Good Overdrive Pedals?

[skintaster]

Ok, here's a (probably) stupid question... What can a good overdrive do for an already high gain amp? I've heard of people using one in that way, but I'm a bit confused as to why, and what it would do? I have an old 5150, so I have to ask.

And thanks again for all the cool feedback!

[Nightbat]

Tighten up the tone, add some highs, mids, lows, give you a lead boost or everything

[Larz]

Ok, here's a (probably) stupid question... What can a good overdrive do for an already high gain amp? I've heard of people using one in that way, but I'm a bit confused as to why, and what it would do? I have an old 5150, so I have to ask.

And thanks again for all the cool feedback!

I notice some tightness, maybe a little extra sustain and easier pinch harmonics, not to mention some wicked feedback.

I have a Keeley modded tubescreamer and an xotic effects BB preamp, both are pretty nice. But I use them on clean channels probably more than anything.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Ok, here's a (probably) stupid question... What can a good overdrive do for an already high gain amp? I've heard of people using one in that way, but I'm a bit confused as to why, and what it would do? I have an old 5150, so I have to ask.

And thanks again for all the cool feedback!

back off the amp gain a bit and then boost it with an overdrive pedal with the level up and gain down. this will push the preamp tubes into sweet singing natural comression, harmonics, and sustain.

[skintaster]

back off the amp gain a bit and then boost it with an overdrive pedal with the level up and gain down. this will push the preamp tubes into sweet singing natural comression, harmonics, and sustain.

Thanks! That's definitely one of the things I was wondering about. And thanks to everyone for all the great info.

[Riffmeister]

God, I hate to be the one who may come up with the stupid question , but what is the difference in adding the gain with a pedal, vs turning the gain on the amp up? I only ask cause someones said to turn the gain on the amp DOWN>

[skintaster]

God, I hate to be the one who may come up with the stupid question , but what is the difference in adding the gain with a pedal, vs turning the gain on the amp up? I only ask cause someones said to turn the gain on the amp DOWN>

I think (If I understand how this works) is like Dreamland_Rebel said, an overdrive can push the power tubes harder instead of the preamp distortion from the amp, you get what is widely regarded as a more pleasing distortion sound. I wasn't sure if an overdrive pedal works like that, but I guess it does. Can't wait to try that technique out!

Again,I may be wrong... I've never owned an overdrive pedal before, but I'm definitely going to pick one up.

[VitaminG]

they don't push the power tubes harder, they are still creating preamp distortion by pushing the front end with a hotter signal. The problem with a lot of amp distortion is that it often gets muddier as you turn that gain knob. If you find you don't have enough "useable" gain on your amp, turning the gain down into that useable range for a pleasing distortion & slamming the front end with an overdrive (volume up, drive down) or a clean boost will give you more gain whilst tightening up your sound.

Best analogy that I can think of is when you put your thumb over the end of a garden hose. It's the same water flowing but now you have a tighter, more intense flow.

[skintaster]

they don't push the power tubes harder, they are still creating preamp distortion by pushing the front end with a hotter signal. The problem with a lot of amp distortion is that it often gets muddier as you turn that gain knob. If you find you don't have enough "useable" gain on your amp, turning the gain down into that useable range for a pleasing distortion & slamming the front end with an overdrive (volume up, drive down) or a clean boost will give you more gain whilst tightening up your sound.

Best analogy that I can think of is when you put your thumb over the end of a garden hose. It's the same water flowing but now you have a tighter, more intense flow.

Excellent! Thanks for the clarification. This is totally new territory for me, I've always relied entirely on my amps distortion... Now I can't wait to try an overdrive with all my amps.

[Riffmeister]

Can you get these same kind of benefits from using a Distortion pedal in front of you amp, or is that kind of overkill?

[roodyrocker]

they don't push the power tubes harder, they are still creating preamp distortion by pushing the front end with a hotter signal. The problem with a lot of amp distortion is that it often gets muddier as you turn that gain knob. If you find you don't have enough "useable" gain on your amp, turning the gain down into that useable range for a pleasing distortion & slamming the front end with an overdrive (volume up, drive down) or a clean boost will give you more gain whilst tightening up your sound.

Best analogy that I can think of is when you put your thumb over the end of a garden hose. It's the same water flowing but now you have a tighter, more intense flow.

Exactly what he said! Some amps need that extra push in the front end from a pedal, old school Marshall tone for example. An amp like the Bogner Uberschall has so much gain on the distortion channel that a pedal is not needed there. And most importantly, an amp like an Uber has gain that is useable throughout its range. Others start sounding bad beyond a certain point. And if you want to complicate matters more, some people use more than one pedal to hit the front end of the amp such as an overdrive and a clean boost or two overdrives at lower settings one into the other. There are tons of possibilities, you just have to try them and find out what sounds best to you while not adding lots of noise.

[outgone]

It´s all about the sound of the distortion/overdrive. Different pedals achieve different tones on every amp. In my case i didn´t like the distortion on the "ultra-channel" so i bought a dist. pedal to get a different drive.

You should check out the blackstar pedals "dist" or "distx"!
I´ve got the distx and it is the best pedal i´ve ever heard!
(a little expensive though...)

--> http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Can you get these same kind of benefits from using a Distortion pedal in front of you amp, or is that kind of overkill?

there is a huge difference in tones from a distortion pedal in front of a clean channel, an overdrive infront of a gain channel, and directly into a gain channel.

its hard to put into words but completely different sounds from all 3. it just depends on what you are going for.

[vondran]

Exactly what he said! Some amps need that extra push in the front end from a pedal, old school Marshall tone for example. An amp like the Bogner Uberschall has so much gain on the distortion channel that a pedal is not needed there. And most importantly, an amp like an Uber has gain that is useable throughout its range. Others start sounding bad beyond a certain point. And if you want to complicate matters more, some people use more than one pedal to hit the front end of the amp such as an overdrive and a clean boost or two overdrives at lower settings one into the other. There are tons of possibilities, you just have to try them and find out what sounds best to you while not adding lots of noise.

Another option is put an EQ in front of the amp. Use it to push the amp harder, and you have more control of which frequencies to boost.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

there is also the school of thought that you should have an EQ up front and in the loop. usually this leads to a rack system. then a midi switching system for said rack...