For years and years, I was an "amp only for gain" kinda guy. Didn't even like boosts so much, tbh. Certainly didn't dig running dirt pedals into a clean amp.
Welp, turns out getting a different amp, one famous for taking pedals well, changed my tune on that. I've actually gigged now with the Plexi set clean & using pedals for all my dirt ~ something I *never* thought I'd ever do!
But my current favorite set up is to have the Plexi (or whatever amp) set for low to mid gain crunch (nice, roaring growl, but not compressed & easily cleaned up from the guitar) and to use dirt boxes (either as boost or dialed to add gain from the pedal) for extra gain and for different flavoring. Seems so incredibly versatile that way, and the higher gain stuff actually sounds better that way to me now than a guitar straight into a high gain amp.
So, how do y'all do it?
ajaxlepinski wrote:Lack of personal style? Dude, you're the Sean Connery of GAB!
Dave wrote:Draelyc - can write a solid song, and play tasty leads despite his internal neurotic tendencies. Despite a million debates raging in his head over string guage, pickup height, Pete Townshend's sexual history, and pick material he makes his Shiva give up the goods. Plus his unplugged electric tone... well... it exists.
At the moment, a semi dirty Plexi, sodomized with pedals.
EQ or Aphex Xciter thrown in at low volumes to make up for low end you dont get with the amp not being turned up
Murdoch wrote:Nothing I would do to her would be in the same country as hygenic. If it were, I would be actively devaluing the act, and we can't have that.
Good Deals With : Facing Failure (now Van_Muddlestein) . goodhonk . benjamin801. sublimeride. River Bend. Flying Milkman. Crunchtime. MickTaylorFan. ~Abstract~. colejustesen. paul88lx .guitarbilly74. Mike LX-R. Murdoch. Le_Marteau. matt rhoads.nwright.Mk2 Steve
A thing to remember when getting gain from pedals with NMV Marshalls, is your presence knob. How you set it, can make, or break your toan, IMO
Murdoch wrote:Nothing I would do to her would be in the same country as hygenic. If it were, I would be actively devaluing the act, and we can't have that.
Good Deals With : Facing Failure (now Van_Muddlestein) . goodhonk . benjamin801. sublimeride. River Bend. Flying Milkman. Crunchtime. MickTaylorFan. ~Abstract~. colejustesen. paul88lx .guitarbilly74. Mike LX-R. Murdoch. Le_Marteau. matt rhoads.nwright.Mk2 Steve
Depends on what I'm doing, honestly. Lately, I've been using boosts into a semi-clean, slightly crunchy amp. But, every way as pointed out by ke2 would be my answer.
I love a great clean channel but in all seriousness have no use for one in any band I play in. I run a semi dirty clean tone (or very light crunch, either way you would like to classify it) and use my Ultimate drive pedal for leads. Or if it is something that needs more ballz in the rhythm department, I run the lead channel and hit the drive for leads in those situations. I would actually like to find a pedal that gives me a volume boost on the lead channel with just a touch of gain increase. I seem to stay at unity volume when I hit my lead channel with the dirt I have on hand. I run a 10 band in the loop at all times, so that is out for volume boosting.
Other. I generally run a boost into the front of a medium-gain amp. Lately though, i've kinda messed around with the gain between the amp and the boost pedal more. For example, i normally ran 95% of my gain from my amp and just a slight amount of grit from my Green Rhino. Now that i have the Doomsday Device, i like the gain structure on it much more than the Green Rhino. Because of this, i'm running less gain on my amp and more gain on my Doomsday device.
I just got the Doomsday Device today though, so this could all change. The aggregate gain between the two ( OD pedal and amp channel) generally stays the same regardless of what i am doing though. its just a 'which gain do i like more' situation and i use more from that device than the other.
AMPS/CABS: -Peavey 5150 -Mesa Triple Crown 100 -Mesa Mark V -Diezel DZ412S (K100s) -VHT FatBottom 412 (P50E) -Mesa OS 4x12 (V30s)
GUITARS: -Jackson MIJ DK-2S -Schecter Jeff Loomis JLX-7 'Cygnus' (Loomis Blackouts) -Schecter Blackjack ATX V1 FR -Epiphone Les Paul Classic
I voted other - because it depends what I'm playing at the moment.
If I'm playing the 5 watter, with 2 gain controls and a MV - it's usually all amp, and since it's 5 watts, a combination of pre and power tube distortion. If I'm playing my JTM45 - it's pedal based.
Chuck Nutz wrote:Uhhhhh all. No overdrive pedals though.
Fuzz, amp distortion, power amp distortion, ear drum distortion, etc
In all seriousness, I have never been a fan of poweramp distortion myself. Maybe I need to hear a good example of it?
Depends on the amp. Some just straight up aren't meant to distort.
I also prefer 6l6s and usually those tubes are used for clean headroom purposes, unlike 34s which have a dirtier thing going on. I just got my first el34 amp (Blackstar...I know cheap sh*t lol) in a long time and I can say you definitely hear the character of the power tubes when you crank it up, diode-clipping be damned.
I voted for dirty amp boosted because that's my lead tone which stands out in front of my other layers of gain. Lately since I've gotten the VH100R I'm boosting a lot less often than I used to. The amp just covers all the ground I need by itself. Out of habit and experimentation I was boosting all my channel options but that habit is dying on its own. I've just been using the BB preamp as a lead boost, which is what it excels at.
Ive been boosting gain a bit lately with the MXR 10 band I just aquired.
Murdoch wrote:Nothing I would do to her would be in the same country as hygenic. If it were, I would be actively devaluing the act, and we can't have that.
Good Deals With : Facing Failure (now Van_Muddlestein) . goodhonk . benjamin801. sublimeride. River Bend. Flying Milkman. Crunchtime. MickTaylorFan. ~Abstract~. colejustesen. paul88lx .guitarbilly74. Mike LX-R. Murdoch. Le_Marteau. matt rhoads.nwright.Mk2 Steve
