Overdrive/Distortion Gear?

Michael James · Post by **Michael James** » 22 Mar 2015 1:00 pm

Hey Folks,
I use overdrive, distortion pedals and Fender tube amps when playing rock,blues and R&B on the lap steel. I have a wide variety of great sounds. But I'm wonder what everyone else here uses?
My favorite overdrive pedal is "Full-Drive 2 Mosfet". I also have a TC Electronics "Dark Matter" distortion pedal. The "Dark Matter" is a little to over the top. But it sounds great. I often chain the two pedals together to get a really fat tone. I love Steve Cunningham's sounds!
Looking forward to hearing from some of you!

James Hartman · Post by **James Hartman** » 22 Mar 2015 2:06 pm

I don't like heavy distortion that completely masks the sound of the guitar I'm playing or alters the attack/decay envelope in an unnatural way. Sustain and enriched harmonic content are the goal.

My preferred rig for moderate distortion is to stack a BJF Model H into a Mad Professor SHOD. It sounds like this (after 0:50) - https://soundcloud.com/stringworks/freaker-funk That clip is slide on a Strat, but I use the same rig with a lapsteel. Stacking the pedals in this way - OD placed after the heavier distortion tends to give a more focussed sound.

The other distortion pedal I like with lap steel is the Bixonic Expandora, the one that looks like a tuna can. I have a 1st generation speciman; don't know if the new ones sound quite the same.

David Spires · Post by **David Spires** » 22 Mar 2015 2:15 pm

Michael,

I use the same - Fulldrive 2, on the Mosfet setting - to a Fender Blues Jr on the road. I do have to admit though, that I REALLY loved playing my lap steel through that same Fulldrive, to the drive channel on my Fender Supersonic Twin.

David Spires

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 22 Mar 2015 6:49 pm

For subtle overdrive I like the Sparkle Drive.
But usually when I want fuzz, I want my Boss Tone.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 22 Mar 2015 8:47 pm

I use two different ones depending on the situation.

Brad Sarno's Earth Drive. It gets a natural overdrive. Its real strength to me is in its more subtle sounds. A pretty amazing and somewhat essential tool to have ready. One very smart aspect of it is that the volume remains consistent as you change the overdrive level. Super handy while in battle conditions.

My other is a Durham Crazy Horse. It starts at ridiculously gnarly and goes to sputtering blown out speaker. It is not subtle at all. If you are feeling like Godzilla and in the mood to stomp on Tokyo it will do the job. It will wake up the bass player, crack up the drummer, annoy the guitar player and frighten the singer.

Michael Hartz · Post by **Michael Hartz** » 23 Mar 2015 6:36 pm

I use a clone of an Analogman "King Of Tone" pedal that I etched and built last summer. It is a dual overdrive where one side is a light overdrive and the other side has a little heavier gain to it. After building it I can see why there was a 2 year wait to get a real one built for you. It is the most transparent sounding overdrive I've ever heard.

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 23 Mar 2015 6:43 pm

I use a Proco Rat, and have for several years. I went through several boxes before the Rat, it gave me the sound I wanted, so I quit looking.

Michael James · Post by **Michael James** » 25 Mar 2015 8:10 pm

Wow, I'm Googling all your gear. Nice! Thanks for the great responses!

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 25 Mar 2015 8:21 pm

To my chagrin, I have never played thru a dirt pedal that sounded nearly as good as an overdriven tube amp.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 25 Mar 2015 11:47 pm

Michael, I did a little demo of the Mahoney Buzz Tone (direct son of Boss Tone), I posted a link in the other thread. I plan to do one on the Sparkle Drive.

Richard Wilhelm · Post by **Richard Wilhelm** » 26 Mar 2015 9:31 am

Hardwire Valve Distortion â€” with it 2 settings, I get smooth not choppy light overdrive or smooth harder fuzz type distortion. The true bypass lives up to it promise. Digitech greatly improved their pedals with this series.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 26 Mar 2015 10:33 am

My favs are: Earth Drive, SDTT and Simble

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 26 Mar 2015 3:23 pm

SDTT?

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 26 Mar 2015 3:31 pm

Darvin Willhoite wrote:I use a Proco Rat, and have for several years. I went through several boxes before the Rat, it gave me the sound I wanted, so I quit looking.

I also like the Rat. I think it's an excellent pedal. I don't need distortion to do my classical thing, but I will use one if I ever do another rock gig.

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 26 Mar 2015 3:38 pm

Earth Drive for me, I'm not a fan of really heavy distortion on steel - the Earth drive is a lot smoother which is what I like

Kevin Mincke · Post by **Kevin Mincke** » 26 Mar 2015 8:56 pm

Lane Gray wrote:SDTT?

