Overdrive/Distortion from Amp or Pedal?

[442w30]

I like my Marshall 4010 combo - (2204 head in a combo) with amp distortion and a ProCo rat pushing it. I also like pushing it with a Boss GE-7 or SD-1, but not all three at once.

Not a big fan of pedal distortion alone, but the RAT gets my vote -seems to have what I'd call "harmonics".

In my opinion, other distortions sound either
spongy, muddy, or oversaturated - Boss Heavy Metal
or out of phase or "hollow" - MT-2, Distortion +. DS-1

I thought the Boss HM-2 or HM-3 was great for a single hum pickup for leads to give a lead boost and "neck like pickup" tone.

A cool effect that I like is the MXR Blue Box - really usable, cool octave/distortion - can't do that with an amp by itself.

[roodyrocker]

I'd agree with that. I really want a wireless, but they're so expensive

It'd be great just to have a guitar and a MIDI floordboard and that's it.

I recently went to such a setup for live performance. I put my pedals in a rack drawer with a GCX Switcher. The only thing in front of me on the floor is the Ground Control Pro to turn the pedals off/on with. And the Ground Control Pro doesn't even use a power cord because it is phantom powered just by connecting the midi cable to the GCX Switcher. So infront of me is just the Ground Control Pro and the amp footswitch to go between clean and distortion channels. Oh yeah, and another benifit is that when a pedal is not being used, it is removed from the guitar signal path by the GCX Switcher

[roodyrocker]

both. there isn't an amp on the planet that has enough GAIN for me to use by itself.

Apparently you have not had the chance to plug into a Bogner Uberschall Its a monster

[jaydog]

i hate distortion pedals with a passion. and my triple xxx has tons of gain, so there is no need for a distortion/od pedal. it's a funny thing though i remember when i was a kid which was a long time ago, i'm 39 now. i was in a local music store and this guy was standing there with a guitar plugged directly into an amp jamming his ass off. i was amazed that he was getting this magic sound from that amp that my cheap little multivox practice amp at home would not give me. as we all know that magic sound was distortion. i don't remember what kind of amp he was playing through. but i remember the cool guitar he was playing was a washburn like the one that carlos cavazo of quiet riot played. anyway i just thought it was cool that he was getting distortion directly from the amp without using a pedal.

[Cygnus X1]

I went through way too many distortion pedals before I found that the tone I wanted came from the amp. But I'm a fan of good overdrives. Boss OD-1, kind of like a tube screamer, but with a lot less "coloring" of its own. Then I cram it into the power tubes as much as I can. I like the sound of a tube rectifier, too.

[jaydog]

I went through way too many distortion pedals before I found that the tone I wanted came from the amp. But I'm a fan of good overdrives. Boss OD-1, kind of like a tube screamer, but with a lot less "coloring" of its own. Then I cram it into the power tubes as much as I can. I like the sound of a tube rectifier, too.

cygnus, i never tried a tube screamer or od pedal of any kind. so are they different than a distortion pedal? are they like a gain boost that kicks your tubes in the ass or something like that?

[Cygnus X1]

cygnus, i never tried a tube screamer or od pedal of any kind. so are they different than a distortion pedal? are they like a gain boost that kicks your tubes in the ass or something like that?

Good ones do...but I cheat, I run eq on both sides of the overdrive.
Search "Overdrive Pedals" for some recommendations. I've not had the best results with Ibanez tubescreamers in my particular setup (vintage 67 Fender
Deluxe Reverb), the old Boss OD-1 has little coloration.
I use just eq to give it a boost on Marshalls, and to take a little bit of that midrange snot out of it.

[madryan]

I use my Fulltone OCD like an extra channel or two... With a multi channel amp I set the gain fairly low and just use it for a boost. Works great