Overdriving an old non-master volume Marshall

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10/16/1999 2:20 AM

John S.

Overdriving an old non-master volume Marshall Hey all.....I have a 73 50 watt Marshall 4 input head.I was wondering if anyone has found or is currently using a pedal that will drive this Marshall into the way it overdrives at full volume....Something that retains the crunch and the tightness of the amp,but doesn't make the amp have a synthetic buzzy type of gain to it.....Any ideas greatly appreciated. John S.

 

10/16/1999 5:13 AM
Aron	You might try a HotCake or Varidrive for commercial effects. For DIY, try a MiniBooster to boost the amp or any one of the many overdrive pedals available for building.

 

10/16/1999 1:53 PM
John S.	Thanks Aron....do any of these pedals offer a convincing uncolored tone....you know,more gain without the harsh,mushy,and buzzy tone associated with most pedals in general....thanks again..John

 

10/17/1999 9:07 AM

Aron

The MiniBooster will BOOST your amp and provide distortion of its own - but it's a booster so your amp will be loud too.     The Varidrive - high voltage tube - if you get the right one (try more than one if you can), will give you lots of great tone with sustain.     The HotCake - slightly buzzy but good buzz - works will in Trainwreck amps and most amps in general.     I like my Shaka 3 but you gotta build it - in some amps it doesn't sound too good (mostly extremely bright amps - most pedals won't sound good either anyway).     Aron

 

10/18/1999 4:56 PM
Liam	I'd say the place to start is the Tubescreamer TS9 or TS10. Nice distortion without ripping your tone to shreds. If that's too subtle, apply the R.G mods on GEO, which are superb. If it's still not enough, an original RAT works for me, but you really need to have the amp up pretty loud to get the really sweet stuff out.

 

10/18/1999 9:22 AM

Chris B

This may seem suprising, but I have recently bought one of the new Marshall pedals, the Jackhammer to be precise   and after some careful tweaking of both pedal and amp,   (a non MV JTM45 into 2x12 Celestions)I have found the best   overdrive sound imaginable for my amp! By feeding the pedal   into the 'normal' channel high-gain input, cranking the amp   volume to about 6-7 and using only modest gain settings on the pedal, I've found a 'sweet-spot'. The OD resulting from   this combination is full, rich and warm with tons of sustain   and no buzzy synthetic crap. Try one. You will be amazed.   They are also cheap and have true bypass!     Chris

 

10/18/1999 9:28 AM

Chris B

Something I should add. Maybe because of the way I've adjusted the relative settings of the amp and pedal, the amp is not too loud (I know, 6-7 sounds as if it should be fairly loud!). John, you may find your amp behaves in a similar way, since it has the same configuration of inputs, etc. Power tubes, of course, are different and this will make some difference to the distortion characteristics.     Chris

 

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