on eBay occasionally, I highly recommend it if you can find one.
my favorite OD is my earthquaker devices Westwood, given on what i’m playing it’s usually followed by a 1981 DRV or a EQD Plumes + Black Ash
EQD Zap Machine. It's been my main distorted sound since release (2012?). Usually complemented by a smallsounds/bigsound Buzzz for a thicker, different voice and octave fuzz option.
Bill, in my humble opinion, in both the "power to weight ratio" and "value for money" categories, the absolute winner is the Source Audio LA Lady (or Kingmaker Fuzz / Aftershock Bass Distortion - they run the same software). In the "Option Paralysis" category, the LA Lady wins again, but that's probably a "con" rather than a "pro" for most people. ;-)
To me the best is the Tube Pilot since is the only one that can give me a real tube edge of break, like a tube amp.
Great info as always. What consideration should one give on the pedal choice depending on the amp, e.g. tube, solid state, or modeller?
My pedals are not what often are called “distortion.” Play bass, acoustic and electric, I’m just starting electric. I moved away from digital five years ago, so I have an AM Astro Tone and a TC Mojo Mojo. Both of these work on all the instruments. The Mojo was a surprise, can add light drive to acoustic which you hear on Steven Curtis (Christian) a lot and I sought that sound, it compresses a lot too, welcome for me on acoustic. Works on bass. Has bass control and can go very subtle to strong drive, not really distortion. It’s range is a key. I guess I’d call it a line distortion sound.
The Analog Man Astrotone can’t go very subtle like I’d like, but it is dynamic like a fuzz should be, front of chain, so I guess the volume knob is they key. Of course only my electric has a single coil, my bass and acoustic have active pickups, and I have yet to see how reactive they are, Have a Blues Driver W and a soul food. I play at church and right now we are not that loud, so I haven’t used these gigging sounds much yet. The more controllable Mojo Mojo is in fact the go too for that quieter setting.
I like the Hot Cake by Crowther Audio.
You can't beat a Boss DS-1 which costs less than £50/$50 new .. mine's beaten and bashed but still works and sounds great.
It's a classic for sure!!!
I've yet to find an OD I like better than the Boss BD-2. You can easily find them used for around $60. If you dime the gain and the volume on your guitar you'll get close to fuzz. Also, I love the plain ol' Proco Rat2 and the EHX Big Muff.
Iam dying to know what Fripp used on "babies on fire" in the Brian Eno album Here comes the warm jets. Was it a fuzz? How does he get that incredible sustain? I am happy with my tc electronic dark matter distortion, but Iam looking into the rams head big muff
It's very likely he used whatever Eno had lying around in the moment, but listening back to it right now it sounds an awful lot like a Big Muff, and he did have a Guild Foxey Lady (relabeled EHX Triangle Muff) on his pedalboard. So yeah, just get a Triangle Muff and a 1959 Les Paul :D
That Fender Mustang(?) at 3:40. Yes!
Yes , indeed! Here's a playlist with the full song I am playing in the clip, along with the story of my 1964 Mustang: ruclips.net/p/PLseB5HzFJKVxRxz7sBA0MRcq6o_j4dwTk
Chords Of Orion Thanks Bill. Keep up the good work!
A Morning Glory and a PinnacleV3 for my needs
Nice!!
Joyo Us Dream is a budget but great sounding Suhr Riot clone!
I just buy them all LOL I'm fine with it though; dirt boxes are my single favorite thing. My favorites are the
Boss Blues Driver (Blues is about 1/3 of what it can do)
Boss HM-2 (Metal is about 1/3 of what it can do)
Big Muff Pi (Smashing Pumpkins and Pink Floyd warped my mind as a child)
Wampler Tumnus Deluxe (Centaur clone, great distortion sounds and fantastic hi-pass filter)
The "saturation" parameter on my Strymon Deco (Why is it so good? Why does it work so well with everything else? I have no idea).
