Fulltone OCD or Weber mini mass for overdrive?

[lboiv001]

I know that mileage may vary, but I was just looking for a persuasive, experienced opinion on whether or not putting an OCD (or BB, Jeckyll and Hyde, etc...etc...) pedal in front of the ED would/would not be better than attenuating the ED with the mini mass (or THD hotplate...etc...) and sticking with a slightly more driven/saturated crunch on the gain channels that way.

Opinions or advice based on personal taste alone would be more than welcome.

 

[jsabo]

never tried the mini mass. currently own an ocd.

i like the ocd currently in LP mode with the gain at about 8 oclock (very low). i use it for bluesy breakup on my express 5:50. love the way it sounds, plus has the versatility to get nasty, if i so choose. check one out.

 

[Laskyman]

I think the two are very, very different ways of accomplishing a similar result...the TS/OD in front will do some things that an attenuator "can not" and vice versa...my suggestion would to try both, then choose what works best for you...
I use a Maxon OD808, and I like it..I would love to try others as well...

 

[YellowJacket]

Good tone at bedroom volume is the bane of every guitarist. We have discussed the topic of nutering amps at length. Here are a few of the options,

YellowJackets or some other sort of tube converter. Getting EL-84s into the amp for low volume operation is a great way to coax out the crunch sooner.

Preamp tubes that distort sooner will also help.

Lower efficiency speakers also help for this. Part of the 'cranked tone' is speakers working hard. A 20watt amp running through a couple of 25watt 97/db/metre speakers is going to sound cranked before a 90watt amp running through a quartet of 60watt speakers pushing 100db/watt/metre. Lower efficiency speaker means that you need more power to be loud which means more drive!

Then you can add -3 or -6 dbs of attenuation to this mix to get things cooking harder. THD, Weber, Etc.

Finally, if you want more gain you can boost for it.

Each added switch will have a cumulative effect which will mean a much lower volume level with a cranked tone than you would otherwise get. You will preserve more tone but the downside is that you won't get that BIG tone that you get with 100watts. Of course you don't get that BIG tone with the amp barely on either, which is the point of this discussion.

 

[lboiv001]

Good tone at bedroom volume is the bane of every guitarist. We have discussed the topic of nutering amps at length. Here are a few of the options,

YellowJackets or some other sort of tube converter. Getting EL-84s into the amp for low volume operation is a great way to coax out the crunch sooner.

Preamp tubes that distort sooner will also help..

I'm not neccessarily looking for bedroom level, but rather highly cranked gain on crunch/ high headroom on clean for medium to small club levels.

If I go the route of switching out preamp tubes, will that still leave me enough clean headroom? And what tubes would you recommend looking into?

 

[lboiv001]

never tried the mini mass. currently own an ocd.

i like the ocd currently in LP mode with the gain at about 8 oclock (very low). i use it for bluesy breakup on my express 5:50. love the way it sounds, plus has the versatility to get nasty, if i so choose. check one out.

I think the two are very, very different ways of accomplishing a similar result...the TS/OD in front will do some things that an attenuator "can not" and vice versa...my suggestion would to try both, then choose what works best for you...
I use a Maxon OD808, and I like it..I would love to try others as well....

I'm getting a breath of air now, before I dive into pool of analysis paralysis by getting a motel in town so I can spend the better part of 2 days test driving the various OD pedal options. Hopefully they will have a Weber there, as well. The pedals you guys listed above happen to be the very ones at the top of my research list, and there are others to look at as well. It's going to be a long (but hopefully fun) weekend coming up when I do this.

 

[jsabo]

a lot of people think that (although the OCD is believed to not color your tone too much) the OCD will add some bass to your tone. It either adds more bass or just low mids (i can't really tell which). The effect is very subtle, though, and it is extremely desirable, at least to my ears.