Requesting input/ideas re: Distorsion/Boost Pedal with a Hot

[Dono]

I've had my HRD Deluxe about a month now. I play a James Burton tele, MIM Strat, and a '61 LP Custom. My band (Codger) plays anything from Dwight Youkum to Joe Jackson to Tom Petty to Surf. I've really tried to warm up to the OD/OOD channels on the HRD, but they just ain't singin' to me. I think I've figured out that I need the following "tonal adjustments", given the style my band plays:

(1) Clean
(2) Clean lead Boost with a bit of grit and sustain
(3) Creamy, kick ass Marshall-type distorsion
(4) Lead boost for the distorted stuff.

I have a POD, but the whole reason for buying the HRD was to go as pure as possible. Least that's what I told my lovely Boss! Heck, I had a Crate that I used with the POD that sounded *fairly* good. I bought the HRD knowing that there is no way (at least that I have heard of) to bypass the POD when I want that sweet, pristine Fender clean.

I've read some stuff on Fulltone products, read some reviews re: other products on Harmony Central, and read some of the posts on this forum. What I haven't figured out yet is this --- is there a pedal that does OD/Dist in one channel and boost in the other that WON'T color the marvy clean tones of the HRD? Any HRD users that have faced the same question and come through the other side with the Holy Grail? (no product pun intended). Anybody using the POD with an HRD and liking what they hear?

All advice will be appreciated! Please help. My bandmates are getting sick of my fiddling around with the controls trying to dial in a OD/dist that sucks less :-)

Dono

[Paul in Colorado]

I know of a guy with a POD and a HR Deluxe. IMHO it don't sound so good. I think any good clean boost and a distortion or overdrive pedal would give you what you want. If you're experiencing "tone suck" from the pedals, get a loop switcher that takes the pedals out of the signal path when you aren't using them. I like the sound of Fulltone Fulldrive. I use a Tube Screamer and a Direct Drive.
Keep the POD for recording or rehearsals.

[mudshark]

I'm kinda partial to the ProCo Rat for a wide variety of tones.

An inexpensive stompbox to boot.

[detuned]

The Fulltone Fulldrive II is a great OD pedal, with two levels of dirt available to boot. A bit pricey, but very nice. My experience with it was that it sounded best when the amp was already working hard, but it's still a decent pedal at low volumes. Find one used, & you can unload it for what you paid for it if it doesn't work out for you.

The Boss BD-2 is also a killer pedal, stock or Keeley-modded. I have a modded one, & love it.

The best part is trying all those pedals!

[Marc H.]

Dono:

My set up is similar to yours in that I use a Silverface Pro Reverb for the prisitne clean tones, and my pedal board is set up as follows:

Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive for the clean boost
Fulltone FullDrive II for both rhythm grind and those creamy marshall tones you describe
Boss BD-2 for dirty (but not marshall) boost
Boss TU-2 Floor tuner

I pretty much get all the clean and OD/Distortion tones I would ever need using a combo of the pedals. I do find that I generally leave the Sparkle Drive on most of the time and use my volume knob for the clean boost.

Now this set up is a bit pricey, but after having owned tons of OD pedals, I think the search is over...

If I had to reccomend one and only one of the pedals ot would be the FullDrive. You could get clean boost using your volume knob and use the two channels on the pedal to get both grind and marshall like tones

Hope this helps

[tanawana]

Another thought on the pedals mentioned, is to buy them used. At least you can get your money back if you decide to resell them and try something else then. Ofcourse that cycle may never end for you either