Hi Dan & Mick, Almost 2 years ago I suffered a significant concussion and whiplash injury that had a serious impact on my vision, balance, equilibrium, and damaged my pituitary function. This left me a shut-in who couldn't read or watch TV. I was left dealing with nausea, migraines, and head fog on a daily basis. I could only leave the house for short bursts before I was overwhelmed with symptoms. I could only listen to audiobooks, podcasts to stem the boredom. As my vision improved slightly I stumbled upon TPS, and found I could listen to you guys all day long. The side effect was that along the way you reignited my passion for the guitar in general and pedals in particular. I'm not yet fully recovered, but I'm finally on the right path with vision therapy, vestibular rehab, PRP injections, physio and weekly hormone injections. Just wanted to say a humble thank-you for what you do. Your joyful enthusiasm for the guitar went a long way to keep my spirits high on my long journey back to the light. Bless you, boys!
The healing power of some friendly voices and music is magical. So glad to hear you are on the mend and back on track. You have a strong spirit. Keep going! :)
There! All those viewers that think your shows are too long or “rehashing old topics” needs to be aware there are people that enjoy every minute of TPS. Thanks for your therapeutic value.
Boost into an overdrive: Blues Driver. Boost after an overdrive: Blues Driver Boost to shape tone: Blues Driver Boost to go underdrive: Blues Driver Drive: Blues Driver 5 Blues Drivers should do the trick.
You forgot splitting the signal to run 5 blues drivers in parallel. So 10 blues drivers in front of the amp and 4 in the loop and your good. Boss should copy TC an create the blues driver x14 with stereo signal path.
Now we are talking! That intro. That's my kinda tone. Love it! Got a Bad bob, Zvex SHO, Skreddy Hybrid Fuzzdriver...yeah baby. Had a SHO for 15 years. It's special because its a boost and a sonic maximizer in one effectively. It strips away the odd order harmonics with it's negative feedback loop. Cleans up your guitar tone before you bring in the gain. It's fabulous!
I'd add string gauges to that discussion. After watching Rick Beato's vid on string gauges I've changed both strings (8's) and action (lower) and I'm over-the-moon happy with the results.
Nice. Boosts are so good. I find myself using fewer ODs since I got a Power Station, because I can run my amps hotter and get most of my drive from the power tubes, but I always have at least a couple of boost pedals to shape the tone and to give me more control over the amp's drive. And a treble booster into an overdriving amp is such a great sound, especially in a live band mix.
My favourite boost is when Mick says something insightfully philosophical while ripping up and down the fretboard without even looking at the guitar. That always gives me a lift. And Dan's exclamations of joy (current #1 "Thrust me, baby!") boost my mood no end.
My favorite boost to use as an underdriver AND boost into OD: Empress Para EQ! I have mine set to attenuate different frequencies, so all the EQ is reduction, plus a -6dB input pad. Then the boost side can go wayyy over the top, giving me "on and quiet," "off and medium," "on with boost and loud." All this into a Greer Lightspeed works like magic.
The boost in the Para EQ is amazing. If you like the amp distortion already it just takes it to 11. I have mine after all other gain stages and into rhe Empress Tape Delay...which has it's own boost but not sure it is the same as in rhe Para EQ.
The Empress ParaEQ is a "secret weapon" in my opinion for all the reasons you stated above Rob. Plus, being on my board for both acoustic and electric applications it makes it easy to tame any feedback acoustics sometimes incur. A really great pedal that gets overlooked for all the other fancy stuff!
Boost into effects loop is the best. Got a Talisman with the boost at 12 ’o clock and reverb set super low/subtle, it’s become a mainstay. Makes stuff sound the way it’s “supposed to”. Doesn’t really add gain, so much as it adds “balls”. If anything, it’s un-compressing the signal and opening things up. Excited to try out some more power amp boosting ideas now.
Dan made the point, but I'll reiterate it. In a band, with say a drummer and bassist thumping along, many (most?) of the lovelier tones presented here would dissolve away. But the Beano, which didn't sound that great alone, would shine when used properly. So the context is just as important as the pedal/amp use concepts you've outlined. I think this may explain why more than a few guitarists find pedals so frustrating.
So true. But the caveat that it was all good for “bedroom noodling” was made early on. You have to train your ears when listening for “good tone” to consider the context it’s heard in. Lots of pedals seem to be produced to mimic a certain well known sound or other in isolation. Does this spur you to play the instrument (your guitar and amp) more creatively? YMMV. Interesting that many of the iconic effect pedals were effectively “misused” by guitarists who transcended their intended sound to create new musical tones. Maestro Fuzz to sound like a saxophone, anyone?
I am excited to watch this. You guys keep giving me fresh ideas of how to use my pedalboard. It's almost like looking at the board as an additional instrument, which I never used to do.
Under-driving is also really cool with other pedals that have a "master volume". Most vibe and tremolo pedals have this. So you can put them before gain and get a cleaner sound when using the effect. Thanks for a great show as always :)
My "always-on" tone is a comp & two boosts. Been using that setup for years and people called me crazy! The joke is on them now, TPS stamp of approval :D The second boost is more like "almost always-on" - it's for changing guitars/pups.
That episode could have gone on another hour. “10 ways” is such a brilliant series for so many different types of players at almost any level to learn something new or think through another approach to something they do often. Please keep these coming 🖤
what you always have to remember ( in the immortal words of a man taken much too soon) that 'Ariel, that Joey, that JOSH, heck that Jimi " He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy.
What a fabulous episode - I love stacking boosts and drives for texture and feel, and now you’ve given me even more new things to try. Thank you so much - yet again. 😁
Another gem, thank you! I've been using tip #1 for ages and have the whole time appreciated that the pedal that makes the tone bloom is the least expensive item on the board.
Another on point one. Gain stage stacking is probably the big thing I've learned from TPS. And that covers what you're putting into what. Madam. In other words, how your choice of amp can be enhanced, but also what it can't deal with.
These last two episodes have been really helpful even though you’ve done them before. The basics can be covered over and over again, especially given that there’s a seemingly endless supply of new gear. Thanks so much!
@@markedwards7721 No. They say "game". Just sounds like "gain" to you. Also, what was really the point of your comment other than to announce that you're racist and weird?
I was sad that you didn’t show all the power of the Fire Bottle at single coils. It is a game changer in tone in cleans sound in any volume range (in my opinion 😆). You guys have a such great show by the way! Keep going!
I bought my first boost thinking I would use it for solos but I always missed it when it was off, so now it's always on for me! Just sweetens everything up without changing things drastically
Yup, EP Booster is just a fantastic “make everything sound way better” pedal. I don’t think I play without it. It works on both my strat and my humbucker guitars. It’s just all around good.
I used the Super Hard On as an always on pedal for atleast 10 years. Not only does it sound wonderful, it also cleans up the whole signal path dramatically, because of its great buffer. I needed that. I ran around on large stages, while using 10 or 12 meter long cables (!!!), 'cause I didn't want to use a wireless system. I don't even remember why I bought it. I just did. I switched it on, it blew me away and I never switched it back off again.
