Overdrive & Distortion Pedals - Is Four On the Board too Many?

[yell03]

I am so close to finding my exact tone.....

Currently I have on my board....

Guitar -MXR M77 Overdrive - Fulltone OCD - MXR M78 Distortion - Fender Pro Jr.

Tomorrow my Ibanez TS808 is coming and it will be...

Guitar - Ibanez TS808 - MXR M77 - OCD - MXR M78 -Fender Pro Jr. or Marshall Class 5

I love stacking the M77 with the OCD and the M77 with the M78 for solos.

The Ibanez TS808 I am hoping provides a different, maybe better sound when used to stack the OCD or M78.

I also bought the TS808 so that if I buy another amp that has its own Gain, then I could boost it with the TS808.
I have been gassing for the Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 18 for some reason, but I would like to try it first.

I actually have a Boss SD1 and Boss DS1, but the MXRs replaced them on my board.
I also have a Cry Baby Wah that I don't use, but I keep it around just in case.

Lastly, the last pedal in my chain is a Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master Reverb/Delay, it really adds ambience when engaged.

After the TS808 arrives and I get some time with it, something else might come off the board.
Currently the MXR m78 is my favorite pedal and the M77 is necessary as a boost at the moment, I don't use it much on its own so the TS808 might replace it.
The OCD I use in Low Power mode as a Low-Mid Gain overdrive/distortion and often it gets boosted by the M77.

I never need to stack more than 2 pedals to get the gain I need.

Do any of you guys/gals out there run 4 overdrive and distortion pedals and if so, what are they and how do you stack them.

I remember it being so easy when I just had a fairly high gain 2 channel amp that needed no pedals and just a dealy in the loop.

Now all I have is single channel non-master volume amps.

That 2 channel TubeMeister 18 is really tempting me.
I could see that amp with just the TS808 and Delay getting the job done.

[Parma_TeleMon]

Nope. i've got 1 OD (CTO-1), 2 distorion (First Act and SD PowerGrid) and one fuzz (SD Tweak Fuzz). May add an OCD to the mix just for fun. If there's room on the board (and on mine there's not currently) go ahead - rock as many as you want!

[czech-one-2]

Honestly it depends on what kind of music your playing.If your soloing every song and rocking out alot than I could see using at least 4 [or more] dirt pedals. Me, I'm mostly a rythem player so I could get by with a DS-1 or RAT, but choose to add a compressor and low gain overdrive as well.Also, I need a couple delays,a reverb,a phaser and a wah so that takes up alot of real estate on my 8 pedal 'gorm'. If your not using all that than 4 dirt pedals would'nt be overkill at all.

[yell03]

Originally Posted by Parma_TeleMon

Nope. i've got 1 OD (CTO-1), 2 distorion (First Act and SD PowerGrid) and one fuzz (SD Tweak Fuzz). May add an OCD to the mix just for fun. If there's room on the board (and on mine there's not currently) go ahead - rock as many as you want!

The OCD on Low Peak with a Boost is great.

Originally Posted by czech-one-2

Honestly it depends on what kind of music your playing.If your soloing every song and rocking out alot than I could see using at least 4 [or more] dirt pedals. Me, I'm mostly a rythem player so I could get by with a DS-1 or RAT, but choose to add a compressor and low gain overdrive as well.Also, I need a couple delays,a reverb,a phaser and a wah so that takes up alot of real estate on my 8 pedal 'gorm'. If your not using all that than 4 dirt pedals would'nt be overkill at all.

I am mostly a Lead Player.
With 4 dirt pedals on the board on top of a clean amp I can go from Jazz, to Country, to Blues, to Rock, to Metal by using 0 pedals or any combination of two.

[telefunken]

I almost wired this thing up, decided later that it was just tooo much dirt All Keeley

[yell03]

Originally Posted by telefunken

I almost wired this thing up, decided later that it was just tooo much dirt All Keeley

I feel better now

[Enaitz]

I've just 3 pedals, an overdrive, 2 fuzzes and a modulation do-it-all.



I don't think I've many dirt pedals or that I'm mainly focused on that, I have what I use more, and that's dirt.

[Magnawolf]

I have TS9, OCD, Proco Rat and Swollen Pickle on my board. I basically keep TS9 on the whole time.

[yell03]

Originally Posted by Enaitz

I've just 3 pedals, an overdrive, 2 fuzzes and a modulation do-it-all.



I don't think I've many dirt pedals or that I'm mainly focused on that, I have what I use more, and that's dirt.

I could get away with 3 pedals if I had to, M77, OCD, and my Reverb/Delay.

Originally Posted by Magnawolf

I have TS9, OCD, Proco Rat and Swollen Pickle on my board. I basically keep TS9 on the whole time.

That is a nice group of 4

[Frank B]

I have 5, none have the same purpose... it really depends on your needs. I like to have my 5 levels of gain; I felt they each responded very well and had a sweet spot at the level of gain I was going to use them at.

