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Author Topic: OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100  (Read 2911 times)

MrBump

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« on: December 17, 2007, 09:01:45 PM »
OK, so I've just installed 2 Nailbombs into my workhorse Charvel, and it's absolutely the best thing on this planet.  And here's my problem...

Because the guitar was a little on the bland side I've been running it through a DigiTech GNX3, which is a cool bit of kit.  From here I run into a single channel GRO100 and into a Marshall 4x12.  The Orange is 120 watts, apparently - lovely sound, clean but breaks up at volume.

Now that I've got the sounds that I want comng from the guitar I think that the weakest link in this setup is the FX pedal.  I've a mind to go back to a handful of pedals rathen than have the technically superb (but a little souless) DigiTec multiFX.

The biggest impact will be an OD pedal I think, but it's been absolutely YEARS since I've bought anything.  I'm quite a versitile player, like to play anything from fairly light pop through to thrash when I'm feeling in the mood.  I've had a look online at some "boutique" pedals, and I thing that manufacturers are taking the piss, trading on a nostalga trip!  However, if they're good I'll pay the price...

Any suggestions?

Ta.

Mark.
BKPs Past and Present - Nailbombs, Mules, Blackguard Flat 50's, VHII's & Trilogy Suite with Neck & Bridge Baseplates!

Underground_Player

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« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2007, 04:46:30 PM »
I think the reason nobody's posted yet mate is because there are sooooo many options here...the thread could go for pages with everyone saying one pedal is better than the next!! Honestly the best thing is to go to a decent shop with your guitar, plug into whatever 100watt+ Orange they have there (the modern Retro 50 would be a similar sound but not as powerful) and spend an hour trying out 10s of pedals!

Maybe one 'non-opinionated' tip I could give would be to decide where you run your amp volume-wise when you play. I would have thought you'd be doing pretty well to overdrive a Graphic 120, but if you are overdriving it go for a lower gain pedal. Sounds obvious but with an amp like that, with proper, nice sounding power overdrive, a pedal with much preamp gain at all can make it sound very fizzy; boosting it a bit with a very low gain pedal can achieve the holy non-metal grail of a sound that appears to be really thick, rich, compressed and 'driven', without actually having much gain; all something I've experienced recently with an old Twin Reverb. Which I know isn't an Orange but it is loud and clean with thick sounding power overdrive when it does begin to break up.

Then again for the heavier thrash stuff I suppose you'll want a really bright, tight distortion pedal with that amp, at which point I'll stop before I start sticking 'IMO's all over the place!!
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MrBump

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2007, 07:02:21 PM »
Agree with that post, was thinking about a lower gain pedal.

I definitely didn't want to start a "my pedal is better than yours" thread, and I fully intend to spend an afternoon soon down Tin Pan Alley.  However, Not all shop have all pedals, and it would be nice to hear some suggestions...

Mark.
BKPs Past and Present - Nailbombs, Mules, Blackguard Flat 50's, VHII's & Trilogy Suite with Neck & Bridge Baseplates!

Underground_Player

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« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2007, 02:26:28 PM »
Ok here's a few...!
Tubescreamer-wise, maybe a Maxon ts808 reissue, or anything by Keeley or Analogman. Or one of the less obvious boutique tubescreamer clones/'improvements' such as a Homebrew Electronics Powerscreamer (just to keep you happy Ben  :wink: ) or a T Rex Mudhoney. Or you could just get an Ibanez TS-9 for half the money and see if anyone really notices!

Alternatively there's the Fulltone OCD/Crowther Hotcake school of pedals which have less midrange, more bass and seem to aim to sound like a boosted amp before you've even boosted an amp with one. I've got a feeling they could sound too bassy with your Orange.
NB a lot of the boutique Tubescreamer 'improvements' aim to give the pedal more bass, more gain and less mid, which all sound great at low volume into a clean amp (in a guitar shop...) like the OCD and Hotcake. Thing is into a loud driven amp a pedal with less bass, more mid and less gain seems to work better.
Of all the players I've seen over the last few years, in general the beginners have stock tubescreamers, the 'experts' have Keeley tubescreamers or some obscure boutique overdrive...and the pros have stock tubescreamers!

You could also look at treble boosters and fuzzes. I'm quite biased toward a company called D*A*M who make a bunch of these types of pedal. A treble booster could work well with your amp if you're overdriving it to start with, but might not be as versatile as you want. I think it would do one sound really well though. Fuzz would probably be the same kind of deal. Bare in mind with fuzz pedals or treble boosters that they're designed to work (or at least work best) with a loud, overdriving valve amp like your Orange. My D*A*M Meathead sounds awful at bedroom volume - thin, fizzy and harsh - but into a driven amp the thinness fills out, the fizz becomes fuzz and the harshness is softened and gives it a bit of clarity.

As for clean boosts, it's my understanding - could be wrong - that they all use pretty much the same widely available MOSFET design. I.e. they're all pretty similar. For me the main thing that makes a tonal difference with a clean boost is the buffer....I loved a Zoom PD-01 I used to have (don't knock it till you've tried it!) because it had a massive amount of clean/very very slight midrange boost available. The only downside was the buffer, which seemed to add a really tiny amount of top end harshness whenever it was plugged in. I don't think anyone cared about this, but I did! If I could find one again I would buy it though....seriously worth a look.


So to sum up, I'd try a standard tubescreamer, try an OCD or Crowther hotcake, try a fuzz of any sort, try a Catalinbread SCP/T Rex Moller (clean boosts) and see which direction you want to take.
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Alex

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #4 on: December 20, 2007, 04:39:14 PM »
I recommend you just go to a store and try some pedals.

