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Tele_Man
Bronze Member
USA
86 Posts |
 Posted - 04/04/2008 : 01:26:10
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Some responses to a previous question I posted <http://www.bossarea.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4266> have prompted this follow-up question. I thought it might warrant it's own thread.
Which Boss OD's and distortions sound and/or work better with solid state amps and which sound and/or work better with tube amps?
Cheers!  |
Edited by - Tele_Man on 04/04/2008 01:27:34 |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2008 : 01:47:09
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I know i'm a bit off topic here.. but personally i've gone down the 'tube in an overdrive pedal' route as in the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube.. but theres a lot of other makes on the market as well..i find it works well with both types of amp..i use a marshall solid state amp in our rehearsal room when i'm too lazy to drag one of my valve amps.... it warms up the sound for me big time IMHO....not a heavy metal pedal more of a classic rock/blues one..... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 04/04/2008 01:48:48 |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2008 : 02:54:50
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out of what i've played...
basically, imo some pedals sound good with a tube rectifier but sound bad with a solid state rectifier/amp. other pedals have distortion waves that seem to conflict with the natural gain of many tube amps and seem to be better suited for solid state rectifiers. there's a few that get decent tones from both (although they usually sound better through tubes)
much better with tube amps w/ tube rectifiers:
OD-1, OD-2, OD-3, SD-1, SD-2, BD-2, FZ-2
much better with solid state amps or tube amps w/ solid state rectifiers:
HM-3, PW-2, XT-2, MD-2, MZ-2, ML-2,
works well with both:
DS-1, DS-2, DF-2, HM-2, MT-2, OS-2
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2008 : 06:17:12
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btw, to give more of a description of what and why...
to me, most boss overdrive pedals (this is not true of all manufacturers) tend to behave more like an extra stage in your preamp.
if you take say, a single channel marshall with gain and master volume...
boss OD's basically behave like a kick up in the gain value but may add a touch more dirt depending upon which pedal and how much gain you have dialed in on the pedal.
an example would be running an OD-1 into a marshall jcm900 super lead (2500/2100). if you have the input gain set to 3 and the master volume set to 10 and you step on an OD-1, it can act like kicking the input gain up to 7 (but not necessarily with the same volume increase). most pedals have a bit more coloring to them so you may pick up a mid boost, etc. instead of just an increase in drive. these work great into high gain tube amps... but when you start popping them into solid state amps or tube amps with solid state rectifiers... there's no gain to boost so you basically get the bare pedal sound, which i don't believe is well suited for this style. too bright, too harsh, not enough crunch, etc.
so yah, overdrive pedals are best suited to help overdrive an amp.
distortion pedals basically distort the tone, hence the name distortion. some boss distortion pedals have characteristics of an overdrive as well as a distortion. at any volume they will fuzz the tone up but the balls of the tone builds (in a good way) as you crank up the level and gain.
i've never liked running a simulated high gain distortion pedal into a high gain amp... since i've never found a high gain distortion pedal that sounds better than high gain tube amp distortion. i generally play channel switchers and i've owned a JCM900 4102, 2558 silver jubilee, jcm800 (i forget the exact model... 4303?) 2x12, and a peavey 5150 as well as couple of non-channel switchers (had a jcm 800 1x12 and a few migs). i've never found a distortion pedal that had a screaming tone that could hold a candle to the tone i got out of the high gain tube amps (unless we were counting low volume playing on the single channel amps). any metal zone vs. the lead channel on a 5150 just doesn't stack up :)
the other biproduct i've found is that there are certain distortion waves from pedals that basically cancel out the distortion waves caused by the tube overdrive on some high gain amps and the resulting tone is gawdawful.
distortions through solid state amps are necessary and it seems certain wave tailoring of certain distortions were meant for solid state amps rather than tubes.
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pedals 4 pv
Platinum Member
Canada
1351 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2008 : 09:20:22
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At first the whole point of distortion and overdrive pedals was to emulate the sound of an overdriven tube amp when using a solid state amp. It is hard to say, cut and dry, that one pedal works better for tube and one works better for solidstate. There are to many variables, a pedal might sound good on a solidstate amp when you are using single coil pickups, and sound terrible with humbuckers. Then you can try the pedal on tubes and it is the other way around. Which tube amp? A super clean Fender twin, or a quicker to distort, Marshall or Peavey? Which guitar? What setting of the pedal? Which other pedal are you using along with it? Compressor? No compressior? And as zentropa says, some are different with different rectifiers in the amp. I think it's personal taste, and finding the right combination of gear to get the sound that you are looking for. |
Edited by - pedals 4 pv on 04/04/2008 09:20:57 |
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OD/Dist. boxes w/ SS or Tubes
