I opened a new thread so as to be easier for someone in the future to find info about these pedals.I think I'll wait to do guitar upgrades when I will find someone that I can trust to do it for me and for reasonable price because the last time I had problems for a simple set up.So I am moving to buy a pedal.I really wanted a wah pedal and specificaly Vox V848 Clyde McCoy Wah Pedal but I don't have the money for this one now.
So I want something like overdrive but I don't know which is best.Blues drivers tube screamer or overdrive models?I really dig the sound of hendrix,pink floyd and general blues like BB king,Stevie Ray etc. So I would like to suggest from your experience which is the best to use.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-20 05:39 by StratoGR.

I use Fuzz Face together with a Cry Baby on a Bulldog 50W Custom HI Watt-amp. Perfect for Strat and Tele anyway. I believe Hendrix also used Fuzz Face. Check the link below to listen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-20 11:19 by DandelionPowderman.

Tubescreamer?

Strato BE CAREFUL!

Pedal shopping can become addictive!

First you start with the standard Ibanez TS because everybody has that green thing somewhere

Then you will start wondering if your model has the correct chip.

Then you will find out that you can customize your pedal to acheive THE tone.

Then you will discover the world of "beautiful, creamy, vinatge, pure tube distortion" of boutique pedals.

At the end of the year you have thrown away the money that could have bought a vintage les paul!

Luckily I am not a great fan of pedals.

As I see it there is no "definite" OD pedal. It depends very much on what sound you have in your head, what amp and guitar you use, etc. There is no pedal in the world that can give you the sound of Jimi AND of Gilmour AND of BB AND of SRV-

For the time being you could try out the cheap Berhingers. No big deal, but at least you get the general idea. And if you don't like it, you've lots 30 euros.

Ibanez Tube Screamer

I would echo what liddas says. Start out with a cheaper pedal - Danelectro do plenty - and see if it is for you. A lot of tone comes from the fingers (haven't seen BB King use an overdrive or distortion pedal) and a pedal may not give you the buckets of tone you hope for. I'm not a big pedals fan, although I've tried a few over the years and still have the old ones at the back of a cupboard. I currently use a little overdrive pedal (sorry, can't remember which one, but it cost about 40 pounds) with my Fender amp and I find that I only use it about 10% of the time playing with my current band.

And please beware of wah-wah pedals unless you've got a specific need for one, e.g., in your band or a recording project. They are not the easiest thing in the world to use (especially if you tap your foot when you play) and can get very tedious in anything but small doses, particularly if you're practicing alone. It is very easy to overdose on them in the first few days after purchase and this can leave you with a life-long aversion (and an underused wah-wah in the cupboard - like mine).

Many of the Overdrive pedals are fairly similar components and therefore sound. Small changes in the components can make drastic changes. Take my Ibanez TS pedal. I bought the cheap version but then wished I hadn't. SO I bought a few components (chip, cap etc) and made the conversion and I now have a great pedal. Also try out a fuzz pedal to see if that's what you really are after.

BTW - OD pedals are only any good if you have a good tube amp first. DO not even bother getting one until you have a tube amp because you would be buying the wrong thing. Tube screamers work by sending an already driven tube amp into total saturation so don't think you can get a cheapo pedal as an alternative to a decent amp. Your money would be better spent on a small tube amp like the little epiphones or fenders.

I have a few toys like most guitarists but I only really use the OD pedal on stage, going in to a Fender Deluxe valve amp. Sometimes I use wah wah but then only for one song. Tremelo can be nice and phaser sometimes add cool flavour but I just like the natural sound of the amp and control it using the volume knob on my guitar,

I use a Tube screamer modded to TS-808 specs.

I also have a Fulltone OCD and a Barber Direct Drive. The Direct Drive is an awesome pedal for the money.

For Fender style amps I really like the Tube screamer has it also boosts the mid range.

As always the Gear Page is the ultimate source.

