Triple Recto and overdrive pedals...

[erico317]

Guys,

I'm looking for ideas on using a overdrive pedal... I was messing around last night with channel 2. I turned the master up to 12 and set the gain to about 10... I got a really cool sound, but not enough grind. I'm using the vintage setting/bold/vaccum tubes.. So I tried to add a little more gain, and naturally it would get a little too loud.. So in comes the overdrive pedal. I set the level to about 9 and set the gain to about 11... And it really sounded sweet on the bridge pickup... The neck pickup wasn't all that great....

So do any of you use overdrive pedals, and how are you setting them up?

Thanks in advance...
Eric

 

[CORPSEWORM]

I would suggest against it. I've gone through so many pedals and you will never get the right sound. I play Death Metal and always thought that the Mesa triple didnt have enough distortion but anything I used didnt improve anything. I've been doing a ton of research about the gain/distortion/definition of the Mesa. I remember having the same issue. Talking with the guys at Eurotubes gave me some eye opening discoveries. I personally would swap tubes. I currently use these setting. Silicon Diode/Bold and on modern setting. I'm not sure what kind of sound your looking for but to sum it up try changing your preamp tubes with the JJ ECC83S high gain in V1, V2 and V3 slot they suggest having a standard ECC83S in slot V4 and a balanced ECC83S in V5. If you want to use the rectifier tubes some guys here suggested GZ34S and possibly 6V6S for your power tubes. I think the Mesa has the best sound period... of any amp I've used. You can get a better result just changing tubes and keep that massive Mesa tones. Hope this has been helpful. I do however have a Rocktron Xpressions for any effects I want to add. It doesnt effect the tonal quality of the Mesa at all. Well at least I cant tell and its cheap.

 

[screamingdaisy]

OD pedals can be alright when you run them at full output/level and turn the gain down to zero. It basically adds punch to a passive guitar.

Me personally, I'd rather use EMGs....I think they sound better than passives through an OD.

 

[3Channel]

Holy ****! You had a triple recto at 12oclock on the master?
Yikes !Hope you werent anywhere near the blast area!! Haha :lol:

 

[3Channel]

Sorry I guess the Output would have been turned down.But good for you anyway!Still A ridiculously loud Amp.My 55 is loud enough.

 

[Aramism]

why would you wanna add an overdrive pedal to an existing OVERDRIVEN AMP...


the triple rec, the rectifier series naturally are probably one of if not the most gainy amps on earth... they have so much power and disotrtion...


unless your going to wanna get super super super muddy cuz thats what a rec sounds like with an od pedal..

i have a boss ds-1 which i use sometimes cuz i like that ype of tone through a clean channel just to have it also cuz it was $20.00 at the time...



if you need more gain then maybe your not eqing your amp properly or something doesnt work

 

[Nitrobattery]

I use a Maxon OD808 in front of my ENGL Savage 120. The Savage has more gain than you could ever use, but I run the gain on the head at around 5 and then use the Overdrive as a clean boost. It adds incredible definition and gives you a bit of midrange crunch.

 

[metalaxe]

it definitely does make sense to use an ad or better clean boost with the recto!
just listen to the nevermore recordings (TS) or the cannibal corpse stuff (MZ) or......
not to add gain, but to add clarity.
set up the TS to almost clean (like level at noon and drive at 0), just to slightly push the input tube, decrease gain on amp according to added gain by pedal..voila.
that's how you (and all the great producers like andy sneap etc) get rid of that flubby low end without losing the original tone.

 

[lailer75]

emg`s baby!!! throw those pedals in the trash!!

 

[prs1999]

Nitro..you still got your Engl head then? I seen you had a post listed to sell it.

 

[metalaxe]

emg`s baby!!! throw those pedals in the trash!!

lol, I'm talking 'bout EMGs

it's not only 'bout the output, but mainly about the HP a TS delivers to keep the flubby low end out.

of course you gotta know how to set it right...
hardly any good metal-recto recordings are done without a cleanbooas nowadays.
producers like colin richardson (carcass and many more), andy sneap (nevermore, megadeth, machinehead and tons more) are always using it....so do i most of the time, and i don't think that guys like andy and colin have no idea what they're doing

 

[Nitrobattery]

Yep, I still have the ENGL. eBay fees are ridiculous these days, so I'm hoping to sell it via a guitar forum or Harmony Central.

I use EMG's in most of my guitars that I use for high gain stuff, and after using an overdrive in front of my amp (especially for recording) I'll never go without one again. My new band is in the middle of recording a demo and we start the guitar tracks Saturday...so I'll post some clips to show how much of a difference it makes.

 

[turmoil]

i just started using my TS9 again with my TR and i love what it does to my sound! it really does help to keep that low end more defined.

i'm curious though, how does a Maxon OD808 or the TS808 compare to the TS9? if i had the TS9 moded my Robert Keeley-http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=5-would that help it at all? just curious.

 

[turmoil]

My new band is in the middle of recording a demo and we start the guitar tracks Saturday...so I'll post some clips to show how much of a difference it makes.

so what amp are you going to be using to record the demo tracks?

 

[Nitrobattery]

They're both great pedals. I like the Maxon OD808 more than the TS9, but only because it's more transparent. It sounds exactly like your amp does, but with overdrive. That said though, I've used a TS9 in the past and it's definitely an awesome pedal. I've heard nothing but good things about Keeley mods, so that might be worth checking out.

The ENGL will be on the demo since I still have it. I have a little make-shift home studio, so we're recording a few of our songs to get an idea for what we're going to be doing when we hit the studio in January. That way anything we want to change, layer, pan, harmonize etc. we'll work out ahead of time so that when we walk in to do the real thing...we know exactly what we're playing, at what tempos, and what guitars/mics/effects/cymbols we want to use for those specific tracks.

 

[masque]

i couldnt agree more with most on here....OD pedals set at low gains added to an already overdriven amp sound fantastic......it adds more crunch and defintion with out fuzz.....at least that is what my Ibanez TS 808 reissue sounds like to me!