Dirt pedal with not enough volume on tap

[Louiddur]

Seriously? Am I the only that is p!ssed off with pedals that is hardly giving you volume unity?

Here's a list of pedals that I bought that suffer from severe volume lost or barely enough headroom to keep up with my clean tone, even with volume maxed out ;

- Bluesbreaker clone
- Ibanez 850 fuzz
- Boss OD2
- You Dirty Rat

Maybe it's my setup? I tried those pedals with my 70s SF Super Reverb and my blues deluxe, with teles and gibbys

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Tootone]

Doing something wrong sounds like a likely cause.

 

[MoonshineMan]

Did you put the batteries in them?
I've never had a problem maintaining unity and much more with drive pedals.

 

[Louiddur]

They're all powered by a voodoo lab power supply

I have several pedals with plenty of volume (Timmy, soul food, Musket...)

I just doesn't understand how it passed the concept phase if a pedal lack of volume

 

[jvin248]

.

You need to stack them. Sometimes in different order.
I have a Rat that I've been playing lately and it really gets a lot better with a Klon clone in front of it.
For several years I've run a pair of DS-1s like this video, it makes a world of difference than just trying to get something good out of a single pedal.


.

 

[monty]

My MXR Blue Box is the same, and IIRC my Dist plus was also.
It is annoying.

 

[Killshakes]

My Ibanez OD850 has plenty of volume, for me anyway.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

They're all powered by a voodoo lab power supply

Have you eliminated this as a variable?

 

[Shiny_Beast]

My 4oth DS-1 is like this

 

[PhuzzphayzZ]

How's Brownie on volume?

 

[Tootone]

I don't know of any distortion pedal that is lower than unity with its volume cranked.... it defeats the object.

I can't imagine 4 of OP pedals having same issue unless there is some other cause.

Troubleshooting time....

OP needs to test Guitar - pedal - amp, one pedal at a time.

 

[Junco Partner]

My MXR Blue Box is the same, and IIRC my Dist plus was also.
It is annoying.

I’ve found both of these guys to have way too little volume, and it is annoying; OTOH, I’ve not had that issue with any of the pedals in the OP’s list. The original Bluesbreaker notoriously doesn’t have enough volume on tap to really push the front end of an amp, but the one clone I’ve tried (Mooer Blues Crab) has enough for unity gain at least.

 

[HugoLC]

We all had this feeling trying the Mxr distortion plus.

 

[tonedover]

bluesbreakers are notoriuos for unity being past 2 oclock on the volume. wasnt able to really overdrive as much as i wanted it to

 

[Calebz]

bluesbreakers are notoriuos for unity being past 2 oclock on the volume. wasnt able to really overdrive as much as i wanted it to

Yup. This is a pretty common thing, even among the clones.

That said....

I’ve tried (Mooer Blues Crab) has enough for unity gain at least.

I've got one of those also, while it doesn't push as hard as most of my other ODs, it definitely makes it well past unity.

OP - this is a configuration issue of some sort. PS, amp, something.

 

[fuzzrhythm]

I had the same issue with Ibanez Mini 850 OD (fuzz) and MXR Blue Box. Sold the Ibanez, and I believe there is a common mod to clip something out of the Blue Box to give it more output

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Clean boost pedals have become very popular these days. Problem solved.

 

[tonedover]

.

You need to stack them. Sometimes in different order.
I have a Rat that I've been playing lately and it really gets a lot better with a Klon clone in front of it.
For several years I've run a pair of DS-1s like this video, it makes a world of difference than just trying to get something good out of a single pedal.


.

“stack them” doesnt have much to do with the OP’s question.

also, we can stop spamming that youtube video on stacking, its NOT a new concept, nor is that video very good

 

[Louiddur]

Clean boost pedals have become very popular these days. Problem solved.

You're right. But having a second pedal to correct the problem of a pedal is kinda wasting pedalboard real estate... For me at least

 

[eclecticsynergy]

You're right. But having a second pedal to correct the problem of a pedal is kinda wasting pedalboard real estate... For me at least

Agreed. Still, if you have a drive whose sound you like yet need more output, short of modding the pedal, boost is the only way.

I have several Lovepedal drives that incorporate an independent boost - with its own footswitch - into a single chassis. I'm fond of that format.
A few of them have clean boost, and several feature dirty boost based on the Church Of Tone. There's not a dud in the bunch.

The other path would be to restrict your search only to drives with lots of output. A valid approach, but one with fewer possibilities.