Triaxis + bb preamp, ocd, tube screamer etc. etc.?

[jclaudio]

What's the deal with these pedals? I thought the triaxis had enough drive? Can someone explain if they had to get one of these pedals to go along with the triaxis..which would it be and why.

 

[elvis]

It's not the amount of drive, it's the character of the drive. Most hi gain amps use one or 2 stages to saturate (distort). Once the stage crosses into saturation, it tends to get muddy sounding with more drive. Driving more stages by a smaller amount tends to make a more harmonically rich sound. So if you turn the drive down a bit and add an overdrive pedal at the front, it sounds quite different, even though the total amount of compression may be similar.

There seem to be a couple ways to do front-end drive. 1. run an OD with some gain at reasonable level so the drive happens in the pedal or 2. run an OD pedal with no drive but the level maxed so the drive happens in the first tube stage of the preamp.

I have tried both and prefer #1 just because I can also use the pedal with a clean preamp setting and it doesn't overwhelm me with the volume change when I switch on the overdrive.

I highly recommend an OD808. There is a reason that everyone uses them. The OD-9 and TS are variations of the 808, but the basic one seems to be universally awesome (works great with clean, works great with hi gain, whatever).

 

[masque]

i agree with most everything elvis said above......i played with my triaxis for years without any pedals out front but then started experimenting and found some unique and incredible tones by doing that. i have messed around with several OD pedals and my two clear favorites are the TS-808 and the BB Preamp. They both provide incredible additons to yoru tone with the triaxis. In fact, I have a youtube video link posted below where I am demonstrating a little of what the BB Preamp will do my triaxis....check it out see if you like how I am using it and like what it does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjyx6xuKXY

 

[MusicManJP6]

It's not the amount of drive, it's the character of the drive. Most hi gain amps use one or 2 stages to saturate (distort). Once the stage crosses into saturation, it tends to get muddy sounding with more drive. Driving more stages by a smaller amount tends to make a more harmonically rich sound. So if you turn the drive down a bit and add an overdrive pedal at the front, it sounds quite different, even though the total amount of compression may be similar.

There seem to be a couple ways to do front-end drive. 1. run an OD with some gain at reasonable level so the drive happens in the pedal or 2. run an OD pedal with no drive but the level maxed so the drive happens in the first tube stage of the preamp.

I have tried both and prefer #1 just because I can also use the pedal with a clean preamp setting and it doesn't overwhelm me with the volume change when I switch on the overdrive.

Great post, elvis! I have nothing more to add. 8)

 

[metalheadx05]

First time on the board. \m/

I recently started running my TS808 in front of my Traxis. I had it laying around from when I used it with my rectifier, which was stolen :-(, and forgot what it contributes to my tone. Maxed the level and put the drive at 0 and made my Triaxis breathe fire. It boosts my signal so much that allows me to turn down the gain keeping my tone punchy yet clear and articulate. Had to raise the level in my noise gate cause it gets noisy.

 

[ando]

I'm curious to try this now - although it seems so wrong to go out and buy a distortion pedal after all the high end gear I have bought over the last 10 years. Maybe I'll try running my JMP-1 in overdrive mode first. If that worked like these pedals, it would even be MIDI controlled!

 

[Danimal]

I'm with ando, I want to try this out. That BB video masque posted was quite cool. My Lexicon has some built in OD pedal simulators, I'll have to tinker around with them even though I'm certain that they won't sound as good as an actual pedal.

 

[Danimal]

I've now spent the better part of the day playing with the various ODs and distortions in the Lexicon unit. They're pretty crude but even at that the difference in sound quality is astonishing. I wouldn't say it adds more gain, and surprisingly they didn't really alter the tone or EQ, it just makes it sound "fuller" or "tighter" or some other words that make no sense when talking about sound ( :lol: ). And the sustain? For DAYS.

To be honest I had tried the built-in ODs a while back and was pretty disappointed. It didn't occur to me to turn the two drives (pedal and amp) down to balance them. Now that I did that, the sound is incredible.

I can only now wonder what an actual, dedicated pedal like that BB would do for the tone. Thanks for starting this thread! This is the most excited I've been about the TriAxis in a long time!

 

[faser]

i agree with most everything elvis said above......i played with my triaxis for years without any pedals out front but then started experimenting and found some unique and incredible tones by doing that. i have messed around with several OD pedals and my two clear favorites are the TS-808 and the BB Preamp. They both provide incredible additons to yoru tone with the triaxis. In fact, I have a youtube video link posted below where I am demonstrating a little of what the BB Preamp will do my triaxis....check it out see if you like how I am using it and like what it does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjyx6xuKXY

Nice demo there Masque.. These days I'm also testing my BB preamp in front of my Triaxis and up to now I have discovered that it adds "roundness" to the tone when driving a Ld channel (not necessarily adding more gain and saturation, but it makes the notes sound more "defined").. On the other hand, when it drives a Rhy channel, it adds a little "dirt", but in my opinion, this tone can be alternatively attained without the BB, just by raising the Gain setting of the Rhy Green channel.. I guess that the BB could be extremely useful in cases where the clean channel of a given amp does not "break" at low volumes.. But to be honest, I prefer "BB + Rhy Yellow" from "Rhy Green with an increased gain setting".. The gain produced with the first option, seems a little bit more controllable, if you get what I mean..

