Overdrive Pedals - plea from a non-Techie

[andy_prs]

Hi there,

As per my only other post, I have never had the good luck to come across a Dumble to play through in the UK. I have played through the Bogner Ecstacy and Shiva recently and they were great - beautiful, harmonic overdrive and plenty of it. Price is way out of my range though.

In terms of pedals, I've heard the Zen Drive referred to a lot. My own research has also pointed me to the Blackstone Overdrive (http://blackstoneappliances.com/)

Has anyone tried these or have others they would recommend? I'm looking for quality overdrive from just breaking up right up to the limits of the bogner ecstacy.... I would either be using them through the clean channel of my Marshall TSL or Roland Bolt.

I'd also love any other suggestions of what amps/mods I could use. I'm handy with a soldering iron and open to a challenge...but have no knowledge to design anything or mountains of £££$$$.....

Finally, one basic (read stupid) question. I often see people talking about using Tube Screamer type pedals to push a valve amp into overdrive. How would that work? I have a Seymour Duncan pickup booster and although I use it as a clean boost, surely that would be expected to push my valve amps into overdrive? It never does..... as I say, apologies, I have no tech background in this field.

Thanks for your time.
Andy

[novosibir]

Sorry Andy, it's not my intention, to offend you - but to mention at all words like: Marshall DSL, overdrive pedals, and similar here in the Dumble Discussion forum already isn't far away from blasphemy

Usually we tar and feather such people, but you're new here, so we will be merciful, as long as it doesn't happen once again

Larry

[pedro]

Hi Andy,
whereabouts in the Uk are you - I'm in Leeds.
I have a 50 watt dumble style build which has had lots of input from some of the senior members of the board here - particularly dogears.
Its now sounding great.

As far as pedals go the Zendrive by Alfonso Hermida is a great rendition of a dumble style lead tone in a pedal, but its a hell of a wait for one - mine took 16 months to get to me.

FWIW , I spoke with Alf and he recommended the "Brown Sound in a Box" project as a great OD pedal if your inclined to pick up a soldering iron and make one yourself ! Others here will chime in with pedal recommendations I guess.

I've built loads of OD pedals, and the one that has given me the most use and I find the best of the bunch so far is a pedal project called Blue Magic - search on Google and you may find it.
Apparently it was a clone/copy of a boutique pedal design but Ive no idea which pedal its based on. Dont know if anyone can comment on that here ?
BTW , I dont condone copying commercial designs unless they are for your personal use, you build them yourself, and you would never be able to own the real thing which inspired the clone.

Regards
Pete

[Darkbluemurder]

Sorry Andy, it's not my intention, to offend you - but to mention at all words like: Marshall DSL, overdrive pedals, and similar here in the Dumble Discussion forum already isn't far away from blasphemy

Usually we tar and feather such people, but you're new here, so we will be merciful, as long as it doesn't happen once again

Larry

Well, discussing overdrive pedals to most closely emulating a *umble sound is still OK to me in this forum. However, Andy, since you appear to seek a different tone your post should have been put into the Garage Talk section EDIT I saw it is there now.

[d95err]

Finally, one basic (read stupid) question. I often see people talking about using Tube Screamer type pedals to push a valve amp into overdrive. How would that work? I have a Seymour Duncan pickup booster and although I use it as a clean boost, surely that would be expected to push my valve amps into overdrive? It never does..... as I say, apologies, I have no tech background in this field.

How does it work? Well, it works exactly the opposite of turning the guitar volume down. Think of it as turning the guitar volume to 10 and then continue up to 100...

When you increase the signal going into the amp, you run out of headroom faster, so you get more distortion. You can also get distortion earlier in the amp. E.g. in a typical Dumble, there would be very little distortion in the first two gain stages. With a booster, you could push the second gain stage (possibly even the first) into generating distortion.

A clean booster is usually not very good for pushing an amp into distortion, since the frequency response does not lend itself to good distortion sounds. It risks being muddy and/or harsh. (For high-gain amps it can work OK because they already have a lot of bass cut and treble rolloff).

With a Tube Screamer type pedal used as a booster, you set it to minimum gain and maximum volume. Tube Screamer boost the signal and, more importantly, shapes the signal by adding more mids (reducing bass and highs). This is essential to get a good boosted tone, especially if the amp is set for low gain or clean. The Dumble PAB has a similar sound shaping (boosting mainly the mids).

Boosters are most useful (IMHO) when used with an old low gain amp. E.g. Fender (Tweed) Deluxe, Marshal 18Watt, Vox AC30. These have very simple preamps and slamming the input with a booster will push the poweramp into thick distortion. Just listen to any Brian May recording...

[LeftyStrat]

If you are handy with a soldering gun, you may want to check out these sites:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/

http://www.runoffgroove.com/

Tons of schematics for building your own boost or distortion pedals.

You can also get pcbs and kits here:

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/

WARNING: Building your own pedals becomes highly addictive. It is however cheaper and safer than being addicted to amp building. However pedal building can be a gateway addiction to amp building.

[pedro]

+1

geat resources for pedal building - I've taken a lot of my stuff from there too.

Definitely try the Blue Magic circuit. Also you'll find lots of info on Tubescreamers/variants.

let us know how you get on
cheers
Pete

[Buschman]

I once owned a Blackstone OD. It was a very sweet & versatile pedal. I was just so used to the way a Tube Screamer responded to my playing that I sold the Blackstone If you are not going to build a distortion amp you should try one. Watch Ebay & buy a used one. You can always get your money back out of it.