Members beter pan Posted April 13, 2015 Members Share Posted April 13, 2015 I am living in a small flat and I am playing for myself at home.I am playing hard rock, classic rock and blues rock. My equipment is as follows:- Gibson Les Paul Standard 2013- Ibanez TSA5 TVR Class A tube combo (2014)- MXR Distortion III The thing is I need warm, tube overdriven/distorted sound.Should I get a new amp (Marshall DSL5C maybe???) or a new pedal (OKKO Dominator, or Wampler Pinnacle????), or what?I need your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoulSonicFX Posted April 13, 2015 Members Share Posted April 13, 2015 If you can get away with playing loud, maybe try a different amp that sounds good when turned up. Or maybe instead of trying to get the overdrive from the Distortion pedal, try using a boost pedal to get the amp to overdrive itself more. Basically, my suggestions revolve around trying to get as much overdrive from your amp as possible and little to none made by a pedal, but maybe you'll need a pedal to push it more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members beter pan Posted April 14, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 14, 2015 True. I should get drive as much as I can from the amp. Slash does it. Only a boost pedal and many Marshall Plexi's.The drive of my Ibanez TSA5 TVR is decent, since it is based on TS9 circuit with a 6V6 tube power. But I think I need more vintage style gain. I think I am looking for a sound like a Plexi or a JCM800. But the thing is, I am living in a small flat, where I practice in the early morning and late night, before going to work, and after returning home. Therefore unfortunately I cannot look for something louder (wish I could). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted April 14, 2015 Members Share Posted April 14, 2015 I'd try a tube screamer or clone which is designed to drive the tubes into saturation. Its a more modern tone when compared to the pedals used in classic rock tunes as is the MXR bit is likely to get you the best tube tones. MXR doesn't do the same thing as a tube screamer and basically sounds the same with clean or driven amp tones. Tube screamer is different. A blues breaker is another good option. It will get you allot of those blues rock tones used in classic rock tones driving a small tube amp and its also got a clean drive for getting only the tubes to drive for cleaner stuff. You could also try a comp pedal with mild compression and volume boost instead of a distortion. Not sure what you're considering as being classic rock tones. Songs up into the early 70s likely used fuzz pedals vs overdrive If you're looking for specific classic tones then you really need to get into Fuzz pedals used in those recordings. The stones used pedals like the Gibson Maestro FZ1 or 2 to get that Satisfaction drive tone. Electro Harmonix has made a new pedal using that circuit which is selling for around $50 called the satisfaction pedal. The Tone Bender was the other biggie that competed with the Gibson Maestro. Beck, Townsend, Jimi Page all used that pedal to get their sound. It used 3 transistors instead of to get longer sustains. The other two commonly used were the Moserite Fuzzrite, and the Vox distortion booster. I believe the MXR you have creates a similar distortion to the Vox. The first electric I owned was a Vox Apollo with onboard electronics and had the Vox distortion built in and it was very similar in grain to the MXR. I buily a Fuzzrite recently and it nails that Psychedelic drive tone especially when used with a wah. More on this here http://www.kitrae.net/music/Fuzz_Big_Muff_Timeline.html If you're looking for more modern sounds, like Boston, Kansas, Aerosmits etc and other bands from say the mid 70's on, than you're likely looking at combination pedals and or amps. Many musicians were embracing the new stuff coming out but there was still allot of recordings done with the old. Black Sabbath for example used nothing but a tube amp and Dallas Rangmaster. So did Clapton and many others. I think the Tube screamer cam in to popularity in the late 70's early 80's as the MXR did. The Big Muff was around then too. Knowing the history of the different circuits helps to know what was being used then to get those tones. The Marshall Governor either the old or new versions can nail the marshall stack tones with just about any amp. Beyond that, you may want to find one of those Epiphone Valve JR's. They can get some pretty decent rock tones at low volumes and have been used in many studios for recording as have small fender tube amps and low wattage Marshalls. Its hard to get every tone without expanding your pedal selection or going with a modeling amp. Since you have an amp already I'd seek a variety of drive pedals to widen your selection. Definitely start with a tube screamer though. Even the Behringer one is good enough. It uses the exact same chip as the original. Its just the plastic box turns people off buying them. They are actually quite durable and can buy two for the price of an Ibanez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Warhorse Posted April 15, 2015 Members Share Posted April 15, 2015 I always try and get the sound I want from my amp not pedals, those are just icing on the cake. Marshall has joined the low watt market, I would start there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted April 16, 2015 Members Share Posted April 16, 2015 I go the other way. Besides tubes and trannys are expensive, a good sounding amp is not only folking loud, it can be a one trick pony. So pedals and the joy of tweaklunking for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RGfretter Posted April 16, 2015 Members Share Posted April 16, 2015 Easy. You want a warm overdriven tube sound just add a od and maybe an eq. Tubey goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members beter pan Posted April 16, 2015 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2015 Wow. Thanks for all the detailed comments. There are many good pedals and amps on the market nowadays. Moreover, the low-wattage market is rapidly growing.What I need is pretty clear for me. And it is getting clearer and clearer everyday. I need warm sounds; and I need hi-gain distortion, besides the cleans. And I want tube sounds.Haven't tried yet but as the comments on YouTube previews present, the Marshall DSL5C does not have cleans, but merely some "normal gain"/drive sounds.My guitar tutor said changing the 12AX7 preamp tubes of my Ibanez TSA5TVR amp, with Electro Harmonix tubes would also increase the gain. I think I need to get a good hi-gain pedal like OKKO Dominator, and a tube amp, that provides Vintage British sounding high gain as well as warm cleans. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted April 16, 2015 Members Share Posted April 16, 2015 Me I'd check if the OKKO worked through a clean channel. Driving a high gain amp with a high gain Disto is a recipe for mud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goldtop5764 Posted April 27, 2015 Members Share Posted April 27, 2015 If Volume is the issue and you are just wanting to practice and learn songs ,, Get a Tascam GB10 . You can get the "volume" you are wanting in your earbuds and the effects that you can program , plus you can download songs into it and slow them down or speed up the pitch to learn them is the orginal key or the key you are tuned to,, plus its mobile . you can play it in any room of the house , the Neighbors will never know you are tearing it up !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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