However, after watching your video, it seems that I have two problems with my BB.. First and foremost, my BB gets very noisy even when gain and volume stand at noon.. It's not that it hisses.. There is a constant hum every time I step on it.. Following the advice of a member here, I purchased a Dunlop power supply to replace a cheap one I was using.. There was an improvement, for sure, but I was expecting this hum to appear at higher levels of gain than 11-12 o'clock.. Which power supply did you use for this video? The second problem is that no matter how low I set the treble knob, the sound is a bit trebly.. I tempted to lower my treble settings off my Triaxis, but lowering treble from 2.0 to 0.0 didn't alleviate this problem.. If you don't mind, what were your BB and Triaxis treble settings during the last tone you demonstrated?

 

[mxr2000]

dont know about you guys but you got to try the new Fuel Rocket pedal from Doug aldrich is the best pedal to use with any hay gain amp that i have the pleasure to use with any amp or preamp and love boogies without sounding harsh or muddy,ad some mojo and you don't loose bass. is a keeper

 

[lerxst88]

Just to chime in here, most overdrive pedals are based on the Tubescreamer and rightly so! It sounds great and there are tons of mods for them!

If youre looking to try one out, look for a used Ibanez TS-7. Its ugly but has the EXACT same circuit as a TS-9 except for the added hot mode, plus its cheaper! I traced it myself!

Then mod it! you can go in lots of different directions and get some way cool sounds. If youre interested in learning how to start modding, PM me for some tips!

 

[MesaGod666]

The Triaxis is designed to act more dynamically to your particular playing style (i.e. the harder you hit the strings the more gain saturation you'll get...like a real tube amp). This is particularly great for more ambient stuff, country plucking, and blues riffing. When playing metal, I found that the Triaxis needed a boost (TS808) in order to get that nice tight/perfectly saturated crunch I like while retaining tone without too much breakup and fizz.

Just my .02.

 

[Danimal]

OK, so I'm dragging up a million year old post. I've been playing with the stompbox modellers on the Lexicon and although I can hear an enhancement in the tone, there's a LOT of noise added too. Like unberable hiss. I don't remember hearing this in masque's video.

Is this the Lexicon? Does the TriAxis just not like pedals? I'm just wondering before I shell out for an actual pedal if I'm going to get the same unusable, noise-ridden sound that will shatter a recording. I'm also wondering if ando ever tried this with his JMP-1.

Thanks!

 

[Triaxstasy]

What Lexicon unit are you using?
I have my TA wired up with an MPX-G2 (4-cable-method, as in the MPX-G2 manual) and also use some of the stomp models on some patches, mostly Screamer and Tone...
And I can get really close to the sound I get with my Keeley TS9DX Flexi 4x2 in front of the TA....
For my purposes (live gigging) it´s absolutely sufficient with the Lexicon and the the combination of TA/MPX-G2/MPX-R1 gets me total control and the versatility I need....

As you stated above, the Lexicon´s stomps don´t alter the TAs tone in any way but add a lot more fullness or cream (or even "mojo")...you just have to closely match the line levels of both the MPX and the TA real good. After that it´s just some tweaking of the stomps' settings and that´s it.
I don´t have any issues with added noise/hiss/buzz/hum though.

 

[Danimal]

Thanks for the reply. I am using the MPX-G2/R1 as well. I guess maybe I'm throwing too much at it? I did go through and set the levels to match as the manual suggests way back when I first got it. Maybe something's off in the gain or drive settings. It really gets very "hissy" when playing through a crunch or lead patch.

Do you have an example settings I might try? Thanks!

 

[Triaxstasy]

Sure, I´ll write them down later today, together with the level knob settings (front and back)

 

[Triaxstasy]

Here we go.....
My MPX-G2 Levels are set as follows:
Front knob(s):
Input: 1 o'clock
Output: 11 o'clock

Back knob:
Insert Return Level: 6 o'clock

BTW, I use a 12AT7/ECC81 (Mullard CV4024) in the TAs V3 and V5....

I have the Screamer optional on my TA Lead Patches, mostly Ld2 Yellow. Main TA settings for that are
Lead2 Yellow
Gain: 8.0 (9.0)
Treb: 6.5
Mid: 5.5
Bass: 3.0
Ld2: 9.0 (10)
Master: 4.5
Presence: 3.0
Dynamic Voice: 3.0

MPX-G2 "Screamer" stomp (2nd in fx-chain, after Pedal-Wah) settings:
Lo: +5
Mid: +2
Hi: 0
Drive: 20
Tone: 9
Level: 45

Hope this helps....

 

[Danimal]

Thanks so much! I will give these a shot and let you know. I really appreciate the help!

 

[Triaxstasy]

No problem, let me know if the settings worked for you...