Overdrive pedals and the Lone Star...

[Lone Star State]

Like some of you know, I work at a Mesa dealership. I just ordered myself a Lone Star 212 combo but it's going to be another month befor it's done. Meanwhile I brought my pedalboard into the store to check it out with the Lone Stars we have in stock. I had been using a red Jeckyll & Hyde OD which is really decent, but I just tried out an Ibanez TS808 reissue with the LS and it sounded awesome. I think I'm gonna have to trade in or sell the J&H and get the Tube Screamer.

What are you guys using with your rigs?

 

[ned]

Very useful information, thank you.

I've got a AnalogMan TS9 modded to TS808 specs with the brown sound mod and a Maxon OD 808 that I use to push my Fender Champ. They sound pretty much identical, here is a review with sound clips at the end

http://www.grailtone.com/guitar-reviews/tubescreamer-review.html

Ned

 

[mullet_king]

:?: I haven't played through a Lone Star yet, but given the fact that it is a channel switching amp, why would you want to stick an overdrive/distortion in front of it? Is there something wrong with the amp's lead channel? I thought that was the point of having channel switching. :? I don't mean to seem condecending but I am genuinely confounded by this. It seems like if there's one thing MESA/BOOGIEs are known for it's pre-amp gain. Sticking a Tube Screamer in front of one seems a bit redundant. If it was a Peavey Classic or a Crate Vintage Club, it would make sense.

Whatever the case may be, don't use cheap pedals with MESAs because they sound like cheap pedals. I've found that MESAs are very particular that way. Shoddy gear sounds really shoddy when it's plugged into a MESA. I've used everything from an original TS 808 Tube Screamer to a MESA V-Twin, and by far my favorite stompbox is the FULLTONE FULLDRIVE II. It has a great 'clean boost' mode too. It's got 'true bypass' switching and it's built like a tank. Just a suggestion.

 

[ned]

Tubescreamer isn't about preamp gain it's about power amp gain. You set the TS to push the power amp section harder. This is how Clapton, SRV, EVH, Slash, etc get that really sweet singing distortion.

Ned

 

[Lone Star State]

:?: I haven't played through a Lone Star yet, but given the fact that it is a channel switching amp, why would you want to stick an overdrive/distortion in front of it? Is there something wrong with the amp's lead channel? I thought that was the point of having channel switching. :? I don't mean to seem condecending but I am genuinely confounded by this. It seems like if there's one thing MESA/BOOGIEs are known for it's pre-amp gain. Sticking a Tube Screamer in front of one seems a bit redundant. If it was a Peavey Classic or a Crate Vintage Club, it would make sense.

Whatever the case may be, don't use cheap pedals with MESAs because they sound like cheap pedals. I've found that MESAs are very particular that way. Shoddy gear sounds really shoddy when it's plugged into a MESA. I've used everything from an original TS 808 Tube Screamer to a MESA V-Twin, and by far my favorite stompbox is the FULLTONE FULLDRIVE II. It has a great 'clean boost' mode too. It's got 'true bypass' switching and it's built like a tank. Just a suggestion.

I've never playe the Fulldrive but have heard good things.

Mainly the reason I'd put an OD/Dist in front of the Lone Star is to add more versatility to my setup. Plus it could kick the LS's tone out of the "blues" range and into a little more agressive territory. So far the results have been very impressive. I did find a post at H-C regarding some settings for the Jeckyll & Hyde that I haven't tried yet. I'm going to gve them shot before getting rid of it, just to make sure I haven't overlooked something.

 

[Bikedude]

Fulltone----OCD

 

[lespaul72]

I also am using the Jekyll & Hyde ultimate overdrive. Normally I just use channel 2's gain, which is why I bought the amp , so as not to rely on pedals for my dirt sound, I mainly kick it in for lead stuff / solos for added sustain and another tone.
I've been running mine through the effects loop, do you all do the same?

 

[tele_jas]

I'm running a V-Twin with my Boogie... I run it in front of the amp.... Wow, this is an old topic (from Jan).

 

[LSCMan]

Well, the left side of the J&H is supposed to be exactly the same as a TS 808, anyway.
I have an Analogman Bluesdriver2, Analogman TS9 and the Jekyll & Hyde and I like it the best. That thing is killer, goes great with the VisualSound H2O, too!

 

[Keeso]

I don't see overdrive pedals and Boogies as being mutually exclusive -- I see pedals like this as one more "seasoning" to add to the tonal soup. I really like the quality of the overdrive in my Maverick (it doesn't hurt that it has NOS 1965 Mullard ECC83's -- 110% of NOS spec for gain! -- in that lead channel), but I also really like my Keeley-modded Sparkle Drive.

Got the clean boost thang happnin' ... or the improved version of the Tubescreamer circuit (with the Keeley mod) ... or a blend of both. It sounds great when I do a not-too-radical gain boost on the SD and the same for the lead channel. I also use my Weber MASS attenuator to really crank the power section and that sounds pretty darned cool, also. So, I think of a well-chosen pedal as an addition, not something superfluous or necessarily silly to put into the signal chain. Basically, my amp ROCKS with these improvements and additions (not that it sounded bad before) ...

 

[scotspine]

Keeley-modded Sparkle Drive - do tell

 

[Guitar55]

:?: I haven't played through a Lone Star yet, but given the fact that it is a channel switching amp, why would you want to stick an overdrive/distortion in front of it? Is there something wrong with the amp's lead channel? I thought that was the point of having channel switching. :? I don't mean to seem condecending but I am genuinely confounded by this. It seems like if there's one thing MESA/BOOGIEs are known for it's pre-amp gain. Sticking a Tube Screamer in front of one seems a bit redundant. If it was a Peavey Classic or a Crate Vintage Club, it would make sense.

Whatever the case may be, don't use cheap pedals with MESAs because they sound like cheap pedals. I've found that MESAs are very particular that way. Shoddy gear sounds really shoddy when it's plugged into a MESA. I've used everything from an original TS 808 Tube Screamer to a MESA V-Twin, and by far my favorite stompbox is the FULLTONE FULLDRIVE II. It has a great 'clean boost' mode too. It's got 'true bypass' switching and it's built like a tank. Just a suggestion.

The Lonestars are different than most Mesas. They don't have the ultra high gain that you expect from most models. The LS has nice gain for a blues type sound but you may want to beef it up with a pedal. That's what I plan to do, once mine comes in.