Help Me Out!! Can't Find That Od/dirt Box!!! Any Thoughts?? Bjfe,tim,zvex,content

[Iceman301929]

So I've been trying a lot of different dirt box's and still can't find the one that nails it for me.

I play everything from humbuckers, to single coils to P-90's.

My main amp is a Bad Cat Hot Cat 15 watt head with Reverb through a Bad Cat 2x12 cab. (they use Celestion's voiced to their specs)

Here is what I have right now.....

BJFE DRD
BJFE EGDM
BJFE HBOD
ZVEX Super Hard On
Gaspedal Carb
Fulltone Mosfet 10th Anniv.
Tim
Timmy

Don't get me wrong.....I love all of these pedals and would find it hard to part with any of them. I'm just curious about the ones that I haven't experienced....

Lovepedal Eternity, Super 6
Fulltone OCD
80's RAT
Landgraff MOD, LDO
AC, RC booster
BJFE BBOD, Model R, LGW, MRD

Would any of these be worth pulling the trigger on? Or would I be getting something I already have?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.....I cover a lot of ground musically

Rock, Blues, Jazz, Alternative, Emo, Indie, Country, etc.

Thanks again!

[Eskimo_Joe]

If those pedals don't work for you, consider selling your amp. :)

[VintageToneGuy]

I've tried all of the above with the exception of the carb and S.H.O. I have a Burst Eternity that I picked up last week and it's really, really good and somewhat different to my ears than anything else I've tried. However, I have A\By'd it with my drive & more drive channels on my Omega DeVille and am quite content to just keep the amp and sell the Eternity. If you want to give it a try, lemme' know!

vtg

[DonneR]

Yeah I would almost agree with EJ, If your not getting t he variety you want, your amp may be the limiting factor ---- Is that amp El 84s ? 84s > Celestions will always have a good bit of that sound and response , its hard to pull those mids out..... if you want more variety try something with more of a Fenderish mid.....:YinYang

[ashbass]

the xotic pedals. I use two RCs and two ACs, each pair set to different gains.

[Craise]

I'm with Don...might be time to check out some different speakers..
When you talk about distortion and overdrive...speakers make all the difference in the world...and can drasticly change your tone...
They are a major link in the tone chain....that offen gets over looked..because it's a pain to buy/sell and trade out speakers!
Much easier to buy/sell little pedals...somtimes endlessly..trying to find some sound...when it's really time to check on speakers...
Not that your celestions are bad...but just like different pedals...they might not be for you (I don't care for them in my fenders...better in marshalls...)
Best thing to do is try your amp with your firends cabs and amps...
and weigh out the differences...
Many times people will mix speakers...and have two different brands in a cab to fill out all the speaker spectrum...
Talk to other bad cat users....
You've got great pedals...while others you don't have are good too...I honstly don't think that's the problem...
Good luck!
:BluesBros

[Grap]

Yeah I would almost agree with EJ, If your not getting t he variety you want, your amp may be the limiting factor ---- Is that amp El 84s ? 84s > Celestions will always have a good bit of that sound and response , its hard to pull those mids out..... if you want more variety try something with more of a Fenderish mid.....:YinYang

This is exactly the problem I have myself. My pedal boards are worked out at home using a Princeton Reverb, but for live use I have a Laney VC30. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm running in front of it, the Laney's own character overrides everything at gig levels, even through its clean channel. Yeah, it has EL84's and a Celestion speaker.

Come to think of it, even my back-up solid-state amp has a Celestion speaker in it...

Hmm, maybe the rendering gig-worthy of my Twin Reverb is more urgent than I previously thought :D

[GrecoVee]

Go Cheap!!, I'm not kidding!
Go back to the ol' standbys and see what kind of tone you can get.
Boss SD-1
Boss DS-1
Ibanez TS-9 and 808 reissue
Even a Digitech Bad Money!, It replaced my RC booster for my low gain pedal on my board!

[dave s]

When I went to the 'pseudo-Class A' amps (Matchless, VOX) none of my current dirt/od/distortion pedals worked well with either amp. Why? Because MOST od/dirt/dist pedals add high-end definition, something that your amp already has in spades!

Of the pedals you mentioned, TIM, TIMMY, ZVEX SHO and Fulldrive, I've had those. None worked well with either the matchless or VOX. TOO much high-end 'zing' for the amp.

You have to look for 'darker' pedals. You should be getting good results with the Carb as it's high end component is nicely compressed. Still adds definition but compresses well in the top-end department.

That said, the dirt pedals on my board now are RC Boost (clean boost) Gaspedal Carb, MI Audio Crunch box and the Analogman Sunface Fuzz. The fuzz is a really dark fuzz pedal. And only the Carb doesn't have tone control.

