software

Just recently i've heard of the practice of putting an OD pedal in front of a Tube amp to get more saturation at lower volumes or something to that effect by raising the level of the pedal but not the gain so much.

Can anyone explain this further for me, i was thinking of getting an SD-1 and trying it out.

A lot of people will use an OD or distortion pedal thru an amps clean channel as thier primary distortion, and you can get a somewhat satisfactory overdriven sound at a lower volume. But not as satisfying a cranking an amp and using it's natural overdrive.
Also, some players will use an OD pedal (thru a Marshall for example) and use it not so much for distortion but as a boost for solo's. If you do this it's a good idea not to be using a ton of gain on the amp as well as a ton of gain on the pedal or the sound can get very mushy or so distorted that you can't make anything out. Hope this answers your question.

What Mike said

I have learned also that it's a good thing to experiment with lots of pedals with your actual amp, if possible. Distortion pedals are voiced differently and they may alter the sound of your amp in such a way that it sounds weird - the bottom falls out when you engage the pedal.

I do this technique with my Hughes and Kettner combo and a Boss Blues Driver. Like Steveo said, certain pedals will sound better with certain amps. My H K is pretty mid heavy(which i like) and the blues driver has more of a scooped sound to it, so they complement each other quite well. What i like to do is have my amp on the gain channel and get a semi clean sound out of it with a little crunch to it, then if i need clean i just roll my volume knob on my guitar down, for a little more gain i just kick in the blues driver. Putting an OD pedal infront of the gain channel really helped tighten up the sound and gave me more crunch without it being too muddy or buzzy. If you go this route, i usually set my pedal with the gain all the way down, the volume at about 3 o'clock, and the tone knob all the way down. I am really happy with the tones i get out of this set up, but just experiment around. By the way my friend just bought an SD-1 and is using it how i use my blues driver and he said he absolutley loves it.

I'm the kinda guy that likes lower powered amps because I can crank them to get that natural tube saturation. I always like just quot;a little bit morequot; for solos to really make them stand out. I use a clean boost and dial in a touch more volume and mids to really make sure it cuts through the band mix.

I like to use an OD (SD-1 or ZW-44 or my own build) to slam the front end just a little harder to overdrive the pre-amp more. My amp has plenty of built-in gain for me but rolling back the amp's gain and using an OD to slam the front-end allows be to get a somewhat clean tone just by turning off the OD and rolling back the guitar volume. Think Zakk Wyle and Jake E. Lee. They both do the same thing with overdrives.

I too use a SD1 for my hughes and kettner amp and it works great, i set the level of the pedal on full with a very little amount of gain and set my amps gain to a moderate level then when i want to slam in a solo i hi the front end of the amps gain with the SD1 and it makes everything tighter with more sustain and articuation. I also use i the same way for the clean channel to get a nice break up (low overdrive) especially with single coils.

I have both a Blues Driver and an SD1. You guys are way more capable and patient than I am because I can't get anything out of my SD1 that sounds remotely pleasing, even with a lot of fiddling. My BD is easy to work with, and I can do many things with it, alone, or in combination with guitar / amp features.

Get it modded.

I use a Deluxe Reverb. With the volume on about 5½ the AMp breaks up nicely, yet it still remains fairly clean. When I solo I have a modded TS9 that I use to increase volume slighty and it also increases sustain a small degree. This works really well for what I need to do. The gain on the TS9 is set fairly low and the volume is adjusted to give me a slight boost.

I also A/B a Marshall with a Super Reverb. I rarely use the clean channel on the Marshall. The SR gives me all the clean I could want. I use a TS9 in the Super also, pretty much the same way I do in the Deluxe. In the Marshall I have a Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal in the front when I need to push it a little more. This pedal interacts with the Marshall very well. When I do use the Clean on the Marshall if I kick in the Bluesbreaker it has the same amount of gain as I have set in the drive channel, so when I use the drive channel I am getting a real nice push with this. I also have the gain on the pedal and the Amp set fairly low about 5 on the amp and about 75% on th BB. For the most part I am trying NOT to color the sound of the Amp any more than is necessary!

I use an Orange AD30 single channel with either an Orange 4x12 or a Marshall 2x12 cab.

I set the gain on the head to about 3/3.5 so that the amp is a little gritty but still cleans up well with the guitars volume control.

If I want a little extra gain/sustain boost then I'll step on my Fulltone Fulldrive 2 just to give it a little kick. I also use a ZVex Super Duper to boost the amp even more. I use the 1st channel of the pedal to Overdrive the amps input for more drive, and use the 2nd channel as a volume and gain boost for solos etc.

It works great for me

I have a Carr Mercury and have a TopHat Club Royale coming Wed. I set the Merc up with a low distortion and use various OD and Boosters to goose it and flavor the drive. Makes a single channel amp into a more versatile set up.


Originally Posted by MVII have both a Blues Driver and an SD1. You guys are way more capable and patient than I am because I can't get anything out of my SD1 that sounds remotely pleasing, even with a lot of fiddling. My BD is easy to work with, and I can do many things with it, alone, or in combination with guitar / amp features.

lol....funny you say that. I'm the exact opposite. I couldn't get anything I liked out of the Blues Driver. Got rid of it before I started doing mods. Keeley does some killer mods to it, and the SD-1 as well. I love my SD-1 since modding it even more.