Using an OD w/a distorted amp

[Renardm]

Hey, I play through a JCM 800 combo and I am soley a home player. I play the amp at low volumes, with either a Bad Monkey or a modded SD-1, to get more dirt out of the amp. I usually have the level on the pedal all the way up and the gain at about 1/4 or lower. The gain on the Marshall is on 10. My question is, what is the best way to get into higher gain territory(AC/DC, GNR, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest) without turning the sound into mush? If I have the gain on the OD pedal at 1/2, I seem to lose all clarity and it sounds like garbage.

[Dr. Lo]

I would DEFINITELY try a booster pedal. This will increase the overdrive of your amp without creating mud. A good place to start would be the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster - it's cheap ($40 - $50 on eBay) and does a fine job. Also, it has a resonance switch for taming the treble and increasing the mids a bit of whatever pickup you have in your guitar (very useful for single-coils, but does wonders for rather bright sounding humbuckers as well).

[Renardm]

Thanks, I will check that out. Using an OD with the gain low and the level high just about gets me there, but I want a little more saturation. I have relatively high-output pickups too.

[butrus]

Booster afther your OD pedal will do that
I swear by my MXR boost afther OCD for those heavy riffs
Or you can plug both OD pedals(one set as OD and other as clean boost)
Also attenuator would help a little in your situation

[Renardm]

Originally Posted by butrus

Booster afther your OD pedal will do that
I swear by my MXR boost afther OCD for those heavy riffs
Or you can plug both OD pedals(one set as OD and other as clean boost)
Also attenuator would help a little in your situation

Thanks. I was thinking the combo of a OD and the boost would be a good option. Using an attenuator did cross my mind but I would rather use a pedal or two to extend the life of the power tubes. The JCM 800 needs to be cranked up to get into power tube distortion levels.

[mobis8]

I think if you are really looking to get the types of tones in your OP, turning the gain to 10 on the amp is not what you want to do... Gain will make the amp sound muddy... Problem is you are playing at home whch I can appreciate and you are trying to compensate but to get those tones really it has to do with a cranked volume on the amp, not the gain.

That being said, I would recommend a purple plexi by lovepedal... While I haven't tried one myself, the demos online seem to suggest it can emulate those tones pretty well...

[muffinMan74]

I agree with the amp gain set to 10-- maybe roll it back to 9 or 8.5. I don't know how much output either the BM or SD-1 offers, but setting the pedal to a clear, LOUD cleanish boost (very low gain, very high output level, ample treble & flat lows) should help. To tighten things up, dial down the mids on the amp a bit. Just thinking out loud here....

[FretFire]

You're right that your amp needs to be cranked to sound it's best, but it's the *power tubes* that need to be cranked (volume knob) and not the *preamp tubes* (gain knob). With the volume at bedroom levels and the gain maxed you're not exactly hearing what your amp can really do.

[Crikey]

Originally Posted by mobis8

I think if you are really looking to get the types of tones in your OP, turning the gain to 10 on the amp is not what you want to do... Gain will make the amp sound muddy... Problem is you are playing at home whch I can appreciate and you are trying to compensate but to get those tones really it has to do with a cranked volume on the amp, not the gain.

That being said, I would recommend a purple plexi by lovepedal... While I haven't tried one myself, the demos online seem to suggest it can emulate those tones pretty well...

+1, both to excessive amp gain and to the Lovepedal Purple Plexi 100. That pedal is so good I just bought a second one. Be aware if buying that Lovepedal made a Purple Plexi 100 and a Purple Plexi 800, which has way more gain. The 100 is AC/DC, cranked 1960s tone; the 800 is 1980s "modded plexi" - "brown sound" tone. I think the 800 might still be available from Lovepedal; the 100 will be used unless you can talk Sean into building you one to order. Another high quality pedal option is the Menatone King of the Britains. Of all the "cranked plexi" pedals out there, the PP100 and the KotB are my favorites.

That said, I've also had pretty cool results running a typical OD pedal in front of a Marshall-type amp. With low Gain and high Level settings on the pedal, and the amp turned up, you can take a sweet lower-gain plexi type tone and make it more EVH-like. You just have to be able to turn the amp up, which is why I tried the PP100 and KotB and many other pedals in that vein.


Crikey