Great show and a very timely topic - a subject matter that I’ve been struggling with even after playing guitar for many, many years. I currently get all of my gain from my pedals, using a Greer Lightspeed for medium gain and an Angry Charlie for my high gain. I wanted to add a boost so I could lift the volume of my guitar solos over the mix (without relying on a soundman). I recently added a Suhr Koko Boost Reloaded BEFORE the Lightspeed (added gain & volume) and AFTER the Angry Charlie (added volume). The G2 made this super simple! Additionally, I was able to use the pre-gain & post-gain features of the G2 to further refine those volume levels. Sounds amazing - and works perfectly! 🎸
Nice to see an Effectrode pedal on the board. Funny, just before I saw it, I was thinking that I sometimes use my Tube Vibe with the intensity turned down as a boost pedal. P.S. Much love to Phil and his lovely wife, who offer the best customer service I have come across yet. I phoned them a while ago for help and his wife answered the phone, she was so friendly and helpful.
This is probably one of the best collections of pedals and amps for a variety of budgets. I am most surprised in how subtle the differences in boost tone are, but makes absolute sense. All boost for the most part are just increasing volume all your tone shaping is before and/or after the boost. Cheers guys and thanks for the show.
Good show. I use my boost (em-drive) to lift me a bit closer to unity with my next gain stage so when I go from clean to OD it doesn't scare anyone. I find my OD pedals come alive at a certain volume. I also use a Klon clone (ryra) for my clean, cut-through-mix sound, and as a solo boost after my ODs.
Great show guys. I am putting a strat specific 5 pedal mini board together and I wanted to include the EP and the SP, and I've been going back and forth on where to put the EP in the order. I learned something new today, thanks Mick, definitely going with the EP in front of the SP, thats why I tune in every week. Top Notch.
Points 1-4 are exactly what I do (yay confirmation bias!). The first pedal in my chain is a Bad Bob, which is off most of the time. The always-on pedal is a Strymon Deco, which is highly underrated as a light boost/crunch pedal (Saturation at 1:00, Volume at just above unity, usually pointed at the "A" in Saturation). When I need a bit more overdrive, the Bad Bob at 10:00 pushes the Strymon into heavier overdrive with just a bit of volume boost. Both pedals are ahead of an always-on Bearfoot Pale Green Compressor set to light compression & output just a hair above unity.When I need a lead tone, I turn the Deco OFF. The Bad Bob into the Bearfoot bypasses the compression of the Decco and hits the amp significantly harder, the Bearfoot catching the spiky transients. It's glorious.
I just bought a Hot Rod Deluxe IV and have been struggling with it a bit. I also found it to be very spiky and had this nasally mid-range honk that couldn't be dialed out. The amp just felt sterile and lifeless. I started to roll some tubes and found a 12AT7 in V3 for the phase inverter helped tame some of the huge spikes. The mid-range honk was still present and it was still slightly too spiky for my liking. I took the back cover off and checked the bias of the power tubes. Turns out Fender just sets the bias of these amps to 60mA and ships them out. From my calculations, that was only about 40% plate dissipation. That is just way too cold for any amp. I calculated for 60%, which was about 86mA. Turned up the bias pot to that setting and the amp came to life. It sounded warmer, had better dynamics, the high-end spikes were tamed, and the nasty mid honk was gone. Literally everything I thought was wrong with it was fixed. It was like a completely different amp than it was when I first got it home. Cleans sounded lovely like a proper Fender should. I would highly recommend you guys turn that bias knob up so the tubes can work properly. It's actually a very enjoyable amp to play through now. I never understood why Fender set them up so coldly. It definitely sounds like how it was meant to sound when biased correctly.
Well that's strange: my HRD IV has way too much low-end... sounds like a bass If I want it to. No problems with the mid-range, no spiky treble.... How can we share about gear if we all have opposite experiences with the same pieces of gear? Ha, that's a topic for a new TPS episode!
Hey Rydock, you are spot on. I am a Certified Fender Amplifier Technician. When a coworker called fender and asked about this and "correcting" the bias, we were told it would void the warranty. It is however a very popular modification most make post-warranty phase. Fender says they designed it that way for a reason, and I suspect it has to do more with making it through the 90day warranty for tubes than tone. Cheers!
Even though I use a multi-fx unit, I still gain useful strategies from TPS - eg. the section about using the EP boost into the EP compressor for a better clean feel is something I will experiment with. 👍
I still love the old Catalinbread boosts that I have. The Serrano boost and the sagrado pablano stout boost can do wonders. From that "more" pedal, to pushing an amp or other gain pedal. Really like those, and they're what got Catalinbread on my radar years ago
Guys, I have to say that 2020 has thus far heard great things from TPS. I feel like you have continued to improve and refine the channel's output whilst still remaining true to why you started it all. From someone who you continue to inspire and make laugh, thanks once again.
Such an inspiring 54 minutes. I play a Roland JC40 as it is sufficiently loud for playing in a band but also portable enough to lug around on trains/underground/buses for someone who doesn't drive. However, I find with a Telecaster (MIJ Jerry Donahue 5 way switching) it can all be painfully bright - to the point I'm regularly turning down the tone nob and having amp settings for treble at 2 or 3. I think your 7th idea with compression and boost utilising FX loop will definitely be worth trying out ... yet more rearranging of the pedal board to go! Thank you again for all endless manners of ideas to play around with!
Looking forward to watching this! Incidentally, two best boosts I've ever had are the preamp in the Fulltone Tube TTE and the preamp in the Effectrode TubeVibe. Effect turned completely off. Then both function as a pure clean boost but they just have that extra magic :)
johnny bwinger Those pedals that just make everything better just for being in the signal chain are my favorite. The Solo Dallas pedal is like that, and so is the EP pre-amp (although not the Xotic EP-Booster).
Well, yet again boys you’ve completely blown my mind with subject material that, on first reading the episode title, I thought would be dull; I could not have been more wrong! Wow, that that bloody fascinating. It also managed to piece together lots of other bits of knowledge that I’ve picked up from watching your show and just kinda bring it all together 👍 Brilliant. Thank you ever so much. You guys are a real gold mine of information I’ve wanted to know for years but never known the right questions to ask or where to start to get there. Cheers guys
Great show guys! Thanks to this I found out that my tremolo pedal is also an excellent boost pedal, if I turn everything down and just have the pedal on! Need to buy another tremolo pedal now!
Thanks! Based on this video I am running a soul food like a boost (set volume 10 and drive at 1) last on my board into my hot rod deluxe which seems to help shape the feel and tame the spikes. My HRD also has a passive volume mod in the fx loop which allows this to even be possible at normal volume levels.
Best show I've seen from you guys in a while! Love boosting an amp. Best way to get more from an amp. I use a Wampler Tumnus for boosting a Carr Slant 6v and Artemus. Amazing unique tones
This channel has helped me so much, for years I’ve been trying to get my gear sounding the way I wanted it 2 but after watching this channel I couldn’t be happier with my sound. Thanks dan and mick 👍🏽
Excellent episode again fellas! Dan’s ep-mod-rev-eq OD was epic! Can Keeley put that in a box for D&M v2? I’m running a dual Hudson Broadcast on 18v, with the low gain side as an always on clean boost, and the high gain side is more of a gritty OD rather than a spitty fuzz, given the higher headroom. Would you suggest I run a boost in front of the Broadcast hot side to drive it into fuzz, or, put a fuzz (face?) into the clean boost side? Probably both, right?! Rabbit hole... 🕳🤓
One of my favorite things to do lately is to stack an Ep Booster into a Greer Lightspeed into a Tumnus, all with very little gain, but with the levels all above unity. It is sooooo touch sensitive, and gives a great feel especially when rolling off the volume knob on your guitar. Its fantastic.
