What is your blues pedal in PRS

[DogPhishHead]

Lately I like the Zendrive style best for my humbucker guitars. I use a clone that I made at home. The Voice control is super handy for cleaning up the midrange.

In the past for me it was the Simble and before that the Xotic AC Booster.

The Xotic AC Booster is good with PRS humbuckers, the active treble/bass knobs really help with the tone shaping. I never had the gain higher than 10 o'clock with mine. That's about my limits for gain. Another one I like..Wampler's Clarksdale (his heavy modified TS circuit with bass/mid and treble controls and a "hot" switch to get more edge. Pair either one with a compressor pushing it.........pure blues and jazz rock bliss.

 

[Iceman101]

I lile my Andy Wood Gearbox. It's basically a Tumnus and a Pinnacle from Wampler. You can set them from no gain to a whole lot of gain and you can switch the Tumnus into the Pinnacle or the other way 'round. Very versatile. Added bonus is a noise gate

 

[Iceman101]

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.

from a couple of years ago

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I got this from a wee mutual trade with @Simon Says (very kind man) -



I’ve yet to build up my new board. But a test drive of it on its own. This is going to be very useful.

 

[László]

from a couple of years ago

The dude they call "captain" isn't very knowledgeable. I think he does very little homework on what he carries.

 

[dogrocketp]

On my pedal board, I have a Rte 66. It sounds good with any amp. My main amp has been a 49 tweed pro clone with 2/12" speakers for the last 18 months. All it needs is a Soul Food to go anywhere I want sonically. I keep a backup in my gig bag. Bad things happen when the battery gets low on the Soul food.

 

[Lewguitar]

As I've gotten older my tone has become cleaner and cleaner.

I still like a little overdrive and a little grit for a singing lead tone, but the chords and accompaniment I play have become more and more important to me.

I like my rhythm playing and my lead playing to NOT have huge difference in tone.

The Klon is a leave it on all the time pedal that I can use my guitar's volume pot to control.

But some times I don't turn it on at all and just rely on my touch and maybe a little compression to the get the lead sound I like.

Just the way my tastes and playing have evolved I guess.

Jeff Beck uses a Klon as well:

 

[JasonE]

As I've gotten older my tone has become cleaner and cleaner.

I still like a little overdrive and a little grit for a singing lead tone, but the chords and accompaniment I play have become more and more important to me.

I like my rhythm playing and my lead playing to NOT have huge difference in tone.

The Klon is a leave it on all the time pedal that I can use my guitar's volume pot to control.

But some times I don't turn it on at all and just rely on my touch and maybe a little compression to the get the lead sound I like.

Just the way my tastes and playing have evolved I guess.

Jeff Beck uses a Klon as well:

This is interesting that you are evolving in the cleaner direction. Your post is worded in a way that I could have easily thought I wrote it. That is the exact same evolution path I have been on. What is interesting about that is I have had guys come up and play a few songs on my rig with my guitars and they all say how they love the touch sensitivity of it but it really puts the mistakes out there so you have to make sure you are on point with the playing. I have always focused on playing clean. When I was teaching I told everyone to practice on a clean channel to get it down and ringing clear. Then when you add a little gain it will sound great.

I also used to practice in the dark to force myself to play by feel and not watch my hands. I have had people laugh at me when I have told them that I did this. They think I am joking but I am not. I legit did it.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

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

The thing about the OCD is, there are at least 8 versions of them and they all sound different. I've owned v1.2, 1.4, 1.7 and 2.0. I've heard 1.1, 1.3,1.6

No two of those was alike. V 1.2 was my favorite but it's been so long since I had that one it's not fair anymore. The newer 2.0 and 2.1 are great. 1.7 was very good. 1.4 added germanium clippers would made it more compressed/less open and punchy. So it was VERY different from the 3 preceding versions.

Just saying that because whenever someone doesn't like the OCD, I always wonder what version they have/had. There are probably at least 2-3 version of it that would be great for almost any given user, but depending on what you want to hear, and what amp and guitar you're playing, the "right one" won't be the same for one guy vs. another. But, there's a reason they've sold over 20K of them. The "right" one is a great pedal.

 

[Lewguitar]

The thing about the OCD is, there are at least 8 versions of them and they all sound different. I've owned v1.2, 1.4, 1.7 and 2.0. I've heard 1.1, 1.3,1.6

No two of those was alike. V 1.2 was my favorite but it's been so long since I had that one it's not fair anymore. The newer 2.0 and 2.1 are great. 1.7 was very good. 1.4 added germanium clippers would made it more compressed/less open and punchy. So it was VERY different from the 3 preceding versions.

Just saying that because whenever someone doesn't like the OCD, I always wonder what version they have/had. There are probably at least 2-3 version of it that would be great for almost any given user, but depending on what you want to hear, and what amp and guitar you're playing, the "right one" won't be the same for one guy vs. another. But, there's a reason they've sold over 20K of them. The "right" one is a great pedal.

Hmm...I'll dig it out and see what mine is.

 

[PAFF64]

Treble Booster (either Swart Booster or Analogman Beano Boost) into BB+ pedal.

 

[IRG]

I tend to think of jazz tones and blues tones as fairly different from one another, but I am NOT a jazz guitarist whatsoever. But if I were to play more in this genre, I would use my Boss CP1X compressor, a really nice rounded sound, can push either of my amps just a bit, but stay fairly clean. But one amp is a 5w Fender Vibro Champ Reverb, and it doesn't take much to add a little grit. The comp does a good job of just accentuating it, without taking over.

