Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Dakine on January 03, 2006, 06:23:41 PM

Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Dakine on January 03, 2006, 06:23:41 PM
OK,
need advice guys.
Spent last two days pouring over reviews and sound clips for OD/Dist. pedals.

What I have;

Les Paul Standard
Marshall MG Amp (yeah I know but it does job for now)

What will get when come back to UK;
Laney Valve Amp
Calibrated Set BKP (probably Cold Sweats)

What I am looking for is a v.good (life keeper) all around pedal.
To be more prcise I want to be able to go from Led Zep to Slash to kinda Zakk tone.

Now, I have a lead on a HBE Big D for $150 (bout 255 gbp) but cannot find any really HEAVY clips with it. I mean like Damage Control Demonizer heavy distortion. Yes, have looked at the demonizer and it is $$$, interesting etc. (hate cheesy optical eye thing).
Anyway, bout $300 to spend (of course cheaper is always good and HBE have great reviews, Joel even emailed me on New Years Day!!!!!!!! but can it get THAT distorted/heavy? I read not but have not heard not).
Maybe TO can help.

Anyway, best pedal guys?????????

Purdy please ;)

Nick
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Dakine on January 03, 2006, 07:26:04 PM
oh, and whattabout this for some cheapish fun?

MXR DD-11 Dime distortion (as well as bootike type, this would be for fun/play).

On sale for $69 about 40 quid.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Ratrod on January 03, 2006, 08:09:07 PM
My Power Screamer hasn't arrived yet so I can't comment on that one. I mainly wanted that pedal for it's transparant sound.

At the moment I use a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor. Great Marshall sounding pedal.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: schmendict on January 03, 2006, 11:41:11 PM
Im sure this is just a mistake but $150 is about £60...
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Dakine on January 03, 2006, 11:50:44 PM
yep, my bad, 88 quidish
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Johnny Mac on January 04, 2006, 07:31:44 PM
Koch do a 'Pedaltone' with some kind of power-amp in there. It's all valve. It's supposed to be really good, i think Bird, one of the guys in here has tried it in Canada.

www.koch-amps.com
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Dakine on January 04, 2006, 11:31:53 PM
OK
well, done for this minute anyway LOL

HBE Big D on order :)

Darn,went into biggest pawn shop round here today. Had some quite nice stuff but it's like evilbay, they know the prices and they are HIGH. No bargains to be had there :( Oh well.

Nick
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: carlaz on January 05, 2006, 02:50:19 PM
What about that DHA Purist pedal that steve mentioned?  The copy from the maker's eBay shop says: "...  hand built valve Overdrive and Distortion effects pedal which uses a 12AX7 (ECC83) preamp valve .... suited to guitarists looking for subtle valve tone for blues and rock. Very high levels of gain are possible if the VT1 Purist is used to drive the high or crunch channels on your amplifier."  Which sounds interesting.  A possible alternative to those pricey Maxon valve OD pedals?
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Dakine on January 05, 2006, 03:02:47 PM
Sounds intersting Carlaz.
Thing is I am still in the US and that is in the UK so shipping will be involved.
Also, managed to get a HBE Big D for about 88 quid ($150) with free shipping here (took some doing but price matching etc. and the net can be a blessing), so will try that for now.
Nick
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: steve on January 05, 2006, 03:08:15 PM
Quote from: carlaz
What about that DHA Purist pedal that steve mentioned?  The copy from the maker's eBay shop says: "...  hand built valve Overdrive and Distortion effects pedal which uses a 12AX7 (ECC83) preamp valve .... suited to guitarists looking for subtle valve tone for blues and rock. Very high levels of gain are possible if the VT1 Purist is used to drive the high or crunch channels on your amplifier."  Which sounds interesting.  A possible alternative to those pricey Maxon valve OD pedals?


