Dirt pedals and different amps

[markal]

For those who have multiple amps that have different tonal characteristics, I’m curious how you handle OD/distortion/fuzz pedals. Do you have amp/pedal combinations that you stick with and some pedals you don’t run with certain amps? Or do you tend to have the same set of pedals and you just change their settings when you switch amps?

I’ve been doing the latter (change settings) but starting to think I should decide on certain combinations, leave the settings, and only use those combinations.

 

[Will_Darden]

I have a few amps I play through, including one (a Mesa Nomad 45 Combo) where the channels almost operate like separate amps. I only have one set of pedals and tend to rely on my amp for OD/Distortion and only use fuzz to beef up the tone (usually as a way to bring a thicker, warmer tone to my single coils).

If you're using multiple amps and multiple guitars with your OD/Dist/Fuzz, it might be time for a pedal with presets so you can switch quickly, but the only way that would be worth it is for me if I were playing live and needed a way to switch quickly on stage. For home play I don't really need to jump around and my amp gives me enough tonal control I can switch with a single foot switch.

 

[black_doug]

I thought I may have to use different dirt pedals. If I had a Fender BF amp I would but I don’t so I’ve been using the same dirt pedals for my two tube amps.

 

[JustABluesGuy]

I tend to use the same pedals with one exception. The tube screamer (and all the variants of it) tend to sound best with more mid scooped amps. I don’t use the TS with Marshall amps.

Too much stacking of mids on mids starts sounding like a 60s transistor radio, inside a cardboard box to me.

 

[radiocaster]

Fuzz pedals sound good only through certain amps and cabs and with certain guitars. And very few of them at that. If you raise or lower the pickup 1 mm, it'll probably sound like crap.

I'm recently trying metal pedals into different amps, and noticing that some pedals do not sound good through certain amps and cabs.

I only have one amp that overdrives get a sound I like with.

 

[telemnemonics]

I voted same pedals but if stuck on a desert island with only a BF Fender amp I'd change that.
I just don't use mid scooped amps any more.

 

[cousinpaul]

It's guitars for me. Reverb and delay pedals stay the same but my strat likes a Blues Breaker while the tele sounds best with an SD-1

 

[blujosh]

I tend to use the same pedals with one exception. The tube screamer (and all the variants of it) tend to sound best with more mid scooped amps. I don’t use the TS with Marshall amps.

Too much stacking of mids on mids starts sounding like a 60s transistor radio, inside a cardboard box to me.

same here when it comes to tube screamers - i like them with Fender blackface style amps (and 5150 style amps), but prefer things like treble boosters with Marshalls, for the same reason - the sum of the mids from a TS + a Marshall just doesn't sound right to me.
I also only like Big Muffs and similar fuzzes into high headroom clean amps...

 

[northernguitar]

I tend to use the same pedals with one exception. The tube screamer (and all the variants of it) tend to sound best with more mid scooped amps. I don’t use the TS with Marshall amps.

Too much stacking of mids on mids starts sounding like a 60s transistor radio, inside a cardboard box to me.

I think the best tone Metallica ever got was a JCM800 pushed by a TS on Ride The Lightning.

 

[codamedia]

IMO.... the speakers in an amp have a huge impact on the overdrive tones, equal or maybe even more than the amp itself. EG: An AC30 with Blue/Silver Bells reacts very different than an AC30 with Greenbacks.

I don’t use the TS with Marshall amps.

Complete opposite for me.... I don't play a Marshal without a Tube Screamer

I guess it's all in how you use the pedal. I dial in the classic Marshal "dirt" on the amp... then kick in the TS for solo's. I don't use the TS as part of the main "dirt" sound.

 

[D_Malone]

I need to cover a lot of different tones with our band, so the amp is usually a clean “blank canvas”.

I have a small, somewhat diverse, collection of iconic tube amps. Lately I’ve found that a clean Quilter with my pedal board is all I need to cover everything we play.

 

[mad dog]

Same pedals with every amp. Two little boards. On each, clean boost first, then mild OD (which is not always on.) The more flexible setup is the board with a Tim clean boost, then a Greer Lightspeed. I can adjust EQ at the Tim pedal (reductive EQ knobs for treble and bass) to account for amp differences. For example, the Magnatone Varsity non-reverb sounds better with a touch more bass rolled off, compared to the deluxe reverb. The Lightspeed sounds good with any amp, at least stacked after the always on Tim.

 

[arlum]

Dedicated effect boards for each amp.