T-Rex Alberta - very low gain
Maxon OD 9 - medium gain
Wampler Ecstacy - medium high gain
MXR distortion III - high gain
Diamond Fireburst - lotsa gain

[bossking7]

I have three:
Boss SD1
Lovepedal Superlead
Zvex Fuzz Factory

[yell03]

Originally Posted by Frank B

I have 5, none have the same purpose... it really depends on your needs. I like to have my 5 levels of gain; I felt they each responded very well and had a sweet spot at the level of gain I was going to use them at.

T-Rex Alberta - very low gain
Maxon OD 9 - medium gain
Wampler Ecstacy - medium high gain
MXR distortion III - high gain
Diamond Fireburst - lotsa gain

I don't have any super high gain pedals, but that is where stacking them comes in.

Originally Posted by bossking7

I have three:
Boss SD1
Lovepedal Superlead
Zvex Fuzz Factory

I still have a Boss SD1 and Boss DS1 I use for travel & backups, great pedals for little $$$.

[Chiogtr4x]

I just go with 2 contrasting OD/distortion pedals (tonally and Gain range) to use individually or stacked; I pair mine up according to which amp I am using/type of music I'm playing. This works for me as I don't ever need too much gain, and don't care to have a big pedalboard. With 2 good pedals you get 3 great options. Lately it's a GFS Brownie Classic and a Dano TOD or Blues Driver.

[telerocker1988]

You can never have too many, and no one can tell you that you do. It's your choice and you'll know how many is too many if you have too many, same if you have not enough. If it works for you, then rock it and don't worry about what others think.

Me personally, I'm in a cover band situation and I have to nail the tones from the original recordings along with playing the material note for note, so I have lots of drive flavors on my board to go from Beatles to Aerosmith to Motley Crue with a few clicks. It's either that or hauling 10 amps around, and I ain't doing that. I need to be able to get generic drive tones (Tubescreamer, etc) along with nailing Plexi, JCM800, Tweed, Vox, etc amp tones. I find dirt pedals to sound every bit as good as amp dirt and the amp in a box pedals nail those amp tones. It sure beats hauling 10 amp heads! :D

This is my board.



Again, you can never have too many IMO, but if you do - you'll be the one to know. Rock on!

[yell03]

Originally Posted by Chiogtr4x

I just go with 2 contrasting OD/distortion pedals (tonally and Gain range) to use individually or stacked; I pair mine up according to which amp I am using/type of music I'm playing. This works for me as I don't ever need too much gain, and don't care to have a big pedalboard. With 2 good pedals you get 3 great options. Lately it's a GFS Brownie Classic and a Dano TOD or Blues Driver.

That is how I was doing it.
Just my SD1 and OCD.

Originally Posted by telerocker1988

You can never have too many, and no one can tell you that you do. It's your choice and you'll know how many is too many if you have too many, same if you have not enough. If it works for you, then rock it and don't worry about what others think.

Me personally, I'm in a cover band situation and I have to nail the tones from the original recordings along with playing the material note for note, so I have lots of drive flavors on my board to go from Beatles to Aerosmith to Motley Crue with a few clicks. It's either that or hauling 10 amps around, and I ain't doing that. I need to be able to get generic drive tones (Tubescreamer, etc) along with nailing Plexi, JCM800, Tweed, Vox, etc amp tones. I find dirt pedals to sound every bit as good as amp dirt and the amp in a box pedals nail those amp tones. It sure beats hauling 10 amp heads! :D

This is my board.



Again, you can never have too many IMO, but if you do - you'll be the one to know. Rock on!

I know for a fact I will go with 3, maybe 4.
Depends if the M77 and TS808 are very close to each other.

I am planning on making a back-up board consisting of my SD1 and DS1 for taking to my vacation spot so i don't have to take my board apart.

[eddie knuckles]

Fuzz Head - Sweet Baby - Ultimate Drive - Dirty Little Secret

Hello my name is Eddie Knuckles, and I am a pedal-holic....

It all started a long, long time ago.......

[TeleBrew]

I've had more than 4, but at the moment I have 3. I'm a bit of a dirt box whore, and could develop a serious problem if I lacked self control.

[hal]

I recently went from three to two. It has been very painful....

Actually it has forced me to just use the knobs on the pedals more. I have the Suhr Shiba Drive and Hermida Zendrive on right now. I move the knobs around on the Zendrive to get my light and medium OD.

But--I keep my Nobels ODR-1 in the case.....just in case.

[hal]

Dirt whore.....I like that.

We should start a pedalboard's anonymous.......

[Coop47]

I don't think there's anything wrong with four. My set-up is a Sparkle Drive > Pork Loin > Tone Pump, which is kind of like having four. Gives me a full range of tones from clean with a little hair, to Vox-y to almost Marshall. Great for a cover band, and I stack for solos to change things up. I had a DS-1 on there for a while, but don't really need it with my new band, as we don't get that heavy.