What adjustments to your pedals and amp for your Les Paul vs Stratocaster

[rabbuhl]

I have been playing mostly Strats for a long time. I have my Tube Screamer, OCD, and Mesa Boogie Maverick amp adjusted for my Stratocaster. I recently acquired a Gibson Les Paul with P90s and a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul. The Gibson Les Paul with P90s sounds pretty good with the Strat amp and pedal settings. The Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul sounds muddy to the point that I am considering replacing the pickups. However, someone pointed out that I need instead adjust or even buy new overdrive pedals and an amp which are a match my Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul.

Are tube screamers and OCDs good overdrive pedals for Les Pauls with humbuckers? If they are good pedals how do you adjust them for your Les Paul vs your Stratocaster. If they are not good pedals which ones should I consider for Les Pauls with humbuckers?

[Valus]

I don't have a Les Paul, but when switching between my Strat and my humbucker-shod tele I usually have to adjust the EQ on the amp (the Strat is really bright) and dial back the gain a bit. You might have to adjust the tone knob on the OD pedals too.

[Heady Jam Fan]

I haven't brought out my LP recently, but my other guitar has push/pull for single/hum and my rig responds slightly differently - buckers have more compression, midrange and volume. I am not surprised about the P90's since they are more similar sounding to singles as far as buckers go.

I would say you could adjust your rig, may be excessive to get a 2nd rig. Pups can make a big difference, not sure whats in the custom shop. The first suggestion I have is role off the volume a little. Another idea, set your rig a bit bright and role off the tone on your strat when you use it. These two things will help normalize the tone difference and the volume difference so your gear and amp will react more similarly.

[jnepo1]

I play w/ a Strat and a LP. The only thing I do is have my Blackstone OD first in chain after an A/B box. The 2 guitars are connected into the A/B box and I select which guitar to go to. From there, the signal goes into the Blackstone, there are 2 drives: I use the "amber" drive for the Les Paul (low gain) and the "red" drive for the Strat(medium gain). The Blackstone is an "always on" pedal that I can go from clean to dirt w/ just a twist of my volume knob. All other effects are pretty much dialed in to accommodate both guitars.

[VONG]

I have all sorts of guitars, and the pedals you mention work well with all of them. Make sure you use the bridge pickup with your LP. The middle position can be muddy with these guitars.

The only pedals that I have that don't work with all guitars are Catalinbread WIIO and Emma Pisdiyauwot. To me, these really need humbuckers to work well.

[billyjett]

I don't have a large pedal board by any means, but I definitely have certain pedals that I will use with my Strat and not with my Les Paul, and visa versa.I play live quite a bit , so I need to be able to switch guitars on stage quickly without having to do a lot of knob turning.The OCD sounds good with either guitar, but the Strat is much brighter, so you would probably have to dial in more treble with a Les paul so it didn't sound muddy.The pickups on my LP are fairly hot, so I usually back the volume down on my amp a little when switching from the Strat. A lot depends on what kind of music your playing, and if your using a certain guitar for a specific sound.