Ibanez and Boss make the basic ones, companies like MXR, Maxon, OCD and dozens others make all very good units as well.

Personally I use a Boss SD-1 and Digitech Bad Monkey, but I had a Visal Sound Jekyll and Hyde and a Ibanez Tubescreamer (one of the cheaper ones) as well for a while.
Current BKPs: Miracle Man, Nailbomb, Juggernaut, VHII
Past BKPS: Holy Diver, Trilogy Suite, Sinner, Black Dog

MrBump

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2007, 07:15:58 PM »
Quote
Ok here's a few...!


Perfect!  That's what I was after.

Thanks very much, recommendations for things to try are really useful!

Mark.
BKPs Past and Present - Nailbombs, Mules, Blackguard Flat 50's, VHII's & Trilogy Suite with Neck & Bridge Baseplates!

JamesHealey

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #6 on: December 20, 2007, 07:17:05 PM »
Fulltone FullDrive 2
Fulltone OCD
T-Rex Alberta
Digitech BadMonkey
Boss DynaDrive
Ibanez TS9
Boss SD1
Xotic BB Pre-amp


^^ all good pedals.. go try them all!

Henk

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #7 on: December 20, 2007, 07:32:15 PM »
If you want the smoothest most natural sounding OD try a Boss OD-1, OD-3 or maxon 808.

I have been using my OD-1 for so many years i cant even remember when i got it, still bought alot of pedals though, but you just cant beat it in terms of neutal boost and very smooth drive.

More to the distortion side i would try the RAT and Crunchbox, the CB is more veratile but the rat has a more natural sounding distortion.

All these im sure of wont let your amp sway off in an entirely different direction, which at least irritates me alot.
Mules in '76 Gibson custom with maple neck.

Underground_Player

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« Reply #8 on: December 20, 2007, 08:00:03 PM »
Re. Boss OD-3, that's a good call Henk, cheap, low gain-ish and I don't know why more people don't rate them!
Actually why don't more people rate them... does anyone here really not like them?
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Henk

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2007, 06:45:25 AM »
I actually cant imagine anyone not liking those OD pedals, theyr classics. Well unless they think they are too vintage or too bluesy sounding, they are that.

I personally think when i check out pedals its hard to listen very concentrated to absorb all the details about the sound, often i just came back with the the one witch most impressed me at first glance and usually they got right back again after testing it at home.

But OK, ill admit im a bit of an amp junky and if i switch a pedal on i still want to hear my amp and not some nasty pedal. So there.....
Mules in '76 Gibson custom with maple neck.

MrBump

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2007, 06:53:08 PM »
Thanks all.

In fact, I've just assembled myself a BYOC pedal, a 250 OD clone.

It's pretty nice, makes up for the lack of a master gain on the Orange.  With the gain rolled right off it makes the Orange really sparkle!

Definitely gonna get me some more of them there DIY pedals...

Mark.
BKPs Past and Present - Nailbombs, Mules, Blackguard Flat 50's, VHII's & Trilogy Suite with Neck & Bridge Baseplates!

MrBump

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #11 on: December 28, 2007, 05:07:14 PM »
OK, so this is it.

Just went to Trevor Durrants place in Colchester and bought myself a Blackstar HT Dual.

Oh my word...

I just wanted to turn my Orange up, and up, and up...  The clarity of the drive channel was really inspiring, each string was singing its own song.  And the higher gain channel was incredible, pick harmonics just jumped out at me anywhere on any string, even with the gain set at only 12 o'clock.

Think Gary Moore - the crunch channel was giving me Parisian Walkways, while the high gain channel was doing The Loner.

This is a truely LOVELY pedal.  I have a headache now, cos I was playing so damn loud...  

As soon as I get my act together I'll record some stuff for the Players section.

Off to get some paracetamol.

Mark.
BKPs Past and Present - Nailbombs, Mules, Blackguard Flat 50's, VHII's & Trilogy Suite with Neck & Bridge Baseplates!

hamfist

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #12 on: December 28, 2007, 07:03:39 PM »
Mark,
   The HT Dual is a great pedal - truly excellent !  If you want to add to your sonic arsenal on top of the HT Dual, maybe you could try :-

MI Audio Crunchbox - Much gainier, crunchier, "Marshallier" version of the HT Dual's higher gain tones.

Zvex Box of Rock - truly wonderful Jtm45 emulating pedal. This pedal has some real magic, and cuts through beautifullly in a live mix with a band.

MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe - A Tube Screamer-based pedal, but much, much more versatile and tweakable. Great for boosting anything (amp or HT Dual !!)

Wampler Indyguitarist Plextortion - boosted Plexi in a box  - be EVH and pull all the laydeez !

Himmelstrutz Fetto - yummy Marshall goodness - you will not be disappointed !

  Al these are "special" pedals with some real magic. Some of them are not cheap, but you can't get something for nothing !

Alan

HTH AMPS

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OD Pedal to Compliament Nailbombs => Orange GRO100
« Reply #13 on: December 28, 2007, 10:22:17 PM »
The Boss OD-3 is very nice, quite vintage sounding which surprised me alot.

The OD-1 is not made anymore and they're generally quite expensive on ebay because of this. <shameless plug alert> I've already modded an existing Boss pedal to OD-1 specs and it sounds bang on the money compared to an old OD-1 I borrowed off a mate.</shameless plug alert>

 :twisted: