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doesn't anyone use their amp for od/distortion?


schenkadere

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All this chatter about OD and distortion pedals. Doesn't anyone just buy an amp that does clean and dirty well without the aid of pedals? I can see a clean boost to take your amp to another level or to punch up your presence, but doesn't anyone simply like what their amps do on their own?

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All this chatter about OD and distortion pedals. Doesn't anyone just buy an amp that does clean and dirty well without the aid of pedals? I can see a clean boost to take your amp to another level or to punch up your presence, but doesn't anyone simply like what their amps do on their own?

 

 

I have an Orange Rockerverb 100 (which is first and foremost a high gain amp), and I still typically only set it to a low-to-mid gain setting and use a Fulltone OCD and a Zvex Box of Metal out front. It's much easier to use with my pedalboard and makes it easier to deal with noise -- plus, I don't have to use my FX loop on my amp then.

 

I think there's this belief out there that somehow distortion that is derived entirely from an amplifier is in every way superior. I disagree, and I also do not believe it is any easier or less convoluted than using pedals.

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Fuzz I can see...that's a different animal...but all this never ending OD talk. I'd much rather be happy with my amp and not be stacking all sorts of other od character on top of that. I've never heard an OD that's truly as transparent as a clean boost.

 

Guess I'm just OD fried...I got rid of all of mine...can't even tell you how many I've had over the years. I'm digging the simplicity of pure amp tones.

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Also, overdrive pedals help with single channel amps. I'm planning on buying an AC15 and using an OD pedal before my Delay because the AC15C1 doesn't have an effects loop.

 

 

Yeah, delays and lack of effects loops = a need for pedal dirt.

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Good point...delay into a dirty amp is not always pretty unless you have a loop.

 

 

Right, this is an issue.

 

Basically, you would have to find an amp that:

 

-has the clean sound you want

-has the overdrive sound you want

-has the two sounds accessible with one foot click

-has the two sounds reasonably volume-matched

-has a good effects loop

 

I could possibly find an amp like this that I would enjoy as much as my current amps, but it would likely be out of my price range (without sacrificing build quality). I like the sound of the overdrive on my amps, but I mostly use the clean sound, since there is no way to practically switch between clean and dirty (not to mention how loud the amp would have to be). Hence, the overdrive pedal -- problem solved.

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doesn't anyone use their amp for od/distortion?

 

That's just crazy talk! ;) :poke: :D

 

Of course I use the amp's own "natural" distortion... but that's just one of many "flavors" that are out there, and in my line of work, having a wide and versatile palate to chose from is beneficial. So I use amp dirt, amp dirt helped along by pedals, and pedal dirt into clean amps - whatever gives us the sound that we're looking for and works for the song. :)

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It really depends on what sort of sound you want.

 

Some amps just need to be pushed to get pleasant distortion. I wouldn't bother running an overdrive pedal into a SLO, for example. Or anything with a Tweed circuit. Those just sound righteous by themselves.

 

But some single channel amps essentially necessitate overdrives because they maintain the same EQ stack for their dirty tones as they do for their clean ones. This is generally a recipe for failure. In that case, the OD becomes a sculpting tool.

 

At the moment, I'm on the amp distortion bandwagon. Just to switch things up for a bit.

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All this chatter about OD and distortion pedals. Doesn't anyone just buy an amp that does clean and dirty well without the aid of pedals? I can see a clean boost to take your amp to another level or to punch up your presence, but doesn't anyone simply like what their amps do on their own?

 

 

Yeah, but those guys aren't here in the effects forum.

 

The guys who don't use dirt boxes don't spend much typing about how they don't use them. Actually, there's a semi-regular trolling, about once weekly, but that's all.

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Alot of people mainly use there amps distroion and use A boost or OD to give the amp push. I am a fuzz guy though so I really don't have a say in this, but when I owned a Bugera 1990 I used the amps main distortion. I do not however know many people who use a distorion pedal for their main sorce of gain.

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My Mesa Mark III gives me all the high gain I need, and a brilliant clean sound and those are the reasons I bought the amp, but sometimes I want a different flavor, 70% of the time it is straight amp dirt, but then there's that 30% where I would like a different dirt, whether it be a gritty OD, a fuzz of some sorts, or a straight out brown sound.

 

But if push came to shove, I could easily play and be happy without my OD/Dist pedals, still would want a fuzz though.

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