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Relationship btwn pedal + tube head (Randall and Blackstar content)


JerseyTrash

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Hi guys,

 

I currently run a Blackstar HT-Dual + Blackstar HT-Boost (that both have preamp pedals in them) through the front of a Traynor Ironhorse (http://www.amazon.com/Traynor-DH40H-IronHorse-749-00-AUTHORIZED/dp/B008YOBMRE) which has 12AU7 (x 1), 12AX7 (x2) and EL34 (x2) Tubes in it. I get a pretty badass tone out of it, well suited for hard rock/metal and it can get about 85% as close to a cranked Marshall in a light, compact rig.

 

However, I was hoping to get something closer to an ENGL Ironhorse/Soldano SLO kind of tone (big, FAT mid + juiced preamp). I see that Randall will be releasing the RGOD soon (http://www.randallamplifiers.com/th_product/rgod/) which might be a great solution. However, I wonder if it will sound "solid state" and lifeless even though its running through the front of a tube amp. So I guess my question is what the relationship of a tube amp in terms of coloring the tone from a solid state pedal. Will it sound awesome in my bedroom but "thin" when cranked against a tube Marshall (or any other high gain tube) amp?

 

Could a possible solution be to run the HT-Boost after the Randall to warm up/punch up the tone a bit, similar to a Tubescreamer (but with a real preamp tube in it!)?

 

Or is this a crazy tone hunt that will leave me wishing I just kept the Blackstar HT-Dual as is?

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I'm not familar with your amp, but 20 years of gear whoring has learned me a couple things about equipment that you probably don't want to hear/read...

 

If you're dead set on nailing the tone of some amp, the chance of getting there with a pedal -wether it's ss or tube- is usually really small, and you'll probably end up flipping pedals like there's no tomorrow, to the point where you've spend almost as much as when you just gotten the right amp to begin with.

 

Having said that, if you already have a decent amp that gets you pretty close, there's no harm in trying a pedal to get you even closer. Asking about a pedal that's not even out yet won't help you much though, I doubt there'll be several unbiased user reviews from guys who tried that Randall pedal with a Traynor Ironhorse or something remotely similar...:s

 

My experience with that blackstar HT series is limited, but verry positive. Very decent sounding stuff, especially for the money. Although...Not to say that that preamp tube is purely a useless marketing gimmick, but the advantages over a good ss pedal aren't that big a deal in my humble opinion. I wouldn't get too hung up on the whole tube vs ss thing when it comes to pedals. Contrary to what you might read online, a single preamp tube doesn't always magically add a ton of 'warmth' to the meh tone of a medioacre amp...

 

Anyway, it sounds to me like you're trying to fix the foundations by patching things up with a pedal or a combination of different ones. There's a ton of high gain pedals out there you could try, I'm sure there's got to be something out there that does an okay job mimmicking a Soldano SLO (Wampler SLOstortion comes to mind) or pushing your amp a little more to where you want it. Don't put too much hope in nailing an SLO tone though, especially not if you want to keep in reasonable and not spend $300 on boutique/modeling peds or preamps.

 

If it's at all possible to replace your amp with something that does the Soldano thing a little bit better, I'd think about that if I were you. I'm not knocking the Traynor or anything, it's just that there's SOOO many nice and versatile high gain amps out there, there's not a lot of good reasons to instead settle for anything that needs pedals to *almost* sound right.

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