Do you use an overdrive pedal for your rock lead sounds?

[Lewguitar]

Maybe I'm entering my second child hood or something, but since acquiring the PRS HDRX 20 watt, my pedal board has become a MUST HAVE.

Haven't plugged straight into my Fender Deluxe Reverb or Princeton Reverb amps in weeks.

Most of my favorite players use or used a Klon, Zen Drive, Dover Drive, TS808, Hot Cake, Butler Tube Driver, Fuzzface, etc.

Not sure about Santana. He has one of the most saturated sounds around. Don't know if he gets all that saturation just from his Boogie or not. I've seen him using a TubeScreamer. Don't know if he still does.

So do you depend on your overdrive pedals for your ROCK soloing tones or do you use the master volume and overdrive of your amp?

 

[Greywolf]

While there is plenty of gain in my PRS amps , I typically prefer to keep them on the clean / high headroom base sound and hit the pedals for drive .
I will stack the gain pedals until I get the desired thickness and crunch . On the Boogie I'll hit the gain channel and add a pedal as needed as well.

 

[jak3af3r]

It all depends on the amp. My Fenders for sure need pedals, particularly the Twin. The Vox I can get away without them depending on the gig levels and the Supro is the same.

But the 20w Dumble-ish amp I don't use anything in the front for OD because the amp does it quite well.

 

[JasonE]

I use pedals. I like to be able to give it a little more gain and a little boost. The amp I have gigged with for the past 7+ years is a modified Vibrolux circuit so it is a clean amp. Mine has a drive side but it is quite touchy so I don't really use it. If you change your volume on the amp it changes how the drive sounds so you have to adjust more than one thing to get back to where you were. I found that to be too much work to get what I wanted from it. I typically stack OD pedals as well as have some two sided models that I use. The ones on my board now that have been there the longest are these.

Jetter Gold Standard
Keeley Red Dirt
Friedman Dirty Shirley
Xotic EP Booster

These pedals get me every OD tone I am looking for as well as very clean with a boost. I honestly only have a delay and chorus on the board besides these. The amp has reverb in it. I am most picky about drive sounds.

 

[Lewguitar]

I use pedals. I like to be able to give it a little more gain and a little boost. The amp I have gigged with for the past 7+ years is a modified Vibrolux circuit so it is a clean amp. Mine has a drive side but it is quite touchy so I don't really use it. If you change your volume on the amp it changes how the drive sounds so you have to adjust more than one thing to get back to where you were. I found that to be too much work to get what I wanted from it. I typically stack OD pedals as well as have some two sided models that I use. The ones on my board now that have been there the longest are these.

Jetter Gold Standard
Keeley Red Dirt
Friedman Dirty Shirley
Xotic EP Booster

These pedals get me every OD tone I am looking for as well as very clean with a boost. I honestly only have a delay and chorus on the board besides these. The amp has reverb in it. I am most picky about drive sounds.

Cool. I have three OD's on my board too: Klon KTR, Dover Drive and Hot Cake. Each plays a different role. I can stack them but rarely do. I also have a Wampler EGO compressor in front of them. The EGO is both a transparent compressor and a boost.

 

[jak3af3r]

I typically stack OD pedals as well as have some two sided models that I use.

I'm in this camp too. What I used regularly was...

Wampler Sovereign
Wampler Euphoria (sometimes I ran two of these)
Wampler Hot Wired
Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe
Wampler Paisley (I eventually traded it)
Whitfield DUI
Danelectro Cool Cat
Boss Metal zone (because why not)

Typically, I would have all those Wamplers on the board at all times since we were playing country, classic rock, and some hair metal on the same gig.

 

[Tony M.]

Same here.

My amplifiers are set clean and I use pedals for dirt,
This gets me "my sound" at any volume in any size venue.
I play mostly low volume gigs, so this works best for me.
I have several small genre specific pedalboards.
Most of my dirt comes out of Brian Wampler's shop.
It's always either a "double pedal" or 2 in a row.

