# Help me guide my next overdrive choice...



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

OK, as the title sais, i wanna buy a new overdrive pedal for my, soon to be, new Fender BLues Junior. Now, last overdrive i bought was a old Boss in early 80's for my JCM800...so i'm a WEE BIT outa the loop since then..hehe.

Now..i was sujested a Maxon od-808...ok, that's an idea. but is there something else?...i'm not looking to play Metalica on this sucker, but more clean and a wee bit of tork to play some blues basicaly.

SO...any ideas?...oh..and don't wanna pay 300$ for a pedal :bow:


----------



## Guest (Sep 23, 2008)

Bummer about the price because I was going to say "get a Klon". They really are worth the wait. It's not that much more expensive than $300 if you order direct from Bill and don't go to eBay or TGP for it. :smile:

The OD-808 is...well...it's so-so. It's a tube screamer. Not much more to say about it. I don't like tube screamers run with the gain low. It's never sounded good to me. But it slices through the band like a hot knife through butter. Cascaded 808's into a compressor are a lot of fun. But I'm a Phish nut so take that with a grain of salt.

If I was shopping Maxon I'd say try the OD-820. It seems to be set up to compete directly with the Klon. And it's low gain sounds a really nice.

I think one of the great things about the Klon and its low gain settings are the multiple signal paths. You're getting different things done to the low and the high portions of your signal (I'm going from folklore here on this so bear with me if I've got it wrong...). At low gain settings you're not going to get that thin sounding bottom end out of it.

Have you heard Wampler's new Cranked AC pedal? I really liked the clips of it I heard.

It's the best of times and the worst of times be overdrive shopping. You've got a TON of choice. And you've got a TON of choice. I'd say play some, find something you like, and try not to obsess too much about what you didn't get to play. LOL.


----------



## Joey D. (Oct 16, 2006)

Personally, and this is just personal experience, I wasn't able to copp a lot of favourable tones from Blues Jr + Tube Screamer combo or any el-84 based amp....they like a different beast. I'd look for things that stray from TS circuitry or mod it unrecognizably...Menatone (Red Snapper esp.) Frantone Brooklyn (sort of like a treble booster that lifts the entire EQ but gives you some nice grit) Lovepedal COT, but my favourite pedal with el-84's is a Gas Pedal Carb http://www.gaspedals.net/carburetor.html very cool....good luck!


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

For just over $200 the Catlinbread SCOD is the best overdrive I have ever used.

It does have considerably more gain available than many overdrives but it sounds great with the gain turned down as well.

I sat with the Scott from Axe and You Will Receive for more than an hour trying many ODs from boutique to mass pro assy line models. The SCOD simply sounded the best to my ears.


----------



## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I would suggest a used Fulldrive II. A very good value + gives you two tones to mess with and if you want to try something else later you can always get your money back.

Just bear in mind that there is no single answer. I always have 4 O/Ds on my board and currently rotate between a Fulldrive, a Tim, an OCD, a BB Preamp, a Boss OD-3 and an SD-1, a Route 66, a Barber LTD, and a Rat - probably use the FD II the most though.


----------



## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

What _kind_ of dirt do you want? If you are looking for a pedal that sounds like your amp's break up, hands down the answer is a TIM. It is simply the best for getting dirt at low volumes, and it also sounds amazing if you amp is already breaking up (it's like a "more" switch).

On the other end of the spectrum, I really love old RATs. Find an early 1990s big box reissue and you are set. They do the wall of fuzzy distortion sound to a "T", but the box also offers some great low to mid OD tones as well. The RAT into the Blues JR should get you some Tweedy sounds no problem.

Both pedals are fairly inexpensive and highly recommended.

TG


----------



## ben_allison (Sep 16, 2008)

Well, give us a better idea of the gain range you're going for... maybe some bands/artists/songs as examples.


