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

[JasonE]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I tried going compression into an OD a few times, but wasnt feeling it. I think my Signa adds enough in that part of the chain. Speaking of Od's, I need to get a Klon clone. Of the ones I have, the RTO is I think a variation of an OCD, Signa and Eternity Burst are TS circuits, the Butah is...I think a Bluesbreaker variant, and the Bogner Red is...well a Bogner Red channel emulator. Klon circuit type things I've never done anything with.

I played a guy's rig once that had a compressor first in line. The reason he did it was because he used different guitars for different songs during the night. He used the compressor to even out the volume of the pickups in his guitars before they went into the rest of the signal chain. It actually worked rather well. He didn't have big volume variances between humbuckers and single coils. I had never seen anyone use a compressor this way.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

Mine are arranged so that they get progressively more overdriven, saturated, and fuzzy as the pedals move to the left. At the extreme left is my Dover Drive - my only pedal with some actual fuzz. I use it to emulate Eric Johnson's violin tone.

So from right to left: EGO compressor/booster > Klon KTR > Wampler Tumnus Deluxe > Hot Cake > Dover Drive

But I experimented to get this arrangement. The klons sound best at the beginning, the Hot Cake sounds best after the Klons but just before the Dover Drive. If I reverse the Hot Cake and Dover Drive something feels "off".

https://imgur.com/ykdxYcE

One thing I finally learned about pedal order is that conventional rules don’t matter as much as what your ears tell you. I tried to organize my overdrives from highest gain to lowest but certain overdrives don’t respond to others as well and some are magic. I use a Timmy as my stage 1 overdrive but stumbled about what to stack with it for stage 2 overdrive until I pushed the Timmy into a MIAB (Jetter Gold 45/100, kept fairly low gain at 9:00). Pushing the Timmy (gain set at 11:00) into that really wakes and warms up the 45/100. I also love the diode selected to right on the Timmy. I put my Archer Ikon at the end of the overdrive if I need to boost more volume or mids, primarily for solos but I can use it as a conventional overdrive as well.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

I played a guy's rig once that had a compressor first in line. The reason he did it was because he used different guitars for different songs during the night. He used the compressor to even out the volume of the pickups in his guitars before they went into the rest of the signal chain. It actually worked rather well. He didn't have big volume variances between humbuckers and single coils. I had never seen anyone use a compressor this way.

That is why I have it up front. It really smooths things out but I still keep picking dynamics. I run the compression no higher than 1:00 for that reason.

 

[Lewguitar]

One thing I finally learned about pedal order is that conventional rules don’t matter as much as what you’re ears tell you. I tried to organize my overdrives from highest gain to lowest but certain overdrives don’t respond to others as well and some are magic. I use a Timmy as my stage 1 overdrive but stumbled about what to stack with it for stage 2 overdrive until I pushed the Timmy into a MIAB (Jetter Gold 45/100, kept fairly low gain at 9:00). Pushing the Timmy (gain set at 11:00) into that really wakes and warms up the 45/100. I also love the diode selected to right on the Timmy. I put my Archer Ikon at the end of the overdrive if I need to boost more volume or mids, primarily for solos but I can use it as a conventional overdrive as well.

I have a Rockett Jeff Beck Archer on the way. Beck had one on his board before he passed,

I love Klons and they're my favorite overdrive.

They're great for pushing another overdrive pedal. I use my Klon KTR into the Hot Cake for a soaring rock lead tone.

I get a kick out of the guys who demonstarate them and compare them on Youtube.

They usually sound terrible because those guys don't know how to shape the sound with their pick and squeeze those notes out.

Anyways, my Klon KTR is still the best sounding Klon I've owned.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

I have a Rockett Jeff Beck Archer on the way. Beck had one on his board before he passed,

I love Klons and they're my favorite overdrive.

They're great for pushing another overdrive pedal. I use my Klon KTR into the Hot Cake for a soaring rock lead tone.

I get a kick out of the guys who demonstarate them and compare them on Youtube.

They usually sound terrible because those guys don't know how to shape the sound with their pick and squeeze those notes out.

Anyways, my Klon KTR is still the best sounding Klon I've owned.

Yeah, I have been fighting with the best place to put the Archer. Finally tried putting it in front of the Timmy with the MIAB receiving the Timmy. I then moved the compressor after the overdrives where it can act as a boost. Best my Silver Sky has ever sounded. Anxious to try my other guitars through it.

 

[Lewguitar]

Yeah, I have been fighting with the best place to put the Archer. Finally tried putting it in front of the Timmy with the MIAB receiving the Timmy. I then moved the compressor after the overdrives where it can act as a boost. Best my Silver Sky has ever sounded. Anxious to try my other guitars through it.

I tried moving my Wampler EGO compressor to the end. After my overdrive pedals but before my Delay and Reverb.

I should have tried it with my Silver Sky but I only tried it with humbuckers and didn't like it.

I like using the compressor as a clean boost and also to prep the signal into an overdrive pedal and fatten it up and increase the sustain a little.

My compressor is usually off. But sometimes i do use it for a semi-clean country overdrive sound.

I use it more often with single coils so when I play my Strat or Silver Sky it's on more often.

