What is your blues pedal in PRS

[NAS]

I have liked a lot the Timmy with 58/15lt bass o neck pickups. It's really good is pedal. But after your advises I am going to try the zen Drive and greer lightspeed too with my ce24 guitars. I always learn with your experiences. Thanks everyone

 

[theDeepender]

Hello everyone. What pedals do you use for sweet blues and blues/jazz with your PRS?. I have got wonderfull tones with mxr timmy pedal. I have several ce24 and I recommend this pedal after having tryed a lot. Thank you very much.

Way Huge Green Rhino MkIV
Boss RV-6
Darkglass VMT
Boss DD-500

 

[aphantomvaper]

Still stuck in Tube screamer land for Blues. They just work well for me, and are easily replacable.

 

[Mike Duncan]

TubeScreamer is a good one.
Fulltone OCD
Zendrive
Boss OD-3

 

[GADonis]

There are several I've personally tried and liked for a while:

"Simble" Overdrive
J Rockett "Blue Note Pro Series"
Zendrive

Each of these recreate a famous "D" amp style tone (because of copyright issues, we usually don't mention the name) that Robben Ford and Larry Carlton utilized regularly.

The Timmy is also a great pedal, though it's tuned as a glorified TS808 platform than anything else. If perhaps you desire a more subtle smooth "singing" lead overdrive like the "D" amp, the above choices are one way to acquire that tone.

A big second for Blue Note. I also have the Pro. I consider it a burning building pedal. As in, I would run into a burning building to save it. When my pedalboard was stolen several years ago, the Blue Note was the first pedal I replaced.

I'd also throw in a mention of The Dude which is a great pedal. But it's a little overkill for Blues.

 

[RickP]

Any love for the PRS Horsemeat pedal for these genres? I expected to see some of the new owners commenting on it here, but it’s a no-show so far!

 

[GADonis]

Well Albert King, BB King, Freddie King and Duane Allman didn't use overdrive pedals for blues, and I usually don't either.

But I do use a Wampler Ego compressor sometimes for a clean boost. Especially when I'm playing somewhere that I can't turn up my amp.

Which is just about everywhere these days.

Here's my board with my favorite boost/overdrive pedals on it. Ego, Klon KTR and Dover Drive.

The Dover Drive does the Cliffs of Dover thing well. Even Eric Johnson uses one for clinics and small gigs.

I have others, including an OCD I bought because Paul Reed Smith recommended it. But I don't like it.

https://imgur.com/G5J3LxJ

They didn't need overdrive pedals because they tended to play large venues where they could crank their amps to almost ear splitting levels. Try that at your local bar and you'll never get hired back.

 

[JasonE]

Keeley Red Dirt
Barber Gain Changer
Fulltone OCD

The amount of gain I want to use will detering which one of these I use.

I also have a Jetter Gold Standard that has been on my board for a long time. I use it on the lower setting and like that I have two pedals in one. I have used this pedal gigging for quite a while. I have used it in two ways. I have setup the two sides to be two different OD sounds and use them individually and have also used one side for a solo boost. I think these pedals have been discontinued for a good while.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

Hello everyone. What pedals do you use for sweet blues and blues/jazz with your PRS?. I have got wonderfull tones with mxr timmy pedal. I have several ce24 and I recommend this pedal after having tryed a lot. Thank you very much.

I will second the MXR Timmy. Mine is always on as a base level low overdrive. For solos I stack an Archer Ikon on top of it.

 

[Mystic38]

Well Albert King, BB King, Freddie King and Duane Allman didn't use overdrive pedals for blues, and I usually don't either.

But I do use a Wampler Ego compressor sometimes for a clean boost. Especially when I'm playing somewhere that I can't turn up my amp.

Which is just about everywhere these days.

Here's my board with my favorite boost/overdrive pedals on it. Ego, Klon KTR and Dover Drive.

The Dover Drive does the Cliffs of Dover thing well. Even Eric Johnson uses one for clinics and small gigs.

I have others, including an OCD I bought because Paul Reed Smith recommended it. But I don't like it.

https://imgur.com/G5J3LxJ

I am very surprised that the answer to "what drive pedal" is not " "on what amp"...as the choice of amp makes one drive awesome and another one meh.. regardless of the character of drive/distortion

The OCD has its own thing going on.. a TS9 has a midrange hump at 1khz, which is pretty common among ODs imo, and iirc the OCD when i checked it was 2khz for LP and 5khz for hp.. if you are very interested i can dig it out and retest it... it suits darker amps better like Orange

 

[Lewguitar]

I am very surprised that the answer to "what drive pedal" is not " "on what amp"...as the choice of amp makes one drive awesome and another one meh.. regardless of the character of drive/distortion

The OCD has its own thing going on.. a TS9 has a midrange hump at 1khz, which is pretty common among ODs imo, and iirc the OCD when i checked it was 2khz for LP and 5khz for hp.. if you are very interested i can dig it out and retest it... it suits darker amps better like Orange

I'm not a big fan of Tube Screamers either, although I own a couple. Too honky and nasal of a sound. Worked for SRV and Gary Moore and some others, but it's not how I want to sound.

I like the Klon though and have a Klon KTR. I don't always use it. But I like it.

