Direct drive / OD-3 / LTD / Differences?

[89strat]

I currently have the od808, and it's pretty good, but I'm looking for something a little different. I set the gain channel on my Peavey Classic 50 about 10:00 - 11:00. I'm using the od808 (gain at 9:00) to boost it but I think I need something that will cut through better withouth the peircing highs with my strat, add some nice boost to stand out in the mix. Clean boosts tend to make the amp a little to brittle. From what I understand, the OD-3 isn't that bright sounding and would work well for this and has a lot of volume to it but I can't find one to try out. I tried a sd-1 but found it not so great sounding. The barber ltd I had, but thought it lacked a little in the sustain area. The direct drive sounds interesting too but isn't it just an ltd with more gain or does it sound more like my od808. I'd like something not so tube screamerish, but I need some midrange in there to get those sustainy leads and also something that sounds nice on the clean channel for jazzy or bluesy type stuff. Also, keep it in the $100 +/- range.

[SeeMoore]

Originally posted by 89strat I currently have the od808, and it's pretty good, but I'm looking for something a little different. I set the gain channel on my Peavey Classic 50 about 10:00 - 11:00. I'm using the od808 (gain at 9:00) to boost it but I think I need something that will cut through better withouth the peircing highs with my strat, add some nice boost to stand out in the mix. Clean boosts tend to make the amp a little to brittle. From what I understand, the OD-3 isn't that bright sounding and would work well for this and has a lot of volume to it but I can't find one to try out. I tried a sd-1 but found it not so great sounding. The barber ltd I had, but thought it lacked a little in the sustain area. The direct drive sounds interesting too but isn't it just an ltd with more gain or does it sound more like my od808. I'd like something not so tube screamerish, but I need some midrange in there to get those sustainy leads and also something that sounds nice on the clean channel for jazzy or bluesy type stuff. Also, keep it in the $100 +/- range.

 

 

Sounds like you want a Barber Small Fry or Direct Drive.

The DD will give ya the mids you want and no fizzy high's

The Small Fry will let ya shape the tone to your liking and has just as much gain as the DD.

 

There are two controls on the Small Fry that make it very flexable, "Dynamics" and on the inside "Note Shape"

Dynamics acts something like a blend control, as you adjust it you can hear more of the guitars natural tone come in.

Note Shape is like a very wide range upper mid control.