Wampler Gearbox
Wampler Paisley deluxe
Wampler hot Wired
Wampler Tumnus Deluxe into a Wampler Pantheon.
Etc.

I also have a Tech21NYC Flyrig II with a TC Mini Corona in the loop for "grab 'n' go".
The Mini Corona has the "Walking on the Moon" chorus loaded into it.

 

[bodia]

I have this one on the board currently. Pretty versatile.

 

[guitarguy1964]

I also set my amp clean and use pedals.
I have WAY too many overdrive and distortion pedals but currently on my main board for gain I have
Keeley Red Dirt mini
Boss JB-2 Angry Driver
Keeley Montery

My small board has
Nobels ODR Mini
Xotic SL Drive

 

[Senor Verde]

I've tried gain from amp and controlling it with the guitar volume knob, but playing in the bands I've been in and most of the places I've played, I have better volume control with pedals. I do play a few things 100% clean and if you turn the volume control on the guitar down that far you lose too much volume. If you don't have a soundperson, it won't be heard.

I also have a LOT of pedals, but the one I use almost all the time is my Barber Dual Discrete. It has two Direct Drive Super Sport circuits with 2 switches, one for on/off and one for a/b. It sounds great with everything I own.

 

[markd21]

Nope. I always disliked pedals, except for a filter (envelope filter or wah) and an echo. I came up in the mid 80s and the amps that were available were hot enough compared to the 70s Peavey I started with. Of course I used a pedal with the old Peavey, but once I got an amp with built in drive (Marshall Mosfet 100), I never looked back.

 

[RickP]

It truly does depend on the amp and what you’re doing with it. At home or recording, you can get away with the volume. With a band, especially now, it’s hard to turn up enough to get those power amp tubes singing like the old days.

With multichannel amps like the Mesa Nomad or Road King, just the amp is plenty. My old Soldano X99 rig would have fit here too, if I wasn’t an imbecile and sold it!

On single channel amps like the HXDA or AC30, low/mid gain pedals like the King of Tone, Ryra Klone, or Tube Screamer are my faves. I also like just using an EP Booster to punch up the input and push the amp to that sound.

 

[gush]

I dislike most OD pedals. In the last 3 years a have purchased a few used. I got to wondering if I was missing out on something so I started down that dang rabbit hole.

I have 6 OD pedals but I'm not in love with any if them. The only one I will consider using is my EP Booster but its really not an OD pedal.

My tone search has been exhaustive and I'm still searching for "the tone".

I just recently picked up a marshall Sv20h used priced very reasonably and if I don't love it then I will get my money back.

I did try a prs HDRX 20 last year and thought it was a great amp and that is what I was planning on until this marshall showed up.

The marshall is a tad harsh for my tastes but there is I very simple bright cap mod I will try to try and get it to the love territory.

 

[Lewguitar]

I dislike most OD pedals. In the last 3 years a have purchased a few used. I got to wondering if I was missing out on something so I started down that dang rabbit hole.

I have 6 OD pedals but I'm not in love with any if them. The only one I will consider using is my EP Booster but its really not an OD pedal.

My tone search has been exhaustive and I'm still searching for "the tone".

I just recently picked up a marshall Sv20h used priced very reasonably and if I don't love it then I will get my money back.

I did try a prs HDRX 20 last year and thought it was a great amp and that is what I was planning on until this marshall showed up.

The marshall is a tad harsh for my tastes but there is I very simple bright cap mod I will try to try and get it to the love territory.

You should check out the HDRX 20 again. You'll probably like it even more the second time.

Bring some of your favorite pedals.

 

[JasonE]

I have an OCD that gets rotated on to my board at times. I really like the one I have. A friend of mine and I compared his OCD to mine, mine is older than his, and we both liked mine much better. I had to tell him it wasn't for sale.

I have a host of OD pedals that get to spend time on the board when I decide I want to change things up a bit. My approach to OD pedals is that if I tried one and liked it, I keep it if I move it off of the board. There will be a time I want to pull it back for the tone it has. This saves me money in the long run. I have a decent collection of them at this point.

