Great boost to do two things?

[papersoul]

Hi guys, I am looking for a boost or OD that is very low gain. Right now I use the Sonic Edge J&J OD. I look for two things.
1) use the boost into my amp's clean channel to add some grit. I don't always like a super Fender clean, and would rather have some grit on the clean.
2) next would be to send the Electradyne into a higher gain territory, just a slight boost over the edge. So, you can see the pedal needs very, very little gain.

Right now the J&J Overdrive is very natural, smooth and warm, sounds alot like an amp! So far so good but it is rather dark and I have to keep the tone all the way up. Right now I keep the gain low enough to provide grit on my cleans when I want it, without it effecting my gain channels if I leave it on and it is also fine at sending crunch channels into heavier gain. Part of why it is good at this is the very low gain and dead silent.

So, I am not against trying other pedals. Xotic RC? Tone Freaks Naked?

Up for suggestions.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I use a Fulldrive 2 with mine.

 

[rabidinus]

I use a BB Preamp as a boost; keep the pedal treble at noon, lower the pedal bass as needed, crank the level to what I want and use the gain to control treble.
One setting works on all three modes.

 

[elvis]

MXR micro amp and Xotic EP Boost both work great for me.

 

[papersoul]

Xotic BB has way more gain than I need......maybe RC or AC. From what I remember, neither have the natural big tube amp feel of the Sonic Edge pedals. They are by far the best I have yet to find. I want to try an RC though.

 

[TremoJem]

I have the following Xotic pedals:

BB-AT
AC-Comp (custom shop)
RC

They are all GREAT and have a specific function and/or dual function on my pedal board.

For your application the RC is definitely the way to go. It is purrrrfect!!!

 

[papersoul]

I have the following Xotic pedals:

BB-AT
AC-Comp (custom shop)
RC

They are all GREAT and have a specific function and/or dual function on my pedal board.

For your application the RC is definitely the way to go. It is purrrrfect!!!

Thanks! So the RC can add grit to clean and put the amp over the top for high gain?

 

[TremoJem]

The RC is not going to put any amp over the top for hi-gain.

What it does with my settings is add very subtle grit to my clean channel when I play my guitar.

As I dig in it adds more and more grit or break up or gain to my guitar tone.

It is smooth, even tone that is undeniably perfect for that application.

I dime the gain, balance the volume for seamless integration without a volume drop or bump, not that you could not do that, it just depends on your application, and balance the treble and bass to match my clean signal.

I love this pedal.

I also use it for a kick in the *** at the front of the amp when I switch the amp to the hi-gain channel, depending on the song and application.

Love all of the pedals I have from Xotic.

 

[rabidinus]

I have the RC, AC, AT-BB and BB. I read these comments about the BB having too much gain but I think that's a good thing. I back off the settings to get what I want
and it has reserve juice left , I like that. One night I only had the level up a little past noon and it was all I needed. The RC is more subtle and if your amp needs just a hair more oomph it's perfect.

Last night at rehearsal I used the AT-BB and nothing else but guitar and amp (my preferred orange BB is on my pedalboard). I just left it on and we played some Al Green, Freddie King, Gary Moore, etc and all I did was switch amp modes. Got everything I wanted.

 

[YellowJacket]

I was considering these options too but I'm on a student budget right now so I don't know how much I can justify spending on gear.
The 'Dyne definitely shapes the tone of pedals, this much is certain. It would be fun to take a generic soft clip distortion pedal and run that for crunch on vintage lo and then use that same channel for clean.

 

[papersoul]

OK guys, I might grab another BB to test out but right now I know the J&J OD is way, way more natural and amp like than the BB from memory.

 

[rabidinus]

Just saw a demo for the J&J OD. Sounded excellent! To me the BB just sounds like more Dyne, which is what I want. I think the fulldrive 2 on Comp Cut or FM mode, and the OCD as a boost on LP mode are very transparent; maybe not new and flashy, but tried and true.

 

[papersoul]

Just saw a demo for the J&J OD. Sounded excellent! To me the BB just sounds like more Dyne, which is what I want. I think the fulldrive 2 on Comp Cut or FM mode, and the OCD as a boost on LP mode are very transparent; maybe not new and flashy, but tried and true.

The BB sounds very tube screamer to me, lots of mids!!!

 

[rabidinus]

Can't dis-agree with that

Just that the mid focus is more Brit oriented.

 

[papersoul]

The J&J is more natural and transparent in that it does not kill the amp's natural tone.

Another good one is the Maxon Hard Wired Tube Screamer.

 

[thunda1216]

I like the EH LPB-1 for this application. Decent clean boost up to about 1200 on the dial, then starts into overdrive territory after that. Inexpensive, too...

 

[papersoul]

I like the EH LPB-1 for this application. Decent clean boost up to about 1200 on the dial, then starts into overdrive territory after that. Inexpensive, too...

That seemed muddy when I used it and my Sonic Edge OD works just as well as that but offers much better performance.

If I tried anything next it would be another Xotic BB, Sonice Edge Tumbleweed or Way HUge Green Rhino!

With my Bogner Shiva 20th and PWE Event Horizon, I find I don;t even need a boost or OD! Nice! For leads I just use the built in boosts on the pedalboard, both have a slight increade in gain and mids and the amps have a second master volume for this. Brilliant!!!! I never use an OD with these amps. I have my J&J OD on the board for variety in case I want another flavor and I stopped using it to create a crunchy clean. Instean I now love my amp's super clean Fender like channels, and use my gain with my volume rolled back for gritty clean! Love it.

For the Electradyne when I get it, I think that has enough gain as well. I will be using my fully modded GE7 EQ in the loop for the solo boosts and if I need some more gain on the leads, I can use my Sonic Edge J&J! I stopped using tube screamers when I sold my last JCM 800. I think with new amps, modern amps, OD pedals are not necessary.

I mean come on...when the ED is cranked up and in OD3, it can still even do things like Tool, Alice in Chains and Metallica, and the J&J OD adds more gain without coloring the tone at all. I thought I could use a tube screamer to boost for leads but an EQ in the loop works much better!

 

[papersoul]

Very cool, Dunlop chooses the Custom Badass Modified OD with the Electradyne! Look at the amp they use in the one video.
http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/m77-modified-od

 

[papersoul]

At this point I just want something that can dirty up the clean channel a bit to give me a Marshall type broken up clean and something I can use to add saturation to the Electradyne when I get it. I might go back to the Xotic RC!

A big problem is balancing volume. Lets say I have my clean and dirty channels balanced. Then I hit my clean boost or OD pedal to add grit to the clean channel...when I switch to my gain channel with the pedal still on, the volume is too low, hence the problem. Soooo, I may just do away with all dirt and clean boost pedals for now and stick to super clean channels, two levels of dirt since my amps have vintage and modern and then use my volume controls for cleaning up to get a gritty clean.

 

[Tigersauce]

I use the Luther Drive by Gearmanndude which is basically a true bypass ts808 clone to get higher gain boost for solos.
It doesn't have that much control over EQ, but the ED is so bassy that the mid hump works out pretty well.

I hear a lot of good things about Xotic pedals and/or OCD teamed up with the ED, I'd like to try that... or maybe a Lovepedal Kalamazoo??