Overdrive pedal plans -- JHS angry Charlie vs AT vs X

[Birdwatcher]

hi all,

I am currently searching for a new pedal to go into my clean amp as my main distortion sound. Currently, I play a laney ironheart 15H which despite its one channel overdrive layout can provide some very nice, rich and warm cleans. The goal is to have a reactive and dynamic distortion sound that comes close to the laneys main channel. Best description would be hotrodded Marshall I guess. So I found this video from "that pedal show" and few others that demo both pedals and I would so much like to test them. Unfortunately, no one of my main dealers have these pedals in their test booths. Do you guys have some experience with either of them or can recommend another pedal? Again, goal is a hotrodded Marshall 800/ Friedman style sound with dynamics, clarity and punch.

Thanks a lot in advance and I am looking forward to some inspiration. And happy Easter!

 

[elvis]

I don't think you'll get the depth of character with a pedal. You should probably get an Archon 25.

 

[bodia]

I'd agree with Elvis. But, if you're going to go the pedal route, you may want to check out Wampler.
http://wamplerpedals.com/product/plexi-drive-deluxe/
They make several "amp in a box" style pedals. The Pelxi Drive Deluxe may be a good candidate. I've got a JHS AT and like it a lot. But Wampler has a little more flexibility.

 

[CoreyT]

I have that Wampler pedal, and it sounds nice through the clean channel on my Mark Five 25.

 

[elvis]

The Carl Martin Plexi is a nice pedal as well. It'll crank up for sure.

 

[László]

There are so many great pedals out there; I can recommend these for that Marshall in a box sound that you might consider in addition to others' suggestions:

Xotic BB can do everything from a clean boost to hotrod Marshall, and unlike so many distortion pedals, excels at everything from the boost, to medium gain (BB stands for Blues Breaker) to higher gain. Very flexible!

Fulltone Plimsoul - another very flexible pedal that can do soft or hard clipping, taking it from Tubescreamer style OD to high gain harder clipping. An underrated pedal IMHO.

Suhr Riot is less flexible in low gain, but definitely has the hotrod Marshall thing down pat. These are also beautifully made pedals with electronic silent switching, anodized milled aluminum enclosures, low noise, great tone.

Bogner Burnley is another good one, and its Neve-designed transformer gives it a rich, fat tone, Again, very nicely made, my only criticism is that the switch can be a little difficult to press lightly, you need to give it a harder stomp. I had early one, so maybe they've fixed this issue.

I had a JHS Morning Glory and sent it back, though it's low gain, I didn't think it sounded very much like a tube amp, it was very "transistor" sounding to me. I can't comment on the rest of their pedal line, but it was way expensive considering how it sounded - IMHO.

 

[Rider1260]

I have spent most of my guitar playing life driving the clean side of an amp with pedals -- its an easy way to add sounds to an amp you already like
I will shamelessly self promote check out www.tonalinsanity.com links to demos on the website or search youtube "tonal insanity pedals"
I have stuff to cover almost any gain sound you might need single or 2 channel
Here is a quick thing I recorded on my iPhone a few months ago

https://soundcloud.com/the-pedal-guy/sc58-boogie-matterhorn

 

[László]

I have spent most of my guitar playing life driving the clean side of an amp with pedals -- its an easy way to add sounds to an amp you already like
I will shamelessly self promote check out www.tonalinsanity.com links to demos on the website or search youtube "tonal insanity pedals"
I have stuff to cover almost any gain sound you might need single or 2 channel
Here is a quick thing I recorded on my iPhone a few months ago

https://soundcloud.com/the-pedal-guy/sc58-boogie-matterhorn

That sounds really stellar!

 

[prsrocker1988]

I love the JHS AT. Very good Marshally gain.

 

[Birdwatcher]

Thanks to all for the comments!

I don't think you'll get the depth of character with a pedal. You should probably get an Archon 25.

I understand what you are saying. The thing is though that the laney can do both sounds I need very much perfect. First is a heavy but tight distortion with my maxon in front of the amp to play heavy stuff with my esp in c tuning. Second is clean sound with the maxon and in addition the pedal I am looking for. This is for more rock related, bluesy stuff. A multichannel amp would be great I guess but I already have everything I need except the distortion pedal.

I have spent most of my guitar playing life driving the clean side of an amp with pedals -- its an easy way to add sounds to an amp you already like
I will shamelessly self promote check out www.tonalinsanity.com links to demos on the website or search youtube "tonal insanity pedals"
I have stuff to cover almost any gain sound you might need single or 2 channel
Here is a quick thing I recorded on my iPhone a few months ago

https://soundcloud.com/the-pedal-guy/sc58-boogie-matterhorn

Great sounds! This will definitely help for my search!

Thanks a lot for your help guys! Eventually I have to order all candidates and have a shootout with my amp and my guitar. That's going to get expensive :/

 

[Boogie]

I'll throw another plug for the Xotic BB Preamp. It's been on my board for almost 2 years for the sake of the hotrodded Marshall thing. Granted, it's going into an amp with a '68 Plexi's power stage, so if it can't do it there...