At first I had the amp set slightly dirty and was still using pedals, but I couldn't escape some fizz and general slight naff-ness. In frustration I plugged direct into the amp and was blown away by how good it sounded. So I started using the pedals less, but it was hard work training myself out of just hitting a pedal to build the song up. I guess I had "past participle of get" a bit lazy.
The other part of the puzzle is that the digital delay just didn't quite work in front of the amp. I tried all kinds of settings, but the modulated, fairly big echo that I like creating too much distortion and fizz and just plain sucked. I ended up trading for a Deluxe Memory Man, which works gloriously in front of the amp. I'm still planning on getting a digital delay for dotted 8 stuff, but that won't be a major part of my sound like it has for the last 5 or so years.
TL;DR
But here we are today, the last couple of gigs I have used only one gain pedal, my EP booster, and that I have only used on single note stuff. Everything else I have done with playing dynamics. I've found I can organically go from almost totally clean to moderate OD just by adjusting my picking. If I play my Strat, the whole thing leans towards clean, if I play my ASAT then it leans towards dirty. It's making me a better and more dynamic player and the tones are really good.
Latest pedalboard:
![Image](http://distilleryimage10.s3.amazonaws.com/589bbc54482e11e2b4d922000a1fae83_7.jpg)
BBE, Verbzilla, Boss DD-3, one Korg tuner are for acoustic.
Anyway, for me I think I've cracked it, and found that amp distortion kicks ass and is way better than pedals. Anyone else found that same thing? Or just think I'm an idiot?