 

[JasonE]

I didn't mention above but I tend to run my stuff the way Les does, all into the front of the amp. I run from my OD pedals into my chorus and delay. I would have to check my cables but I believe my EP Booster is after the chorus and delay. I have had it before as well as after but I think it is currently after.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

I tried moving my Wampler EGO compressor to the end. After my overdrive pedals but before my Delay and Reverb.

I should have tried it with my Silver Sky but I only tried it with humbuckers and didn't like it.

I like using the compressor as a clean boost and also to prep the signal into an overdrive pedal and fatten it up and increase the sustain a little.

My compressor is usually off. But sometimes i do use it for a semi-clean country overdrive sound.

I use it more often with single coils so when I play my Strat or Silver Sky it's on more often.

No right or wrong answers here. Just sounded better for me. YMMV.

 

[Lewguitar]

No right or wrong answers here. Just sounded better for me. YMMV.

When I put the Wampler EGO compressor after my overdrive pedals it seems to have a much less dramatic effect than when I have it in front of my overdrive pedals.

I guess I just like the sound of the EGO pushing my other pedals a little.

Helps with sustain too.

 

[JasonE]

I run my compressor in the front. I only use it for clean tones. I then run my OD pedals with the more gain set pedals first then less gain after that. That gives me the ability to boost my volume without pushing the pedal that is providing the bulk of the gain into too much gain. I can keep more dynamic range in my sound this way.

 

[Lewguitar]

None of my 50's and 60's Fender and Gibson amps have an effects loop.

The most modern amp I have is HDRX and that doesn't have one either.

So everything goes in front, which is the way I've done it for the last 60 years anyway.

I'm used to it and it sounds GREAT through the HDRX 20.

Since I'm a Klon junkie I'll tell you my favorite: KLON KTR.

Hands down the best tone of any I've used.

Looking forward to trying the J Rockett Jeff Beck Archer.

 

[László]

None of my 50's and 60's Fender and Gibson amps have an effects loop.

The most modern amp I have is HDRX and that doesn't have one either.

So everything goes in front, which is the way I've done it for the last 60 years anyway.

I'm used to it and it sounds GREAT through the HDRX 20.

Since I'm a Klon junkie I'll tell you my favorite: KLON KTR.

Hands down the best tone of any I've used.

Looking forward to trying the J Rockett Jeff Beck Archer.

The KTR is a great pedal.

I bought my son one for his board as a birthday present a few years ago, and it's always on it.

He's a good player, Fender endorser, has lots of choices. He loves the KTR.

 

[Lewguitar]

The KTR is a great pedal.

I bought my son one for his board as a birthday present a few years ago, and it's always on it.

He's a good player, Fender endorser, has lots of choices. He loves the KTR.

Sounds different than the Wampler Tumnus Deluxe. Clearer. Like looking through a clean window, the KTR, or a dirty one, the Tumnus.

I like the Tumnus. I just like the KTR more.

I can drive my Hot Cake with the KTR and get a great sound, but it's just not as good if I drive it with the Tumnus Deluxe, regardless of how I adjust the controls on the Tumnus.

Looking forward to comparing both to the Rockett Jeff Beck Archer when it gets here next week.

 

[László]

Sounds different than the Wampler Tumnus Deluxe. Clearer. Like looking through a clean window, the KTR, or a dirty one, the Tumnus.

I like the Tumnus. I just like the KTR more.

I can drive my Hot Cake with the KTR and get a great sound, but it's just not as good if I drive it with the Tumnus Deluxe, regardless of how I adjust the controls on the Tumnus.

Looking forward to comparing both to the Rockett Jeff Beck Archer when it gets here next week.

Seems to me you'll have a great time experimenting with it.

I have a good friend who got a gigantic offer for a new-in-box, never used, gold horsie Klon just last week. I considered offering him the same amount, but then I realized that would be borderline nuts. I could have bought a nice Wood Library guitar for the dough. So I didn't.

In the mid-90s I had the chance to buy a new gold Klon from a dealer for $250, and didn't. I bought a Fulldrive instead.

I could kick myself, but at the time I thought the Klon sounded best with vintage Fender amps and a Strat (he had a '65 in great shape I coulda picked up for $3500, and I foolishly passed on that one, too). I was recording through a Mesa Tremoverb, using a PRS with humbuckers, and the Klon didn't seem to work as well with it.

My son records mostly through a vintage Vibrolux, and plays a Strat or Tele most of the time. That's why I got him the KTR.

But I think the KTR would also be very nice with humbuckers through the DG30 or Fillmore, and I'm sorry I didn't buy one for myself at the time.

My son has played on, produced and engineered 3 or 4 gold records. He knows his stuff. He LOVES that KTR. He used it at a festival I attended in Chicago, and this year he's going to England, playing in Chicago again opening for Fallout Boy at Wrigley Field, and also playing in LA; it's gonna be on his board along with a Pettyjohn Pettydrive 2, his other overdrive. He does use it sometimes stacked into the Pettydrive.

I mention this not merely to brag about my son - I mean, he's worthy of it, and I'm that guy - but to reinforce the fact that the pedal is used to great effect by someone who also knows what he's doing, and has worked on a lot of records in LA.

He's doing this tour with his friends in another band, The Academy Is. They're really a good band, they lit up the crowd of 20,000 last summer. I was floored. In fact, my niece came in from AZ to see that show with her rock and roll daughter, and was also really excited about it. And yes, he played a Strat, through an old Fender amp, and sounded fantastic.

I'm happy I got it for him.