----------



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

ben_allison said:


> Well, give us a better idea of the gain range you're going for... maybe some bands/artists/songs as examples.


ok..hard to say..but going for a SRV sound..the Blues Junior as the clean i need..but when it comes to something a little more crunchy it needs help basicaly


----------



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Paul said:


> SRV = tube screamers daisy chained.


sorry for the dumb question..but what's daisy chained?


----------



## Guest (Sep 23, 2008)

Milkman said:


> For just over $200 the Catlinbread SCOD is the best overdrive I have ever used.


I forgot about the SCOD. I love that pedal. Fantastic pedal. I didn't have it in my head because he said "low gain" (at least that's what I read) and I always used the SCOD on higher settings. But low gain sounds were great. The Catalinbread SilverKiss MkI was another good low gain pedal. Glassy, bright, brittle. Did a great 60's mod rock sound.


----------



## Guest (Sep 23, 2008)

al3d said:


> sorry for the dumb question..but what's daisy chained?


I think he meant cascaded: one into the other. SRV, Trey Anastasio -- sort of famous for running two tubescreamers on top of each other. Trey adds a compressor at the end for this signing sustain thing.


----------



## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

The Jacques Overtube was designed for that exact sound and it usually goes for around $150-160 I think. 

Go here : http://www.ts808.com/ and click on the link for the Overtube and read the explanation.


----------



## ben_allison (Sep 16, 2008)

Ok. The SCOD... not for what he wants, though it is very very good. The Silverkiss MK2 would definitely be worth considering. Great, transparent, lively OD, with 3 great EQ bands.

Of course, SRV = Tubescreamer. There are thousands of variations.

A great, non-boutique solutions is the Jekyll and Hyde. The Jekyll side is reported to be one of the best TS808 clones availalbe. It now comes in it's own pedal, the Route 808.

A modded Blues Driver or SD-1 would be great.

Look at pedals from Pedalworx. Perhaps the Voodoo Labs Sparkledrive, or even a Fulldrive.


----------



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I really like my Wampler hot wired pedal. Its basically 2 overdrives in one. Channel 1 and channel 2. So I have a channel for slight breakup and the second one for higher gain. Got it from axeandyoushallreceive. Yes its $300 but its 2 pedals in one.


----------



## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Another one you'd like to try is the HBE Powerscreamer. Probably one of the most versatile tubescreamer clone around. If you are interested I might be willing to part with mine.


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

ben_allison said:


> Ok. The SCOD... not for what he wants, though it is very very good.


I would have said the same but I was using my SCOD with the gain turned way down and it really gave the clean tones a nice edge and a little "hair" without fuzzing out.

Comes down to taste I suppose


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The prospective buyer has to decide:

1) How much of the resulting tone they want to come from the pedal and how much from the amp. Sometimes clean from the pedal gets you the right kind of dirty from the amp, and sometimes the right kind of "scuffed" gets you the right kind of dirty from the amp.

2) How much tonal control they need from the pedal to deliver the right kind of dirty from the amp. That, in turn depends on what the default clean setting is and what kind of pickups you use. Sure, you can always dull the guitar at the tone control, but it is far more convenient to have the pedal do all the tonal compensation and simply step on a switch. Your hands have better things to do.

3) How much volume they need.

4) Whether they have anything that actually already does the same job. You'd be surprised how good compressors are at extracting more grind from the amp when you use them to push the amp harder.


----------



## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

al3d said:


> sorry for the dumb question..but what's daisy chained?


Guitar -> Tubescreamer -> Another Tubescreamer

Get a Fulldrive II, you won't be sorry. It's basically a tubescreamer but with a boost channel. Fantastic sounding pedal for what you're doing. 
I sold mine, and I regret it.


----------



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

devnulljp said:


> Guitar -> Tubescreamer -> Another Tubescreamer
> 
> Get a Fulldrive II, you won't be sorry. It's basically a tubescreamer but with a boost channel. Fantastic sounding pedal for what you're doing.
> I sold mine, and I regret it.


