Pedals with a Champ

[SURFDOC]

I am currently playing a 1989 Tele with a Humbucker in the neck and I love the fat tone of the pick up. I want to add some grit to it though. I know this should be easy with a Champ, just turn it up and drive the tubes. Thats cool to do while I am at home alone but once the kids are around or trying to sleep I have to turn down the volume. So the question is what pedal would match this amp to give some nice fat overdrive tones, wont mess up the clean tone when playing dry and be useful for blues, country and classic rock.

Thanks.

[Bopcat]

If you like the sound of your amp when it's turned up and want it to sound like that at lower volumes get a Bad Bob Booster. Turn Bob up to 12 o'clock, guitar at it's usual volume setting and adjust the overall volume with the Champ's volume control.
A Blues Driver (I have one with Analog Man's Super Mod) will also work. With the gain turned all the way down and volume and tone at 12 o'clock the pedal is a fairly clean booster. Turning up the gain will add some grit. The Blues Driver and the Bad Bob don't have the EQ change (mid range hump) and degree of compression that a Tube Screamer type pedal has. I think a Tube Screamer type pedal (I have a Maxon OD-9 with Analog Man's Silver Mod) is best when playing with others as the EQ and compression really makes your sound stand out in the mix; I don't care for it all that much by itself.
The Blues Driver or Bad Bob are what I use with my SF Champ.

[Colin Johnston]

I use a stock Boss Super Overdrive with mine. Drive set about 12.30, tone set about 10.30

[FrankB]

get a bk butler tube driver off of ebay or build one. Tube driven pedals are literally some of the best available tone in a box.

[IronJoe]

When the champ is starting to sweat a little, let's say about 5-6 on the Volume, I love the sound of the tubescreamer (ts-10) for overdrive and lead boost. However, with the Volume down around 3, it doesn't really do it for me. It adds too much honk, if that makes sense. I guess it's the mid-hump that I'm hearing.

I've never tried it with the champ, but I've played a Blues Driver through a solid state amp and thought it was cool. That would probably be my choice if you want all of your overdrive/distortion from the floor.

My only concern is how the top-end sparkle of the BD would interact with the higher-frequency voicing of the Champ. I get little/no bottom end out of the Sig 8 in my Champ. Maybe others have experience with this...

[SURFDOC]

Thanks for the info. So if I am understanding this the boost is going to increase the output of the guitar so I can turn the amp down and get a low volume tube driven sound?

Or some of you guys have had good luck w/ the BD-2.

I am going to check out some pedals tomorrow. Are the boutique pedals really worth the extra dough?

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by IronJoe

When the champ is starting to sweat a little, let's say about 5-6 on the Volume, I love the sound of the tubescreamer (ts-10) for overdrive and lead boost. However, with the Volume down around 3, it doesn't really do it for me. It adds too much honk, if that makes sense. I guess it's the mid-hump that I'm hearing.

+1

IronJoe beat me to it :)

A Tubescreamer rocks in a Champ. I've got a TS808 clone I use.

I think most overdrives will sound great with the Champ, but fuzzes or distortion pedals not so much.

[SURFDOC]

I really liked the sound samples of teh Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive and the Barber Limited, also interested in the Route 66.

[missfortune]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

I think most overdrives will sound great with the Champ, but fuzzes or distortion pedals not so much.

All depends on what you're looking for. I absolutely love the sound of my Champ with a Tonebender MKII clone and/or HBE Germania treble booster. True, it's a thick, sick tone, but I'm cool with that. YMMV.

[mojohen]

I too like my TS9/808, but the sparkle drive allows you to mix back in the clean (?) tone. Nice feature, plus the tone is very TS9.
My '71 Champ has a Weber Sig8s and NOS tubes. It has a grainy drive sound all it's own, but for more of that, I like my MXR Dist Plus, or grey box DOD250. Similar in tone to the Champ, just more of it.
Tell you what, a Champ makes the PURR-fect screamer.
I'm all smiles when mic'd...

mojohen

[petebradt]

Originally Posted by SURFDOC

I am currently playing a 1989 Tele with a Humbucker in the neck and I love the fat tone of the pick up. I want to add some grit to it though. I know this should be easy with a Champ, just turn it up and drive the tubes. Thats cool to do while I am at home alone but once the kids are around or trying to sleep I have to turn down the volume. So the question is what pedal would match this amp to give some nice fat overdrive tones, wont mess up the clean tone when playing dry and be useful for blues, country and classic rock.

Thanks.

Nobels ODR-1.

[kp8]

i use a OD3 (or sometimes my RAT) w/ my Bad Bob on my Champ .. cause that is what i got... but the Menatone Red Snapper sounded great on the champ too as does the just mentioned ODR-1. But like i said i used the OD3 on low w/ the Bob dialed in @12 cause that is what i got.

Another option would be a little boost & a little bit of attenuation (like a Weber Mini Mass)... I wanna get me one of them too.. That would prolly get you your loud sound a bit closer to bed room levels.