Pedals and 5:25

[Tom M]

Hello I just purchased a new 5:25 express with 12 inch speaker. I absolutely love it. I was using a fender superchamp xd before this amp so yeah what a difference. My question is this, With this amp being a true tube tonal beast wont running overdrive pedals and compressions pedals in front of the amp make everything solid state to start.

I hope I'm not confusing anyone, I mean if I use my bluesdriver which I have not really needed to btw, won't it in fact make the sound solid state because it's hitting the pedal first or does this not matter. Yes probably the noobiest question ever but I don't care, This is How I learn,hehe. I have a route 66 overdrive/compression pedal and a boss bluedriver and just didn't know if I was robbing my tone if I put these in front of this lovely valve amp. Thanks for any advice

 

[MrMason]

It's all subjective, but I would say "definitely not". Pedals will change the character of the amp for sure, but those tubes will still react to the signal coming from a pedal. Depending on the type of tone you're after, some things just can't be done well without pedals; and some things sound better straight in...think about it like this: how many of your favorite guitarists play tube amps without pedals? My personal favorite guitarists ALL use pedals: Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen, Billy Gibbons, Andy Timmons, etc.
The pedals you mentioned all sound great, although they do change the tone of your amp when not in use. They have what's called a "buffered bypass", which means they use active circuitry to help to avoid signal loading. To my ears buffered bypass loses a little bass. You can usually tweak your EQ to compensate for that though. I would give them a shot, there's so much you can do with effects!

 

[captain_jim]

One thing is if the pedals aren't true-bypass then you may get degraded tone when the pedals are turned off but still in the signal chain. But this would happen with any amp if the pedals aren't true-bypass.

As far as the pedals making the amp sound "solid-state"....I think it really depends on what the pedal is doing. For instance, a delay pedal will add delay, but the tubes (pre-amp notably) in the amp will still be processing the signal, so it will sound like a tube amp. If the pedals are for a clean boost (pure gain, a.k.a signal amount/level, which is usually the "level" or "volume" part most pedals) then it'll just increase the signal going into the pre-amp tubes. Pretty much the same as increasing the gain on the amp. The big thing is if you're using a overdrive, for example, and use the "gain" on the pedal, then yes it will definitely change the tone since the "gain" is coming from the pedal. If you want the pedal to color the tone but still retain the tube driving sound then don't use the gain on the pedal, just turn the level up to an according level/volume, and then tone to taste. If you want to add overdrive just turn the level/volume on the pedal up and turn the master volume on the amp down since the increase in signal being outputted by the pedal will increase the volume of the amp, but at the same time causing clipping to occur, thus overdrive.

Hope that helps some!

 

[steviekool]

I think this amp takes real well to pedals, although I am only running 2 at the moment. With my cleans, blues, and burn channel, I use only a MXR Carbon Copy, and I believe that pedal is a true bypass. For my metal tones, I use the clean channel, and run a Metal muff through it and get some unbelievable gains from that pedal, and it sounds great, much better than the pedal has sounded through any other amp i have had, the last one being a Vox AC30 CC2, "Thank god I dont have that thing anymore". This metal muff also has a bypass switch, and I guess it works also as My tone sounds great when I turn it off.

Try messing around with it a bit, and see what you get. To be honest, the way I look at it is if it sounds good to your ears, and you are satisfied, than everything is doing its job.

 

[soundchaser59]

I have tried a different approach recently.

I took the pedals out, then started trying to get the sound I hear in my head just using the guitar and the amp. In some ways I got pretty close. Unfortunately for everyone else within ear range, the sound I want is achieved by running the power tubes full blast. Fun for me, and it is a great way to kill roaches.

But when the sound isn't exaclty what I'm after, then I figure I can use the pedals to fill the small gaps. Try not to think of the pedals as the main source of your sound and the amp just makes it loud. Try to think of the amp as the main source and shaper of your sound, and the pedals just fill in the blanks that may be left over.

For instance, I like clean sustain without buzzy pre amp distortion. So I plugged in a Barber Tone press. Set it so that the volume level sounds the same with the pedal on or off, then add some sustain to it. Then I wanted a bit more meat in the sound without any buzzy distortion, so I add the tube screamer, but only just enough to make it sound like a lead guitar instead of a hard hitting rhythm.

Sounds great, less filling. Remember you will probably need to use modded pedals to keep the signal clean and to get the richest sounding tones. Let the pedals help you a little but dont let them control you.

 

[Tom M]

Hey that was real good advice guys, Thank you. I have always had a love/hate relationship with pedals and partly the reason I bought this amp was to get away from having to have dirt boxes. I have a visual sound route 66 overdrive/compression pedal and a bluesdriver. So far with the 5:50 i haven't really needed them. I found a great tone and just have been jamming with that. I will however play around with amp and pedals and see if there is a need. I know my visual sound H20 pedal sounds beautiful throught the amp, great echo and chorus,really great sounding f/x. I will try your advice with not touching the gain on pedal and use amp, I have always had a problem with that with my fenders as well, they always seemed to be cranking and volume on amp was only on 2. Thanks again