U mean this one?..
http://www.fulltone.com/FD2.asp

yeah..i keep earing good things about those


----------



## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I dont know if its possible for you to do it, but it might be good to try and borrow a Tubescreamer of some kind (any of the "clones" would do), to see if you like the sound of the amp with that type of pedal. I dont know about the Blues Junior, but some EL84 amps sound pretty nasty with a Tubescreamer. I have an Ampeg Jet which is also EL84, and sounds just horrible with a Tubescreamer. I"m currently looking around for an alternative. You might be all right with the Blues Junior though as most Fender amps sound good with one.


----------



## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

al3d said:


> U mean this one?..
> http://www.fulltone.com/FD2.asp
> 
> yeah..i keep earing good things about those


Yes, that's the one. Although mine was an older one -- pre-MOSFET. I got it from Mike Fuller fro $70 as a scratch & dent. If you catch him in a good mood, he'll ship to Canada (normally I've heard he'll just tell you to fsck off). Get an 18V power adapter too (or one of those Y-splitter cables for a PP2), you'll get more headroom and it just sounds better. More like an amp than a pedal. it's a great TS.


----------



## Joey D. (Oct 16, 2006)

As bagpipe said you've really got to take the amp, specifically the power section, into consideration. Not every pedal works to its fullest extent with every amp...My (now sold) Hot-cake sounded like mush through a marshall-y style amp but amazing through my guitarmate (el-84 like your blues jr.) and listen to mhammer, the man's an effects genius....maybe a good comp running hard will get your amp to the tone you want...a tubescreamer will compress your tone just as much but with some mid-honk that "I" (not to say you wouldnt) don't find appealing with el-84's...maybe check out a simple treble booster? 

Anyway good luck and be weary of things tagged "the best" trust your ears brother. 

:food-smiley-004:


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

You'd be surprised how much the core design elements of a lot of overdrive pedals are alike. That is not to suggest they are all ripoffs or clones - I mean, after all, Toyotas, Datsuns, Hondas, and Hyundais all have four wheels and a front-mounted engine. Rather, the original pedals have certain idiosyncrasies, and since their manufacturers never decided to add many options to the basic design, subsequent pedal-makers have taken it upon themselves to make the changes to the basic design that they felt improved the tone in certain ways.

Case in point: The original MXR Distortion+ was a utilitarian distortion pedal that used a crappy chip (to some extent deliberately), germanium diodes, and oddball pots. The original diodes and pots assured that you'd get distortion but not much output level. Swap out the 10k volume pot with a higher value unit (e.g., 50k-100k),and change the germanium diodes for silicon ones, and you get a whole lot more output. And that is pretty much what DOD did with their 250 pedal, and eventually the YGM308.

The Dist+ also deliberately rolled off the bass as the gain was increased to deliver a sharper more cutting sound at high gain. Rolling off bass isn't a stupid idea, since in 1976 the state of hum-rejecting single-coil pickups and guitar shielding was not what it is today. If you're going to apply a gain of 100 or 200 to a signal, it makes good sense to apply less gain to the 60hz content than the higher content, or else you get a loud hum when you stop playing.

Trouble is, most of the signal lives in the low range that MXR trimmed off, so not only do you lose the bass oomph when you turn the gain up, but you actually have to apply more gain in order to produce the distortion because the frequency content you're left with is wimpier than what you started out with.

That was the design decision MXR made back in 1970-whatever and they stuck with it. After Dunlop purchased the rights to the product line, they kept with a known quantity and haven't sought to change the Dist+ "brand". But IF you change the volume pot, the diodes, and eliminate that low-end rolloff, you can get some killer sounds. I know, because I've done it. If you stick in a tone control, you can get a wider variety of useful overdrive tones. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if that's what Dunlop did for some of the other more recent MXR pedals.