[www.thegearpage.net]

By the way I had my tube screamer modded here. I just have the sipmle 808 mod.
[www.wpa.net]

Basicaly I want a change in my guitar because I have it 2 years now.It's bit difficult to find money for a decent tube amp because they worth over 500euros. General I like to buy things that are decent from the start.For example when I bought the guitar I wasn't sure that I'll keep play after a few days but I decided to buy a decent guitar which I think mex strats are.
So I don't want to buy a cheap tube amp which will result to change it after a few months but I can't afford the most expensive amps that cost 600euros etc.
I don't play in a band,not recording whatever I do is for me in a small apartment.The wah pedal it's probably difficult to use and a few songs that I can play on with it.BUt when I hear this sample [www.musiciansfriend.com]
I need to have it someday.Overdrive pedals,or tubescreamers or bluesdrivers which are all the same thing more or less give you an extra bite in your guitar when you solo and not playing chords and that's something that I like.IF you think that I should concetrate only for a good amp at the start I'll follow your advice.

Have a look here.

[www.guitargeek.com]

get a good fuzz, analogman builts the one i personally like best.

StratoGR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Basicaly I want a change in my guitar because I
> have it 2 years now.It's bit difficult to find
> money for a decent tube amp because they worth
> over 500euros. General I like to buy things that
> are decent from the start.For example when I
> bought the guitar I wasn't sure that I'll keep
> play after a few days but I decided to buy a
> decent guitar which I think mex strats are.
> So I don't want to buy a cheap tube amp which
> will result to change it after a few months but I
> can't afford the most expensive amps that cost
> 600euros etc.
> I don't play in a band,not recording whatever I
> do is for me in a small apartment.The wah pedal
> it's probably difficult to use and a few songs
> that I can play on with it.BUt when I hear this
> sample
> [www.musiciansfriend.com]
> yde-McCoy-Wah-Wah-Pedal?sku=151688
> I need to have it someday.Overdrive pedals,or
> tubescreamers or bluesdrivers which are all the
> same thing more or less give you an extra bite in
> your guitar when you solo and not playing chords
> and that's something that I like.IF you think that
> I should concetrate only for a good amp at the
> start I'll follow your advice.


If you do not have a tube amp then don't waste your money on an overdrive pedal!

You can get a decent enough tube amp for bedroom use for very little money. For example, the Epiphone Valve Junior 5W combo amp can be bought for around £99 - that's about the same as a stomp box! But having a little beauty like this will do so much more for you tone than a hundred pedals. [www.guitarampkeyboard.com]

These amps are good value for money and I think you'd keep it even if you upgrade so that you have a quieter amp that you can crank up to get a good tone.

If you buy a 40W valve amp then you won't be able to use it at home. At your level you need a very low wattage valve combo amp to get best tone for your money. So I recommend that you miss out the "toys" and get yourself some "tools".

If you are going to play in apartment or need to be quiet. Get a Line 6 POD and a pair of headphones or some other amp modeler like a pandora. These are great for practice. They can also be plugged diiect into a PA if you are playing live, lots of options. Roland minicube is cool as well and can be had for a $100.

Tube amps need to be goosed to give up the goods. Even a Fender Princeton can get realtively loud. A good OD pedal can kick it into gear a little lower on the dial. If you can crank it up OD pedals are unecessary as you use the volume knob on your on guitar to go from clean tones to overdrive.

All depends on application.

"So I recommend that you miss out the "toys" and get yourself some "tools".I like this sentence a lot .So we return to the amp again.I want something that has the real quality of a tube amp first and of course combined with the right watts for home use.I wanted to buy an epiphone valve junior a long time ago but it didn't have any eq on it so I thought it would be less flexible and I like to have some flexibility with my amp.So suggest me a good tube amp first of all,suitable for the apartment.I want an amp that I'll keep for the next years not the next months and then have to buy something better.