I use the Dover Drive when I'm in an Eric Johnson sort of mood and want that violin like sound. I don't use it often though.

I tend to use the Wampler Ego compressor either alone or into the Klon KTR most often when I want an overdriven sound. But I keep it subtle.

The OCD just didn't produce a tone I identify with.

 

[László]

Those PettyJohn pedals are so good; I have the Gold, the Iron and the Fuze. I really should dig them out; since using my Helix I've not used standalone pedals. Maybe time to revisit them!

Those are great pedals!

What I love about Pettyjohn's stuff is that he uses truly high quality component parts, and even the drives are almost like studio preamps instead of traditional ODs.

I don't know if they're to most players' tastes, but for me they're perfect.

 

[László]

They didn't need overdrive pedals because they tended to play large venues where they could crank their amps to almost ear splitting levels. Try that at your local bar and you'll never get hired back.

Yes, and no. They played plenty of small clubs back in the 50s and 60s. There were blues clubs in Detroit and Chicago that I've visited that are surprisingly small.

In the late '60s/early 70s I used to be able to crank my Fender Bassman 50 Watt head until it distorted, no pedals, and just play. And I wasn't playing arenas!

But...

You're right that we can't play with that kind of volume today. People aren't into it, and it's not good for the ears anyway.

 

[László]

I am very surprised that the answer to "what drive pedal" is not " "on what amp"...as the choice of amp makes one drive awesome and another one meh.. regardless of the character of drive/distortion

This is a terrific comment, and so true! In fact, I've only found one OD pedal that I like with Mesa amps.

 

[László]

I'm not a big fan of Tube Screamers either, although I own a couple. Too honky and nasal of a sound. Worked for SRV and Gary Moore and some others, but it's not how I want to sound.

I like the Klon though and have a Klon KTR. I don't always use it. But I like it.

I use the Dover Drive when I'm in an Eric Johnson sort of mood and want that violin like sound. I don't use it often though.

I tend to use the Wampler Ego compressor either alone or into the Klon KTR most often when I want an overdriven sound. But I keep it subtle.

The OCD just didn't produce a tone I identify with.

I love the KTR and got one for my son to tour with when they were still making them. It's always on his board. Killer pedal, especially with single coils through a Fender-style amp.

I like the OCD, but it's a 'horses for courses' thing, as is the Xotic BB, another pedal I really like - each with the right amp.

 

[JasonE]

I am very surprised that the answer to "what drive pedal" is not " "on what amp"...as the choice of amp makes one drive awesome and another one meh.. regardless of the character of drive/distortion

The OCD has its own thing going on.. a TS9 has a midrange hump at 1khz, which is pretty common among ODs imo, and iirc the OCD when i checked it was 2khz for LP and 5khz for hp.. if you are very interested i can dig it out and retest it... it suits darker amps better like Orange

This is a very important point. I have pedals that I hate with some of my amps that sound fantastic with others. It is all about the combination of the peak frequencies of the pedals matching the frequency curve of the amp circuit. A fuzz sounds terrible through a Fender Twin Reverb but glorious through a Marshall.

 

[Lewguitar]

Yes, and no. They played plenty of small clubs back in the 50s and 60s. There were blues clubs in Detroit and Chicago that I've visited that are surprisingly small.

In the late '60s/early 70s I used to be able to crank my Fender Bassman 50 Watt head until it distorted, no pedals, and just play. And I wasn't playing arenas!

But...

You're right that we can't play with that kind of volume today. People aren't into it, and it's not good for the ears anyway.

Yep! All true. I saw Buddy Guy and BB King in the 60’s. They were not that loud. Super Reverb For Buddy and Twin Reverb for BB. But not cranked. Saw the Butterfield Band back then too. Everyone except the bass player had a Twin Reverb, including Butterfield. He sang through it too. They were very loud. And great! Best band I’d ever seen up to that point. I was 17 or 18.

 

[rockinforJesus]

The secret sauce I discovered by accident is a medium gain Bluesbreaker feeding into a light gain Klon clone.
I use the JHS Morning Glory into a Wampler Tumnus Deluxe. The Tumnus is an almost always on pedal, and I stack the MG with it when I need more gain. The beauty of the MG is that it has 2 different gain stages. The Tumnus Deluxe can get into higher gain territory when needed.

 

[László]

Yep! All true. I saw Buddy Guy and BB King in the 60’s. They were not that loud. Super Reverb For Buddy and Twin Reverb for BB. But not cranked. Saw the Butterfield Band back then too. Everyone except the bass player had a Twin Reverb, including Butterfield. He sang through it too. They were very loud. And great! Best band I’d ever seen up to that point. I was 17 or 18.

Oh man, I LOVED Paul Butterfield. 'Born in Chicago' was a song I listened to over and over.

Were you at the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival? I recall they had Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King, others. I loved their stuff.

 

[Lewguitar]

Oh man, I LOVED Paul Butterfield. 'Born in Chicago' was a song I listened to over and over.

Were you at the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival? I recall they had Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King, others. I loved their stuff.

Yep. I lived and played in Ann Arbor from about 1968 until the mid 70's. Then moved to Boulder, Colorado.