 

[gush]

You should check out the HDRX 20 again. You'll probably like it even more the second time.

Bring some of your favorite pedals.

I will try the marshall after cap mod and if its still not where I want it then I'll sell it.

These SV20H amps are around 1300.00 new but I got mine used. It's mint and doesn't look used.

I got it incredibly cheap so if I do sell it I'll actually make a little on it.

Then I'll buy the HDRX 20

 

[Longneck Tenon]

I use pedals. I like to be able to give it a little more gain and a little boost. The amp I have gigged with for the past 7+ years is a modified Vibrolux circuit so it is a clean amp. Mine has a drive side but it is quite touchy so I don't really use it. If you change your volume on the amp it changes how the drive sounds so you have to adjust more than one thing to get back to where you were. I found that to be too much work to get what I wanted from it. I typically stack OD pedals as well as have some two sided models that I use. The ones on my board now that have been there the longest are these.

Jetter Gold Standard
Keeley Red Dirt
Friedman Dirty Shirley
Xotic EP Booster

These pedals get me every OD tone I am looking for as well as very clean with a boost. I honestly only have a delay and chorus on the board besides these. The amp has reverb in it. I am most picky about drive sounds.

Same here. Both of my Vibrolux Reverbs are non-master volume amps and stay pretty clean. My Supro Keeley Custom 12 doesn’t have as much power so it breaks up a little more but is still a higher headroom pedal platform amp. So I use the following:
MXR Timmy-this is always on for a light edge of overdrive base tone.
Jetter Gold 45/100-for a Plexi type overdrive. Can be used for solos with Treble Booster. Great touch sensitivity.
J Rockett Archer Ikon-This is where I go for soloing. Also great touch sensitivity.
Catalinbread Naga Viper Treble Booster-I use this together with the Timmy, 45/100 or Fuzz.
JHS Bender Fuzz-this, with either the Archer and/or 45/100 for fuzzy creamy goodness. Nails the American Women tone.

 

[Rider1260]

100% depends on the amp , more channels = less pedals
Mesa MK V - I have OD pedals on the board but really don't use them , once in awhile I will try driving the clean channel but the gain on the Mesa is so nice its like beating a dead horse.

PRS H - Yes I use a couple of pedals the main one is a TC Electronics Mojo Mojo it's nice over the clean channel and sweetens up the gain channel also. I also have a couple of pedals set to play with certain guitars.

HDRX 20 and Vibrolux - 100% needs pedals if you want more than one sound , both amps can be GREAT FUZZ machines but really hard to control without knob twisting so Line 6 HXFX and a couple of OD pedals and they are good to go.

 

[11top]

Yeah. They’re all in my Kemper and my Headrush.

 

[László]

Speaking only for myself here:

I've been at this recorded music production thing a long time. Whether I'll use a pedal depends on the needs of the piece -- it's all about context and it's a balancing act.

We've all heard the expression, and/or had the experience, of having our guitar solo "disappear in the mix." Tone chains get built at home with no one else playing, but you get to the gig or session, and suddenly the guitar sound goes missing. Why?

The irony of guitar pedal chains is that while distortion adds compression that helps create a singing tone, and adds a gnarly vibe, pedals tend to squash the signal and reduce dynamic range to a greater degree than amps without pedals. Less dynamic range = less 'cut'.

A point is quickly reached where the guitar can't be heard above the other instruments. Then you're stuck trying to fix it with EQ, and messing up the sound anyway.

You need dynamic range to have 'cut'. Amps have it, pedals, not so much.

When I'm recording I try to avoid using a pedal, except when I need a color box to just barely break up the amp, and this will almost always be in the context of a very open sounding mix with a small ensemble.

For higher gain tracks, or denser mixes, I just try and pick the right amp for the job, and try to remember to give it less gain than if I was playing by myself, if I want to actually hear it.

For extremely high gain tracks, I hire people who do that better than I do.

Again, this is merely what one person does, and it isn't a prescription for anyone else. But all of this might be worth experimenting with if you're into it.