Overdrive/Distortion for a Deluxe Reverb

[telegibson]

I've recently bought a Fender Deluxe Reverb,
so very nice clean sound.
I use the amp with a Gibson 335 and I play almost always jazz music.
However the type of tone I'd like to achieve is a slightly overdriven sound,
say a distortion which appears when I play harder or I play double-stops.
Kind of Scofield sound.

At the moment I have two pedals:
Rat Distortion and Xotic RC booster.
It might be I didn't explore those pedals enough, however my impressions
were that:
1) I didn't like that much how the Rat Distortion Pedal goes with the Deluxe Reverb
2) The RC Booster is excellent, but maybe I need a bit more distortion.

So I considered to buy another pedal and I was considering either the Ibanez TS9 or the Xotic AC?
I've also seen in a catalogue a TC Electronic Mojo mojo overdrive.
Actually I don't know many.

Do you have experience with these or other overdrive pedals that could suit my purpose?

[FMA]

I love my Fulltone OCD. And from your brief description, it may fit the bill. The OCD is very dynamic, has a nice range, and responds very well to your playing dynamics. Pick lightly and it cleans up. Dig in and it distorts more.
Check one out.

[brucefan12]

+1 on the OCD, I own a DRRI, killer amp, I run an OCD, a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 with MOSFET, Boss Blues Driver, and am still waiting to get a boost pedal and a fuzz factory. The two Fulltone pedals however, give me my main drive and man does it sound great! Like FMA said, they are so dynamic and can get you just about anywhere you want to be.

[Flemtone]

Another +1 for the OCD. I've got a SF Deluxe, and it's great for a nice overdrive that just sounds like the amp cranked up. Doesn't color the sound of the guitar or amp at all.
I have an old white face Rat that I'll use if I need a heavier gain sound, but it's not getting much use anymore since I bought the Fulltone.

[gitapik]

I like Scofield's sound. Nice and gritty.

I jammed at a friend's house yesterday. Played through his Deluxe Reverb. Using a Tele and an XTS Multi-Drive, I was able to get lots of great sounds. Added an EQ and I got...well...pretty much anything I wanted. Kicked in a compressor and I nailed Roy Buchanan and a million country players at a lowish volume.

I don't have a 335 (wish I did)...so I can't say for sure about whether you'll get Scofield's type of sound or not. I do know that I can get that kind of grit with my Strat, Tele (actually, it's a G&L), and Les Paul. It's a versatile pedal and would work very well with your RC Booster.

Not sure if you're into Scott Henderson, but his signature sound is the Maxon SD-9 and an RC Booster.

Is that a reissue? My friend's had a nice OD channel on it. Have you tried that with your booster?

[Chase TM]

I think a (very) large part of Sco's sound is the his pickup choice/blend, how and where he picks and also the AC30.

[uriah1]

Red Snapper...you can dial in so much more...
I use with 335/gold spkr DRRI

Settings are different when you go to single coils

[telegibson]

Originally Posted by gitapik

I like Scofield's sound. Nice and gritty.

I jammed at a friend's house yesterday. Played through his Deluxe Reverb. Using a Tele and an XTS Multi-Drive, I was able to get lots of great sounds. Added an EQ and I got...well...pretty much anything I wanted. Kicked in a compressor and I nailed Roy Buchanan and a million country players at a lowish volume.

I don't have a 335 (wish I did)...so I can't say for sure about whether you'll get Scofield's type of sound or not. I do know that I can get that kind of grit with my Strat, Tele (actually, it's a G&L), and Les Paul. It's a versatile pedal and would work very well with your RC Booster.

Not sure if you're into Scott Henderson, but his signature sound is the Maxon SD-9 and an RC Booster.

Is that a reissue? My friend's had a nice OD channel on it. Have you tried that with your booster?

Never heard about this XTS-Multi Drive. The Amp is 65 Deluxe Reverb from the VIntage Reissue series. It does have only a clean channel (normal and vibrato).

[telegibson]

If I get one these overdrives, can I use them in conjunction with the RC booster?
and how?

[gitapik]

Originally Posted by telegibson

If I get one these overdrives, can I use them in conjunction with the RC booster?
and how?

Yes...thats a tried and true combination. As far as 'how', that depends on what you want. The general rule of thumb with booster pedals is if you want to color the overdrive pedal's tone (bit more distortion) as well as boost the signal you place the booster before the OD. For more of a clear boost which just amplifies your OD's tone, you place it after. Might be different with the RC Booster (i don have one) but that's the general rule.