Ooh. I used to have a HM-2. Used it for years until one of my sons burned it out by plugging in the wrong power supply. Yeesh!
Hi, how should fuzz pedals be used with a clean or dirty amp? there is a lot of confusion around and I don't know who to believe anymore
BOSS HM-2. Absolutely hands down best distortion I've ever used. Everyone says "Oh, dime it all out." Everyone that says that is just plain wrong. You can get some really, really creamy sounds out of it if you tinker with it. David Gilmour used it in the late 80s a bit. It's a damn decent pedal. Love it dearly.
Overdrive, going to have to say the BOSS OD-20 twin pedal. It can do so much, and get so many sounds. It's just so useful and great. I wish I had one... Soon. Very soon.
Fuzz, there's really only one. Also BOSS, the FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, a.k.a. Electric Wizard in a Box (you might be getting the impression I'm a bit of a Doom Metal fan--you'd be right).
Run any or all of those into the right 'verb, delay, and the BOSS TR-2, and you're going to have a good time. You're going to like the way you sound. I guarantee it (just dated myself with that reference)!
my fav distortion is boss metalzone
I use a Zvex Fuzz Factory for squealy,, self-oscillating/Velcro ripping sounds and a Big Muff for sustainy Fripp stuff....i wouldn’t say no to a Ratt either..
Try the Barber Dirty bomb...great pedal really!!!!
What's the difference between fuzz, overdrive and distortion anyway? P.S. Bill you HAVE a fuzz face 😁😉
Overdriver , mxr ....distortion, mxr...and bass distortion 's , mxr ....boss are on delays !!!( ibanez 's on tube screamer 's .....) bonsai jhs 's !!!! And wah 's pedals....hotone ' ! Soon spent on gt1000 .and ampero 2 !Best! Super !!!!!
Nice black 12 String guitar at the beginning! What is it?
It's a Reverend Airwave. Here's a demo vid I made after I purchased it: ruclips.net/video/tu6GH9qkabY/видео.html
Smart's design 's , built for today's player's. Tomorrow's next generation
I hate the muff circuit, as well as metal pedals HMs and all that bs. I love the rat 🐀. I’ve always liked rats I think they sound amazing. Pretty much I think I own every type of classic overdrive there is. I have two Klones, a Manticore, and a Wildwood Mjolnir. For TS I use a Keeley Red Dirt, for fuzz I use JHS Tone Bender and Cheeseball, and a MK II Fultone as a fuzz face. I have the Rat plus the JHS PAC Rat. For a blues breaker style I use the Snouse Black Box that pedal is going with me to my grave. I just sold 2 Fuzzes a Red Witch Fuzz God IV and a Fire Red Fuzz from Mad Professor. I don’t like muff circuits. Lol anyways these are the pedals that I will never part with. The most versatile is the Manticore by far you can really dial that sucker in. I use it primarily as a boost I have used it in the front of my chain and in the back. It really lets you dial in the tone. It’s a beautiful pedal. I don’t feel like it gets enough love. I think people don’t understand the pedal. I feel like they think it should do a Klon thing and it does. It does a great Klon overdrive but only if you use it as a primary overdrive. It does it’s own boost thing the best out of any overdrive/boost I have ever played. Including the holy grail. It’s like turn your amp up as loud aas you can and crank the mids and we all the way treble and bass. Then just use the Manticore to dial everything in. I’m not saying I do that but this pedal is that adjustable. That magical diode of the Klon has its own non on the manticore. I’m done talking about the Manticore. I am not deleting this post I’m not editing it I sending it full send.
I think it would be better if you demonstrated without the volume pedal? It sounds like shimmer. (
The little clips in this video are not demos. They are just clips pieces that I have played with each of the pedals that I mentioned, so they are in the context of my full signal chain, which always include a volume pedal.
What about the famous RAT? :)
Oh shit this guy exactly looks like set daavos from GOT