Musing on Dirt Pedals

Somehow I've ended up with three dirt pedals on my board. The only other pedals are a Dyna-Comp (that doesn't actually live on the pedalboard, it's optional), a Chorus, Volume Pedal and Delay. I was beginning to think the three dirt pedals were overkill. They are, a Zendrive, Direct Drive and a Green Screamer. But yesterday I was playing a Fourth of July party and realized they all have their place. I usually don't use the Direct Drive much, but I found myself going for it a lot. Before I got the Zen I just had it and a TS-5 and used the TS much more. I like the sustain I get from the DD and the hair for certain kinds of lead work.

The Zendrive came to play when we were doing things where I wanted to get into Santana territory. I usually kick in the comp with it and a little delay. It really covers that kind of tone. And the harmonics really shine.

The Green Screamer is my choice for playing slide. It gives enough grit to add some fatness to the tone. I play a clean amp as my base tone and add pedals to taste. And I'm really satisfied with what I got right now. I haven't been playing a lot of electric guitar with other people lately. I forget how good it can sound. You stomp on a box and think, "Holy Cats! Where'd that sound come from?"

I don't think that my pedals are the end all and be all, but they work for me and give me a consistant menu of sounds that I can depend on.

One of the other guitarists was using his iPad as his pedalboard. He's got an app that allows him to create pedal chains that he can change at the tap of a finger. I'd give a review but he wasn't loud enough from where I was standing, but what I heard sounded pretty dang good. Ah, technology...

I use a zendrive (clone a rinzai) and I find it is on more than it is off now... I kind of can't believe it. and I find that on my amp, I use the 5e3 side almost entirely... 3 years ago... it was the opposite, I could never rein in that side of the amp...

I've always used my tone and volume knob, but, now I think I have it really figured out.. and go from clean to driven so easily (along with pickup selections)

The zen has such range when you use it along with volume and tone that I can get a whole bunch of different tones from it...

I am going to replace my delay and my comp/limiter this month and see if I can get the same kind of great feeling that I have for my zendrive....

I genuinely love how my stuff sounds right now and look forward to playing like a kid at christmas (and this while we've added 20 or so modern country songs!)

loved your post, I know that feeling and have it a lot lately.

I've started using a good ol Boss GE7 on my board as a pseudo-TS pedal. Except without the ridiculous bass cut.
The compressor doesn't always agree with it but it'll get over it.

This puts me at a total of 4 gain stages, having the eq, my SD1, the fuzz pedal, and the A/B between the amps two channels.

Point here being that I have lots of dirt too and still have a sane board.

IT'S OK.

:mrgreen:

Most of my grit comes from amp and guitar volume.

PB has a Zendrive for Lead "cream and a 11 gauge modded SD-1 for extra rhythm dirt.......

My reserve bench box includes:

Fuzzhead
Bixonic Expandora
BD-2 (keeley)
Javaboost
Colorsound OD Clone
TS9 Dx
Paisley Drive
Sparkle Drive

There are more for sure, but I can't remember them all.

I have come to the conclusion that after I have gone thru trying out many OD's over the past few years (just my own curiosity), that:

A) with the exception of how much Gain Pedal X produces, the same basic OD sound comes out of my amp(s)-It's as if the amp(s) reacts tonally the same, even when using different pedals- OR I just seem to dial everything to have the same result. I must like it

B) I seem to play music stylings that require a lot less firepower (Gain/distortion) than many others; I play with a pretty clean tone even at my dirtiest (a Fuzz tone being the exception), so I just have no need for more than 2 dirts on the board, I just switch 'em around gig to gig (I have a 5 pedal limit)

C) done with OD searching, I can do whatever I need with a Blues Driver, GFS Brownie, or Barber Direct Drive- basically any combo of 2, used independently or stacked

I finally narrowed my dirt to a Wampler Ecstasy and a Pinnacle. I usually use amp distortion any more though and only use the dirt when I want to go over the top. I'll never sell my Big Muff but I never use it . The sixties might come back.

For the longest time, I didn't even own a dirt pedal. A few came and went, but all I played was pretty much straight into a Twin Reverb. I think it started when I picked up the lap steel. I wanted David Lindley tone and didn't have a Dumble. After a while I started using distortion with the six string electric guitar. It's a slippery slope!