I thought the guy's point about pickup, attack, Vox amp was a good one. The OCD is a very good pedal and I've heard great things about the Red Snapper. I'm very into the XTS stuff. It's easy to get confused with all the choices, but the good part is that so many of them are very, very good. I just ordered a Timmy for very light OD. That's another choice. Check out some YouTubes.

[Bob W.]

I like to use an attenuator between amp and speaker, drive the amp into moderate overdrive. It's the real deal tube distortion that a DR is great at.

[fuzzbox]

I play Fender guitars through a DRRI in a cover band doing a wide range of styles and thus requiring a variety of driven tones at varying stage volumes.
The nights usually start out with jazz standards and laid back tunes during cocktails/dinner.
During this portion of the gig I use a Sparkle Drive to "blend" in the required amount of grit with my clean tone. The Sparkle Drive has a pleasing mid-hump that works well with Fender amps and warms up the tone. As the night ramps up and we move into classic rock and dance material I have another drive pedal to take over the grinding needed for those styles (which you probably don't need).

I use an RC Booster at the end of my chain as "volume correction device" to boost whatever signal as needed to balance clean with driven tones.

You'll find that between the Sparkle Drive (or most any Tubescreamer variant), the RC, and the DRRI's natural overdrive you should be able to produce any useable guitar sound short of metal.

[telegibson]

Lots of great suggestions. Thanks a lot.
It seems this OCD receives great appreciation.
Is there anyone recommending the TS9 or the Xotic AC (yellow one), which I mentioned in the beginning, just to hear your opinions and impressions?

[Green Lantern]

Yeah. I have a TC Electronic Mojo Mojo. I also have a TS-type pedal. The Mojo Mojo has more bass for sure, but it doesn't have quite as much... hmm... flexibility as the TS-style pedal has. The Mojo Mojo feels more rigid to me, and as such, I rarely use it.

[tweedtone]

Crowther Hotcake has all the creamy goodness.

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by telegibson

Do you have experience with these or other overdrive pedals that could suit my purpose?

IMO, a lot of the issues with some drive boxes not working so well with a DR come down to the speaker. You can usually get a nice and lively clean sound, but speakers that are tailored around getting the old Jensen sound can sometimes be a bit much with a pedal engaged, even if its not very distorted.

Some of the sharpness of a typical DR speaker can be addressed with just a little compression in conjunction with your drive box. If not, I recommend a darker/rounder speaker wholeheartedly. It doesn't have to be radically different, but a little more dampening will keep the cone from baring its teeth too much.

Along with the speaker, replacing the 2nd preamp tube from the far end with a 12AY7 can really open up your pedal choices, too. IMO, a 12AX7 that is hit with a pedal might have a tendency to sound a bit brittle or crispy. This is assuming you are using the vibrato channel, which has a bit more gain than the normal channel.

So...no pedal suggestions (sorry) - I think it's wide open with that particular amp once it is dialed in for regular drive box usage.

[BiggerJohn]

I dunno man. An OD/Disty on a DR? Shoot, half the fun of owning a DR is to crank her up and get those 6V6s cooking. I think my DR on about 8 sounds better than any pedal. And yes, even the JJ 6V6s get wicked smooth and creamy when you bias them a bit on the warm side and then drive the poop out of them.

Best OD for a DR? The volume knob. Try it, you'll like it.

[Syclone879]

Originally Posted by 11 Gauge

Along with the speaker, replacing the 2nd preamp tube from the far end with a 12AY7 can really open up your pedal choices, too. IMO, a 12AX7 that is hit with a pedal might have a tendency to sound a bit brittle or crispy.

Just to be clear...you are talking about V2 the tube that runs the vibrato channel?

Also a 12AY7 is two steps down from an AX7 right? I've often heard that an AT7 is not a good substitute for an AX7, is this correct?

PS Sorry if I hijacked the thread but I thought these questions might be relevant to the OPs post.

[telegibson]

Originally Posted by Syclone879

PS Sorry if I hijacked the thread but I thought these questions might be relevant to the OPs post.

If the discussion moves slightly into another direction that could still be interesting to learn something else.
After all I already got some great suggestions on several overdrive pedals.

[uriah1]

Not sure about far end tube, but, V2, I have used 12AY7, 5751...AT is ok, look
it up, you will get strong pros and cons...

There are also those that remove V1 for more grit and gain in V2.

THose that plop a 12ax7 in phase inverter in stead of 12at7.. Those that
like using speaker breakup for distortion too...like a greenie...or an old 15watt alnico

experiment..

I like pedals, since I am not in the old school of cranking amp to 9 and using guitar vol control.