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Post by quinto on Jun 27, 2006 19:45:02 GMT -7
Well, I went with my amp and came home with a Crunch Box, and a Barber Direct Drive. +1 on the Direct Drive drweller. That thing is pretty cool. With my Keeley Blues Driver I think all the bases are now covered!
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Post by mike33 on Jun 28, 2006 1:16:39 GMT -7
I am using an AC Booster with the gain at halfway up to give just a hair if needed. For (rock)rhythm sounds I use the OCD, Gain setting between 2-3 o'clock. For lead sound I use the combination of the AC and the OCD together. I also have a Timmy since two weeks. It works for me very well for rhythm sound where I need less distortion than I use on the OCD. I use it somewhere between the AC and the OCD. As well I love the combination between the AC and the Timmy!
I recently borrowed from a friend a Keeley Modded BOSS DS-1. I liked the sound for lead sounds and now thinking of buying me one! But before I decide I would like to test out the Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive. But it's hard to find one at these days!
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Post by Telemanic on Jun 28, 2006 9:41:02 GMT -7
I kinda fell out of "love" with my OCD. After initially being knocked out by it i started to be bugged by something ?? Hard to put it to words, but maybe a little perceived hollowness to the tone. At home in my 65 vibrolux, its pretty stunning, really good dumbley type tones, particularly at low to moderate volume, but live on stage is where it starts to really lack something. I still think its a great pedal ! It was a step up from many. But it also started, for me a quest in that direction. That is a pedal that is ultra transparent, responds like your plugged straight in to the amp when you roll your guitar volume down, AND has the tone and body + gaintexture that i'm looking for. Been thru most of usual suspects, but am right now diggin Lovepedals stuff. It seems most of his designs are kinda voiced with a plexi-ish thing goin on. Ive recently gotten his COT 50, lovepedal (mosfet boost), and my latest is the ETERNITY. WOW!! It is currently blowin me away. I got it directly from Sean, after a couple of months wait, and it is "smokin". It has a lot of gain availible, a treble boost control like the OCD, and amazing volume output. VERY transparent, but the big difference from the ocd is the body of the tone, it gets massive. Really unique voice to it. It goes from smooth and round, to spanky, to all out distortion. I like to set the gain high and use guitar volume , to set shades of punchy bright rythym, then when you max it out, it morphs into this fat lead tone, where the highs get real creamy, but somehow stay articulate. Its kinda of a srv meets jimi, meets eric johnson, and they invite robben ford over for lunch!!
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Post by billyguitar on Jun 28, 2006 10:46:02 GMT -7
I had a Blackstone and thought it totally killed the tone of the guitar and all you heard was the tone of the pedal. I might be in the minority so YMMV.
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Post by drew on Jun 28, 2006 12:34:09 GMT -7
I'm using an old, really old, proco Rat for the heavy dist. IMO it may not be the best for metal 'thud factor' rhythm tones (dual recto) but for singing compressed leads with screaming overtones it works well for me. I've tried to leave it off my board but it's like a psyco GF... it keeps coming back. I also have the BB and agree with Skydog it's great for OD tones and has a nice sag/bloom factor.
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Post by johnnyl on Jun 29, 2006 8:21:28 GMT -7
Just got a Menatone Blue Collar and it really does the trick for creamy sounding leads. Like I mentioned in another post, it makes my new Ghia sit up and beg... I've never heard such a sweet sounding mid hump from a pedal. I'm still looking for a good Rhythm pedal though. I need something a little more transparent. Anyone got suggestions? Red Snapper? Barber pedals?
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Post by (8^D) on Jun 29, 2006 9:43:20 GMT -7
Well, I went with my amp and came home with a Crunch Box, and a Barber Direct Drive. +1 on the Direct Drive drweller. That thing is pretty cool. With my Keeley Blues Driver I think all the bases are now covered! Glad you had the chance to give the DD a try! Sounds like you do have your bases covered. Enjoy! D. Dub.
