Have LP Kalamazoo & may get TS-808RI. Advise a better combination.

[LoopyBullet]

I have a minimalist board I'm making, and I have space for two MXR styled OD pedals. I'll be playing into a Fender '68 Princeton or a TR Studio Pro 50 depending on my situation. I currently have a Lovepedal Kalamazoo and nothing else. I was thinking about getting a TS-808 to cover lower gain sounds, and stacking the Kalamazoo on medium gain to have more of a sustainey, driven sound.

If you had to make a suggestion of two overdrive pedals to use together (usually in a blues/rock tone mode), what would you suggest? Stick with the original plan? Buy something else besides a TS? Swap the Kalamazoo for something else? Or swap both?

The important things to me are that they not be over ~$350 USD combined and also be readily available so I'm not hard pressed in the future to replace them with the same or similar if they fart out. Bonus points for versatility: it would be nice in terms of being able to have the low gain sounds I was originally shooting for (either from the TS or Kalamazoo) and high gain/fuzzy sounds as well, but it's not required.

You, friends, are more knowledgeable than me about what's out there in terms of overdrives, so I appreciate your help.

 

[Stephans]

Xotic BB booster

 

[LoopyBullet]

Mmm okay I'll consider it, thanks!

Bump!

 

[amdowell]

I'd keep the Kalamazoo and find a used Barber Gain Changer. It's super versatile, sounds great (especially at 18v), it's tiny and stacks well.

 

[ndtealmusic]

I don't know anything about the Kalamazoo, so I can't say whether or not you should hold onto it, but I definitely second the Gain Changer. Easily the best sounding overdrive I've ever used, covers everything from clean boost to mid-high gain, and has a ton of EQing options: flat, big bottom end, mid-hump, and so forth further tweakable with the tone knob (duh). It has never failed to deliver the sound I'm after. Can't go wrong.

 

[mysterious1s]

The Kzoo and TS have a lot of crossover so I wouldnt recommend the TS. I would suggest a klon(e), Morning Glory or Euphoria for clean boost, low gain and great stacking abilities.

 

[voodoochili12]

+1 for Barber Gain Changer. Super versatile.

As an aside, I had a very tough time bonding with my Kalamazoo. It sounded woofy and dense on every setting, no matter where tone and 'glass' were set. I found that the only thing it was good for (for me) was medium-gain rhythm type stuff. I'd use it if I was in a Black Crowes cover band, but that's about it. I had much better luck with a Klone and KoT for low AND medium gain OD.

 

[Billy Idle]

Channel one from a Les Lius before a Kalamazoo is one of my winning combos !
He who loves Lovepedal just loves pedals.

 

[JMarkoz]

I have these 3, and you can probably get them all used for close to $350.
They're small, easy to power & play well together.

- JHS Superbolt
- Karma Suture
- Mooer Black Secret

The SuperBolt and KS both do low-gain stuff quite well, and when you crank them you have amp-like od/dist from the Bolt and very fuzzy fuzz from the KS. They also both clean up pretty nicely when you roll back the vol.

As for the BS, it's a great Rat clone, that stacks well into the Bolt. I use the Turbo Mode almost exculsively.

I know you said 3, but the BS is small & cheap. Especially if you order straight from DonnerDeals. Takes a while, but shows up eventually.

 

[CullD]

I would go with the Xotic bb preamp. Best overdrive I've tried. Use it with a simple booster pedal before or after. I use the earthquaker tone job. Sounds amazing. Really depends on what kind of OD you are looking for. The tube screamer for low gain doesn't work for me but may for you.

 

[CullD]

Also low gain pedals that are great ARC klone (or any klon type-rockett archer), and greer lightspeed. Klone is aggressive, greer is smooth as anything. FWIW, I couldn't get any pedals to work well with my two rock (you might), the Princeton will eat em up....

 

[62Tele]

I have a Kalamazoo Gold and agree that it has a fair amount of TS character. I've paired it with a Skreddy Hybrid Fuzz Driver and with an Amp 11. With the Skreddy, I set the KG for a low gain kind of sound and the HSD as a medium gain fuzz. The amp 11 does a beautiful low gainer thing, more amp-like than the KG, and the KG does a pretty good higher gain sound alongside.

Right now, I have the Amp 11 and Skreddy together and it's working great. This week...