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What Overdrive for a Totally Clean Amp?


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I'm using an Old Sunn Tube head, and it stays pretty clean all the way with the particular cabinet I am using.

I am looking for a good overdrive for a clean amp to give it some nice breakup.Something Dynamic and touch sensitive. I understand on the one that some overdrives ( King of Tone) may be better for a tube amp already having achieved its desired breakup, and then to boost it in a antural way.

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My recommendation would be the Fulltone OCD -- it's dynamic, works in many applications, with a broad range of usable gain. Also, the Catalinbread SCOD is really, really nice for mid-to-high gain overdrive sounds depending on what you're going for.

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I really like my barber direct drive with my JM and V4 (that combo is very, very clean). An OCD never really fit in to my setup. I use a timmy for boost/chime, too, and that comes highly recommended. Way huge pork loin is also an honorable mention for a little gain increase

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my garagetone drivetrain is my #1 at the moment.

 

 

I've been curious about that pedal for awhile but I've never had the chance to play one. How would you categorize the sound of it? What kinds of sounds are you using it for?

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I've been curious about that pedal for awhile but I've never had the chance to play one. How would you categorize the sound of it? What kinds of sounds are you using it for?

 

 

I love it. Basically its a tube screamer. Its similar to a Bad Monkey in that it has a seperate bass and treble controls, but the buffer is great and it sounds better IMO.

 

most of the YOUTUBE demos on it sucks, Ill try and find a good one...

 

2:35

 

[video=youtube;m59tl1_DfSc]

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Catalinbread DLS is PERFECT for running into a super clean amp - that's what I did for years w/ my Peavey Classic 50. I actually used a TS9DX for that purpose (just left it on all the time), but then I discovered the DLS, and it absolutely slays for that purpose.

 

 

DLS is a distortion, not an overdrive, no?

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I'd definitely recommend the Paul Cochrane Timmy. If you are willing to join the waiting list then they aren't expensive, but they really are fantastic transparent overdrives. They won't polish a turd, but if you're really happy with your clean tone then they will give the experience of that tone breaking up (with some great eq options). I love mine on my '68 pro reverb - if I have it on and bring the drive down to zero, it just sounds like exactly like my clean tone (something rare, but should be a standard on all overdrives).

 

Also, my amp wasn't made for driving, the bass can get a bit heavy, and you hear that with the pedal - but I can just bring down the bass on the Timmy and it sounds magic.

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Gotcha. I wasn't sure because I often hear it referred to as a "Marshall in a box."


Now that I think about it, that would be an
overdriven
amp.
:idea:

 

Yeah, it's definitely a Marshall-in-a-box, but it's not high-gain Marshall. Think mid-generation Marshalls that sound great after breakup - light to medium OD.

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I think there's a real difference between pedals that are designed to slam the preamp vs those that are voiced to be LIKE the toan of a given amp.

 

I'd put things like the AC boost, the Tim/Timmy belong in the former category, and Catalinbread pedals like the CB30, DLS, WIIO in the latter.

With a nice clean amp setup clean, you can pretty mch expect the latter pedals to produce a given sound....sure, there's some coloration, but it is minor.

The former pedals are much more dependent on the design characteristics of the pre-amp (and PI/powertubes), and there's more variation in what you here. The Tim/Timmy will sound dramatically different running thru any two amps.

 

Bottom line (for me) is, if you know the sound you are after, go for a pedal that tries to mimic that sound.

If you are after a wider range of overdrives and gains, then try one of the others, but expect to go through a few before you find one that works well with your setup.

 

And btw, if you're just DI'ing into a PA, then for get the overdrives-on-steroids. It'd be a waste. Go for one of those swuiss-army-knife modeling setups....and also btw there will be some new ones in about 6-12 months from ------------ that will just kick ass. I have inside info, but I will not talk.

 

 

RE=READ your original post.....old Sunn, eh?

Then I'd go for the CB-type pedals. Some of their intial-stage pre's are set pretty cool, unless you bring ungodly gain to the table. Then your output will be auditorium-loud unless you've got a master-vol setup.

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I run either my Hiwatt or lately I have been playing my buddies Traynor YBA-1A which is very clean at loud volumes. I have been using either my Walrus Audio Voyager for just a touch of amp like break up or if I want a bit more edge / fuzz to the break up I use my Black Forest. I used to own a Dirty Little Secret and it was quite nice and I have been spending some time with a borrowed WiiO, another Catalinbread pedal that is very nice as well.

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I run either my Hiwatt or lately I have been playing my buddies Traynor YBA-1A which is very clean at loud volumes. I have been using either my Walrus Audio Voyager for just a touch of amp like break up or if I want a bit more edge / fuzz to the break up I use my Black Forest. I used to own a Dirty Little Secret and it was quite nice and I have been spending some time with a borrowed WiiO, another Catalinbread pedal that is very nice as well.

 

Now that I'm using many more cleanish parts I prefer to use either my Black Forest or the Plimsoul the same way. I wish I was stacking amps where I could just choose one for clean, another for grind and another for dirt. But, playing out is becoming increasingly rare and doing that kind of setup is a bitch for me, especially considering any gig I play is going to start about 2 hours past my bed time. :lol:

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