Currently saving up for a Walrus Audio Parrallel Boost, it's a dual boost in one with a mid shift switch, and this video has given my some great ideas on how to use it when I get it 😁
Great episode, Lads. An approach I use I use is to always have my Origin Effects Cali 76 Deluxe on going into my Mad Professor Simble PreDriver. It provides me just enough "give" so the feel is there and the Simble gives a beautiful base tone that I can stack almost any overdrive on top and have lovely control. I love the FX loop boost idea. Gotta try that.
Very nice! Cali 76 and Simble. Wonderful! Just as a suggestion, try them the other way around with a bit of clean blend on the Cali... try it. Mick here. :0)
Hey guys, any chance of a more in depth look at the Effectrode Fire Bottle? Sounds Awesome!!!! And Dan's gain stacking without a gain pedal in sight was a revelation!!!
Got super excited to hear the Storm, which was brilliant. Also loved the Supa-Boost, which reminded me of my beloved Moog Boost with more EQ-shaping potential. The Moog is cool because you could use an expression pedal as a solo-boost for an always-on option.
Very interesting episode. Would like some more detail during VCQ if possible on Mick's trick with the comp/boost thing. Could see the knobs on both were at extremes, but not exactly which controls they were (comp, blend, volume, etc) and how they were interacting. Also, any chance you could address the comment on Fender amp biasing by Rydock below. It seems on point with an issue I'm having, but my tech knowledge is a bit lacking to fully understand. Thanks.
Being a long-time follower of TPS, most of the 10 ways were known to me - but still very enjoyable. For an 11th way - I personally use a boost in my wet-dry setup to level out the volume difference between the dry and wet amp, which has more headroom than the dry, and as such will be significantly louder when boosted by drive pedals.
I use my Deja Vibe as boost, CRANK the volume to max, vibe mode, set the intensity fairly deep and the speed low and it's the coolest boost. I think I just gave myself a new pedal idea...
I recently got an axe fx3, and I couldn’t recommend it more to people. I’ve been selling off all my pedals, and it’s so damn freeing I can’t even tell you. The time suck of wiring pedal boards and looking at pedals so often and the money suck of buying them all gone in the best $2k I’ve ever spent. Instead of fooling around with boards and looking into pedals and trying to make them sound better, I’m playing guitar. Hundreds of amps in one place, every effect you could want, all of which sounds amazing. Entire rigs switched over with the push of a button. If you’re big into pedals, cool, whatever floats your boat. But to anyone thinking about doing it, totally do it. It’s so liberating I can’t even begin to overstate how great it’s been to leave the pedal world behind. 🤘🏻🎸
That Pedal Show exactly, for some it’s pedals, and that’s awesome, and for some it isn’t. Just trying to help out my fellow guitar players who may be frustrated with the pedal routine by sharing my experience 🤘🏻🎸
Hi guys! Based on a previous recommendation on the show, I run a Beano Boost into the front of a Timmy into a clean amp. Don't know if this happens to you but is it possible that this combo does not just make the timmy clip more but actually makes the amp louder (perhaps because the timmy is really dynamic and responds to volume). Just wondering if you or any other commenters had experienced something similar. Thanks and keep it up, this content is awesome.
once more need to express my gratitude! ESPECIALLY this fantastic outlinig you did on the actual content WITH all the links in the description!!! THAT was a work in itself i quess? THAT is worth a lot!!! my warm thanks to the guy who did that! i guess you´re just a great team at TPS^^!
I've discovered the trick where I put a volume control in the effects loop of my Hot Rod Deluxe. Totally tames it down and you can blast that preamp and get some compression
Exists as a product... JHS Little Black Amp Box, or Carl's Effects Original Volume Box Guitar Amp Attenuator, or even a Donner EMO-AMP Controller Signal Converter... etc
The SP or OE Slide rig into the EP is my always on then on to varying Boosts but I love the smoothness of that through oddly enough, a Hot Rod Deluxe that I converted to a two twelve (because apparently it wasn't heavy enough) really enjoyed the show guys. I'm surprised you didn't run a pre amp through the effects loop as you have done before which sounded phenomenal CHEERS!
30:40 I use a similar trick with 'un-boosting' a overdrive, but I use a compressor. My Catalinbread DLS is set up to sound like a breaking up Marshall, but I can turn the compressor on (set below unity gain, mild compression, blend at 50%) and turn the DLS into an almost clean Marshall. The trick is that compression allows maintaining a similar 'average' volume level, but without the spikes that would push that virtual Super Lead into the dirt territory, yet still achieving what ends up sounding like valve saturation.
I learned something this weekend - don’t ever, ever, ever discount the effectiveness of compression. Like many of us I grew up playing crappy amps with zero dynamic range (or sounded terrible on the transients), so I wrote off compression as unnecessary unless you play country. I also had a Rockman briefly which is ALL compression and it sounds terrible. But I discovered something after watching this video - compression applied correctly can actually *correct* your tone. I’ve been struggling to get that “big 60’s Marshall in meltdown” sound (Cream, JHE, etc) with pedals but something was always missing. Finally stumbled on it - at that insane volume there was a LOT of compression happening which altered the character of the overdrive. You can’t replicate that at small stage volume without adding extra compression. Thanks again D & M - every time I think I know pretty much everything I need to, they prove me wrong!
Very useful episode. I'd have liked to have seen the two recent Xotic Effects boosts (Super Clean & Super Sweet), as well as the MXR Booster Mini (i.e., more mini pedals besides the EP Booster!). But I guess the principles involved are pretty much the same regardless of which boost pedal is used.
I have the D&M-Drive from Keeley. Mick, your are my solo-boost. Last in the OD-chain, sweet midrange presence. Mad Professor Forest Green Compressor -> Boss Angry Driver (Mostly using the BD) -> D&M. Then into a Walrus Defcon 4 for further tone-shaping before entrering the realm of delays and tremolo (Walrus Arp-87 and Monument). The glory of gain-stacking, indeed. Thanks for the show!
Gents - loving the "10 things..." series. Especially liked this week's vid on boosts because you used the Hot Rod Deluxe, aka the amp many of us actually have. Q1 - is there a difference between Blues Deluxe and Hot Rod Deluxe? Q2 - what makes the Hot Rod Deluxe different from, say, Deluxe Reverb or other classic Fender amount models?
Blues Deluxe and Hot Rod Deluxe. Yeah, they’re different but kinda similar when it comes to the clean channel anyway. Deluxe Reverb is an entirely different animal. We should do that show! Cheers.
