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What's Your Preferred Overdrive Pedal?


topekatj

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I've got a few "Favorites" somehow.  I do have an O.C.D., probably a V4? They are awesome sounding pedals. I'm on the fence on running it at 18V or 9V mode. I kinda get torn over having choices like that, the same thing with a lot of these fancy pedals with all these internal trim pots. etc.  I like simpler pedals that just SOUND GOOD.  The O.C.D. hits the mark on that.

I also have a Radial Tonebone Hot British, and damn it pretty much can scratch any British preamp sound. it's an incredible pedal.

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On 10/11/2020 at 11:21 AM, HamerCustomEr said:

If the Dumkudo is good enough for Larry Carlton, it is probably good enough for you!

I had one. I thought it was funny that he put my name on the bottom of the Zenkudo; for $330 it should’ve been put on the top :lol:

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5 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

I do have an O.C.D.,.... on the fence on running it at 18V or 9V mode.

At 18V, they tighten up and get punchier. The added definition is nice.

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Himmelstrutz FETTO (just about any of the myriad versions) for all Marshall sounds, I really like the Menatone Top Boost in a Can for crunchy Vox sounds and the Hermida Zendrive for just about anything else.

 

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On 10/8/2020 at 5:40 PM, topekatj said:

^^^^  The old saying goes "You can't polish a turd!"

In reference to amps, verily. But someone was thoughtful enough to give it the old college try:  

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4 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

In reference to amps, verily. But someone was thoughtful enough to give it the old college try:  

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^^^^^ HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! ^^^^

TYM Guitars: Home of the Sought After, Legendary BROWN SOUND!!

It's (get ready for it...  )     TURD TYM !

 

 

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Ok, some additional detail about my personal experience with dirt boxes.

In front of my Marshall non-MV, a lot of pedals sound good. The ones I preferred back in the '90s were an old Boss SD-1, an original TS-9, and a Mesa-Boogie V-Twin (blues channel). I have a rackmount Chandler Tube Driver that sounds righteous in front of that amp if it is dialed in properly. 

In front of my Phase 18w Pasadena, the old SD-1, a Wampler Pinnacle V2 Deluxe, and a Joyo Ultimate Overdrive sound equally good, although quite different from each other. This amp does not do any sort of Fender clean at any volume, so that radically affects how an OD pedal hits it. It does play nicely with nearly all of my dirt boxes, but it's not the amp with a base tone to play funk, country, or clean jangle. 

In front of my newest rig, a Fender Prosonic 22, the SD-1 sounds good if a bit boxy. The Wampler and Joyo sound mushy, and the TS-9 just sounds flat. But I just picked up a used Digitech Hardwire Tube Overdrive yesterday for $30, and it really sings in front of this rig. 

Moral of the story is, be prepared to use a different OD with each amp (and perhaps separate boxes for single coils and humbuckers) and don't think you have to spend hundreds to get a good tone.

 

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so mrs stonge was looking for something in the basement, and upon returning upstairs said 'i found a box of pedals and some alligator pedal'. turns out she found a pile of pedals that I thought I had loaned out and gone MIA.  Found a Morley Lil' Alligator volume pedal, a white-faced Rat, potato-bug TS-5, DOD Yngwie OD (basically a 250 iirc), Boss Distortion Feedbacker, Danelectro French Toast, VHT Valvulator and a couple other pedals.  Luckily none of the batteries had leaked.  Most worked but a couple need cleaning or troubleshooting. 

 

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On 10/12/2020 at 8:14 AM, tbonesullivan said:

 

I also have a Radial Tonebone Hot British, and damn it pretty much can scratch any British preamp sound. it's an incredible pedal.

I’ve got the hot British into my practice amp for low volume noodling at my office. It is really good, for sure. 

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12 hours ago, Travis said:

Anyone ever try the dirty Shirley OD from Friedman?  It has me intrigued...

https://friedmanamplification.com/products2/dirty-shirley-pedal

Just a distortion with EQ: sold mine the week I bought it and bought a Friedman BE OD again...

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Favorite(s) over the past year or two:  Box of Awesome (Kalamazoo/OD11) and "so naked" OD11, cascading in different orders.

Previous favorite for 25 years: Analogman-modified TS9 ("silver dollar" and "brown" mods).

Full OD and fuzz collection, which all get played and stacked in different combos, depending on my mood:

Fulldrive 2 Mosfet; OCD (V1.7); JMP11; 200# of Gold; vintage 60s Arbiter England FF (red dot NKT's); home made Germanium (AC128/NKT 275) FF clones/variations; vintage 80s EH Big Muff.

The most important thing to me has always been touch/picking attack sensitivity and ability to clean up with the guitar's volume control. All of those pedals but the Big Muff clean up nicely and are very dynamic, but only the Big Muff nails the Billy Corgan Gish and Siamese Dream tones!

I like the FD2 a lot for the wide variety of flavors on offer, but it has never been my go-to, since I like to "set it and forget it," but my favorite settings require knob and switch changes to get to, and my other pedals cover those sounds just as well. Yes, I am that lazy. The OCD does the D-tones well, but like a Matchless, Trainwreck or Dumble-style amp, when I set it up to really sing, it can be very unforgiving of any sloppy technique and stray notes. I've usually used it by itself for solos, but generally not as a rhythm tone, since I'm just not that precise/good!

The Lovepedal BoA and OD11 are fantastic for their transparency and responsiveness, as is the JMP11 if I feel like getting more Marshally, and stack beautifully with the modified TS9 or a Fuzz Face.

Full disclosure: I have not explored any of my pedals' 18V sounds, and all of the Lovepedals and Fulltones have the ability to run between 9-18V, so I know there's a lot on tap I still haven't heard. I also play into tweed Bassmans and a brown Princeton, usually either hums or P90s, but occasionally a strat, and amps and guitars all respond differently. These are the pedals I found worked best regardless of amp/guitar selection, with minimal tweaking. To reiterate, I'm lazy.

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