Over Drive Pedals - too much information!!

[on a wave]

Well, ive had my new amp now for about 2 - 3 weeks. Its an Vox ac 30 tbx and I must say its the best purchase I have made so far for my "musical hobby". :)

Anyway, i love the sound of the amp, but have noticed a lower levels its quite hard to get some decent rockier sounds out of it. I have to really drive it to get those nice over drive sounds that rock songs seems to love.

Of course I cant turn it up all the time because of my living situation, so i started looking into a pedal for my solution.

Ive been reading articles, browsing websites for about the last week and a bit and there is just so much information out there i dont know which way to go.

First of all let me say that I want to purchase a pedal that should stick with me for the next few years. I would rather spend some extra cash now and get myself something that im going to be happy with in the long run.

But the amount of pedals out there are just daunting. Ive been looking at modded ts9's, full tone over drives and their distortion pedal, klon, voodoo labs and they all claim to do basically the same stuff.

So I guess the big question is, would it be worth spending the extra cash on a "top of the range" pedal? Or should I just purchase the modded ts9?

In regards to the kind of sounds that i would be after, i guess I wouldnt want to get any heavier than acdc. However i mostly play grungier type of music and a bit of blues thrown in for good measure.

My axe is a standard MIM strat.

cheers,

on a wave

[Lyle Caldwell]

The Fulltone Full-Drive 2 is exactly what you're looking for, and here's why you should get it over a modded TS9: the FD2 gives you either OD with a boosted OD solo setting, or (pulling the comp-cut knob up) just a slight bit of attitude with a loud clean boost. So you'd effectively have a 5 channel amp.

It's a great match for a Strat and an AC30.

[Ringo]

Some folks ( Hi Lyle!) like the Fulldrive, but I didn't use the boost feature, - too much boost for my tastes, and I actually prefered my old TS10 over the other side of the Fulldrive.

Other opinions will be forthcoming I'm sure ... but I'll recommend the Barber Direct Drive, gets the TS/Fulltone tones and then some , much more gain on tap, tone control is much more useable etc...

[TeleTubby]

I had an AC15 RI and, in general, it didn't like "tubescreamer" types of pedals- don't know why, but they just didn't seem to work together. Best ODs I tried with it were a Hotcake (and practically in your backyard!) and Vox Valve Tone. Both were WAY better with the AC15 RI. You might also think about a treble booster type of pedal, a favorite of Brian May, Rory Gallagher, and other hardcore AC30 users.

[Lyle Caldwell]

Ringo,
How much time did you spend with the FD2? I ask because the boost feature is adjustable. If it was "too much" you could easily turn it down. And no, it's not a high gain pedal- perfect for the guy who wants AC/DC tones but not much hotter.
Not really arguing with you- the Direct Drive is a good pedal, too, as are just about all the small production pedals (the Hot Cake is another good one). About the only one that gets recommended that I find just about useless is the Sparkle Drive.

TeleTubby,
The Valvetone is a great little pedal, but it is a tubescreamer variant, albeit a very low gain example. I don't think it would be what he's after in low-volume use.

But the good news is that just about any of these pedals will have a high resale value, so if you can't try before you buy, buy used- you're almost guaranteed to get back what you paid for them if you sell.

[on a wave]

Correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think that the hotcake is true bypass?

I looked at these for awhile, but was turned off them because they werent true bypass. Otherwise they are a much more affordable option for me as they are much closer to home to their American counterparts.

[Tim Swartz]

Don't get too caught up in the true-bypass thing. There are many great pedals that don't have it and so what. But, my faves are the FD2, the RAT, and a Fuzz Face (all of which, coincidently are true-bypass). I had a Hot Cake, and found it to be too midrangey for my tastes (mostly non-master Marshalls and Fenders). I sold it to a bud who is a Hiwatt freak and he says it is the best. I know some AC30 guys who also think it is the best.

[Tim Bowen]

The one pedal I can recommend without hesitation with an AC30 is the Hotcake. Paul Crowther specifically designed this pedal for Neil Finn's AC30 when he was with Split Enz. The EQ is perfectly matched, there's output to spare, & the pedal has at least three distinct personalities - respectable clean boost/low gain, killer medium gain crunch, & exaggerated bass response @ higher gain that does some cool fake fuzz tones. My alltime fave for slide tones as well. Sounds fizzy & fake with some amps - but other pedals come & go with my Voxes, while the 'Cake remains a Swiss Army Knife pedal with that amp. Might not be exactly what you're looking for for every single situation (no pedal is), but this pedal will no doubt be useful with this amp. Buffer is fine. I've played a slew of pedals with the 30 - if there's anything else you're curious about, throw it out there... if I've played it, I'll toss some comments your way FWIW.

[Jef]

Does it really have to be a pedal? I'd recommend an attenuator instead: it will give you real AC30 drive, only at lower volume. Check out the Weber MASS or THD Hot Plate.