My pedal for Thing 1 is the big tc electronic Spark booster. It sort of serves an an "amplifier simulator" on my pedalboard, always on. My Mesa F-50 sounds brilliant on its own, but the Spark makes it even better. I set it just a hair over unity volume, with the gain just below where it starts to overdrive with no other pedals on. My pedal for Thing 2 is a Spark mini (going into a One Control/BJFe Honey Bee Overdrive. I'm planning on swapping the Spark mini for a One Control/BJFe Granith Grey booster, because the Honey Bee has a 370 KΩ input impedance, while the Spark mini is 1 MΩ, so there's a little bit more treble lift when I kick in the Spark mini. The Granith Grey is 500 KΩ. My Thing 3 pedal is another Spark mini, right after the Honey Bee. I guess you could say my Thing 8 boost is the tc electronic BodyRez, which I originally bought for my piezo bass. Then I decided to change my bass pedalboard to a Boss pedalboard, and repurposed the BodyRez as an acoustic-electric pedal, but it also sounds massive on magnetic pickups.
Regarding boost you didn’t know you had. The Blues Driver can clean boost with the drive turned all the way down and the tone control allows for treble tuning. This is not an uncommon feature on overdrives. The Tubescremer’s frequent use as a “low/no gain mid boost” being a notable example. As a callback to last weeks show, some customized fuzz face circuits like the MXR Variac which is capable of higher than “normal” headroom can be set up for a fantastic slightly dirty boost with the fuzz set full ccw and the voltage set full cw to 15V. Photocell univibes like the Deja Vibe when set to vibrato mode with the intensity turned all the way down can add very nice warm boost; the Dunlop FET based version can boost too. The Echoplex preamp which the EP booster is based while technically a “full frequency” boost does add some subtle compression and a slight treble roll off which is a big part of what makes it so musical. The MXR Mini Boost is based on the EP Boost concept but allows for the treble to be further adjusted to suit and thus makes for a superb line driver where cable capacitance is a concern. I’d love to see someone make a full featured preamp based on the Echoplex design with treble, mid and bass controls bookended by EP circuits allowing the ability to gain stage within the pedal and throw in an effects loop just for kicks.
A boost I found that's pretty great is the Kokko booster. Got it for like 20 bucks. It has treble and bass knobs, and still boosts when the treble, bass, and level are all the way off. There's enough boost to turn my compressor into an overdrive if I blast the front end of it with the boost. Something that my OD pedals on clean boost can't do.
If you are using an ep booster, and you use an always on compressor (cali 76) in front of your overdrives, would you put it in front or behind the compressor?
Great episode gents!!! It felt like a blast from the past!! Very interesting how boost pedals can be used in so many different ways. I forget which of the ten uses it was, but the one where the boost is used to tame the dimed overdrive Pedal is something I’m going to try with my friend. He loves the Boss Metal Zone (😣, I know....) into a clean amp for his solos. But unfortunately he never uses his guitar volume to adjust the level. So my question is, if he used a boost pedal with a unity gain knob into the metal zone it would allow him to lower the volume as needed (by the rest of the band).....hahaha. It would probably make sense to have the boost pedal located closer to us so we could turn him down. I’m still trying to encourage him to use his volume knob on the guitar, but he can’t be bothered. Thanks again.
Hi guys! Adam from Sydney, Australia here. Such a great episode guys, thank you so much for showing the applications of boost pedals, extremely informative. Never really understood the fascination of using a boost early in your signal chain, but now I understand why. My pedalboard is fairly straight forward (no loop controller) A Tuner-wah-OD-dist-chorus-delay-reverb-boost. The boost (Mxr boost) at the end of my signal chain is simply there to add more overall volume for everything for solos or when I just need to stand out in certain parts of songs. By putting another type boost early in my signal as an always on boost to push my the signal along, is that something you would recommend? Maybe just after the tuner before everything else? I’m going in to a fender Bassman tweed (4 x 10) combo amp. Doing this would affect the Od and distortion. Something I’d need to experiment with I guess?
Indeed Adam. You’ll certainly notice a difference. Your OD and distortion pedals will be more saturated and compressed which can be cool. Your delays and reverbs will possibly be more overt and wet because they’re getting a hotter input. Even if it’s not always on it can be a great palette of additional textures - just gain stacking basics! Cheers!
That Pedal Show - Great thank you, definitely looking forward to experimenting with this! 😀👍 Thanks also for the prompt reply. Keep up the great work guys, awesome channel.
![How Many Overdrive Pedals Do You Need? [Pedal Order & Gain Stacking Like A Pro] - That Pedal Show](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nwbu9x8vUTw/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Dan & Mick,
Almost 2 years ago I suffered a significant concussion and whiplash injury that had a serious impact on my vision, balance, equilibrium, and damaged my pituitary function. This left me a shut-in who couldn't read or watch TV. I was left dealing with nausea, migraines, and head fog on a daily basis. I could only leave the house for short bursts before I was overwhelmed with symptoms. I could only listen to audiobooks, podcasts to stem the boredom.
As my vision improved slightly I stumbled upon TPS, and found I could listen to you guys all day long. The side effect was that along the way you reignited my passion for the guitar in general and pedals in particular.
I'm not yet fully recovered, but I'm finally on the right path with vision therapy, vestibular rehab, PRP injections, physio and weekly hormone injections.
Just wanted to say a humble thank-you for what you do. Your joyful enthusiasm for the guitar went a long way to keep my spirits high on my long journey back to the light.
Bless you, boys!
Keep rocking friend! Sorry to hear about your injuries
Wishing the best for you!!
The healing power of some friendly voices and music is magical. So glad to hear you are on the mend and back on track. You have a strong spirit. Keep going! :)
There! All those viewers that think your shows are too long or “rehashing old topics” needs to be aware there are people that enjoy every minute of TPS. Thanks for your therapeutic value.
Boost into an overdrive: Blues Driver.
Boost after an overdrive: Blues Driver
Boost to shape tone: Blues Driver
Boost to go underdrive: Blues Driver
Drive: Blues Driver
5 Blues Drivers should do the trick.
So, lets see. You like the Blues Driver then.
😂😂👍🏻
Yes, yes yes. Keep up the good work old chap.
Are you crazy? Without Blues Drivers in your effects loop and at the end of your signal chain, this just isn't gonna work ;-)
You forgot splitting the signal to run 5 blues drivers in parallel. So 10 blues drivers in front of the amp and 4 in the loop and your good. Boss should copy TC an create the blues driver x14 with stereo signal path.
I get a boost from knowing it's Friday and that there is a new TPS episode to watch. 😊
I gotta say, these last few episodes have been absolutely stellar. They have been so so useful
Now we are talking! That intro. That's my kinda tone. Love it! Got a Bad bob, Zvex SHO, Skreddy Hybrid Fuzzdriver...yeah baby. Had a SHO for 15 years. It's special because its a boost and a sonic maximizer in one effectively. It strips away the odd order harmonics with it's negative feedback loop. Cleans up your guitar tone before you bring in the gain. It's fabulous!
Have you guys ever discussed guitar action? I like hearing what different players prefer and why.
That would be an interesting show indeed!
I like mine justtt low enough to where it doesn't buzz but where it doesn't feel like I'm having to work
I'd add string gauges to that discussion. After watching Rick Beato's vid on string gauges I've changed both strings (8's) and action (lower) and I'm over-the-moon happy with the results.
I second that request
And fret size!!! (In particular how fret preferences change across guitars)
I'm a huge Strat guy myself, but boy is it nice to see the return of Dan's LP! Great work, as always!
This show is like the cold beer after a horrible day at work everytime. Much love you guys!
Likewise!
