anyone have a English Muffn Overdrive?

[twotimingpete]

I'm looking for a marshally od/distortion with some flexibility to it, and the demos on youtube for this sound pretty good. however, the reviews are pretty mixed.

 

anyone have one? any other really good "marshally" pedals to suggest?

 

and btw, is the whole "preamp tubes in the pedal" thing a gimmick or does it actually do anything?

[doc oc]

I had one and sold it. It was too brittle for my taste.

Try an old bluesbreaker. It's my favorite for the sound I think you are describing.

 

Solid state, but just plain AWESOME.

 

As for the tube thing, I think it depends on the pedal. I really like the damage control stuff for that.

BTW, I think the overdrive on the tube zipper is WAY better sounding than the muffin if you are sticking with EHX pedals. You also get the benefit of the filter to shape the distortion or you can go extreme and add funkiness when the situation arises.

Another plus would be the completely bonkers self oscillation sounds you can create when you feel adventurous. For the money, it's a much better buy IMHO and I have not met one person who owns one and would willingly sell it.

Mine is a keeper for sure.

[m90guy]

My tube zipper gets buried with me. I recommend it highly. I use it almost exclusively for the OD too.

 

That said I like the Muff'n too.

[twotimingpete]

the tube zipper has all that funny envelope stuff I'm not looking for. just the distortion/od for me.

 

here's something very interesting. anyone try this? zvex distortron. at about 2:24 he goes into a maxed gain sound that actually sounds a bit hairy -- like speaker breakup or something, which I love. that's what I want. although that could also just be the mic getting overloaded a bit so I don't really know.

 

[doc oc]

Sounds pretty interesting. They make some solid stuff.

Just for shiggles though, you ought to audition a zipper with the filters all the way closed. It is a GREAT overdrive.

By the way pete, I meant to ask since I know you had a blackstar for a while, doesn't that do a pretty convincing marshall overdrive tone?

[twotimingpete]

 

Sounds pretty interesting. They make some solid stuff. Just for shiggles though, you ought to audition a zipper with the filters all the way closed. It is a GREAT overdrive. By the way pete, I meant to ask since I know you had a blackstar for a while, doesn't that do a pretty convincing marshall overdrive tone?

 

 

oh it absolutely does. ht-5's cleans were kinda boring but the gain channel kicked your ass. problem is I'm going into a louder amp now for the purposes of playing with a drummer so I need to get some of that sound back. my V22 is loud enough but on its own it doesn't possess the type of distorted sound I need. the clean channel is powerful and makes dirt pedal sound great though. my open road pedal kicks ass through it, which covers my transparent overdrive tones, I just need the more marshally sound covered now.

[doc oc]

Doesn't the HT-5 head have some kind of headphone out type of thing?

I'm not positive about this, but to me this would mean you could simply use it as a preamp at line level , no?

[twotimingpete]

 

Doesn't the HT-5 head have some kind of headphone out type of thing? I'm not positive about this, but to me this would mean you could simply use it as a preamp at line level , no?

 

 

use it as a line out to another amp? that sounds insane to me. plus the lineout sounded like {censored} every time I tested it.

 

oh and I sold the ht5 btw.

[funkywrench]

 

the tube zipper has all that funny envelope stuff I'm not looking for. just the distortion/od for me. here's something very interesting. anyone try this? zvex distortron. at about 2:24 he goes into a maxed gain sound that actually sounds a bit hairy -- like speaker breakup or something, which I love. that's what I want. although that could also just be the mic getting overloaded a bit so I don't really know.

 

 

The Zvex Distotron is apparently the OD side of the Zvex Box of Rock. The BOR also has a boost too. Both the distotron and BOR are based on a Marshall JTM45.

 

I haven't used one (though I will be buying one in the near future) but there are some killer demos out there for the BOR. Try youtube (Pro Guitar Shop) and the Zvex website for some good demos.

[twotimingpete]

they're similar. the BOR has a boost but the distortron has options for cutting out some of the lows and also has a "more gain" switch to make it hotter than the BOR.

 

given that it's cheaper and has a higher range of gain and I already have a boost pedal, I think I'm going with the distortron. I'll have a battle report when the time comes.

[ugameus]

I had an English Muff'n. It is good at what it does. But IMO, it only does one thing. It sort of takes over and imparts it's own distinct character no matter what amp you are playing through. I also used it with the treble all the way down because it was way too brittle with even a little treble. If it wasn't 200 bucks then I think it would be worth it, but at that price I want it to do a little more.

 

I am thinking about getting the LPB 2ube. It is a stereo pedal, but you can daisy chain the two channels and use it in mono mode. This sounds like it might be a fairly versatile solution.

[wartoxin]

 

is the whole "preamp tubes in the pedal" thing a gimmick or does it actually do anything?

 

 

 

I think it depends on the pedal.

 

 

yeah. There are some bad (not tube like) tube pedals and preamps and some that give a reasonable tube preamp sound.

My understanding is tube amps generally have more stages than a lot of pedals so you might try Mi Audio Tube Zone, I noticed it boasted 1 more stage than the Crunch Box. Also pre eq, or at least pickups, help get a typical marshall tone.

[spanishfly47.5]

Seymour Duncan Twin Tube either blue or classic.

I myself got one for the same reasons you're looking. I think it does a pretty good job.