Seymour Duncan Twin Tube pedal Lane...

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 27 Mar 2015 9:01 am

Sorry Lane. I got lazy. : )

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 1 Apr 2015 11:00 am

I don't use it too often, but when the mood or the occasion calls for it, I use an original Jordan Electronics, 'Boss Tone'.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Justin Jacobson · Post by **Justin Jacobson** » 1 Apr 2015 4:13 pm

I've used/still use a lot of od/distortion/fuzz boxes with my steel.

Things already mentioned here that I've used and loved are the Rat, King of Tone, and the Earth Drive.

I couldn't bond with the full drive 2, it just didn't give a sound I liked.

I use Earthquake devices Iron Bell and Hoof repeater,love them both.
Still using the Earth Drive, have been constantly for 4 years now, that's easily the best psg od pedal.

My secret weapon is the WMD Geiger counter, that thing really lets me explore sound in ways I love.

Other pedals I've used and really enjoyed are
Boss HM-2
Sampler velvet fuzz
EHX double muff

Les Cargill · Post by **Les Cargill** » 1 Apr 2015 5:50 pm

The Behringer Vamp I use in the F/X loop of a clean, solid state amp (Quilter Steelaire) is pretty useful to make it not sound quite so solid state*, when that's appropriate. I am sure a PoD would be equally interesting.

*it sounds nice and warm anyway without it - just very precise and "fast" in a way tubes are not.

I do not like the thing for full-on distortion, but rather for a bit of crunch and EQ.

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 2 Apr 2015 1:06 am

Ive got two, a Fulltone OCD and an old MXR Dist+. For pedal steel I occasionally use the MXR Dist+ which is in the effects loop. I set it for full output and minimum distortion so its more of a subtle boost with just a little dirt. 6 string guitar goes direct into wah, boost/compressor, eq, OCD to amp.

Michael Hummel · Post by **Michael Hummel** » 3 Apr 2015 3:00 pm

I don't know how to recommend a "dirt box" to anyone. In my experience everyone expects something different from plugging in to one. One person might want David Lindley, one guy might want Larry Carlton, one guy might want Jimi Hendrix...

But with my Sho~Bud, I use an Earth Drive. Keeps the sound of the guitar with some grind.

Mike

Richard Wilhelm · Post by **Richard Wilhelm** » 3 Apr 2015 7:24 pm

I'm looking to refine my "dirt" sound. I plan to check out the Fulltone Catalyst. I'm looking for a smooth fuzz with clear note definition. Sneaky is my fuzz idol. I'll have to drop by the Amp Shop in Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles). They have ALMOST every good pedal on the market. Does anybody use the Catalyst for steel?

Alex Cattaneo · Post by **Alex Cattaneo** » 3 Apr 2015 8:10 pm

Pedals come and go. These days, my favorite is the Wampler Pinnacle. It's advertised as a "brown sound" pedal, but it dos so much more than that. I've yet to meet a Wampler pedal I didn't like. I als strongly recommend the Wampler Ecstasy, which I think Is now called the Euphoria. it's an overdrive with three very useable types, and each type can be tweaked via the 4 knobs.

I also had tremendous results with the Keeley Fuzz Head on both lap stel and pedal steel. It's very transparent and has a distinct "cranked amp" flavor that really complements the slide. It has many different sweet spots, if that makes any sense.

But I must point out that I mostly use vintage Blackface amps, and most pedals sound great with them. You need to figure out what works with whatever amp you're using.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 6 Apr 2015 5:57 am

Pedals come and go...

The editor of Premier Guitar did a pretty funny riff on this a while ago. Something like, "how is it possible that a Durham Sex Drive & a Timmy OD actually go back and make a Tube Screamer and a ProCo Rat sound worse?

Jealousy?

I have "some" pedals, and the Fulltone Fulldrive 2/mosfet does me pretty good. That, and the Sparkle Drive, are essentially Tube Screamer offspring, but the Fulldrive lets you switch different values into the circuitry and some of the opamps and... the MOSFET! Whatever that may be. The Sparkle Drive lets you dial some clean signal back in; as does every modeler on the planet. Because individual stompboxes are always better than a multi-effect, Digitech took the same chip from the RP__50 or __55's, and developed their excellent-sounding "Hardwire" series of pedals. Each one does about a tenth of what the multi-effects do - people just lap that stuff up. Buy all ten!

The single biggest aspect is to attenuate your signal down to the point that it's not overwhelming a box built for a guitar with 1/3 of the output. If you don't do that right off the bat, it become easy to see why many steel guitarists dislike effects. With a volume-dependent effect like overdrive, it kinda matters.