Likewise, many of the boutique pedals out there, including some of Fuller's, are attempts to improve upon the basic elements of the Tube Screamer, including getting more volume out of it, reducing the magnitude of the mid-hump, and getting greater variation in clipping. Ibanez gets to keep their "brand" and players get to have someone else do the mods that they either lack the chops or time to do properly.

But you'd be surprised how often something you already own can do a really bang-up job if only one changed this part or that. We're not talking magic voodoo chips here. We're talking simple theory-driven component-value changes or component additions that tailor the sound in deliberate ways. That's how Robert Keeley makes his living, but the same logic can be applied to a much broader range of pedals than he and his gang take on. It may well be that a $20 FAB Overdrive or a $10 2nd-hand Rocktek with a small change here or there becomes your go-to pedal. Obviously Keeley would be hard-pressed to get people to send $20 FAB pedals in for a $60 makeover, but if your own time is free, and you are positioned to be able to pop in somewhere and buy a 30-cent capacitor to replace one on the board, it then becomes worth your while to mod your own pedal and tailor it better to your needs.


----------



## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

mhammer said:


> You'd be surprised how much the core design elements of a lot of overdrive pedals are alike. That is not to suggest they are all ripoffs or clones - I mean, after all, Toyotas, Datsuns, Hondas, and Hyundais all have four wheels and a front-mounted engine. Rather, the original pedals have certain idiosyncrasies, and since their manufacturers never decided to add many options to the basic design, subsequent pedal-makers have taken it upon themselves to make the changes to the basic design that they felt improved the tone in certain ways.


This man be wise :food-smiley-004:

As I mentioned earlier, I rotate a bunch of different O/Ds and distortions on and off my board. They are all very much different flavours but are also similar enough that with a bit of tweaking I can be happy with any of them.

For my jam tonight I'm going with a Rat, BB Preamp, OD-3, and the Fulldrive II. Last time it was the OCD, Tim, SD-1, and Fulldrive.

Regardless of which pedals I use - or which amp I take for that matter, with 2 minutes of tweaking, and when the drums kick in - I will sound unmistakenly like "myself" .................... :frown:


----------



## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

All I can say is that my GoudieFX G-Drive (canadian made) has been the sole overdrive on my board for quite awhile now and it always delivers.


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

This is a very COOL thread.

Many thanks to all for sharing their wisdom and experience.:bow:

I am not much of a "pedal person" as I find them confusing to sort out (at least I now know that I'm not alone) and often disappointing, as I have built up high expectations as to what I hope to achieve from a tone perspective.

One of the last players I asked (re: what magic pedal he used for his tone) said "just a compressor...nothing else".

My only pedal (apart form a Verbzilla reverb pedal) is a Boss Blues Driver that I intend to mod as it "ain't got that thing".

Cheers

Dave


----------



## gibson335 (Dec 7, 2007)

I wasn't much of a pedal person until I discovered Keeley pedals. Now I always use (in this order) Guitar + BD-2 Phat Mod + Compressor 
+ TS-9 Baked Mod + Java Boost or Retroman Boost + amp. All Keeley except for the Retroman pedal, really nice old school sounds/effects...Good luck.


----------



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Thanks for all the GREATH help guys. i'm getting the amp sometime next week and will bring home a few avaialble OD's to try out..


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Bagpipe/Derek was over the other night, and borrowed an armful of boosters and overdrives to help figure out what will sound good with his EL84 amp. I loaned him an array of things that went from always-clean-no-matter-what boosters, to things that could add just a hint of grit and coloration, to things that would add noticeable coloration (but had tone control to tame it), to things that were obviously distorted on their own. Some are straight clones, some are modded, some are pure DIY originals. It will take a little while to run them through their paces, but I look forward to hearing "the lab results" once he's done.

It's a pity the average player couldn't just walk into a music store and have a what-sort-of-boost-do-you-need pedalboard available to them with 6-10 pedals in a row, ranging from superclean to explicitly distorted and try them out with amp/guitar of their choice to figure out what sounds best to them. Typically, if you see a pedalboard in a music store, it will be an assortment of pedals from a given manufacturer, rather than pedals from different manufacturers that perform a similar function.