I have other OD's and Distortion pedals, but the three in the OP really cover most of the bases. One sleeper pedal that I've been experimenting with is a DOD Bass Overdrive. Evidently there is a wrong resistor in it from the factory. If you replace it, the pedal sounds much better. It also has a blend feature. I don't think it's really voiced for bass. It sounds better for guitar. I'm using it in the Slavemaster loop of my Rivera S120-210. I can set the pedal on top of the amp and turn it off and on from the foot switch. I have a TC G-Major 2 for the time based effects. I'm still programming the G-Major, but I think it may be something fun. Stay tuned...

Part of the issue IMO of trying to limit things to a singular dirt box is that it truly is more than just "an amount of gain and a certain EQ curve."

A REALLY good dirt box IMO is like a really good classic amp - it has hardwired qualities to a number of things that are unique to it - clipping/harmonic content/"sag"/saturation/dynamics/EQ/gain range/design taylored around/etc...

Part of the "problem" IMO is due to a few things:

- we currently like to see things as less than the sum of their parts

- lots of new drive boxes have a ton of controls that make them "character-less," since they can kind of imitate all sorts of EQ's and distortion levels, but not really be a visionary design that commits to having things hardwired to give you a truly great total package

...So with BOTH of the above, we have kind of blinded ourselves to the great variety and possibilities with using more than one drive box.

IMO, the "less than the sum of the parts" is basically setting ourselves up. We tend to see pedal X as being transparent with a flat EQ, and pedal Y as having a mid boost that is good for solos/heavy blues/etc., but with this huge hole in between the two extremes.

And IMO, the "Swiss army knife" pedals aren't the solution we often make them out to be, because we've kind of "lost faith" in getting a great sound out of a pedal with the "traditional number" of controls. If you put your faith in a company that has thought out the design properly, you will be rewarded with a simple layout that should cover your needs.

Are there exceptions to the "tons of knobs" scenario? Sure. There are definitely "power users" who will sculpt a ton of different sounds out of those things. But many others will not, especially for folks who have limited time.

IMO, a drive box should primarily be a plug-n-play thing. IOW, if it needs a manual, something is wrong (and most folks probably won't read it).

I have three pedals on my main board that would be traditionally classified as OD pedals. I've tried to knock that down to less, but those three sound completely different. And if you include the fourth one that is more of an Old School "fuzz-ish drive," that is a lot of drive boxes.

I have tried, in vain, to pare it down beyond that. I had more success with distortion and fuzz pedals, as I am down to just one of each of those.

And I tried that rig thru my Super Reverb versus my amps that don't use or need pedals. One of those combines Trainwreck-ish qualities with a lot of other tricks and tweaks, and I just LOVE that amp for what it does perfectly. To my surprise, the pedals->SR comes closer to sounding like "the real thing" than I would previously care to admit. This was with a direct A/B.

I use a zendrive (clone a rinzai) and I find it is on more than it is off now... I kind of can't believe it. and I find that on my amp, I use the 5e3 side almost entirely... 3 years ago... it was the opposite, I could never rein in that side of the amp...

"5E3 side." What amp are you using with the Zendrive? I've got a 5E3 clone but never considered using a ZD with it. Always heard it was best into a cleaner amp. I've been having pretty good luck with a GGG Blues Breaker lately, as well as a couple of others.

I think the main thing I'm looking for in a dirtbox is whether or not it brings out anything special in my playing. If a pedal helps me to extend what I'm able to do in some direction, it's probably gonna be a keeper. I suppose that explains why I have so many.

I get by with 3 OD pedals also. The OCD, SD-1, and BBpreamp. I have a few others other OD's. But the majority of gigs I do, these pedals fill the gaps between distortion and OD. I do use a Boss EQ for a boost.

One is enough for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFV_aQ-hU-8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnVfim8XBiM

Got 2 dirt pedals on my board the Wampler Hot Wired and A Barber LTD just picked it up used a few days ago sounds pretty cool so far.

I have three overdrives (sort of).

I have a Barber Half Gainer (it has on/off and a second foot switch for 2 levels of gain) next to a Machine Head Pedals 72 Degree Overdrive.

It's two pedals but 3 choices (4 choices if both pedals are on).

There's a lot of character in crunch. I don't think three is overkill.