Solid state amp/pedal advice???

[Wayne8]

Hey guys,

Seems like all the overdrive pedals I've read about here are described as being played through various tube amps. I play an American Series Strat through a Peavey Transtube Bandit with a Homebrew Electronics CPR (compressor) in front of the amp and an ISP Decimator (noise gate) through the loop.

I LOVE the sound of this amp and, as much as I KNOW you guys prefer tube amps, I really think this is going to be my setup from now on.

MY QUESTION:

Does anyone out there use a SS amp with a really organic, warm overdrive pedal? I'm obviously not looking for a pedal to drive my amp, just a pedal that'll emulate that sound. I'm thinking less fuzzy, more creamy, like maybe old Allman Brothers, Guess Who, Santana & such.

Any help?

[gururyan]

I have a Banzai Cold Fusion (http://www.banzaieffects.com/products/coldfusion.htm) that I use on my tube amp, but also use it on my Vox hybrid. In all honesty, it sounds great both ways...but I prefer how it sounds on my hybrid. I am not sure how much of a difference one 12AX7 pre makes vs. a SS, but to answer your question...you may try it with your SS if you can find one. The sound clips on the site for the Cold Fusion are good representations of the pedal. People poked fun at me for using a pedal that cost about the same as the amp, but it sounded so good the laughing usually stopped or switched over to laughing at my playing ability. Anyway, good luck and don't let the fact you have SS sway you from any boutique OD pedals.

[harryjmic]

The blackstone appliance pedal produces it's own distortion so you can use any amp and get the same results, i.e. it's not dependent on the amp or how loud it is. I have one I'm thinking of selling if your interested. The only reason I'm selling is I might get a Guytron and that's a lot of green.

[El Jimbo]

MI Audio Tube Zone. Michael did a lot of the testing through a JC120. All the clips on the site are through the JC albeit with the older version of the TZ.
http://www.miaudio.com/

[Bonedance]

While I'm sure there are a tone of pedals that will do the trick, the better sounding ones I've used inot ss amps are:

Texas Two Step
Vox Valve Tone
Shannon Overdrive
Barber Direct Drive
Old Marshall Bluesbreaker
Fulltone Fulldrive

A cheap pedal that sounds very good for low gain, blues tones is the Ibanez TS-7.

[exodus]

the v-stack tweedy is a good match for any SS amp as it is an analog circuit that is designed to emulate a tube amp.

[OOG]

the Blackstone and/or the Tweedy would be exceptional
i say and/or 'cause the Blackstone works great in front of the Tweedy
with the 2 channels of the Blackstone, and the Tweedy, you'd have a lot of realtime options that would really warm up a solid state amp (depending on the amp of course)

[erksin]

Well, Tubescreamers were designed originally for use with SS amps - you might give one a try.

For smoooooooth stuff, I've had great success with a Hermida Mosferatu or MI Audio Blues Boy...

[Wayne8]

Thanks for all the input! I'll have to check those out.

Harry, I sent you a PM.