----------



## ghiastrat (Sep 17, 2008)

Try a crowther hotcake .... works great with my El84 amp


----------



## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

allthumbs56 said:


> For my jam tonight I'm going with a Rat, BB Preamp, OD-3, and the Fulldrive II. Last time it was the OCD, Tim, SD-1, and Fulldrive.


I actually ended up with enough space that I took the Rat, OCD, Fulldrive II, OD-3, BB Preamp, and a Barber LTD last night.

It's been a long time since I used my Rat - after about 3 hours of playing I came to the realization that, aside from lead boosts, the only Drive that I'd used all night WAS the Rat. I had both my 02' LP and Am Dlx Tele and was using my DRRI ...... and I couldn't stop smiling.

It's all good sdsre


----------



## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

mhammer said:


> It's a pity the average player couldn't just walk into a music store and have a what-sort-of-boost-do-you-need pedalboard available to them with 6-10 pedals in a row, ranging from superclean to explicitly distorted and try them out with amp/guitar of their choice to figure out what sounds best to them.


That sounds like a great idea...someone call L&M. 
I've been doing pretty much that for the last year and a bit, buying up things that sounded like they'd be good and trying them for a while.
So far (# I've kept):

#D*A*M* RedRooster treble booster
Analogman Sunface BC108
#Fulltone '69
Fulltone '70
Xotic AC Boost
Fulltone Fulldrive 2
Fulltone OCD v3
ZenDrive
#Hao Rumble ODS
Tonebone Classic 
#BK Butler Tube Driver
#V-Stack Classic
Also a Righteous Tones tubescreamer thing, which I absolutely hated

Mostly good gear, just some of it didn't suit me/guitar/amp, so I passed it on. Think I'm getting close. Adding a Timmy and a D*A*M Tonebender MkII and that should be it...

Sounds like you have rooms full of this stuff though.


----------



## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

mhammer said:


> It's a pity the average player couldn't just walk into a music store and have a what-sort-of-boost-do-you-need pedalboard available to them with 6-10 pedals in a row, ranging from superclean to explicitly distorted and try them out with amp/guitar of their choice to figure out what sounds best to them. Typically, if you see a pedalboard in a music store, it will be an assortment of pedals from a given manufacturer, rather than pedals from different manufacturers that perform a similar function.


You know ..... this is so obvious - yet I've never really thought about it before ..... I cannot EVER recall an easy pedal-buying experience in a retail music store. 

Every place I can think of keeps their pedals under or behind the counter lined up pretty in their little boxes. Usually it's almost impossible to see the inventory because there are people, catalogues, and countertop displays in the way. You ask the salesperson if you can try "that one" (by pointing of course). "No - THAT one - yeah the blue one ..... DARK blue". No adapters around of course, try a few other pedals to find a battery you can use, find an amp/guitar, dang - battery is dead, make your way back to the counter, get the guy's attention again, "hey can I try this one too?", "got another cable/battery?" ....... geez it's no wonder that we try/buy/sell so much through sites like this ........


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

...And of course the logical extension of that scenario is that few musicians end up understanding pedals. Partly, this is because they are victim to the vicissitudes of auditory memory. You try out X in one store, and then 3 days later you try out Y in a different one. Can you rely on how you remember X to be able to faithfully and validly compare X to Y? I doubt it. And if you can't remember the audible differences accurately, then you can't necessarily tell what the advantages of approach X are over approach Y.