[pepeteus]

Originally Posted by Tim Swartz

But, my faves are the FD2, the RAT, and a Fuzz Face (all of which, coincidently are true-bypass). I had a Hot Cake, and found it to be too midrangey for my tastes (mostly non-master Marshalls and Fenders).

That's funny 'cause I find a Hot Cake to be quite the opposite of being too midrangey! And that is one thing why it works so well with EL84 and EL34 based amps. I really wouldn't say my Hotcake a midrangey pedal with presence knob turned anti-clockwise. It gets midrangier after 12 o'clock, but it's not in the Tubescreamer league.

I have a Peavey Delta Blues 1x15 (it has EL84) which loves Hot Cake and not so much TS type pedals. That said I also have Reverend Drivetrain II which sounds quite like FD2. Drivetrain works better with my amp than TS clones in general 'cause it has separate bass and treble controls and it does have less mid-hump than TS.

Bottom line is that between Hot Cake and DTII it's not hard to say which one has more midrange. IMO

[maxwidmer]

If all you want is to drive your AC30, maybe the attenuator is the right option

[on a wave]

thanks for all the replies guys. much appreciated.

i guess one of the reasons im staying away from the hotplate is that it is a lot more expensive than a pedal.

also with the pedal i can probably get a wider range of sounds that just using the natural over drive on the amp?

i might see if i can get my hands on the and give it a bash, however it looks like the full drive 2 is the way to go at this stage.....

has anyone had any experience with tech 21 stuff? that seems quite good too

edit: with the people who have used the full drive 2 - does it enable you to get marshall type of sounds out of your amps?

[on a wave]

has anyone had any experience with the Klon Centaur?

the reviews for those seem to be quite good too....

[Lyle Caldwell]

Re: the FD2...

Depends on what you mean by "Marshall." It will push your AC30 into JTM 45/Plexi territory, but it won't make it sound like a JCM 800 or later high gain Marshall.

And again, it really doesn't change the sound of your amp- it will be your amp's sound, only louder with more gain. How much gain depends on your amp settings, the FD2 settings, and what tubes/bias your are using.

[11 Gauge]

i've used some of the Tech 21 stuff and my take on it is that it doesn't do well with tube amps.

most of their pedals are designed to be tube amp emulations, and they use a bunch of active circuitry. it just doesn't seem to be a good match with tube amps.

just my opinion, but i tend to see their pedals as mainly D.I. stuff for recording.

as far as overdrives go, you may want to start out with a stock TubeScreamer. any variation will do - a TS5 for example should cost you next to nothing.

why start with a TubeScreamer? because so many overdrive pedals are variations on the TS circuit. this would make the TubeScreamer (stock) a good starting point.

then if you don't care for the infamous midrange hump, lack of lower frequencies, and limited amount of gain, you can investigate pedals that address these 3 fundamentals of TS type circuits.

if you are lucky, a stock TS or slightly modified one (or slightly modified clone) may be all that you need.

overdrives are like flavors or colors. some people like one, can't stand another, etc.

the only way to get to the bottom of it is to try out as many as you can. also, some will work better in your rig (i.e. amp, guitar(s)) than others. so make sure you try them through YOUR rig!

[dhdfoster]

You need to try the blue-jammie purple mammoth hot pants fool-tune OD with the Kelly/maximum control true-bypass sizzle-frazzle mod. The mids sparkle around 10K with about 4% better string definition, than without the mod. If you buy one used on EBay, make sure it doesn't have the Frank Rizzo kazooza mod. Word is, Frank takes the gymnasium transistor chips out, and makes killer robots with them.

[on a wave]

You need to try the blue-jammie purple mammoth hot pants fool-tune OD with the Kelly/maximum control true-bypass sizzle-frazzle mod. The mids sparkle around 10K with about 4% better string definition, than without the mod. If you buy one used on EBay, make sure it doesn't have the Frank Rizzo kazooza mod. Word is, Frank takes the gymnasium transistor chips out, and makes killer robots with them.

yeah, i heard about them. however the guy who does the mod's has this huge back order and he can only offer a pubic fuzz modded screamer with the gold plated diodes and optional strap on.....

[mel_jr]

I have an '63 jmi ac30 and it doesn't like my klon at all. My vicky tweed bandmaster, however, loves the klon. I have a fuzz face (analog man) and keeley java boost... both sound really cool with the vox. But the for the boost to work well the amp has to be a bit cranked... but the fuzz just sounds cool.

I suspect that my ears don' t like like the mid-range bump of the ts9's and klon type pedals through the vox... but then again, this is a matter of taste.

-meljr

[Jay N.]

2 words...Hot Cake. Don't even bother to look any further. Goes from clean boost to fuzz and everything in between. I love it with my DR and I love it with my AC30 clone.

[heylow]

I think I'd go with the Fulltone....the newest model is quite cool and bit more versatile. The build quality is flawless and having a boost channel is nice when ya want a little gas.

heylow