Now blues, it's a different story. I tend to like non-traditionalist blues, heavier stuff, or just what feel is a bit more modern take of it, Black Keys or Jack White kinda stuff. Here, I might like my fuzz face type pedals, back off the fuzz just a touch. If I want more traditional blues sound, the Boss SD-1 4A is back on my board these days, gain set low. And for heavier tones, a Friedman SmallBox gives me some great Plexi like tones. I have a couple of other pedals, an MXR Timmy and a newer EQD Special Cranker, but they're both off my board currently. But they each have their own vibe as well.

 

[Lewguitar]

This is interesting that you are evolving in the cleaner direction. Your post is worded in a way that I could have easily thought I wrote it. That is the exact same evolution path I have been on. What is interesting about that is I have had guys come up and play a few songs on my rig with my guitars and they all say how they love the touch sensitivity of it but it really puts the mistakes out there so you have to make sure you are on point with the playing. I have always focused on playing clean. When I was teaching I told everyone to practice on a clean channel to get it down and ringing clear. Then when you add a little gain it will sound great.

I also used to practice in the dark to force myself to play by feel and not watch my hands. I have had people laugh at me when I have told them that I did this. They think I am joking but I am not. I legit did it.

Yes, we seem to have some similarities in our approach. I need to produce what I think of as being a beautiful tone. I like to try out a new guitar unplugged. I play a lot of acoustic guitar too, and there's no distortion to hide slopping, inaccurate playing.

 

[Wyzard]

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.

I mostly use some sort of Two Rock these days. For jazz/blues (not my natural territory, by any means), it's my CRS V1: That's as Dumble as I like to get.

When I'm on it, I use a KOT to bump it up a notch or three.

I like the lower gain pedals like the King of Tone and the Ryra Klone (a Klon-type pedal). I've got an old TS9 that also sounds good. I'm no jazzer, but they work great for blues and anything that just needs to hit the input a little harder.

KOT rules. I used to use Cornish pedals almost exclusively, until I got my KOT V2. Now I have a V4 as well

The dude they call "captain" isn't very knowledgeable. I think he does very little homework on what he carries.

Understatement. FWIW, he used to be even worse. In his defense, he pays others to do this stuff.... so, occasionally, he'll fall into a hole of his own devising when talking about gear.

This is interesting that you are evolving in the cleaner direction. Your post is worded in a way that I could have easily thought I wrote it. That is the exact same evolution path I have been on. What is interesting about that is I have had guys come up and play a few songs on my rig with my guitars and they all say how they love the touch sensitivity of it but it really puts the mistakes out there so you have to make sure you are on point with the playing. I have always focused on playing clean. When I was teaching I told everyone to practice on a clean channel to get it down and ringing clear. Then when you add a little gain it will sound great.

I also used to practice in the dark to force myself to play by feel and not watch my hands. I have had people laugh at me when I have told them that I did this. They think I am joking but I am not. I legit did it.

This.

I tend to think of jazz tones and blues tones as fairly different from one another.

As a jam/Americana/fusion/rock player, my experience is these genres can all be covered with a D-type and KOT (see above), used judiciously. Anything else gets a Cornish SS-3 or CC-1.

Pure "Jazz" tones are something my father used, but I have nothing for you there - I have zero standing in this area.

OTOH: Metheny, who is more "on it" than the likes of a whole herd of necrophiliac so-called jazz cats, gets some seriously (and often "out-there") tones from a host of gear...... from an ES175-plus-toothbrush setup, to a Synclavier rig that would propel most of us into bankruptcy. I find my Cornish SS-3 approximates his synth-y tones sufficiently well (on tunes like "Song For Bilbao"), and for a heckuva lot less money. Now, if only my playing was in the same league as his......

 

[Simon Says]

Im generally not a blues player and not an overdrive pedal type of a guy, but I can recommend Nordland ODR-CC as a light to medium drive option. It's highly touch sensitive and would do wonders as a blues machine. It's loosely based on Noble ODR, a Nashville favourite. As interesting trivia, Kay - the Nordland owner - designed Nobles ODR in the 90. ODR-CC has a few additional controls, one very usable is the bass knob; you can cut or boost the bass. Other; the Midrange knob will easily take you from Nashville to Texas.

Amazing overdrive, one I always have nearby... The only one I have nearby

 

[Longneck Tenon]

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.

A friend of mine was lucky enough to see Bloomfield. He played loud as heck, like so many of the greats.

 

[JasonE]

If I am being honest, I am a bit of an OD pedal junkie. You don't have to spend a ton to get decent ones. I am not even sure how many of them I own at this point.

 

[rockinrabbit]

I'm liking my Friedman Buxom Boost, coupled with judicious application of my Wampler Euphoria. Haven't played out, or really loud, but seems to be working nicely. (I have a Diezel VH4, Friedman Dirty Shirley, BE100 and Smallbox pedals, too, but they're not hooked up)

 

[JasonE]

I'm liking my Friedman Buxom Boost, coupled with judicious application of my Wampler Euphoria. Haven't played out, or really loud, but seems to be working nicely. (I have a Diezel VH4, Friedman Dirty Shirley, BE100 and Smallbox pedals, too, but they're not hooked up)

What amp are you running that Euphoria into? I had one of those and wanted to like it but hated it and couldn't get rid of it fast enough. I traded it in on The Dude pedal and like that much better. The Euphoria had this super mid range hump in it that sounded terrible through all of my amps and there was no getting rid of it.

 

[rockinrabbit]

I find the Euphoria does all sorts of interesting, different things,,,at least in the studio here. Maybe I'd share your sentiment were I trying to play out with it.
I'm using a Boss Chorus CE-5 and going into a THD Univalve(12 inch Avatar bottom), and also into a Quilter MP200, with an 8 built in, and also with a Mesa one 12 bottom.