|
Post by TelePrankster on Jul 2, 2017 6:55:38 GMT -7
Hi, I play mostly country (Paisley, Mason mostly) and a little bit of classic rock and old school stuff. I always played a Telecaster into blackface Fenders for years. I used my amps as a clean platform so I always used light "transparent" ODs in order to get a crunchy base tone and a TS as a solo/lead boost. Nothing new, nothing fancy, but works great. Since I switched to Dr. Z amps (Carmen Ghia and Z-28) I get my base tone from my amps so I don't need most of my dirt pedals anymore. I was thinking about getting a distortion pedal in order to cover some heavier stuff I normally don't play and get more versatility from my rig. I had an OCD a couple of years ago and it sounded good but too damn harsh and fizzy into my Princeton. I sold it after a week and I'm not going to risk again getting another one for my Z amps, to be honest. Since I'not sure I will use this pedal very often I was thinking about something cheap like MXR? Do you have some suggestions? Something I'd use for the stuff I play? Just to be clear, I'm talking about DISTORTION pedals, don't bother suggesting overdrives.
|
|
|
Post by zpilot on Jul 2, 2017 7:54:04 GMT -7
Boss OS-2's go for $79.00 new at Sweetwater. You can dial in how much distortion vs overdrive you need. That's about as cheap as you are going to find a pedal that is as reliable as a Boss is known to be. One of my customers uses one in a situation like yours and it seems to work for him.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2017 8:08:25 GMT -7
Everything I'd suggest would be OCD-esque, if what you're looking for are Marshall-y distorted tones. I'd say have a look at either the Wampler Velvet Fuzz, the Vertex Dynamic Distortion, or the Friedman BE-OD--but they're going to seem a bit harsh on the Tele bridge pickup unless you roll the tone knob off a good bit--1/3 to 1/2, depending on your ear, maybe.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2017 11:31:34 GMT -7
The BE-OD is really nice. Variable gain trim pot inside.
The CMAT mods Brownie is pretty good. For $135 - it's a little on the lower cost side.
I know you said no overdrives please - but the Wampler Brent Mason Hot Wired has a really good distortion channel.
|
|
|
Post by TelePrankster on Jul 3, 2017 2:44:26 GMT -7
I was thinking about a Boss OD-3. It's cheap and easy to re-sell if I don't like it. Another choice would be the Wampler Hot Wired V2 which is NOT cheap but would POSSIBLY replace both my Timmy and Keeley modded TS808. I said "possibly" since I never tried that pedal.
EDIT: Got an used OD-3 yesterday from a local guy for 45 euros. It's stock, not modified. I played with it for a couple of hours into my Z-28 set clean and man... this thing is a beast! It gives you that kind of tone we hear in those 60/70s rock classic songs, straight up perfect. Those tones were so familiar that I felt... at home. No bass cut, no mid hump, surprisingly flat EQ with just a little bass boost (similar to a Nobels ODR-1) which I love with both my Telecaser and 6122 semi-hollow Gretsch. It's not as dynamic as a Timmy, a Morning Glory and most of the low gain ODs I tried, though. It clips in its own way and it has plenty of gain on tap, definitely more than my other dirt pedals. Distortion is always tight and manageable during entire range, with a lot of definition even with the gain maxed. Tone control is very sensitive and usable. It works very well as a clean-ish boost with the gain set to minimum and it has A LOT of volume on tap if you want to slam the front end of you amp. Unity gain was around 9/10 o'clock on the volume knob for me, just to give you an idea. One thing I liked a lot is the fact that once you set it for unity gain, the gain knob doesn't seem to add a lot more volume when cranked. It's very easy to go from light crunch to almost distortion with just the turn of one knob. I boosted it with a Keeley modded TS808 and it loved it, the same with a Keeley C4 compressor which gives it a fat and "liquid" effect to single notes. I'm very happy with this pedal.
EDIT #2: I just realized that I should have posted this thread in the "Effects" board, I'm sorry. You can move it if you want, thanks.
|
|