How sweet it would be to have a half dozen chorus pedals in a row that you cold A/B, or a half dozen envelope-controled filters, or flangers, or phasers, etc. I suppose there would be some reticence on the part of music stores, for fear that product A would wipe the floor with products B-thru-F, and they'd be stuck with all that inventory. On the other hand, you know, sometimes you make some remarkable discoveries when comparing things and find out that the one that costs $60 more really DOES do some things that the cheaper one doesn't, or that there is an idiosyncracy to pedal E that nicely complements your playing style or that simply sounds better with a Tele than with a Les Paul, and so on. I other words, it needn't mean they get stuck with inventory that doesn't move, unless they've been ordering the wrong stuff. You know maybe if a person was able to try them both out, they'd realize there was a reason to buy a Carbon Copy instead of a Daphon delay pedal....or maybe not. BUT...they'd be a contented customer.

When you think of it, trying out pedals should not be for simply confirming what you read about in a Harmony-Central or Guitar Player review. It should be for exploring, learning, and simply finding out what lets you make better or more interesting music with fewer hassles.

A great music store would have category pedal-boards like described above, and a choice of amp or headphone amp at the end of it, so that you could hear it above the 20 other people pretending to be Kirk Hammett.

NB Terry, if you're reading this, here's your chance to be cutting edge and a trendsetter!:smilie_flagge17:


----------



## Teleplucker (Feb 5, 2006)

mhammer said:


> How sweet it would be to have a half dozen chorus pedals in a row that you cold A/B, or a half dozen envelope-controled filters, or flangers, or phasers, etc. I suppose there would be some reticence on the part of music stores, for fear that product A would wipe the floor with products B-thru-F, and they'd be stuck with all that inventory. On the other hand, you know, sometimes you make some remarkable discoveries when comparing things and find out that the one that costs $60 more really DOES do some things that the cheaper one doesn't, or that there is an idiosyncracy to pedal E that nicely complements your playing style or that simply sounds better with a Tele than with a Les Paul, and so on. I other words, it needn't mean they get stuck with inventory that doesn't move, unless they've been ordering the wrong stuff. You know maybe if a person was able to try them both out, they'd realize there was a reason to buy a Carbon Copy instead of a Daphon delay pedal....or maybe not. BUT...they'd be a contented customer.
> 
> NB Terry, if you're reading this, here's your chance to be cutting edge and a trendsetter!:smilie_flagge17:


The great thing about this idea is...they WOULDN'T be stuck with inventory, for the most part. I'm always surprised and shocked at how different people like different tones. Then, when you add in budgets, usage...well, there is something for everyone and the music stores love that.

I find that I can't tell whether I'm going to like a pedal until I take it home and play it with my gear. Thankfully, stores like L&M have the 30 day guarantee. I wouldn't have risked the $150 for the Carbon Copy if they didn't have that policy...and I wound up loving it.

When we lived in the same city...Terry offered that service to me! Of course, I was 3 minutes away and he usually didn't have too much trouble selling anything I didn't want :smile:.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I think as well that there are some kinds of pedals where people simply accept that they might want more than one (distortions, for example), and other categories of effects where people figure they only "need" one. I'll bet if people could use a pedalboard with a Line 6 Liqui-Flange, an EHX Flanger Hoax, and a Deluxe Electric Mistress, and they could flip back and forth between them, they would start to think differently about flangers, rather than simply "Yeah, I've got one of those." (flanger? check; phaser? check; EQ? check....) The instant comparison thing lets you realize that just because they have the same word in their title they aren't necessarily the same thing, or don't play up to the same set of needs.


----------



## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

mhammer said:


> I think as well that there are some kinds of pedals where people simply accept that they might want more than one (distortions, for example), and other categories of effects where people figure they only "need" one. I'll bet if people could use a pedalboard with a Line 6 Liqui-Flange, an EHX Flanger Hoax, and a Deluxe Electric Mistress, and they could flip back and forth between them, they would start to think differently about flangers, rather than simply "Yeah, I've got one of those." (flanger? check; phaser? check; EQ? check....) The instant comparison thing lets you realize that just because they have the same word in their title they aren't necessarily the same thing, or don't play up to the same set of needs.


Oh god Mark, now I have to go listen to other flangers too?!?! I'm going to need a bigger pedalboard!!!

