Its T-t-t-tone time again!

Well, I really like the Danelectro Daddy-O overdrive pedal. This is a surprisingly good pedal because it gives you Bass, Mids, and Highs controls in addition to Volume and Gain. You would be surprised what you can get out of this pedal. It gets very good reviews.

You can go from a simple clean boost to almost Metal distortion with this pedal. And you can almost get any tone you want with the 3 band.

Danelectro is very underrated. They would actually get more recognition if they charged more for their pedals. I'm glad they don't. One of the best kept secrets around.

Danelectro Daddy-O

I especially like the "scooped mids" tone. Turn Bass & Treble up all the way, and Mids all the way down. Awesome.

I'm tellin' ya, you get to know this pedal and you will like it. 8)

Big Muff? I dunno I am a Big Muff Fanatic it can produce so many tones with just little tweaks.

Here is my pedal chain.

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff --> MXR Dyna Comp --> Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer --> Dunlop 535Q Wah

And with that setup I can produce all kinds of sounds with my little Squier 51' and the Muff + Dyna Comp can give you all kinds of creamy and smooth sustain that you would ever want.

Big Muff? I dunno I am a Big Muff Fanatic it can produce so many tones with just little tweaks.

Here is my pedal chain.

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff --> MXR Dyna Comp --> Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer --> Dunlop 535Q Wah

And with that setup I can produce all kinds of sounds with my little Squier 51' and the Muff + Dyna Comp can give you all kinds of creamy and smooth sustain that you would ever want.

This one?
http://www.ehx.com/ehx2/Default.asp?q=f&f=%2FCatalog%2F04%5FDistortion%2F04%5FBig%5FMuff%5FPi

I like their humour thats for sure :lol:

There is no boutique-sound, people who talk about them are just clueless. Its like saying something sounds 'vintage'. As if everything sounded the same 'back then'. As for pedals, check the new Vox lines. Probably exactly what you need, although a bit expensive, around $200 I believe. I know I loved the sounds of them, thick, creamy and fat overdriven tones.

Boutique amplifier refers to handmade (hand wired), usually class A tube amplifiers produced by a number of small companies or amplifier "gurus." One of the guiding principles of these builders seems to use of original or "vintage" circuits and components as the basis of the designs, though each manufacturer seems to add its own special sauce to its version. One example is Dumble (used by SRV). These amps are usually quite pricey. Whether or not one buys into the mystique is entirely a YMMV situation.

As far a boutique sound goes ... well it clearly refers to the sound of boutique amps. But what does that mean? I suspect the truth is that sound has its basis not simply in a particular circuit design -- many are similar new and old, but to a great extent it is the sound of properly matched, properly biased high quality tubes. 90% of this should be something achievable in many of the better mass produced amplifiers if one took such an amp to a knowledge tech and had it re-tubed and tweaked.

BTW, many of what are referred to as "vintage amps" were indeed based are very similar circuits and components, as there weren't that many different designs way back at the beginning. There obviously had to be some sonic variation amp-to-amp and manufacture-to-manufacture, but many early amps of one brand were often based on a circuit from another (e.g., Marshall copied Fender and so on).

Do you mean the big ben etc series?
http://elderly.com/brand/VOX.html
btw have you had a chance to try Vox's new all valve AC15? Haven't been able to track one down here.

Anyone got any experience with the CoolTron Big Ben OD?
http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/pedals/cooltron.htm

Cos im curious about something. I was amazed at the first audio demo in the list! :shock: :shock: Is that lead sound they managed to get purely a result of the guitar and amp setup. Or would you pretty much be able to get that same sound regardless?

As far a boutique sound goes ... well it clearly refers to the sound of boutique amps. But what does that mean? I suspect the truth is that sound has its basis not simply in a particular circuit design -- many are similar new and old, but to a great extent it is the sound of properly matched, properly biased high quality tubes. 90% of this should be something achievable in many of the better mass produced amplifiers if one took such an amp to a knowledge tech and had it re-tubed and tweaked.

BTW, many of what are referred to as "vintage amps" were indeed based are very similar circuits and components, as there weren't that many different designs way back at the beginning. There obviously had to be some sonic variation amp-to-amp and manufacture-to-manufacture, but many early amps of one brand were often based on a circuit from another (e.g., Marshall copied Fender and so on).

Amen to all that, Gnease! Like many classic guitars (the Telecaster being THE example) many of the amps that are revered for their tone today were quite simple, cheap, working man's kit in their time - the Fender Champs and their derivatives being some of the best-known examples, and the UK Selmer Truvoice amps, particularly the T&B 50, and the truly awesome Zodiac and Thunderbird 30 & 50 amps, being some of the best-kept secrets.

