Lets talk about: Boutique Overdrives

[Molly]

... Also Honey Bee the first time I played one was that perfect (for me) low gain warm syrupy sound
...
- Won't be without a Honey Bee or KTR again I think...

I head a HB on a JC-120 demo the other day and it sounded great. Got me thinking it might suit me too.

[Reg18]

Great thread! It's a polerising topic though, some people can't be bothered with tweaking tones and love there SD1 or DS1 through their Fender Twin and haven't changed the the tubes since 1993 and couldn't be happier (sometimes I wish I was like this, I'd have wasted a lot less time and money) but some of us (me included) aren't sastifed until we have found the perfect combination of Amp/guitar/pedals to get what we are looking for.
I think with boutique over drives for me a lot comes down to the feel under the fingers, like its transient response, how it compresses etc. Obviously it has to sound good too, but if you get a good pedal platform Amp even a TS9 sounds great!
The only one I've kept (and won't sell) in the last 4 years is my Mojo Hand Rook Royale, it just sounds great every time I play live! I've played pedals at home which sounded better but got lost in the mix live. It is my first stage OD and I'm very happy with it.
Second stage OD for stacking is a different story, it's been a revolving door policy so far. Got the Archer Klone on the way which will hopefully play nicely for this purpose.

Agree with your statement about getting the right pedals for the right amp, I bought a Timmy after reading TGP to much and thought it was pretty mundane, but this was through my AC15 at the time. If I had a Marshall I'm sure it would have been great.

Keen to see what other people's thoughts are on the topic too.

[Darth Sabbathi]

I don't get on all that well with OD pedals, and have come to the conclusion that I really don't need one playing through a Marshall. I use boosts and fuzzes, but nothing I would call an overdrive.

Does anyone else regularly use OD with a Marshall?

[Darth Sabbathi]

I should add that I did try a Timmy, and that didn't do much for me either.

[jeremyb]

My limited experience with od's led me to believe it's very amp dependent as to how they sound, some I've tried I couldn't get a decent sound out of, others were brilliant... can't go on youtube demos, you just need to try them out for yourself

[calling card]

Got to be in the right mood to push the valve front end hard. A clean boost with 3 band EQ.

[vintage52]

My limited experience with od's led me to believe it's very amp dependent as to how they sound, some I've tried I couldn't get a decent sound out of, others were brilliant... can't go on youtube demos, you just need to try them out for yourself

Sounds like my limited experience also.

Had a few OD's that just don't play well with my Deluxe Clone.

Using a Krank at the moment and find the deluxe clone likes it.

The G2D Classic just doesn't work through the clone.

[Scooter13]

Does anyone else regularly use OD with a Marshall?

Other than everyone in the eighties?

[jeremyb]

Does anyone else regularly use OD with a Marshall?

I was, joyo sweet baby into the JCM800 channel on my amp Sounded awesome!

[Bg]

Yes, used to slap the JTM45 in the face with whatever I had available at the time Used pedals on my JCM800 too, cusack screamer, cusack fuzz etc.

Don't really use anything on the Bogner, just because the blue and red channels themselves are sublime.

[Darth Sabbathi]

Does anyone else regularly use OD with a Marshall?

Other than everyone in the eighties?

Yeah, I didn't mean that to sound like 'I can't imagine anyone using OD with a Marshall'. I know plenty of people do - I was more interested in hearing from such persons and their reasons for doing so.

On a vaguely related tack, I'd be interested in a technical explanation of the differences between 'boost' and 'od'. In my head, the former just amps up the signal, so any dirt is actually coming from the amp, while the latter is clipping the signal before it gets to the amp. But I am embarrassingly ignorant...

[null_pointer]

No that's pretty accurate

[Reg18]

Does anyone else regularly use OD with a Marshall?

Other than everyone in the eighties?

Yeah, I didn't mean that to sound like 'I can't imagine anyone using OD with a Marshall'. I know plenty of people do - I was more interested in hearing from such persons and their reasons for doing so.

On a vaguely related tack, I'd be interested in a technical explanation of the differences between 'boost' and 'od'. In my head, the former just amps up the signal, so any dirt is actually coming from the amp, while the latter is clipping the signal before it gets to the amp. But I am embarrassingly ignorant...

From my limited knowledge I think that sounds about right, boosts don't generally have diode or fet clipping, just a preamp with some tone shaping depending on the pedal.
Diode clipping isn't always bad, In fact the famous JCM 2550 jubilees push/pull gain boost is literally switching in clipping diodes to distort the amp more and that sounds great!

[higainer]

Excellent thread.

I've found SD1 into Marshallesque amps work a treat.
Found the Timmy to be ok but nothing mind blowing.
Aldrich Rocket Fuel, works well with most amps & nicely tweakable bass response.
Suhr Shiba Drive, refined & smooth.
Suhr Koko Boost, a bit hit & miss, amp dependant really.

Got on a tube pedal kick for a while.
Bad Cat 2Tone, great for pushing a dirty amp with the clean boost but hated the fizzy OD ch.
Soldano GTO, although quite noisy I'm using it to slam the amps front end rather than a straight up dirt box.
Baja Tube Drive, for more creamy tone.

But to be honest the go-to pedal for me is the humble MXR GT-OD.
Has the qualities I look for in an OD for my application (boosting).
Simple to use.
Provides the necessary cut without harshness.
Most importantly feel, the right amount of compression/snap/ note clarity.

[Darth Sabbathi]

To push a bit further on the technicalities, what's going on with fuzz vs od vs distortion? Is that down to what is doing the clipping? (Yeah, I should google that... laziness )