Nice. Boosts are so good. I find myself using fewer ODs since I got a Power Station, because I can run my amps hotter and get most of my drive from the power tubes, but I always have at least a couple of boost pedals to shape the tone and to give me more control over the amp's drive. And a treble booster into an overdriving amp is such a great sound, especially in a live band mix.
My favourite boost is when Mick says something insightfully philosophical while ripping up and down the fretboard without even looking at the guitar. That always gives me a lift. And Dan's exclamations of joy (current #1 "Thrust me, baby!") boost my mood no end.
Matt Gilbert imagine the “thrust me big man” boost. I need to build that, now!
@@vaughnquinlan6722 I'll buy the first one.
My favorite boost to use as an underdriver AND boost into OD: Empress Para EQ! I have mine set to attenuate different frequencies, so all the EQ is reduction, plus a -6dB input pad. Then the boost side can go wayyy over the top, giving me "on and quiet," "off and medium," "on with boost and loud." All this into a Greer Lightspeed works like magic.
The boost in the Para EQ is amazing. If you like the amp distortion already it just takes it to 11. I have mine after all other gain stages and into rhe Empress Tape Delay...which has it's own boost but not sure it is the same as in rhe Para EQ.
The Empress ParaEQ is a "secret weapon" in my opinion for all the reasons you stated above Rob. Plus, being on my board for both acoustic and electric applications it makes it easy to tame any feedback acoustics sometimes incur. A really great pedal that gets overlooked for all the other fancy stuff!
Boost into effects loop is the best. Got a Talisman with the boost at 12 ’o clock and reverb set super low/subtle, it’s become a mainstay. Makes stuff sound the way it’s “supposed to”. Doesn’t really add gain, so much as it adds “balls”. If anything, it’s un-compressing the signal and opening things up. Excited to try out some more power amp boosting ideas now.
Dan made the point, but I'll reiterate it. In a band, with say a drummer and bassist thumping along, many (most?) of the lovelier tones presented here would dissolve away. But the Beano, which didn't sound that great alone, would shine when used properly. So the context is just as important as the pedal/amp use concepts you've outlined. I think this may explain why more than a few guitarists find pedals so frustrating.
So true. But the caveat that it was all good for “bedroom noodling” was made early on. You have to train your ears when listening for “good tone” to consider the context it’s heard in. Lots of pedals seem to be produced to mimic a certain well known sound or other in isolation. Does this spur you to play the instrument (your guitar and amp) more creatively? YMMV. Interesting that many of the iconic effect pedals were effectively “misused” by guitarists who transcended their intended sound to create new musical tones. Maestro Fuzz to sound like a saxophone, anyone?
I've been finding this out lately with pedals and amps. Hoping they'll do a show on this subject.
Patrick Fitzgerald Totally agree
I am excited to watch this. You guys keep giving me fresh ideas of how to use my pedalboard. It's almost like looking at the board as an additional instrument, which I never used to do.
I’m a strat guy, but when Mick says “I’m going to switch to some humbuckers,” I know the 335 is coming and my heart rate increases. 😎
Under-driving is also really cool with other pedals that have a "master volume".
Most vibe and tremolo pedals have this. So you can put them before gain and get a cleaner sound when using the effect.
Thanks for a great show as always :)
My "always-on" tone is a comp & two boosts. Been using that setup for years and people called me crazy! The joke is on them now, TPS stamp of approval :D
The second boost is more like "almost always-on" - it's for changing guitars/pups.
That fire bottle into the blues driver..... just yea... I wish I had a blues driver again. Great sounds, love your show!!!
Thanks Matt :)
That episode could have gone on another hour. “10 ways” is such a brilliant series for so many different types of players at almost any level to learn something new or think through another approach to something they do often. Please keep these coming 🖤
Still waiting for the most 80's show you could possibly do: 10 Ways To Use Chorus Pedals With Your Rig
Featuring a TC 1210 among others.
My early 1990s sound relied heavily on using a Boss CE-3 as a Vibrato pedal (until I got a VB-2 Vibrato). Just plug into the effect output only.
what you always have to remember ( in the immortal words of a man taken much too soon) that 'Ariel, that Joey, that JOSH, heck that Jimi "
He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy.
@@gcvrsathe ce-3 vibrato sound is incredible, i use it all the time
Matt Lynn Pretty sure it's the same chip as the VB-2, just less control over it.
1 second in, Dan’s got the Les Paul out, smile on my face. That tone is my happy place. Thanks guys.
Peace!
Gretsch Jet
What a fabulous episode - I love stacking boosts and drives for texture and feel, and now you’ve given me even more new things to try. Thank you so much - yet again. 😁
Another gem, thank you! I've been using tip #1 for ages and have the whole time appreciated that the pedal that makes the tone bloom is the least expensive item on the board.
Another on point one. Gain stage stacking is probably the big thing I've learned from TPS. And that covers what you're putting into what. Madam. In other words, how your choice of amp can be enhanced, but also what it can't deal with.
These last two episodes have been really helpful even though you’ve done them before. The basics can be covered over and over again, especially given that there’s a seemingly endless supply of new gear. Thanks so much!
Boost pedals are real gain changers. You can have that for a shirt. Your welcome
Beware, this is current black slang in America, using "gain" in place of "game". I have no idea if they are cognizant of it, or just stupid.
@@markedwards7721 No. They say "game". Just sounds like "gain" to you. Also, what was really the point of your comment other than to announce that you're racist and weird?
@@markedwards7721 okay?
@@Astral_Wave this, grow up mark
*Cringe*... Nobody would buy it. They'd just wear CatalinBread or Old Blood shirts instead
I was sad that you didn’t show all the power of the Fire Bottle at single coils. It is a game changer in tone in cleans sound in any volume range (in my opinion 😆). You guys have a such great show by the way! Keep going!
I bought my first boost thinking I would use it for solos but I always missed it when it was off, so now it's always on for me! Just sweetens everything up without changing things drastically
Yup, EP Booster is just a fantastic “make everything sound way better” pedal. I don’t think I play without it. It works on both my strat and my humbucker guitars. It’s just all around good.
THNX !!!!! for the CLEAN jazzy sound !!!!!!!
Two best I've owned are Jackson Prism and Drybell Unit67 - both pedals sound excellent first in line and improve the tones and feeling of all my amps
I used the Super Hard On as an always on pedal for atleast 10 years. Not only does it sound wonderful, it also cleans up the whole signal path dramatically, because of its great buffer. I needed that. I ran around on large stages, while using 10 or 12 meter long cables (!!!), 'cause I didn't want to use a wireless system. I don't even remember why I bought it. I just did. I switched it on, it blew me away and I never switched it back off again.
Great show and a very timely topic - a subject matter that I’ve been struggling with even after playing guitar for many, many years. I currently get all of my gain from my pedals, using a Greer Lightspeed for medium gain and an Angry Charlie for my high gain. I wanted to add a boost so I could lift the volume of my guitar solos over the mix (without relying on a soundman). I recently added a Suhr Koko Boost Reloaded BEFORE the Lightspeed (added gain & volume) and AFTER the Angry Charlie (added volume). The G2 made this super simple! Additionally, I was able to use the pre-gain & post-gain features of the G2 to further refine those volume levels. Sounds amazing - and works perfectly! 🎸
Nice to see an Effectrode pedal on the board. Funny, just before I saw it, I was thinking that I sometimes use my Tube Vibe with the intensity turned down as a boost pedal.