Have you looked into a Carr Mercury? sounds like what you are looking for. The epiphone is not in the same league. Steve Carr's shop is my neck of the woods and I got to try a prototype of this amp when it was being designed.

It's an investment but you will have it for the rest of your life.

I've owned a Carr Rambler for many years now and it is a constant in my stable of amps and I've gone through quite a few.

here is a link.

[www.carramps.com]

The only problem with the Carr amps is that it would be almost impossible to find them in Greece.What is the price for Mercury?

Sorry didn't realize you were in Greece.

You probaly would have to stick to a bigger brand.

Have you considered using a high grade attenuator that goes between the amp and the speaker? The Mercury and similar amps typically have one built in.

I know people use them with success to tame high powered amps.

There are several availble. here is an example

[www.drzamps.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-21 02:55 by jabhead.

That's a very useful device.I am really sorry that I can't try a Mercury amp.
From these amps which one do you consider the 3 best.I like the Gibson at least the way it looks.
[www.thomann.de]

Don't have a ton of experience with some of the amps listed.

I used to own a Fender Blues Junior and it sounded good clean and little harsh when pushed. I also changed the speaker in mine, the one it comes with is crap.
Geat amp for the money though, I think I paid $299, plus another $100 for a Celestiuon G12H.I used mine as a practice amp that I left in the band practice space. I sold it because it went through power tubes like mad. It takes EL84 type tubes and runs real hot.

The Vox AC15 112 is one to consider, I have a friend owns one and it sounds great (and loud), take out the stock speaker add a Celestion Blue and you have a killer little amp. They are much cheaper now they are made in China instead of the UK.

I tried the Fender Pro Junior and thought it was great for the money.

All these amps are probably too loud for an apartment though. Unless you have nice neighbors!

Have never tried a newer Gibson amp. I have heard the one with the 6v6 tubes is good. I sure like some of their guitars.

From a little research I did I understood something.If you want to have a good tube ampyou have to pay much money.Of course the biggst problem is that an expensive tube amp is over 15watts and from some reviews is too much for an apartment.The only expensive and low watt amp I found till this moment is the gibson one.

liddas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Strato BE CAREFUL!
>
> Pedal shopping can become addictive!
>
> First you start with the standard Ibanez TS
> because everybody has that green thing somewhere
>
> Then you will start wondering if your model has
> the correct chip.
>
> Then you will find out that you can customize your
> pedal to acheive THE tone.
>
> Then you will discover the world of "beautiful,
> creamy, vinatge, pure tube distortion" of boutique
> pedals.
>
> At the end of the year you have thrown away the
> money that could have bought a vintage les paul!
>
> Luckily I am not a great fan of pedals.
>
> As I see it there is no "definite" OD pedal. It
> depends very much on what sound you have in your
> head, what amp and guitar you use, etc. There is
> no pedal in the world that can give you the sound
> of Jimi AND of Gilmour AND of BB AND of SRV-
>
> For the time being you could try out the cheap
> Berhingers. No big deal, but at least you get the
> general idea. And if you don't like it, you've
> lots 30 euros.

ha great post, ty. and did youse ever notice, on those hof jams or benefits or whenever any of the great distinctive guys show up; be it our keith, or jimmy p. jeff b. etc...regardless of what guitar or amp they're handed...
THEY SOUND LIKE THEMSELVES! like who they are as stylists and musicians organically...
i've been in the room when hendrix was trying out a number of gits UMAMPLIFIED in mannys way back when, and if you got close, and i did, haaa, it sounded just like, guess what? hendrix.

that being said, he did leave with an entire case of fuzz boxes of some sort.
i asked manny's brother who was working there at the time wassup with that?
a CASE?
"oh yeh, he takes 'em apart and messes with them and works with somebody else just wiring and rewiring and such..."

it's the vision thing i guess...'know your song well before u start singin' kinda...and you will sound, like YOU...if that's your game...or like someone's sound you love, with just a little tweakin' with a lot of the gear out there i guess.

