distortion - is there yet a...

parker_knoll

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...pedal that can do the tube thing where you hit hard and it breaks up and you hit soft and it doesn't?

In my experience i have always found

a) pedals to be either on or off, they don't have that organic response to playing dynamics that valves have

b) they nearly always suck bass and I like bass. I even have a subwoofer.

I know there are endless debates about the best pedals, but i trust the users of this site.

Has anyone found something natural?
 

parker_knoll

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EDIT: personally i like Fender style slightly gritty distortion with lots of treble.

Sorry if this is a verboten thread
 

guitarslinger

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In descending order; Your amp, Ethos, Zendrive Gold...,but, EVERYONE will have an opinion on this and I'm sure some of them will hate me for my choices.
 

parker_knoll

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i'm asking because I bought a natty Guild tranny amp, the one with 2x10" and a fake rotary speaker mode and i'm thinking of something to put in front of it
 

Quantum Strummer

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I can tell you Catalinbread does a real good job of emulating a Hiwatt running in its sweet zone with their RAH (Royal Albert Hall) pedal. When set properly it's very responsive to pick (or finger) attack. I use mine in front of a…Hiwatt. :laughing: (Or, more often these days, a Hi-Tone repro.)

-Dave-
 

jp

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I'm able to get that dynamic response with an old B.K. Butler Tube Driver, which has a 12AX7 preamp tube in it. There have since been a host of similar tube-driven overdrive/distortion pedals that may be worth a try. I know that Seymour Duncan (Twin Tube) and Ibanez (Tube King) put out similar tube-driven pedals that may get you that nice touch response if you use them with discretion as more of a slight boost rather than a full-on distortion effect. Note that there are a host of newer pedals that aim to emulate high-gain tube amps, and run at higher voltages, such as the Radial Tone Bone, the Blackstar HT series, or the Mesa Boogie V-twin.

In my experience, I've also found that it also really depends on what amp you're using, as well as the output of your pickups. Some pedals work better with certain types of amp/guitar setups better than others. I wouldn't rule out pure analog pedals either, because sometimes those may work better with a tube amp. The really popular ones are the classic green Ibanez Tube Screamer, the Fulltone OCD, or even one of the tried and true Boss OD series.
 
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txbumper57

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If you don't mind Boutique pedals I have a JHS Moonshine Overdrive that is pretty touch sensitive when played light but really starts getting after it when you dig in. It has 2 different settings for overdrive and one of them resembles the "Dumble" tone. Very Versatile. It's my favorite pedal to use with my P90 and single coil guitars. I'm currently running it in front of my Fender 68 reissue Deluxe Reverb 22 watt amp and my Guild Thunderbird 2x12 in stereo. I also get good results from the previously mentioned OCD as well as a Fulltone Plimsoul. You can check out the JHS moonshine on Youtube as well as the Plimsoul. Also if you don't mind spending the money check out the Okko Diablo Overdrive. Great pedal. Later and Congrats on getting that Duane Eddy up and going!
 

parker_knoll

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thanks for all the recommends. I was looking at tube pedals, but started to get into all the debate about operating voltages and then thought "oh no, I can't get into this" so I'm going to ruminate for a while. Also, I could do with leaving the spending for a while after the outlay on the Duane :)
 

Quantum Strummer

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thanks for all the recommends.

For when you decide to get back to the spending, here are some further suggestions to investigate. :)

– Catalinbread's various "amp in a box" pedals. I've heard real good dynamic response from their takes on Fender tweed, Marshall & Vox amps. They try to capture specific tonal & gain ranges rather than the entire spectrum of a particular amp family. The RAH I mentioned above, for example, sounds remarkably like a classic Hiwatt with the channel & master volumes turned well up…but doesn't try to do the cleaner higher-fidelity stuff Hiwatts also excel at.

— Hungry Robot's "The Hungry Robot" overdrive. I've only heard/seen web demos of this one but it's clearly a very dynamic pedal. Moderate breakup even with the gain knob cranked. Planning to try one out for myself.

— Electro-Harmonix's Soul Food with JHS mods. If you like the Klon Centaur sound.

— Visual Sound (now Truetone apparently) Open Road. Basically a Tube Screamer without the bass cut & mid boost. IMO it integrates better with a clean amp than a TS. Responds pretty well to playing dynamics. (I have a TS too but use it only to drive a Guild Foxey Lady (1st version EHX Big Muff in a Guild-branded enclosure.)

-Dave-
 

Kslam

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...pedal that can do the tube thing where you hit hard and it breaks up and you hit soft and it doesn't?

In my experience i have always found

a) pedals to be either on or off, they don't have that organic response to playing dynamics that valves have

b) they nearly always suck bass and I like bass. I even have a subwoofer.

I know there are endless debates about the best pedals, but i trust the users of this site.

Has anyone found something natural?

I've been on this quest for years and have been through dozens of overdrive pedals.. To my ears, the one that comes closest to what you're looking for is the Barber LTD, which is out of production but readily available on the used market. Barber does make the Gain Changer now, which cops the LTD sound, but in a smaller box. I have both pedals and can attest that they are very similar. I slightly prefer the LTD though.
 

parker_knoll

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i kind of ended up going back to the tube amp! it's humming badly though, so time for a service. The tubes themselves seem good. Nothing does it quite like the amp.
 

Muovinen

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I'd add Mad Professors Sweet Honey OD to the list of dynamically responsive overdrive pedals. Tube Screamers are meant to cut the bass and tighten the sound. That's why they cut through the mix so well. Most OD pedals are actually based on different Tube Screamer versions but with slight modifications and maybe some more up-to-date graphics.

But why do you need a subwoofer with your guitar? I understand if you play alone and enjoy a really full sound but with a band it just messes things up, IMO.
 

parker_knoll

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yeah, i play alone and actually have quite a weird setup. it's kind of soundscape stuff mixed with a bit of rockabilly and surf (if you can get your head around that). My friend calls it heroin surf guitar which is a pretty ok description for me. So i need to make a nice full sound, and also have some boxes that do infinite octave doubling up and down so the sub lets that come out. I only started using the sub fairly recently but it's staying for now.

If we want to go into details, it's an ISP Steve Lukather i got used for a steal, which i use with an open back 2x12 loaded with JBLs and the amp is a 1969 Laney. It's a nice British amp with Partridge transformers which is what they used in Hiwatt and again i got it for a steal. I have two of them, one spare, and modded it a bit to add some grit.
 
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