Its a great pedal much warmer and more natural than any TS style pedal.Just big fat 12ax7 overdrive.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: tewboss on January 05, 2006, 07:37:06 PM
If you are planning on using the pedal with your Marshall I'd steer clear of overdrives like Tubescreamers as they are designed to work with tube amps. The pedals with valves inside them would probably be your best bet as they will generate the distortion themselves rather than trying to push your amp into saturation. How about the EH English Muff'n which is supposed to be very good.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Dakine on January 05, 2006, 10:43:56 PM
Yeah  Tewboss, agree.
What I am trying to do though is get some things which are harder to source in UK and/or cheaper here in the US before I leave to return to UK.

When I get to the UK I fully intend getting an ENGL Screamer amp so that will be all good :)

Nick
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: tewboss on January 05, 2006, 11:37:16 PM
I've heard good things about the Engl Powerball. Somebody on another forum bought one over a Bogner Uberschall and sold his Dual Rectifier.  Although he said he had to get it from Germany so it might not be worth buying any sort of Engl until you get to the UK.  I was surprised how cheap the Powerball was compared with its competition.

I don't think there is a problem with sourcing guitars, amps etc over here, but its mostly the cost. Guitars especially are expensive here compared with the US - Gibsons especially.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Johnny Mac on January 07, 2006, 11:22:24 AM
Quote from: tewboss
If you are planning on using the pedal with your Marshall I'd steer clear of overdrives like Tubescreamers as they are designed to work with tube amps. The pedals with valves inside them would probably be your best bet as they will generate the distortion themselves rather than trying to push your amp into saturation. How about the EH English Muff'n which is supposed to be very good.


Those English muffins sound cr@p inmo. Someone in here bought one a while back and he couldn't get a decent sound from it and the EH soundclips on their site sounded terrible!
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Thazy on January 09, 2006, 05:33:55 AM
Greetings,

Dave Barber makes some great OD's. Try his Direct Drive. It's my favorite hard rock OD into a clean amp.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: tewboss on January 09, 2006, 06:25:14 PM
Quote from: Johnny Mac
Those English muffins sound cr@p inmo. Someone in here bought one a while back and he couldn't get a decent sound from it and the EH soundclips on their site sounded terrible!


that could be EH's famous "quality" control. I read how good the Hot Tubes was supposed to be, so I bought one and mine sounds terrible - there is a nasty oscillation when the gain is turned right up. I'm planing on sending mine off to be fixed (as it is out of warranty).

The thing with EH's valve driven effects is that finding the right sound is difficult. One of EH's former engineers doesn't believe that valves in pedals sound that great, but next to a valve amp I doubt whether it ever would.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Skybone on January 09, 2006, 06:34:02 PM
Why have you got A Flock of Seagulls as your avatar?
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: tewboss on January 09, 2006, 09:35:31 PM
my friend's dad was the drummer (and his uncle the singer)
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: Skybone on January 09, 2006, 10:55:11 PM
:D

Was in a band where the drummer was seeing AFOS's singer's daughter...

I always thought that they were from Liverpool...  :?
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: tewboss on January 10, 2006, 10:59:41 PM
Yeah they were from Liverpool, but both of them live in the US now. The drummer's son used to work with me in a couple of jobs, and lives three doors away.
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: rahnooo on January 11, 2006, 01:05:09 PM
Quote from: tewboss
One of EH's former engineers doesn't believe that valves in pedals sound that great, but next to a valve amp I doubt whether it ever would.


How about valve effects running into a valve amp? I'm looking for a decent vintage sounding tem pedal for all those country licks and the EHX valve trem doowacky was top of my to-try list.

*Rahnooo*
Title: Distortion Dilema
Post by: tewboss on January 12, 2006, 03:20:23 AM
I suppose it depends on the amp itself.  I can't really comment as my hot tubes is faulty so I don't know what they would normally sound like through my Marshall, but I would have thought the Marshall could do everything the EH pedals can do. The English Muff'n is supposed to replicate the Marshall sound.