Playing the Matchless, Bad Cat and VOX amps exposes the reality that many pedals don't play nice with these amps.

dave

[DonneR]

Right - 84s also compress faster and easier than most other tubes, which is great if thats what you want...same with alnico speakers and even under powered trannies......

but Compression and Mids are two things that are very hard to work around once they are present....

its much easier to make a Fender sound like a Vox or a Marshall than the other way around :)

and a 15 watt el84 amp is going to slip into its own compression/distortion/midhump pretty quickly.....

if variety AND precision are your goals then I would look for an amp that is loud enough for your gig and will stay clean at that volume.... Then you can manipulate the dirt and comp and eq as needed ....

just depends on what noises you need to make:)

[sixstring531]

Dude, get your hands on an Original Expandora-- by itself, sounds awesome with my Ac30, with the FDII, absolutely beautiful tone.

You can get one (they don't make the original anymore) for around $100-$150 on ebay.

The original has 3 knobs on top with the switches inside the pedal, not on top. I run my in OD setting.

[DonneR]

True.... and also if you stick with the amp, then you should also consider a Hot Cake, and some ToneBenders - these fuzzes work great with Voxes especially as most fuzzes dont have t he mids to cut thru by them selves but paired with the Vox it mixes up real nicely.......

[Randaddy]

I like what GrecoVee said.

While I haven't played most of the pedals you have listed, I do have some good pedals... the Zvex Box of Rock, Blackstone Mosfet OD v3, and the Keeley SD-1.

I wasn't getting the "perfect" tone yet, even though it sounded great, so today I bought a ProCo Rat and a Boss OD-3... WOW!
I can't believe standard, off-the-shelf pedals can sound so good.

The Boss OD-3 is considered by many to be the best pedal they make. The Rat will be modded (Monte Allums mod), but it already has qualities to the sound that I love... different from every other pedal I have.

Cheap can be good. :AOK

Randaddy

[starfish]

Vintage Vox AC-30's absolutely eat pedals. Anything you throw at them sounds terrific. But the reissues (Vox's at least) sound harsh and edgy, slightly metallic. Many OD pedals will just accentuate this superficial EL-84 tone, IMO.

But onto a solution. I have a vintage AC-30 and also a 1993 DC-30 built by Mark Sampson. Same builder, same basic amp platform as the BadCat. The DC-30 has always been a bit tempermental with OD's but this really has less to do with the speakers and circuit and more to do with Sampson's amps being over filtered. I would love to some day mod my DC-30 with filter values closer to my 1963 AC-30 but now DC-30's signed and built by Sampson fetch nearly as much as a vintage Vox, so I've left it 100% original.

But what I did do was try many many dirt pedals. Without a doubt a Hotcake sounds great into a DC-30. So does the Fulldrive 2, where there are many options for shaping the tone of an already good sounding TS clone. But right now I absolutely love my burst Eternity into the DC-30. The best sounds present in the Fulldrive are just the tip of the iceberg with the Eternity, which sounds smoother and compliments the amp very well.

Disregard those who don't get the EL-84 thing. It's not the amp layout for everyone, but when you have the EL-84 tone soaring to it's potential, it's the sound everyone wants, turns heads, the proverbial match lighting the G.A.S.

[JKoeth]

I've realized over the years that all an AC30 type amp needs is a boost. Boosts are really the best thing for them. My BJF Red Rooster Booster and Pro Analog Dirt Royale (dirty boost really) blend more seamlessly into my Tophat than any other pedals I own. I set the amp for the edge of breakup and push them over the edge with pedals.

The distortion on these amps is so complex that they don't need much. You really should look into the Pro Analog line because they are meant for this application.

Can you elaborate on the tones you are seeking?

[eric-d]

I own a Klon - an LDO and a Mo'D . these three pretty much ended the overdrive search for me.

[Seegs]

I also think you gotta match the pedal to the amp & guitar...I had a BadCat Cub and my LDO did not work with it...

my MO'D otoh worked great as did my Klon set as a clean boost...

having either had or tired all the pedals on your list I can say that after I got my Landgraff MO'D they all got sold...

Now I am looking for another flavor to go with my MO'D and have a Tim...Timmy...Eternity and a Precision Overdrive and when I compare them to my MO'D I am left feeling a bit wanting...

Chow,
Seegs

[Iceman301929]

wow....can't thank you guys enough

great feedback...

looks like I'm going to be trying out some new box's!

Look for some of my pedals to pop up in the next couple of weeks!

[Iceman301929]

Yeah I would almost agree with EJ, If your not getting t he variety you want, your amp may be the limiting factor ---- Is that amp El 84s ? 84s > Celestions will always have a good bit of that sound and response , its hard to pull those mids out..... if you want more variety try something with more of a Fenderish mid.....:YinYang



Yes it does have two EL 84's (groove tubes) , 6 12AX7's (JJ's)

[jb1911]

Go Cheap!!, I'm not kidding!
Go back to the ol' standbys and see what kind of tone you can get.
Boss SD-1
Boss DS-1
Ibanez TS-9 and 808 reissue
Even a Digitech Bad Money!, It replaced my RC booster for my low gain pedal on my board!


Nnnnoooooooooooo!:eek:

Srsly, get a Silver Kiss MKII. You can thank me later.