that being said, i personally go for ny company 'tech 21' of 'sans amp' fame years ago.. they've got a rack psa-1 thing that is totally tweakable and programmable, with analog circuitry, (as i think a lot of their pedal line does)...good for bass, as well as guitars...cool pre-sets but that's just where one starts...great for 'straight in' the board too...but pricey and not a simple stomp box...but if you're racking it, well, there's a mighty mighty hot groovy tool...and if you're recording...well, you've got every color and harmonic in the universe, depending on where u wanna go and what sounds 'right' to you.

some engineers use tweak 'em for drums, vokes and things u wouldn't expect as well...
i've had good luck with a variety of Boss things in the past on gin soaked rickety stages for sure, but in recent years when doing the rare overdrive rock thing...(i'm an old guy more interested in my brand new effin Martin OMC frankly)...but do still use electrics but don't personally go for the big metal thang...

... but i plug my pre-cbs fender into the tech 21 'tri-od' and u got 'cali' 'brit' etc...and it's real 'real' and real quick to adjust to taste, adjusts easily...and easily swithable by foot from one overdrive channel to the next and back again. i'm no expert and quite "faah from a staaah" but that's my experience.

I would not buy a tube amp if you only tend to play at home. Literally all tube amp above 2 watts will be too loud for home used when pushed. In my personal opinion, there's a fair amount of really good sounding transistor amps, like the Vox Pathfinder and the new Fender Champ, wich includes digital modelling and a range of effects. These will sound much better at low volume than most tube amps.

Buy a good overdrive pedal like a Boss Blues Driver (especially when tweeked by Robert Keeley) or a Fulltone Fulldrive, and you hardly hear it's not a pushed valve amp. Don't buy stuff like fuzz faces and the like, those are all icing on the cake. I personally don't like Tubescreamers too much, they're too midrange-y for my taste and everything I play through it sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughn.

If you need an amp for gigging, then I would buy a decent 30 to 60 watt tube amp.

Mathijs



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-21 15:14 by Mathijs.

Great call on the Vox Pathfinder, Mathijs - I've had mine for almost 10 years and it's perfect for home/apartment playing. Great distortion on the little bugger, too. Though I might upgrade mine to a newer model because the current ones have reverb - mine can sound too dry w/o it, especially when I'm using a Fender.

The only pedal I use is a Jekyll & Hyde overdrive/distortion. The OD is based on the Tube Screamer, and the distortion is nice & creamy. Combine the two and you're like Thor farting lightning bolts from the mountain top. When I play live, all I use is this through my Fender Deluxe and it's great.

Here's a link: [www.visualsound.net] I've got an older model without all the bells & whistles (sharp/blunt switch, namely) and I had to replace one of the switches once, but overall it held up nicely through four years of solid gigging/touring. And at $140 USD (can be found for less in stores), it's a total bargain for what it delivers.

I would suggest to get the best of both worlds - that's hybrid.
Tube preamp, transistor power amp, + modeling presets.

Vox offers these in the Valve Tronix series in a good price range.
I recently played a gig with a Vox AD 100VT and I was stunned by the sound that amp had to offer. Dialed in the Black Face modeling sound and the tube gain - then adjust the overall volume and your good to go.
They come as 15 Watt, 30 W, 50 W, and 100 Watt combos.
I suppose the only difference between them are the power transistors and the speakers, but the valve preamp and modeling unit are all the same.
They also have 9 effects and 2 chanels so you can skip the the pedals for the moment.
and that at a decent price of € 169,- for the 15 Watt model.


[www.thomann.de]

5 watts is too much for an apartmenet?I really want tube and nothing else.

Fulltone, Fulltone, Fulltone. Best pedals in the world. All hand made with spot on reproduction of vintage geranium transisters. The Fulldrive, '69, and the Clyde Wah are must haves in my opinion. A bit pricey, but they hold their value. And Keith's been using them for years.