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Channel Switcher or 1 Channel Amp with Pedals???

DavidE

By DavidE
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DavidE Veteran HFCer

DavidE

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I've been playing channel switchers for a long while, so my single channel amps are lonely. Any thoughts on using various gain pedals for drive into a clean amp?

Bjørn M Inner Circle

Bjørn M

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I have a pedalboard setup for when I have to borrow an amp. I dial in a decent clean tone, and use pedals for the rest:

a Maxxon OD-808 for those nice, smooth drive tones into

a Fulltone OCD for dirty tones into

a MXR/CAE booster for boost

It's fairly cheap, compared to having several amps, is flexible, travels well, and you can more easily change OD pedals than amps (I assume...)

For me the booster, and placing it last in the chain, was what turned a decent pedal board into something that really works well.

Steven_nl Member

Steven_nl

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I have a Wampler Ecstasy Drivewhich I quite like. I has a Boost, a Dumble and a Bogner XTC setting.

Brewmaster Veteran HFCer

Brewmaster

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I still have my Menatone Blue Collar for a reason. Through my old Peavey Classic 30 it sounded great and is one of the few pedals that sounded good with my Twin.

DavidE Veteran HFCer

DavidE

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I use both, but all my amps are multi channel amps... :lol:

Yeah, that's what I do if I'm not using my SpiderValve. Even with my HK Switchblade amp I was using a couple of gain boxes.

Most of my channel switchers are 2 channel and I need more than two tones anyway.

The big difference is with a channel switcher, I have to put delays and modulation effects in the loop (if there is one).

As for pedals, I use a Keeley TS9DX Flexi 4X2 and a MXR Kerry King EQ pedal... :lol:

I just bought Mike Lee's TS9DX and he's sending it directly to Keeley where it's getting the Flexi 4x2 mod. I started off buying a cheap pedal and then figured what the hell, let's do it up. What do you think of the mod (other than the ugly look with the true bypass switch)? Mike said it would be VERY cool if they could use the original switch for a boost or something.

How do the 4 different modes sound with the 2 mods?

I also just picked up an OCD v.4 and have a Line6 M13 on the way (to replace my MM4/DL4). I have a lot to play with!

MCChris Veteran HFCer

MCChris

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All of my amps (Valvetechs, Marshall Artist, Peavey Classic) are single channel amps with boosts. You can approximate channel switching behavior with that setup, but overall I prefer amp distortion with a dirt box for saturation during solos, so these types of amps work for me.

DavidE Veteran HFCer

DavidE

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All of my amps (Valvetechs, Marshall Artist, Peavey Classic) are single channel amps with boosts. You can approximate channel switching behavior with that setup, but overall I prefer amp distortion with a dirt box for saturation during solos, so these types of amps work for me.

Yeah, but I have to have true clean tones too....

MCChris Veteran HFCer

MCChris

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Yeah, but I have to have true clean tones too....

For me, rolling back the guitar's volume does it for me. But again, that's an approximation. Squeaky clean like a JC-120 ain't happenin'.

DavidE Veteran HFCer

DavidE

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Yeah, but I have to have true clean tones too....

For me, rolling back the guitar's volume does it for me. But again, that's an approximation. Squeaky clean like a JC-120 ain't happenin'.

Yeah, I need squeaky clean for some country and funk stuff.

MCChris Veteran HFCer

MCChris

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Yeah, I need squeaky clean for some country and funk stuff.

Well do you like overdrive from pedals? Ever had one that puts out your ideal dirty tone on its own?

elduave Veteran HFCer

elduave

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Don't you guys that use multiple drive pedals have problems with out of control shrill feedback when more than one drive pedal is going? That's always been the deal breaker for me.

Hamer95USA Veteran HFCer

Hamer95USA

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Hey DavidE,

I mainly use 2 or 3 channel switching amps. I keep an Xotic AC Booster with my Marshall 6101 combo amp to give it a nice lower gain tone/boost on the clean channel and an Xotic RC Booster w/ my VHT Pitbull 45/12 combo for boosting the drive channel on the Pitbull. In case I have to used a borrowed amp, I would run an Xotic AC Booster, an MI Audio Crunchbox, and an Xotic RC Booster to give the amp more versatile sounds since I also need a clean tone to work with.

Guitar George

Bjørn M Inner Circle

Bjørn M

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Don't you guys that use multiple drive pedals have problems with out of control shrill feedback when more than one drive pedal is going? That's always been the deal breaker for me.

Sometimes something interesting happens when running two OD-pedals in series, but now I mainly use one at a time, and stomp on the booster for solos.

DavidE Veteran HFCer

DavidE

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Don't you guys that use multiple drive pedals have problems with out of control shrill feedback when more than one drive pedal is going? That's always been the deal breaker for me.

Depends on the pedals. I have several that I can run into the next without any feedback issues. It all depends on how high the gain is set and how high gain the pedal is.

"Well do you like overdrive from pedals? Ever had one that puts out your ideal dirty tone on its own?"

I do and I have a shitload of 'em and more I need to work with that just arrived. But the truth is that I still like pure tube amp gained out sounds the best. But my pedals can do the job if I want.

I've been using a Bad Monkey for acoustic gigs where I run my magnetic signal through for some dirt.

I tried that with my duotone and a Parker and took the mixer out of the bad monkey to the Bose. I didn't like it at all.

Siaip Ciuvas Veteran HFCer

Siaip Ciuvas

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Single channel amp cranked, and volume pot on the guitar. No better way than that! :lol:

and you can always drop in EQ pedal or booster to push amp to infinity. Weeeehaaaaa! :lol:

guymandude Outer Circle

guymandude

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I use a 2 channel amp with lots of pedals. It sounds to me like you need alot of different sounds. Have you tried 2 different amps? It's alot of crap to lug but it might be what your looking for.

BillW Veteran HFCer

BillW

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For gigging I use a Mesa Triaxis preamp and have 5 sounds set up with various effects: Clean, OD, Crunch, High-Gain, Solo

word

bobbymack Veteran HFCer

bobbymack

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Yeah, I need squeaky clean for some country and funk stuff.

Me too, I think our bands both have one wheel in the ditch material wise... :lol:

What works best for me is a single channel amp with a killer clean tone...the three I have settled on are a Kingsley D50, a Matchless Cobra, and my '69 SFDR. The amps' cleans get set right on the edge of hairiness when the guitar volume is about 7, and I use the Vol knob and/or pedals to add different colors / degrees of dirt...right now I use a COT 50 L'il China for Marshally crunch, and a Barber Small Fry or zendrive for dirt / smooth gain, and my Tim for clean boost / BOOST.

As far as feedback, it's important to not crank the gain on the pedals up too high, that way when you stack them they still behave (unless you want some harmonic feedback, which is available at the touch of a knob, especially with the Matchless)...

My $.02...start with a great clean palette, add colors with your feet as you choose. I've never tried a channel switcher that was versatile enough to ween me from a pedal board, so...

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