P.S. Much love to Phil and his lovely wife, who offer the best customer service I have come across yet. I phoned them a while ago for help and his wife answered the phone, she was so friendly and helpful.
Happy to see you playing the LP again. Such an awesome guitar.
#10 gave me goosebumps via both guitars - that doesn't usually happen on two guitars, but they both sounded awesome - beautiful trick!
This is probably one of the best collections of pedals and amps for a variety of budgets. I am most surprised in how subtle the differences in boost tone are, but makes absolute sense. All boost for the most part are just increasing volume all your tone shaping is before and/or after the boost.
Cheers guys and thanks for the show.
Good show. I use my boost (em-drive) to lift me a bit closer to unity with my next gain stage so when I go from clean to OD it doesn't scare anyone. I find my OD pedals come alive at a certain volume. I also use a Klon clone (ryra) for my clean, cut-through-mix sound, and as a solo boost after my ODs.
This is the first time anybody has been able to explain boost to me. Many thanks.
Great show guys. I am putting a strat specific 5 pedal mini board together and I wanted to include the EP and the SP, and I've been going back and forth on where to put the EP in the order. I learned something new today, thanks Mick, definitely going with the EP in front of the SP, thats why I tune in every week. Top Notch.
Points 1-4 are exactly what I do (yay confirmation bias!). The first pedal in my chain is a Bad Bob, which is off most of the time. The always-on pedal is a Strymon Deco, which is highly underrated as a light boost/crunch pedal (Saturation at 1:00, Volume at just above unity, usually pointed at the "A" in Saturation). When I need a bit more overdrive, the Bad Bob at 10:00 pushes the Strymon into heavier overdrive with just a bit of volume boost. Both pedals are ahead of an always-on Bearfoot Pale Green Compressor set to light compression & output just a hair above unity.When I need a lead tone, I turn the Deco OFF. The Bad Bob into the Bearfoot bypasses the compression of the Decco and hits the amp significantly harder, the Bearfoot catching the spiky transients. It's glorious.
I have a Hot Rod Deluxe III and I get excited every time you use that amp in the show :-) Like, Yay, my Tone Gurus like my pedestrian little combo!
I just bought a Hot Rod Deluxe IV and have been struggling with it a bit. I also found it to be very spiky and had this nasally mid-range honk that couldn't be dialed out. The amp just felt sterile and lifeless. I started to roll some tubes and found a 12AT7 in V3 for the phase inverter helped tame some of the huge spikes. The mid-range honk was still present and it was still slightly too spiky for my liking. I took the back cover off and checked the bias of the power tubes. Turns out Fender just sets the bias of these amps to 60mA and ships them out. From my calculations, that was only about 40% plate dissipation. That is just way too cold for any amp. I calculated for 60%, which was about 86mA. Turned up the bias pot to that setting and the amp came to life. It sounded warmer, had better dynamics, the high-end spikes were tamed, and the nasty mid honk was gone. Literally everything I thought was wrong with it was fixed. It was like a completely different amp than it was when I first got it home. Cleans sounded lovely like a proper Fender should. I would highly recommend you guys turn that bias knob up so the tubes can work properly. It's actually a very enjoyable amp to play through now. I never understood why Fender set them up so coldly. It definitely sounds like how it was meant to sound when biased correctly.
Yep, Fender (and some other amp makers too) biases cold from the factory to extend power tube life.
Well that's strange: my HRD IV has way too much low-end... sounds like a bass If I want it to. No problems with the mid-range, no spiky treble.... How can we share about gear if we all have opposite experiences with the same pieces of gear? Ha, that's a topic for a new TPS episode!
Hey Rydock, you are spot on. I am a Certified Fender Amplifier Technician. When a coworker called fender and asked about this and "correcting" the bias, we were told it would void the warranty. It is however a very popular modification most make post-warranty phase. Fender says they designed it that way for a reason, and I suspect it has to do more with making it through the 90day warranty for tubes than tone. Cheers!
Even though I use a multi-fx unit, I still gain useful strategies from TPS - eg. the section about using the EP boost into the EP compressor for a better clean feel is something I will experiment with. 👍
Booster Fiend. TPS Lover. Thank you for turning a hideous week around so quickly.
The storm into the matchless is heavenly. Also that switchover from the hot rod to the matchless just proves how nice those amps sound.
I still love the old Catalinbread boosts that I have. The Serrano boost and the sagrado pablano stout boost can do wonders. From that "more" pedal, to pushing an amp or other gain pedal. Really like those, and they're what got Catalinbread on my radar years ago
I love the boost on the Analogman KoT? Gain into boost on that pedal is magic!
I run a boost into my SP Compressor and really like it as well. Great video today guys!
You guys need to add a “Blimey O'Riley” T-shirt to the TPS store.
mark gamache and maybe an El Gungo or jamage
And let's not forget Dan's Giddy Aunt...
Guys, I have to say that 2020 has thus far heard great things from TPS. I feel like you have continued to improve and refine the channel's output whilst still remaining true to why you started it all.
From someone who you continue to inspire and make laugh, thanks once again.
Thank you Stuart, that is a wonderful thing to hear! Always forward. :0)
Man that Blues Driver sounds so great. Even with the boost off.
Such an inspiring 54 minutes. I play a Roland JC40 as it is sufficiently loud for playing in a band but also portable enough to lug around on trains/underground/buses for someone who doesn't drive. However, I find with a Telecaster (MIJ Jerry Donahue 5 way switching) it can all be painfully bright - to the point I'm regularly turning down the tone nob and having amp settings for treble at 2 or 3. I think your 7th idea with compression and boost utilising FX loop will definitely be worth trying out ... yet more rearranging of the pedal board to go! Thank you again for all endless manners of ideas to play around with!
Looking forward to watching this! Incidentally, two best boosts I've ever had are the preamp in the Fulltone Tube TTE and the preamp in the Effectrode TubeVibe. Effect turned completely off. Then both function as a pure clean boost but they just have that extra magic :)
johnny bwinger
Those pedals that just make everything better just for being in the signal chain are my favorite. The Solo Dallas pedal is like that, and so is the EP pre-amp (although not the Xotic EP-Booster).
I would really like to know what you guys think of the Dunlop Echoplex preamp pedal and also the preamp from the Catelinbread Echorec pedal.
Well, yet again boys you’ve completely blown my mind with subject material that, on first reading the episode title, I thought would be dull; I could not have been more wrong! Wow, that that bloody fascinating. It also managed to piece together lots of other bits of knowledge that I’ve picked up from watching your show and just kinda bring it all together 👍 Brilliant. Thank you ever so much. You guys are a real gold mine of information I’ve wanted to know for years but never known the right questions to ask or where to start to get there. Cheers guys
Great show guys! Thanks to this I found out that my tremolo pedal is also an excellent boost pedal, if I turn everything down and just have the pedal on!
Need to buy another tremolo pedal now!
Thanks! Based on this video I am running a soul food like a boost (set volume 10 and drive at 1) last on my board into my hot rod deluxe which seems to help shape the feel and tame the spikes. My HRD also has a passive volume mod in the fx loop which allows this to even be possible at normal volume levels.
