Tech 21 Character Pedals?

I split the signal off my board sometimes - one line out to an amp, a second out to the Blonde/JDI. Dialed in, it adds a beautiful girth to my tone without being loud or having to haul a second amp. I've done pretty much the same with a Blonde and Liverpool with great results - lightest two amp rig I've ever setup.

 

This makes perfect sense and also a great idea. I thought you were using the Blonde pedal into the front of your amp and then splitting the signal from the Blonde to the board. Maybe on my next band gig I'll give that a try myself.

 

Yeah it's pretty cool - kind of an "amp extender" so to speak. You can set it up as a wet/dry thing, whatever you want. Nice running a PR clone and sounding like a twin. The phase and ground lift buttons on the JDI come in really handy to make it all get along.

 

Just for completeness sake; If I'm running just the board direct, I can use two lines out from the Strymon (if there are enough open channels on the board) and split my signal left and right. If I'm running an amp as well, I do an easy re-route and run from the Jetdrive into the trem, then split from the Strymon to the amp and the other side to the Blonde (+/- a JDI). If I want to use this board with an amp only, I swap out the Sex Drive for a Retro Sonic Phaser and use the Blonde as a clean boost (and it's a damned good clean boost). Pretty much a Swiss Army board.

 

This is interesting.
I was reading where rockabilly guy Vince Gordon uses a Sansamp GT2 in front of his dual showman to make it sound like an old bassman at whatever vol he needs.

I wonder how it would sound if I put one in front of my Hayseed30 *vox ac30 clone* Sometimes I would like to get a fender sound but don't want to carry two amps. I suppose I could also just send it straight to the PA off my pedalboard but I would prefer to just be able to use it as a another stompbox running into my amp.

 

I've yet to find a pedal that completely changes one tube amp to sound like another, but my Liverpool can make my Clark or Allen sound a lot more Vox. I can use my Blonde to make either of the amps sound pretty convincingly tweed and a guy on TGP thinks he's getting a pretty convincing Hiwatt tone out of a Leeds pedal into a Fender clone. I think that if you're in a gigging situation and want to have a range of amp tones available, these are a very viable solution. All of these really shine running direct.

 

Resurrecting this thread.

I recently purchased a Tech 21 Blonde to go direct with my electric guitar for some lower volume scenarios. My first attempt at using it was last night. I noticed a DRASTIC difference in tone between going into a direct box, then the xlr input on the board and going straight to the line in with an instrument cable. With the direct box setup, the tone was rather muddy and the overdrive very "fizzy" sounding. When I switched to the line in, things cleared up and I was getting more of the tone I expected out of the Blonde. Anyone have any similar or dissimilar experiences? I am not sure what was going on, but the setup at one of the churches I play at will require the DI box, and quite frankly, the sound was just not good when using that method last night.

 

Romo, you may not need a direct box; try a guitar cable to a 1/4" jack to XLR plug adapter, or a 1/4" jack to XLR plug cable.

 

What kind of direct box were you using? They are not all created equal for sure. Does it have a pad? Was it on? How was the board set?

I run mine through a Radial JDI and they sounds great - no meaningful change at all, maybe even a touch better with long cable runs. I leave the pad off and the speaker sim on the JDI off. You don't NEED a DI in some settings, and with some boards the pedals sound better if they bypass the board's pre's. Could just as well be more about the board than either the Blonde or DI.

 

I don't think it was the board, as I left all the settings the same when switching to the line in from the xlr, and the tone was much better. I think the box was just one of those simple, passive Live Wire DI's, with just the 1/4" and xlr inputs and a ground/lift switch. I will try some different direct boxes and see what kind of results I get.

 

If I'm not mistaken, going into a line in on most boards will bypass the board's preamps, which could have a big tonal impact. Somebody please correct me if this is wrong.

 

I did a quick experiment this afternoon. I confirmed that the line in inputs on my bands board does not bypass the preamp, then compared the line in to the xlr using the active DI in my Strobostomp. The sound was pretty similar this time around, so I am blaming the cheap direct box. I guess I will use the Strobo as my DI at our next gig and see how things go

 

That makes sense. If you need to get a good DI, the Radial stuff is killer. The JDI in particular is great - ground lift, phase, pad, speaker sim XLR out and 1/4" through with a Jensen transformer and built like a tank. It's passive as well so you don't need to worry about powering it up.

 

I have heard a lot of good things about Radial and I'll definitely check that one out and maybe convince the church to spring for a couple better DI's. I appreciate the advice!