Big Muff is classic. Ive no experience with that.

I am a Tubescreamer fan. have sed one for years.
it helped me find my tone.

my strat sounds like Erics on the Cream reunion DVD using the TS9 reissue.

Big Muff is classic. Ive no experience with that.

I am a Tubescreamer fan. have sed one for years.
it helped me find my tone.

my strat sounds like Erics on the Cream reunion DVD using the TS9 reissue.

Into what amp and set up how? This matters, as Tube Screamer and similar produce two effects: (1) level boost to overdrive the amp's input stage, which tends to thicken the tone and add a milder nonlinearity, and (2) internally (inside the TS) generated distortion, which isn't quite as aesthetically "smooth," but none-the-less has its uses. From your description, it sounds like (1) or a combo of (1) and (2).

What about EQ pedals? how useful are they in finding your tone? Ive always been dubious about spending good money on something which simpley allows me to adjust my treble middle and bass - Something my amp can do...

Big Muff is classic. Ive no experience with that.

I am a Tubescreamer fan. have sed one for years.
it helped me find my tone.

my strat sounds like Erics on the Cream reunion DVD using the TS9 reissue.

Into what amp and set up how? This matters, as Tube Screamer and similar produce two effects: (1) level boost to overdrive the amp's input stage, which tends to thicken the tone and add a milder nonlinearity, and (2) internally (inside the TS) generated distortion, which isn't quite as aesthetically "smooth," but none-the-less has its uses. From your description, it sounds like (1) or a combo of (1) and (2).
good question.
here's my story.
I have a fender all tube Vibrolux reissue. it has two 10" alinico vintage style Jensens. it's a warm sounding amp with get response to attack.
Ive gone thru two Tubescreamers.
the first is the TS9 reissue. a great pedal. I run my strat with full volume into the TSp into the amp. amp setting at 4 or 5. the TS9 is set just shy of full on drive. output (vol) depends on where I am. at a gig it's at noon; at home very low.
the TS9 has nice compression naturally. it gives me a gritty dry tight overdrive with good sustain and harmonics if you work that note.

then I got the tubesceamer turbo. it has four knobs. Drive, Vol, Tone and aknob with four clicks. each click delivers a nuance. one boosts the bottom end, one softens the drive while boosting the bottom end, one is the original TS9 and the other is a variation of that.

I had Analogman modify the pedal after reading the info on his site.
he does really nice mods; making the pedal true bypass. he can mod a pedal for the brown sound. I dont care for that much, so he altered the pedal to give me more overdrive and less depending on which setting.

I like the flabby overdrive . Cream sound and old blues guys sound. basically an overdriven amp.
crusty, dirty, and loose.

with the modded pedal I have four completely different tubesccreamer sounds.
one is soft overdrive , really loose (flabby) with a nice audible midrange.
the next setting boosts the bottom end, the midrange drops a bit.
third is more drive wih the same freqs as the second setting.
the fourth setting is a TS8 sound.

Im happy. I have found my tone.
I sometimes add an MXR compressor and Boss GE7 EQ to the pedal train. it gets pretty sonic sometimes.

my full rig goes like this:
Strat or tele with full volume (I like the highest signal going in) >
MXRcompressor> Tubescreamer> Vox wah> Boss GE7 EQ> Ernie Ball volume pedal>Boss Giag delay>Fender Vibrolux amp.

the stripped down version is:

Fender tele or one of my lap steels> Tubescreamer>Vol pedal> delay>amp.

another version:
Srta or tele> MXR compressor> vol pedal> delay> amp.

and another version:

Strat or tele> MXR>Tubescreamer> Boss Chorus> Vol pedal> delay> amp.

And from dogbite's response, one can see why so many newbies would have no clue as to how to make a Tube Screamer work for them. Getting a good tone is a little more complicated than plug-n-play. Starting with the right amp is pretty important. Guitars make a difference too.

simon

I felt the same way as you. But Joe (Forrock Star) finally convinced me to get an EQ pedal. I would not be without it now.

It is like this: All your amp has is a 3 band EQ, Treble, Mids, and Bass. So each really affects a pretty broad range of frequencies. Maybe your bass is a little too boomy. So you come down. But now you don't have enough bass. Or maybe your highs are a little brittle or piercing, so you come down. Now your tone loses its dynamics.

So a good EQ designed especially for a guitar's frequencies allows you to make more refined adjustments in tone.

I bought a cheap Danelectro Fish & Chips 7 band. But I really like it. It works very well. I am a big fan of Danelectro anyway. They make surprisingly good pedals.

Someday I may invest in a better 10 or even 15 band EQ. It just allows you to fine tune your tone that much better.

EQ pedals are great. Thank you Joe. :D