Best show I've seen from you guys in a while! Love boosting an amp. Best way to get more from an amp. I use a Wampler Tumnus for boosting a Carr Slant 6v and Artemus. Amazing unique tones
One of my favorite videos you have done for quite a while! Nice work guys.
This channel has helped me so much, for years I’ve been trying to get my gear sounding the way I wanted it 2 but after watching this channel I couldn’t be happier with my sound. Thanks dan and mick 👍🏽
Excellent episode again fellas! Dan’s ep-mod-rev-eq OD was epic! Can Keeley put that in a box for D&M v2? I’m running a dual Hudson Broadcast on 18v, with the low gain side as an always on clean boost, and the high gain side is more of a gritty OD rather than a spitty fuzz, given the higher headroom. Would you suggest I run a boost in front of the Broadcast hot side to drive it into fuzz, or, put a fuzz (face?) into the clean boost side? Probably both, right?! Rabbit hole... 🕳🤓
One of my favorite things to do lately is to stack an Ep Booster into a Greer Lightspeed into a Tumnus, all with very little gain, but with the levels all above unity. It is sooooo touch sensitive, and gives a great feel especially when rolling off the volume knob on your guitar. Its fantastic.
That's pretty similar to what I have and use. In the same order. My Lightspeed is on atleast 80% of the time.
@@mariodriessen9740 same here. I love the crispness and tint bit of compression it gives.
How did I miss this three years ago? Great episode!
Cheers Larson 🙏
Currently saving up for a Walrus Audio Parrallel Boost, it's a dual boost in one with a mid shift switch, and this video has given my some great ideas on how to use it when I get it 😁
18:54 - 19:30 So, Dan, remind me why you need fuzz?! An awesome overdriven sound, made epic by reverb (and the smile on you face tells all).
Great episode, Lads. An approach I use I use is to always have my Origin Effects Cali 76 Deluxe on going into my Mad Professor Simble PreDriver. It provides me just enough "give" so the feel is there and the Simble gives a beautiful base tone that I can stack almost any overdrive on top and have lovely control.
I love the FX loop boost idea. Gotta try that.
Very nice! Cali 76 and Simble. Wonderful! Just as a suggestion, try them the other way around with a bit of clean blend on the Cali... try it. Mick here. :0)
Will do! Thanks Mick!
Pedal companies: Here’s our new transparent overdrive pedal.
Me, an intellectual: *turns compressor volume up to 11*
Except no harmonic distortion, with a compressor. It's a VERY different beast. In front of something like the blues driver? watch out!
Instert stonks meme here saying "Guitar teck"
r/woooosh
Hey guys, any chance of a more in depth look at the Effectrode Fire Bottle? Sounds Awesome!!!! And Dan's gain stacking without a gain pedal in sight was a revelation!!!
Got super excited to hear the Storm, which was brilliant. Also loved the Supa-Boost, which reminded me of my beloved Moog Boost with more EQ-shaping potential. The Moog is cool because you could use an expression pedal as a solo-boost for an always-on option.
The Storm into a Marshall is really great. We should have done that really. :0)
That Pedal Show Angus would have definitely sued, no matter what you played! 😆
Very interesting episode. Would like some more detail during VCQ if possible on Mick's trick with the comp/boost thing. Could see the knobs on both were at extremes, but not exactly which controls they were (comp, blend, volume, etc) and how they were interacting. Also, any chance you could address the comment on Fender amp biasing by Rydock below. It seems on point with an issue I'm having, but my tech knowledge is a bit lacking to fully understand. Thanks.
Being a long-time follower of TPS, most of the 10 ways were known to me - but still very enjoyable. For an 11th way - I personally use a boost in my wet-dry setup to level out the volume difference between the dry and wet amp, which has more headroom than the dry, and as such will be significantly louder when boosted by drive pedals.
I use my Deja Vibe as boost, CRANK the volume to max, vibe mode, set the intensity fairly deep and the speed low and it's the coolest boost. I think I just gave myself a new pedal idea...
Ooooh nice!
I recently got an axe fx3, and I couldn’t recommend it more to people. I’ve been selling off all my pedals, and it’s so damn freeing I can’t even tell you. The time suck of wiring pedal boards and looking at pedals so often and the money suck of buying them all gone in the best $2k I’ve ever spent. Instead of fooling around with boards and looking into pedals and trying to make them sound better, I’m playing guitar. Hundreds of amps in one place, every effect you could want, all of which sounds amazing. Entire rigs switched over with the push of a button.
If you’re big into pedals, cool, whatever floats your boat. But to anyone thinking about doing it, totally do it. It’s so liberating I can’t even begin to overstate how great it’s been to leave the pedal world behind. 🤘🏻🎸
Good for you Joe, whatever works dood!
That Pedal Show exactly, for some it’s pedals, and that’s awesome, and for some it isn’t. Just trying to help out my fellow guitar players who may be frustrated with the pedal routine by sharing my experience 🤘🏻🎸
Always something new to learn! Awesome! Thanks! Cheers.
I am waiting patiently for Blue on boosters. Starting with the EP Booster is just right.
Hi guys! Based on a previous recommendation on the show, I run a Beano Boost into the front of a Timmy into a clean amp. Don't know if this happens to you but is it possible that this combo does not just make the timmy clip more but actually makes the amp louder (perhaps because the timmy is really dynamic and responds to volume). Just wondering if you or any other commenters had experienced something similar. Thanks and keep it up, this content is awesome.
Absolutely possible Andres, especially if the amp has plenty of headroom. Lovely stuff!
once more need to express my gratitude! ESPECIALLY this fantastic outlinig you did on the actual content WITH all the links in the description!!! THAT was a work in itself i quess? THAT is worth a lot!!! my warm thanks to the guy who did that! i guess you´re just a great team at TPS^^!
You’re most welcome 🙏
I've discovered the trick where I put a volume control in the effects loop of my Hot Rod Deluxe. Totally tames it down and you can blast that preamp and get some compression
Exists as a product... JHS Little Black Amp Box, or Carl's Effects Original Volume Box Guitar Amp Attenuator, or even a Donner EMO-AMP Controller Signal Converter... etc
How did you do it? Wired in or some type of pedal?
@@patrickfitzgerald2861 It's a box with a knob. Got it from a local guy, but he also sells on Reverb, I think. Search for 'bark arrestor'
I’ve been using a GE-7 in the loop section of my hotrod thanks to a wampler video, now I have some new ideas to try! Thanks guys!
The SP or OE Slide rig into the EP is my always on then on to varying Boosts but I love the smoothness of that through oddly enough, a Hot Rod Deluxe that I converted to a two twelve (because apparently it wasn't heavy enough) really enjoyed the show guys. I'm surprised you didn't run a pre amp through the effects loop as you have done before which sounded phenomenal CHEERS!
30:40 I use a similar trick with 'un-boosting' a overdrive, but I use a compressor. My Catalinbread DLS is set up to sound like a breaking up Marshall, but I can turn the compressor on (set below unity gain, mild compression, blend at 50%) and turn the DLS into an almost clean Marshall. The trick is that compression allows maintaining a similar 'average' volume level, but without the spikes that would push that virtual Super Lead into the dirt territory, yet still achieving what ends up sounding like valve saturation.
I learned something this weekend - don’t ever, ever, ever discount the effectiveness of compression. Like many of us I grew up playing crappy amps with zero dynamic range (or sounded terrible on the transients), so I wrote off compression as unnecessary unless you play country. I also had a Rockman briefly which is ALL compression and it sounds terrible.
