My amp is too clean.. Need Pedal suggestions

[darkstar11]

I just recently bought a 20 watt Swart Atomic Space Tone combo amp... I bought it because of the sweet clean tones. The built-in reverb and trem are working just fine. If I crank it past '7' it fattens up to a sweet tube distortion.. I like very much.

Ok .. but 80% of the time I am playing at much lower "home" living room volumes. I still love the cleans.. But would like to get some OD tones for lead playing.

Please help suggest a pedal or 2 for me..

The only pedal I own is a Swart Atomic Boost (treble boost).

[zion]

There are a few real good threads around here on tube/speaker changes which help a lot with the amp's OD.
I also run an attenuator which capitalizes on the above upgrades.
And now to answer your question about pedals. There are of course many options. It would be good to start out with some cleaner OD's that don't mask the Swart's sweet sweet tones. The Mad Professor Sky Blue is unique in that you can adjust the ooomph coming into the pedal which is great if you play more than one guitar. Timmy is another pedal which can add some dirt and maintain your original tone. I'm wanting to try a Durham Sex Drive. No experience with it yet, but it looks good on paper. I've got a Durham Zia en-route and if that has any "magic" with the Swart, I'll let you know.

[darkstar11]

Originally Posted by zion

There are a few real good threads around here on tube/speaker changes which help a lot with the amp's OD.
I also run an attenuator which capitalizes on the above upgrades.
And now to answer your question about pedals. There are of course many options. It would be good to start out with some cleaner OD's that don't mask the Swart's sweet sweet tones. The Mad Professor Sky Blue is unique in that you can adjust the ooomph coming into the pedal which is great if you play more than one guitar. Timmy is another pedal which can add some dirt and maintain your original tone. I'm wanting to try a Durham Sex Drive. No experience with it yet, but it looks good on paper. I've got a Durham Zia en-route and if that has any "magic" with the Swart, I'll let you know.

Thanks.. Yeah, I have read about the tube changes. Also spoke with M Swart and he said the 5Y3 was the rectifier tube he originally used on the AST. So I may do that simple change out.

By the way, which attenuator are you using.. ?

Thanks for the tips.

[ryhlick]

A good friend of mine owns a stock Swart and he uses a BJF Honey Bee with it. That pedal and amp are magic, it is one of the best tone I have heard. The Honey Bee will do exactly what you need for that amp. If you play light it is as if there is no pedal there, and you dig in you get all the goodness of the amp at a lower volume.

[gregory49]

the honey bee is an excellent pedal. its just what you need. A cheaper suggestion might be a keeley BD2

[carljoensson]

Timmy!

[brewbaker]

Xotic RC Booster.

You'd know it's there because it's totally transparent but you dial in as much grind as you want. Very tube-like and the tone controls are an added bonus if you need them. I usually leave it on all the time.

[supar6]

Originally Posted by carljoensson

Timmy!

+1 - Timmy is excellent. Sounds great with my '76 Super Reverb... sounds even better with my new Emplexador!

[darkstar11]

Hey.. thanks all.

Timmy seems to get very high marks... It sounds like a "winner".

I actually was able to find a used one for sale....

I guess I will be giving it try... soon!!!

[soulsonic]

Klon Centaur makes small amps sound like big amps and gets good musical feedback at "loud conversation" levels.... at least with my 5 watt Silvertone amp that's effect I got.

[darkstar11]

Thanks for the suggestions.. Timmy is on the way!

Would the Swart Atomic "Treble" Boost Pedal work with the Timmy?

If so.. what would it do for me and would it sit before or after the Timmy.. (my guess is after).