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Post by (8^D) on Jun 29, 2006 10:12:02 GMT -7
I'm still looking for a good Rhythm pedal though. I need something a little more transparent. Anyone got suggestions? Red Snapper? Barber pedals? Depends on what kind of rhythm tone you're looking for. I haven't played thru a lot of what's on the market so this is one gent's opinion from a 'limited' perspective: OCD: Great for light grit rhythm. Fairly transparent w/low gain. Add more gain and it gets more scooped sounding and pretty woofy/muddy in the low end. Can also be used nicely to push another pedal for leads. FDII: The standard for drives. Nice, smooth. Likes most amps/guitars. Didn't really do it for me, but I've heard a ton of great tones driven by these and a lot of great players using them. Might look at the newer version with the mid switch. Keeley BD2: Another new standard drive. Great for light grit rhythm. Fairly transparent at all gain settings. Also gets a nice tight drive rhythm tone w/the gain up a bit. Can get really crunchy w/gain up high. Keeley TS9: Baked has added gain. There are new versions with more whistles/bells. I use this for more med-gain rhythm and kick in either an OCD/BD/Katana for lead boost (depends on the board setup). Great pedal, still the mid-hump tone king but with some audiophile tweaks. Keeley DS1: Great Marshall-in-a-box pedal. Have an amp with a nice mid-range? This pedal will sound AWESOME! Can be used as a boost, for med grit or for gainy tones. Rolling the tone to the left (9:00 or less) keeps the pedal pretty warm (it's a bright pedal)! Another fav. Keeley RatII: If you like Rat tones, this is the ultimate. I"m not a Rat fan, but... Lots of switching for a lot of tonal/use variety (clean boost to high gain). Find it better for high gain lead work but in the boost mode it's pretty cool to push an amp for rhythm work. Keeley Katana: Great to push the front end of an amp for a clip rhythm tone. Also killer lead boost pedal. Pull out the pre-amp and you'll sweet talk a nice smooth drive from your amp. Lovely pedal. Transparent tone too. Barber Direct Drive: Fairly transparent when harmonic boost isn't used. Can go from a light grit to a smokey blues to a gainy TS-9 w/out the boost. Boost on, the pedal gets a nice harmonic complexity and slight mid boost. Also gets a great gain added to the pedal (hairy cleans to modded Marshall tones). The clips on the Barber site are good/fairly accurate; but the pedal sounds much better thru a great amp (i.e. Z). A new fav. Digitech Bad Monkey: This 'TS9' copy has treble/bass controls and you can really adjust the color of the effect. Nice, tight rhythm tones and SUPER reasonable pricing! Even w/the gain cranked it won't get very 'gainy'. Was quite surprised/impressed w/them. Have 2 at home now that float in/out of a couple boards.
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Post by guitarman1 on Jun 29, 2006 10:18:23 GMT -7
Just got a Menatone Blue Collar and it really does the trick for creamy sounding leads. Like I mentioned in another post, it makes my new Ghia sit up and beg... I've never heard such a sweet sounding mid hump from a pedal. I'm still looking for a good Rhythm pedal though. I need something a little more transparent. Anyone got suggestions? Red Snapper? Barber pedals? I just bought a Red Snapper last week and am very happy with it for hair/mild breakup through my Stingray so far, but I haven't gigged with it yet. It is less colored than the Blue Collar, but it also looses a little bass. It replaced my Timmy & Barber Custom Shop Black LTD. I just prefer the tone & feel of the Red Snapper, as it adds a little percussiveness that the Timmy & LTD couldn't get with the 'Ray. I did like the Timmy, Black LTD and Silver LTD when I was using my MAZ Sr. The Maz already had a harder/punchier attack that worked well with those three. The 'Ray is so smooth, that they sounded too soft. I can't say one is more "transparent" than the other, but the snapper is a bit less compressed. All four mentioned are great pedals for low OD IMHO. It just depends what amp you use. The Timmy also sounded a little buzzy with the 'Ray. With the right amp, The Barber Silver LTD is tough to beat for the money, but you have to open it up to dial in/out bass & presence. The Black LTD came with the extra mod board installed that gave it allot more flexability than the standard Black LTD. I could dial out the mids that exist in the standard Black LTD.
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Post by dock66 on Jun 29, 2006 10:44:20 GMT -7
BB peamp,AC,RC,OCD andFD-2.
dcok66
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Post by southpawtone on Jun 29, 2006 15:20:58 GMT -7
Johnnyl-
Definetely check out the Menatone Red Snapper. I've had mine for a few months now. It is incredibly transparent. Very sweet and percussive sounding like guitarman1 mentioned. You can also add a very musical sparkle to your tone with the cut and bite knobs. To my ears, it doesnt lack bass. It is very open and uncompressed. Depending on the amp i suppose it could be a little on the bright side tonewise, but that can easily be dialed out. It's also a great clean boost. Overall, a very musical sounding pedal with amp-like qualities.
Luke
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Post by janinedoubly on Jul 3, 2006 21:06:21 GMT -7
I really like the Keeley RAT mod these days. Its very versatile and a whole lot of fun. Its not pretty, but that's what's cool about it.
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Post by johnnyl on Jul 3, 2006 22:17:42 GMT -7
Thanks for the info guys. I'll probably swing by Flynn's in Evanston and give them a whirl. I think they had a Snapper and a few Barber pedals in there last time I was in. I was supposed to not buy anymore pedals.. (just bought a house) but you gotta have the perfect rhythm OD.. Am I right?? Haha... +1 on the Keeley RAT janinedoubly... it's load o' fun with those 3 settings.. I really like it for a good sustainy lead w/ the wah too.
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Post by skydog958 on Jul 5, 2006 6:30:47 GMT -7
Update on the Crunch Box noise issue... The pickups in the guitar I use w/ the CB are junk--there is more background hum coming from them than signal. So I will stretch and say that most of the noise was from the pickups which got amplified by the CB into more noise. But now I need new pickups...
