Anybody Roll Without OD Pedals?

[soundchaser59]

Do you go straight in without OD pedals, and let your amp's crunch and OD do the talking?

What amps and guitars are you using for this? What OD pedals did you sacrifice when you realized your amp sounded pretty good the way it is?

I have changed amps recently and the OD is really good. (One of them is a mint Subway Rocket 44) I felt like my OD pedals were almost in the way. I'm tempted to part with them and just let the amps dot he work. I'll have a couple three fx in the loop (chorus, reverb, delay) but the OD up front is gone.

 

[ryjan]

I won't buy an amp that requires me to buy auxiliary gear to make it acceptable. If a $2000+ amp can't make the grade on its own then I either need to find something that fits me better or work on my picking.
I currently play an ESP with the het set into a Roadster. No fx, no boosts, gain at 1:00 is borderline overkill.

 

[Jackie]

I won't buy an amp that requires me to buy auxiliary gear to make it acceptable. If a $2000+ amp can't make the grade on its own then I either need to find something that fits me better or work on my picking.

What he said!

 

[JMMP]

Firebird with 490r and 498t into my roadster can cover most general styles I want, including metal type tones. No od required. I recently bought a keeley mod ts9 to try the "tightening of the low end" trick, not because I need more gain. Same when I run the quad preamp. If it had more gain, it would be too much for me. However, the amps I mentioned are both known for their high gain abilities. I know not all amps include high gain, so boosting those amps makes sense if you have to make it work.

 

[barfly]

When I was a young, poor pro-musician I rolled with no pedals.. then I rolled with 2 pedals.. then I rolled with a rack.. then I rolled with no pedals!!! then I rolled with a boss molded 6 pedal thingy that I still have.. great. Now I only write for my friends and 4 walls and find that an assortment of pedals let me tinker with the sound I get for different types of songs.

Having said all this; I love pedals... but I did dig rolling with no pedals! I have a JCM 800 (1988 - 2210 with greenbacks) and a killer Mesa Lonestar 2-12 (EL-34 bstr) Both are ridiculously wonderful.

I wouldn't buy an amp now that didn't sound good naked.. but I do buy it pedals to show it my appreciation for showing me the love.. LoL.

 

[Dino.]

*deleted*

 

[Given To Fly]

No OD's
Amps: Roadster Combo, Mark IV Widebody Combo
Guitars: EBMM JPX7, Ibanez RG2228 w/808x's

 

[Markedman]

No O.D. for me and my Mark III. The amp has more than enough gain and pedals seem to add mush when I'm playing metal or classic rock. Pedals and cords suck tone out of the signal path. That said, every song I play sounds like Hendrix. If we play Beatles, Stones, Clapton, etc., I don't look at a sheet so I can change the settings to sound like those bands, I want to sound like Hendrix! I get the songs right as far as the structure and leads go but I don't change the tone to emulate the original sound that said player had. I will turn knobs to get a better tone for that day and stage however. Now, if I was trying to sound similar to the tone that a particular guitarist has, bring on the pedals! Even Hendrix' tone varied from song to song, Metallica same thing, you'd need different pedals to get close to the original tone. I may some day play to emulate, and I'll embrace O.D. pedals, after all, I once said I'd never play wedding$.

 

[bandit2013]

No need for OD pedal with Mark V or Mark IV. Plenty of compression, drive, distortion, feedback with room for more.

I do have a Boss ME-70. It is okay for use but did not work well with either MKV or MKIV. It does have distortion mode but did not like it much with the amp. I have been looking for effects to see what is available, if it has OD and you can't get away from it, I have no interest. I would prefer my effects to be distortion free and let the amp do the distortion. Same applies for those emulation effects or amps.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

I've never played any pedal which sounds better than the natural tone of my MkIII, so why would I downgrade?

I do have a couple of distinctive distortion pedals (not OD) for when I want a totally different flavor, but I rarely use them.

 

[SonVolt]

No OD needed with my Mark V but I find a Tubescreamer ESSENTIAL for my Triple Tec else it just sounds dull and muffled. Rectifier really benefits from an OD IMO.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I rarely use OD pedals. I have nothing against their use, but I generally don't like the way they feel to play through.

 

[talltxguy]

While there are some excellent OD pedals, I've always thought they lacked a bit in dynamics & tone when compared to the singing sustain of a true tube amp.

 

[Jackie]

I've always thought they lacked a bit in dynamics & tone when compared to the singing sustain of a true tube amp.

Funny you should say so, that was one of the reasons folks used them in the first place - a more powerful input signal led to more clipping going on in the tubes, hence more compression, hence more sustain

Well I finally broke my credo of "no ODs" when we visited the studio in mid-august, used an MXR GT-OD into a cranked, and I do mean CRANKED Marshall crunch tone. Heaven. My Mesa still didn't need one though :twisted:

 

[Heritage Softail]

To me the OD is just a tool. I can go into an almost breaking up amp, with almost all boost and no gain, and it gets a little fatter... Depends on the pedal. A Dirty Little Secret, OCD, Jetter Helium is AWESOME for it. If I care to turn the amp way up, then I can get that, but if I don't want to blast paint off walls, the driver gets it.

I do agree about boosting a recto. Good move.

Also, it is a gray area, but a graphic EQ in the loop is very effective. If you consider a boost, and like it, a loop EQ is pretty magic for an instant tone shift.

I like a Bogner XTC amp, but I don't want to spend 3700 on the amp. I bought a Bogner Red pedal to get it. Obvious use of a dirt pedal.

Good luck on the tone quest.

 

[Cory]

I don't ever use OD pedals - I agree with some of the posts that I wouldn't even really consider buying an amp that required OD pedals to achieve my desired tone. I currently have a RA-100 and it kicks major ***, no need for an OD pedal or boost. \m/

 

[mikebat]

There are no absolutes. When you think in those terms, you are always missing something.

My dream was to never have a drive pedal ever again. I thought they closed the open sound of a raw amp. I dreamt of enough gain and compression to sustain those screaming notes and pinch harmonics...

Then I got an amp that did not need any extra help to achieve that. But one of two situations arose, either there were other compromises that crept into the tone to achieve that much filth, or there was another flavor you just could not get without some form of dirt pedal.

In the end, having an amp that can dial up the dirt, plus quality drive pedals like Wampler, Xotic, or Zvex (or others), gives you more options and more flavors. To limit yourself could be seen as noble, but there is more to love. Why only pick blondes, when there are also redheads and brunettes?

 

[Newbomb Turk]

Straight into the amp for me.....altho I occassionally do use a clean boost for a volume boost on solos, but I can live with or without it....I much prefer to let the amp do the work.

 

[DJPattP]

Why ruin the sound that made Mesa famous? Any OD drive into a MKIII I have tried makes it sound worse with it in. Thats why I bought a Mark III is cause it sounds so killer just "plug n standby n play" These things roar right outta the box!

The only thing that would be close is an ADA through the clean channel.

I also heard from a few that a EQ through the effects loop is pretty awesome too.

 

[kdorsey]

I didn't use anything in front of my amps for decades, then one day, I woke up and found myself playing in a new venture needing a variety of sounds that didn't come naturally to the MkIII. So should I buy a new amp and kick the MkIII to the curb? NO! I looked into quality pedals that would compliment the ch1 and ch2 of my old buddy. The results are awesome and I'm kicking myself for being so closed-minded for so many years. A tricked-out TS-9 and an EP Booster can do some really cool stuff.