Around about christmas time i got myself a Xotic BB Preamp and a Fulltone OCD. Ive used lots of overdrives with Mesa amps but these two seem to be the best for the job. The OCD to be honest is not the best for boosting leads and works better as mid gain channel if the amp only has clean and distortion channels. The BB however is the best lead boost i have ever used. It stays on all the time now and my amps feel empty without it turned on.
I have read lots of posts on the forum from members who want to make subtle changes to their tone and i think the BB is the answer with mesa amps. I have tried it with a Recto and managed to make the distortion more brutal and smooth out the lead. I have tried it with the Express 5:50 and set it too add more sustain and take out some of the farty low end and i am currently using it on my F-50 to try and get a mark IV style lead.
I would not normally make such a dramatic thread over an overdrive pedal but i really think this pedal needs the attention. It gives you total control over the distortion channel on mesa's.
I will post a couple of links for the F-50 tones i am getting with it.
First is the petrucci style tone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGWgHkxQ9T8
Second is with a T-Rex replica delay for a Vai tone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGl5IKsIK7A
Third is a Gilbert style tone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImG4txg464U
Next week im gonna do some metal with the recto
I have read lots of posts on the forum from members who want to make subtle changes to their tone and i think the BB is the answer with mesa amps. I have tried it with a Recto and managed to make the distortion more brutal and smooth out the lead. I have tried it with the Express 5:50 and set it too add more sustain and take out some of the farty low end and i am currently using it on my F-50 to try and get a mark IV style lead.
I would not normally make such a dramatic thread over an overdrive pedal but i really think this pedal needs the attention. It gives you total control over the distortion channel on mesa's.
I will post a couple of links for the F-50 tones i am getting with it.
First is the petrucci style tone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGWgHkxQ9T8
Second is with a T-Rex replica delay for a Vai tone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGl5IKsIK7A
Third is a Gilbert style tone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImG4txg464U
Next week im gonna do some metal with the recto