But I discovered something after watching this video - compression applied correctly can actually *correct* your tone. I’ve been struggling to get that “big 60’s Marshall in meltdown” sound (Cream, JHE, etc) with pedals but something was always missing. Finally stumbled on it - at that insane volume there was a LOT of compression happening which altered the character of the overdrive. You can’t replicate that at small stage volume without adding extra compression.
Thanks again D & M - every time I think I know pretty much everything I need to, they prove me wrong!
Very useful episode. I'd have liked to have seen the two recent Xotic Effects boosts (Super Clean & Super Sweet), as well as the MXR Booster Mini (i.e., more mini pedals besides the EP Booster!). But I guess the principles involved are pretty much the same regardless of which boost pedal is used.
Brian Setzer is a guy who is huge on using the preamp from the RE-301 as well... plus the delay for a bit of slapback into a 6G6-b Bassman.
Veraciously epic playing Dan!!
I have the D&M-Drive from Keeley. Mick, your are my solo-boost. Last in the OD-chain, sweet midrange presence.
Mad Professor Forest Green Compressor -> Boss Angry Driver (Mostly using the BD) -> D&M. Then into a Walrus Defcon 4 for further tone-shaping before entrering the realm of delays and tremolo (Walrus Arp-87 and Monument).
The glory of gain-stacking, indeed. Thanks for the show!
Bjorn, I am humbled. Glad it works for you man!
23:29 is the same idea as using a preamp pedal into the effects loop of amp, such as the Page but with an OD. Nice one!
Gents - loving the "10 things..." series. Especially liked this week's vid on boosts because you used the Hot Rod Deluxe, aka the amp many of us actually have. Q1 - is there a difference between Blues Deluxe and Hot Rod Deluxe? Q2 - what makes the Hot Rod Deluxe different from, say, Deluxe Reverb or other classic Fender amount models?
Blues Deluxe and Hot Rod Deluxe. Yeah, they’re different but kinda similar when it comes to the clean channel anyway. Deluxe Reverb is an entirely different animal. We should do that show! Cheers.
My pedal for Thing 1 is the big tc electronic Spark booster. It sort of serves an an "amplifier simulator" on my pedalboard, always on. My Mesa F-50 sounds brilliant on its own, but the Spark makes it even better. I set it just a hair over unity volume, with the gain just below where it starts to overdrive with no other pedals on.
My pedal for Thing 2 is a Spark mini (going into a One Control/BJFe Honey Bee Overdrive. I'm planning on swapping the Spark mini for a One Control/BJFe Granith Grey booster, because the Honey Bee has a 370 KΩ input impedance, while the Spark mini is 1 MΩ, so there's a little bit more treble lift when I kick in the Spark mini. The Granith Grey is 500 KΩ.
My Thing 3 pedal is another Spark mini, right after the Honey Bee. I guess you could say my Thing 8 boost is the tc electronic BodyRez, which I originally bought for my piezo bass. Then I decided to change my bass pedalboard to a Boss pedalboard, and repurposed the BodyRez as an acoustic-electric pedal, but it also sounds massive on magnetic pickups.
You can understand my impedance issue by listening to that Z.Vex SHO, with its 5 MΩ input (I believe). Huge treble lift.
My main take from this is that I need a 7 watt bassbreaker instead of my v40 for the bedroom!
Regarding boost you didn’t know you had. The Blues Driver can clean boost with the drive turned all the way down and the tone control allows for treble tuning. This is not an uncommon feature on overdrives. The Tubescremer’s frequent use as a “low/no gain mid boost” being a notable example. As a callback to last weeks show, some customized fuzz face circuits like the MXR Variac which is capable of higher than “normal” headroom can be set up for a fantastic slightly dirty boost with the fuzz set full ccw and the voltage set full cw to 15V.
Photocell univibes like the Deja Vibe when set to vibrato mode with the intensity turned all the way down can add very nice warm boost; the Dunlop FET based version can boost too. The Echoplex preamp which the EP booster is based while technically a “full frequency” boost does add some subtle compression and a slight treble roll off which is a big part of what makes it so musical. The MXR Mini Boost is based on the EP Boost concept but allows for the treble to be further adjusted to suit and thus makes for a superb line driver where cable capacitance is a concern. I’d love to see someone make a full featured preamp based on the Echoplex design with treble, mid and bass controls bookended by EP circuits allowing the ability to gain stage within the pedal and throw in an effects loop just for kicks.
A boost I found that's pretty great is the Kokko booster. Got it for like 20 bucks. It has treble and bass knobs, and still boosts when the treble, bass, and level are all the way off. There's enough boost to turn my compressor into an overdrive if I blast the front end of it with the boost. Something that my OD pedals on clean boost can't do.
Good gravy the EP -> SP -> Clean Amp sound was fantastic. I need to give that a shot and thankfully I already have those pedals. Yay me!!
Well done Mates, excellent Episode!!! Keep on' Rockin'!
If you are using an ep booster, and you use an always on compressor (cali 76) in front of your overdrives, would you put it in front or behind the compressor?
Some absolutely rocking tones!
Great episode gents!!! It felt like a blast from the past!!
Very interesting how boost pedals can be used in so many different ways. I forget which of the ten uses it was, but the one where the boost is used to tame the dimed overdrive Pedal is something I’m going to try with my friend. He loves the Boss Metal Zone (😣, I know....) into a clean amp for his solos. But unfortunately he never uses his guitar volume to adjust the level. So my question is, if he used a boost pedal with a unity gain knob into the metal zone it would allow him to lower the volume as needed (by the rest of the band).....hahaha. It would probably make sense to have the boost pedal located closer to us so we could turn him down.
I’m still trying to encourage him to use his volume knob on the guitar, but he can’t be bothered. Thanks again.
Hi guys! Adam from Sydney, Australia here. Such a great episode guys, thank you so much for showing the applications of boost pedals, extremely informative. Never really understood the fascination of using a boost early in your signal chain, but now I understand why. My pedalboard is fairly straight forward (no loop controller) A Tuner-wah-OD-dist-chorus-delay-reverb-boost. The boost (Mxr boost) at the end of my signal chain is simply there to add more overall volume for everything for solos or when I just need to stand out in certain parts of songs. By putting another type boost early in my signal as an always on boost to push my the signal along, is that something you would recommend? Maybe just after the tuner before everything else? I’m going in to a fender Bassman tweed (4 x 10) combo amp. Doing this would affect the Od and distortion. Something I’d need to experiment with I guess?
Indeed Adam. You’ll certainly notice a difference. Your OD and distortion pedals will be more saturated and compressed which can be cool. Your delays and reverbs will possibly be more overt and wet because they’re getting a hotter input. Even if it’s not always on it can be a great palette of additional textures - just gain stacking basics! Cheers!
That Pedal Show - Great thank you, definitely looking forward to experimenting with this! 😀👍 Thanks also for the prompt reply. Keep up the great work guys, awesome channel.
It has been a great couple weeks to be a TPS fan! Y'all were playing your asses off today, excellent info as well
Ahhh I wish you included the Xotic super sweet and super clean - they are awesome! I'm even questioning the need for my KOT anymore!