Fat and smooth overdrive, without the mud and compression

[dudelove]

I'm trying to think of an overdrive, medium to high gain, that's thick, fat, smooth. Somehow when I try to tweak my drives for a fatter sound it ends up getting muddy. Cutting through the mix and sounding big and upfront. I like something like Joe Bonamassa's solo tone.

I liked the BB Preamp but that was a bit too compressed. Any suggestions? I use a LP with PAF type pickups.

[wundergussy]

Solidgold Superdrive - very dynamic, retains bass, cuts, quite natural med/high gain sounds.

Bearfoot DRD - same as above; I liked the Solidgold more than my DRD, but they're close.

A nice Fuzz Face; in fact, track down the Bonamassa FF (meant to be used with humbuckers)

Barber Direct Drive

Oh, and someone is going to suggest a Rat. Meh; I think they loose too much bass to do what you want, but maybe a Brown Rabbit.

[abnerfm]

Zendrive, but it doesn't do high-gain

[dudelove]

Barber Direct Drive is one I've always considered, I owned a DDSS in the past and I sold it off just because I wanted something else, not that I didn't like it.

Somehow I had a bad experience with Fuzz Faces, especially since I didn't like my AM NKT275 Sunface. And I know that JB doesn't always use his FF for his lead sounds, I saw him live last year and even though he didn't play through his standard amp setup he still sounded like the JB I knew.

I'm just being open to suggestions. I somehow lost a bit of interest in gear and all since I enlisted in the army I don't have time to read the forums and play nowadays.

[Intercom Terror]

i just recently got a Tim on trade and I have to say that it exceeded my expectations. I have been using it for a lower gain drive and then kick on the boost for medium drive. I have never played a dirt pedal that has more dynamics than the tim (which is what i would consider to be "un-compressed"). I can control the amount of hair just by picking and/or rolling the volume knob down. when set up according to the instructions it literally sounds exactly like my clean tone but dirty (which is what i would consider to be "transparent"). I normally use more gain than i am now but strangely i feel like i can use less and I am more than happy.

It also doesn't hurt that I just got a Goodsell Unibox that has brilliant clean tone in my opinion.

[kmcw]

Caroline Guitar Company Wave Cannon will absolutely do what you're looking for. Or I would also recommend a Barber DD.

[wonggei]

rockbox boilng point!

[AnthonyL]

Recently picked up one of these and I've been quite impressed. The additional tone shapping knobs really do help, I believe. It's solidly in the med to med+ gain territory, but plays well with all of my amps set at varying levels. Also, keep in mind that Joe's amps are run hard and breaking up. He then hits them with a Tube Screamer and that seals the deal. The Green Rhino has more gain than a std TS though...

[meterman]

Fulltone Plimsoul. Fat and smooth are all right there...

Direct Drive SS will do it too but is pretty compressed

[sahertian]

Mi audio bluespro deluxe

[dudelove]

Originally Posted by meterman

Fulltone Plimsoul. Fat and smooth are all right there...

Direct Drive SS will do it too but is pretty compressed

Very interested in the Plimsoul. I'm looking more into it.

[jpagey]

Barber BUEQ
ZIM with Tar+ card
Lovepedal Kanji
Hermida Mosferatu
Tonebender
Kelley TS9 Baked Mod

[firebird1295]

I recently pulled the Burr-Brown OP2604 chip out of my Barber Direct Drive, and tried a TLC2262 chip instead after some "web surfing" about various chips, and their characteristics.

After tweaking the "presence" and "bass" inside the pedal for the new chip, I found it was very "amp like" as the person commenting on the chip had described, and I really like this pedal once again. Dave Barber is a genius at creating versatile overdrives, and the DD is a class for sure; very adjustable, in my opinion.

I wouldn't think I could hear a difference between these various IC chips, but I've experimented now with a few of my pedals, and it actually does make a difference, at least in my rig, with my guitars/pedals.

I've tried an LM1458, and also a TL072 in my (personally) modded TS-9 and both sound great, and better in my rig, than the original 4558 chip. I've settled for now on the TL072 in that pedal, as I like how "transparent" it sounds with my 335 in my rig.

Best of luck in your hunt for "your sound".

[schwa]

There's gotta be a hundred OD's out there, and I'm no expert, but I have tried a few. (all the Boss OD's, Fulltone, and Tim/Timmy)

Of the ones I've tried I would recommend the King of Tone. I hate to recommend it, since there's a long wait time, but it is fat and smmoth without compression. It's not known as a high gain pedal, but with both sides on it has as much OD as I can imagine needing.

If I wanted something inexpensive and easy to find, I would recommend a FD2. Mosfet if your rig is dark, non mosfet if your rig is bright. Set it on CompCut mode, and it's a pretty open sounding OD.

[ianb]

I think the Little Green Wonder fits the description pretty good.