Do you use an overdrive pedal? If so which one?

[Alexa Gomez]

Hi Peter,

Pignose also makes a stompbox version of their mainstay amp. It can push a speaker cab or function as a pedal. Never tried it, but it gets good reviews on Harmony Central.

Alexa

[Tom Gray]

Alexa, that's not silly at all. IMHO, the most musical distortion comes from the amplifier, not a pedal. Most amps have a narrow range where you get a good clean sound with a light touch and varying degrees of crunch with you dig in a little harder. It's a natural way to play. But you have to match the amp to the gig. For me a good rule is small amps in the studio, 2x10 in clubs, and 4x10 at outdoor festivals with backline.

[Ken Metcalf]

Barber Tone press, Clean
Add Sparkle Drive, for a touch of drive
Fulltone OCD for OD
Sparkle drive and OCD for Sustain feedback on Telecaster.
No fuzz on the steel though for me.
I like amps with lots of headroom
1967 Fender Twin!! w/ Celestion 25 watt greenback speakers
Ken Fox 4-10 amp is my main sweet thing now days.
Twin for out doors ya know...

[Alexa Gomez]

Hi Tom,

Love my little tweed Pignose, I do confess. Mics up so nice with a 57. I just max it and control from the guitar. Turn down, it cleans up with a hint of breakup when you dig in. Turn up you get this super smooth distortion similar to a Champ, yet still articulate enough to sound out string separation. Like I said, love that little amp.

Thanks for sharing your advice about amp to venue matching. I agree with you. For clubwork, I've used a Peavy Delta Blues 30 watt RMS 1x15 with stellar results. What a truly sweet sounding amp, although sort of heavy and fragile due to the tubes being exposed. Haven't had an opportunity to mic it at a large venue or festival, but I'm working on it.

Alex

[Sasha Kostadinov]

I second the MXR Distortion +. It's a great value at about $60 new! I use it more often than my other distortion pedals that cost 3-4x as much.

[Mark Lavelle]

I like the Pignose direct out to P.A. since it responds well to picking dynamics and cleans up by turning down.

+1 for small amps and amp distortion (and mics, if necessary)!

One of my goals in life is to build a "perfect for recording" tube amp. In my book that means less than 10W, distortion capability from the preamp or power tubes, a dwell/tone/mix reverb (a la Fender 6G15), and possibly even built-in tremolo. The preamp will be switchable between a clean channel and one with a few extra triodes for distortion hanky-panky. Adnd it'll be a head so I can use whatever speakers I'm in the mood for (I'm rarely in the mood for less than a 1x12).

-- Mark

[Peter Jacobs]

Hi Peter,

Pignose also makes a stompbox version of their mainstay amp. It can push a speaker cab or function as a pedal. Never tried it, but it gets good reviews on Harmony Central.

Alexa

That sounds pretty cool, Alexa -- I'll have to check that out. I always liked the Pignose sound, and they sure are portable. A stompbox could handle a lot of grab and go situations.

I bring my Goodsell Super17 Mk3 to everything, clubs and outdoors. It's the size of a tweed Deluxe and can get loud and soft, and it does that edge of breakup thing I love.

I was using a Blues Jr, but the Goodsell sounds like something between a Princeton and a Vox, and I can control it with the volume knob on the guitar -- I only use an OD pedal when I want serious crunch, otherwise I let the amp have fun.

[Stephen Abruzzo]

+1 for small amps and amp distortion (and mics, if necessary)!

One of my goals in life is to build a "perfect for recording" tube amp. In my book that means less than 10W, distortion capability from the preamp or power tubes, a dwell/tone/mix reverb (a la Fender 6G15), and possibly even built-in tremolo. The preamp will be switchable between a clean channel and one with a few extra triodes for distortion hanky-panky. Adnd it'll be a head so I can use whatever speakers I'm in the mood for (I'm rarely in the mood for less than a 1x12).

-- Mark

What you want is just about a reality Mark!!
http://swartamps.com/amplifiers.htm

Their 5W model has reverb. Yes, the STR-TWEED has a 12" speaker. That said, SWART makes a gizmo called a NITE_LITE that allows you to add a cab and to A/B them I think.

If you HAVE TO HAVE tremolo, then the 20W ATOMIC SPACE TONE is your amp.

Also, in an adorable little head, Mack Amps puts out their GEM, .4-4W going from crystal clear with headroom to a good, healthy dose of crunch and distortion. A truly fabulous amp head. When you pair this kick-butt amp with good quality pickups, you are in sonic heaven. I love mine.

[Mark Lavelle]

What you want is just about a reality Mark!!
http://swartamps.com/amplifiers.htm

Their 5W model has reverb. Yes, the STR-TWEED has a 12" speaker. That said, SWART makes a gizmo called a NITE_LITE that allows you to add a cab and to A/B them I think.

If you HAVE TO HAVE tremolo, then the 20W ATOMIC SPACE TONE is your amp.

Also, in an adorable little head, Mack Amps puts out their GEM, .4-4W going from crystal clear with headroom to a good, healthy dose of crunch and distortion. A truly fabulous amp head. When you pair this kick-butt amp with good quality pickups, you are in sonic heaven. I love mine.

They're pretty cool, but I really prefer rolling my own. Part of the fun is using power tubes from 1960s radios & receivers that no modern amp maker uses (e.g., ECL82/6BM8 & ECL86/6GW8), letting you get into distortion without too much power, and you can tweak the tone to your heart's content.

It's amazing how little you need to know to design your own amps. Sure there's some math involved, but once you understand what each of the amp stages do (and a bit about how they interact) you can do the Chinese menu thing (one from column A, two from column B) 'til the end of time. All of my home-brew amps are basically just mash-ups of schematics of classic guitar amps and other kinds of audio power amps (e.g., Hammond organs).

-- Mark

[William Hoff]

I've been using an English made Gov'nor pedal for over 20 years now and I can't find anything better. The switch only works half the time and the pots are scratchy as can be, but it's the one with the sound I dig.

[Fred Kinbom]

I have a Cmatmods Signa Drive, which I really like, and last weekend I was given this tube overdrive pedal by a friend in Germany who built it himself.





I got the powersupply needed (18V) for it yesterday and am just starting to explore its sound, but I can already say that I love it! It may not have as much gain of the Signa Drive, but it offers a wide palette of sounds (there are three EQ knobs and also a switch on the side with four settings that changes the cap in front of the first tube) and for the type of overdrive I am interested in it sounds as good as the Signa Drive but warmer and thicker (so, better, for that particular sound).

Fred