DISTORTION needed for Bright, Clean, NOT cranked vintage Super Reverb

[Benny]

There are some good suggestions here already. With my supers, I’ve had good luck with an old vintage Rat, especially if you can get the filter knob set in a place that works for you.

The easiest thing would be to go with either the Toneczar Dove or Openhaus - they simply excel at allowing the player to apply a great drive/distorted tone over a huge range of pristine cleans.

The Blackstone Mosfet pedal is also pretty solid in this type of application, though without as powerful/flexible eq capabilities as the Toneczar gear.

 

[Mystik Spiral]

Rat, or even a barber direct drive sounds killer through a super reverb

 

[Philo]

Barber direct drive for the win.

 

[Gemini2]

Wampler Pinnacle V1. It’s a warm “Brown” sounding pedal with plenty of gain on tap but also sounds great low gain.

I’m also concerned about my clean tone. I use tweed amps with alnico speakers which can be bright when pushed with gain. Unless cranking the amp it’s difficult to get singing sustain without sounding too bright and harsh. However the Wampler Pinnacle V1 cures the woes.

From what you’re describing you probably will find V2 to be too bright.

 

[leighianson]

Another vote for the Rat. I use my ‘87 Rat into a ‘66 Super Reverb and it sounds wicked good!

 

[8len8]

I like using an OCD with a boost in front of it.

What version is your experience with?

 

[dk_ace]

Barber Direct Drive is great for this.

D

 

[dconeill]

Worth investigating:
Barber Electronics Gain Changer for Fender sounds (around $170).
Barber Direct Drive for Marshall sounds (around $170).
Joyo JF14 American Sound (around $40). Noisy on some settings. Use Tech21 Blonde manual for settings suggestions.
Joyo JF15 California Sound (around $40). Noisy on some settings.

 

[modal-wool]

Crowther Hot Cake. Plenty of bottom end, sustain for days with gain above 1 o'clock. My main amp is a silverface Champ, bright and clean, and the hot cake is just the ticket for what you describe.

 

[Kronos147]

I have a pedalboard that I use with my 67 Super Reverb...

What I am missing is a Distortion.

These are the important factors
-Plenty of gain and sustain (I'm not looking for a heavy metal sound, but definitely the ability to do leads that are TONALLY reminiscent of Santana, Journey, EJ, Carlton, and other rock stuff.)
-Ability to NOT sound super bright despite my bright amp (simply rolling back the tone on other pedals doesn't always sound good)
-Ideally good sounds with a variety of guitars

Pedals I've tried:
-Fulltone OCD (too bright, not enough sustain with this particular amp)

So, ideas?

I'm a Fender amp lover too. I like the OCD though, so keep that in mind.

This week two pedals have me kicking the OCD (and another distortion) pedal(s) off the board. J. Rockett 'The Dude' and Vemuram 'Jan Ray'. I have tried the Jan Ray thought both the Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb. I have only tried The Dude thought the Princeton, so far.

The Jan Ray is more in the overdrive camp. It can be set clean, and is a great clean boost, and it has some nice dirt, as well.

The Dude is heavier, dirtier, but yet dynamic. Nice little box for leads, though, currently, I find it a tad noisy. I will check the cable paths on my board soon, as I think I have a better layout.

 

[GenoVox]

When the OCD first came out, I remember some folks calling it a MIAB too… to me, it’s not remotely like that - way too scooped and bassy, especially with a Fender amp (IMO)

I‘ll add a big +1 for those that mentioned the Barber Direct Drive… although ANY Barber dirt pedal is gonna be killer - and with pretty much any amp setup too

 

[Riffa]

Try the Boss DA-2. You'll be surprised.

 

[fenderjapan]

I like using an OCD with a boost in front of it.

What version is your experience with?

I’ve used the most current. Unless the previous ones have significantly more gain I can’t really see it working.

 

[Gemini2]

I’ve used the most current. Unless the previous ones have significantly more gain I can’t really see it working.

I like the OCD too. However I stack it with an 808 or OD-9 in front. I prefer the older versions. They don’t necessarily have more gain, but they have a more pronounced midrange. V2 Is too scooped and bassy. If you want a version with tamed highs v1.6 is the one to get.

 

[DreamersDream]

For whatever reason, my Rat clone (with the correct chip), has a really good sound on my 67 SR. Tried it on my 66 PR and no bueno. Something about the SR eats up the Rat nicely. Very unique. Probably tons of other pedals will work also, but I’d consult black face SR vintage owners on this. The newer reissue is nothing like the original other than it’s looks.

 

[Strat_lover]

Do you have the bright switch engaged on the super for your clean? It is my experience that no hard clipping pedal sounds good with the bright switch in, with no grit from the amp.

If you don't have the bright switch in, a Rat with the filter set dark is great for this tone. Also, bit of a wild card, but the Way Huge Geisha Drive. It is an Ibanez SD-9 circuit, but with a usable tone knob. I like a stock SD-9 into Fenders, but the tone knob is sooooo finicky I have a hard time recommending it to most. The Geisha fixes that problem, and gives the pedal more output which is nice.

 

[george4908]

>>the ability to do leads that are TONALLY reminiscent of Santana, Journey, EJ, Carlton, and other rock stuff.

For this, the Barber Burn Unit is actually the one you want, more than the Direct Drive.

 

[Steve73]

Boss OS2….. I use one with my ‘67 Pro Reverb and it works great. The Colour knob let’s you blend between OD and Distortion so you can blend in some mids with the OD side. That is the challenge with distortions
into Fenders I have found, just a can of bees in most cases if there isn’t any mids.

 

[flyonthewall150]

When I had a Super Reverb I had trouble finding a distortion that I really liked through it. The clean is beautiful but something about the bright voicing didn’t jive with many of the ones I tried.

My favorites were:

Wampler Sovereign
Keeley Filaments
Lovepedal Superlead (the GC edition black one)
Sansamp GT2
Soldano GTO

The Wampler and Keeley were really good through it.

 

[fenderjapan]

Do you have the bright switch engaged on the super for your clean? It is my experience that no hard clipping pedal sounds good with the bright switch in, with no grit from the amp.

If you don't have the bright switch in, a Rat with the filter set dark is great for this tone. Also, bit of a wild card, but the Way Huge Geisha Drive. It is an Ibanez SD-9 circuit, but with a usable tone knob. I like a stock SD-9 into Fenders, but the tone knob is sooooo finicky I have a hard time recommending it to most. The Geisha fixes that problem, and gives the pedal more output which is nice.

It is engaged. And I really like that clean tone. I will explore these options (and those others mentions).
I can explore making my core tone a little less bright but I don't want to compromise too much.