But seriously, it's true. It's way too hard to audition pedals in-store, and most reviews are too subjective to be worth any real merit. Youtube clips are nice, but most are recorded so poorly that they make everything sound terrible, and even when the poster goes to the trouble of properly recording the clip, it still is subject to the speed of your internet connection and the quality of your soundcard/speakers/headphones.


----------



## artr (Jun 9, 2008)

*Daisy Chaining*

How many would you daisy chain? Two?


----------



## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

artr said:


> How many would you daisy chain? Two?


Depending on the question, I'd put them in loops rather than daisy chain. ODs can be good stacked though.


----------



## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

mhammer said:


> Bagpipe/Derek was over the other night, and borrowed an armful of boosters and overdrives to help figure out what will sound good with his EL84 amp. I loaned him an array of things that went from always-clean-no-matter-what boosters, to things that could add just a hint of grit and coloration, to things that would add noticeable coloration (but had tone control to tame it), to things that were obviously distorted on their own. Some are straight clones, some are modded, some are pure DIY originals. It will take a little while to run them through their paces, but I look forward to hearing "the lab results" once he's done.


What was the outcome, guys?

I'm fighting the same issue at the moment - EL84 amp sounds kinda crappy with standard Tubescreamer-type pedals.

Did you find a few that work really well?


----------



## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

IMO the Diamond J drives are one of the best OD's out there. I have used Tim's, TS9's, Blues Driver(modded), and the Fulltones but find that the Diamond is the only one that has not left my lineup. Used through EL84's and 6L6's it shines above the rest. Advantage over the fulltone is you can use the boost on it's own . And to top it off it's Canadian and they are great to deal with. :smilie_flagge17:


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Greg Ellis said:


> What was the outcome, guys?
> 
> I'm fighting the same issue at the moment - EL84 amp sounds kinda crappy with standard Tubescreamer-type pedals.
> 
> Did you find a few that work really well?


I should let Derek speak for himself, but my understanding was that, after trying out about 8-10 different pedals to push the amp into breakup, he decided to sell the amp. I was pleased that the two he liked best were two that I more or less designed, but even those did not evoke sonic bliss from the amp. So it goes.


----------



## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

I have a Traynor YGM-3 (EL34s) and I really like the HAO Rumble as an OD. 
I also liked the AC Boost with that amp, but sold it. 
The Tube Driver is pretty good with it too for slightly higher gain.
Didn't like the OCD so much.

I'd like to try the HAO Rust Driver too to get a more Marshally noise out of it sometimes -- anyone tied one of those?


----------



## keto (May 23, 2006)

I rediscovered my Jackhammer this weekend, as I redid my board.

I play a lot thru a 76 Vibrochamp that my son and I put into a 2x8 cab. It gets pretty grindy and Marshally on its own, especially so with humbuckers.

With my Tele, which will still overdrive the amp when full out but not nearly as much, I run a Bad Monkey with the gain about 1/3 up, INTO the Jackhammer on the OD side, gain again about 1/3 up, and....HOLY COW it just roars. Actually, the Jackhammer on its own is a very good pedal that I am always wondering why it doesn't get more press in the guitar community. The Distortion side is the pits, too compressed and scooped, but the OD side (which let's face it, is really a distortion) sounds REALLY good for rock. Maybe not so much a blues thing.

I had singing feedback going in the kitchen, with great note definition all the way up and still a super crisp open E. Heavenly. Well, maybe not to my wife LOL. From a 6 watt amp :food-smiley-004:


----------



## strummer (Nov 22, 2008)

*Have you tried BBE*

Hi there. I have a good suggestion if you want to watch the budget. BBE makes a great pedal called the Green Screamer. It's their take on a TS9. It features analogue circuitry , true bypass , ac adaptor and battery inlcuded. It sounds as good as a TS9 or better but it is very quiet ( low hiss ) . Best of all you can find one for about $130 to $140. check one out.


----------