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Post by johnnyl on Jul 6, 2006 14:25:05 GMT -7
I ended up with the Direct Drive for my Ghia. I A/B'd it against the Red Snapper and both sounded great to my ears but for about $120 the Barber DD is a winner (Snapper was closer to $180). Tons of cool features & tones in this sucker. Nice grind w/ no buzzy high end and the push/pull tone knob is sweet. With the DD for rhythm & Blue Collar for leads I think I'm finally done... I hope.
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Post by quinto on Jul 6, 2006 16:18:18 GMT -7
I ended up with the Direct Drive for my Ghia. I A/B'd it against the Red Snapper and both sounded great to my ears but for about $120 the Barber DD is a winner (Snapper was closer to $180). Tons of cool features & tones in this sucker. Nice grind w/ no buzzy high end and the push/pull tone knob is sweet. With the DD for rhythm & Blue Collar for leads I think I'm finally done... I hope. It is a cool pedal for a little money. Very versatile. I just ordered a few different op amps for it. If they are any good I'll let you know.
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Post by johnnyl on Jul 6, 2006 19:10:44 GMT -7
Cool! Thanks quinto. I've got a few laying around from my build your own screamer clone project gone awry... Let me know what you find.
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Post by johnnyl on Jul 7, 2006 8:10:12 GMT -7
Hey quinto, last night I popped in a TI RC4558P chip and turned the bass & presence trim pots about 1/4 turn clockwise from their stock position and WOW it sounds even better. It was just a tad bright before with my tele & ghia but now it's perfect. I like the way this chip sounds for rhythm but the JRC chip sounds better (throatier) for leads. Pretty cool....
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Post by marsellus on Jul 7, 2006 8:42:32 GMT -7
I use two pedals for OD/Distortion.
1 - Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive pedal 2 - Fulltone OCD
The OCD seems 'thicker' for heavier rhythm parts, but the Sparkle Drive seems 'brighter' for picking/leads and seems to show the individual notes clearer. For some parts to songs, I may have both of them on, but if you do that, make sure it's a part that is being played constantly, otherwise, you'll get a lot of piercing feedback.
Also, I use an American Fender swamp ash telecaster through a Route 66 head and a 2x12 cab (1 vintage 30 and 1 G12H30), so all this affects the sound as well.
For the settings, the OCD is volume: 11:00, drive: 1:00 and tone around 12:30. Sparkel Drive is gain: 3:00, tone: 1:30, clean: 10:00 and volume around 11:00
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Post by tjstrat on Jul 7, 2006 12:32:59 GMT -7
This is a little out of left field, but I finally broke down and bought a HAO Rust Driver cheap on eBay... and this is just an initial impression with my Ghia, but it seems quiet, plays nice with the Zen Drive in front of it, has a SINGLE volume/gain knob and a miniswitch on the side for some eq options (making it kind of the OD pedal equivalent of the Ghia, controlwise anyway) so there isn't a lot of tweakability... The tone you get is what you get. And dag, it's a pretty GOOD TONE. I don't know from "Plexi" tones, but it's a sort of Haynes in a box, at least into the CG and at basement practice levels. Put the Zen through it with everything at 12:00 and you're suddenly Jimmy Herring. I'll report back once I've gigged with it, but this might just knock my OCD's dork in the dirt...
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Post by quinto on Jul 7, 2006 14:05:18 GMT -7
Hey quinto, last night I popped in a TI RC4558P chip and turned the bass & presence trim pots about 1/4 turn clockwise from their stock position and WOW it sounds even better. It was just a tad bright before with my tele & ghia but now it's perfect. I like the way this chip sounds for rhythm but the JRC chip sounds better (throatier) for leads. Pretty cool.... I should mess around with the trim pots while I'm waiting for my IC's to arrive.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2006 2:12:32 GMT -7
I am really digging the Diamond Fireburst with my Maz38SR. Especially for heavy overdrive/distortion rhythm. I also love the Xotic BB preamp. It seems more civilized when compared to the Fireburst. Did not like it as much with the Stingray but it definitely rocks with the Maz. A lot of the sound clips of the Fireburst on the Diamond Pedals website have the Dr. Z Carmen Ghia as the amp. I really like clip 24. www.diamondpedals.com/products/fireburst.html
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Post by quinto on Jul 8, 2006 7:53:28 GMT -7
I am really digging the Diamond Fireburst with my Maz38SR. Especially for heavy overdrive/distortion rhythm. I also love the Xotic BB preamp. It seems more civilized when compared to the Fireburst. Did not like it as much with the Stingray but it definitely rocks with the Maz. A lot of the sound clips of the Fireburst on the Diamond Pedals website have the Dr. Z Carmen Ghia as the amp. I really like clip 24. www.diamondpedals.com/products/fireburst.htmlThat thing does sound good! I like how it went into feedback at the end of the clip.
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Post by Seńor Verde on Jul 8, 2006 15:18:16 GMT -7
I like the Hermida Mosferatu 2. Set one side with gain at 9:00 for mild overdrive and one side with gain at 3:00 for heavy stuff.
The Blue Collar really sounds great too, but I prefer that pedal with Fender and Fender clones.
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