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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Re: QWhat did you expect?

12/27/1999 12:43 AM

John Catto

Re: QWhat did you expect?

quote:
" I just read a post from some guy asking what the Swollen Pickle was based on. I have read reviews suggesting it is one of the best fuzz pedals on the market, over the top, extreme, sizzly, corpulent, lard-assed fuzz. (Ever read that review?) "

Ha Ha you read my mind!!
That was exactly the review that got me thinking about the Swollen Pickle. See the power of the press!

12/30/1999 12:31 AM
Jim S.	Underneath the TS-808/TS-9 series of overdrives, I wou;d place the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal. I liked this one at first, but quickly found its sound to be bass-heavy, over-compressed, and one-dimensional. A lot of players seem to like this one, though. I suppose it could work OK as a semi-clean boost at miminum drive settings. Another popular Boss pedal, which I used to use a lot, is the BD-2 Blues Driver. I would place this in the "frustrating" category. It has a wide range of gain, and is reasonably dynamic, at least compared to most pedals. It has some nice sonic qualities, and works well with vintage type tube amps, such as blackface Fenders. But the think tends to be very bright and just a tad thin-sounding. Also, the notes just don't "jump out" they way I would like them to -- the tone seems a bit too reserved and slightly synthetic. I think Boss could have come out with a really great pedal if they had just put a little more work into it and made the EQ fatter and less "jangly". Right now my main overdrive pedal is a Stamps Drive-O-Matic. Also, I recently bought a Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive (no tone controls!) which shows some real promise. These are not holy grails, but I sure wish these products were available five years ago, when I was gigging more regularly!!

12/30/1999 12:31 AM

Jim S.

Underneath the TS-808/TS-9 series of overdrives, I wou;d place the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal. I liked this one at first, but quickly found its sound to be bass-heavy, over-compressed, and one-dimensional. A lot of players seem to like this one, though. I suppose it could work OK as a semi-clean boost at miminum drive settings.

Another popular Boss pedal, which I used to use a lot, is the BD-2 Blues Driver. I would place this in the "frustrating" category. It has a wide range of gain, and is reasonably dynamic, at least compared to most pedals. It has some nice sonic qualities, and works well with vintage type tube amps, such as blackface Fenders. But the think tends to be very bright and just a tad thin-sounding. Also, the notes just don't "jump out" they way I would like them to -- the tone seems a bit too reserved and slightly synthetic. I think Boss could have come out with a really great pedal if they had just put a little more work into it and made the EQ fatter and less "jangly".

Right now my main overdrive pedal is a Stamps Drive-O-Matic. Also, I recently bought a Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive (no tone controls!) which shows some real promise. These are not holy grails, but I sure wish these products were available five years ago, when I was gigging more regularly!!

12/30/1999 12:43 AM
pHiLtHy	Jim, If you think Boss didn't quite get it right with the BD-2, check out their OD-3. I love it. It doesn't have as much distortion/gain on tap as the BD-2 but it is a very "friendly" pedal. In other words, you can pretty much set the tone or drive knobs anywhere and survive the results. I have 2 of them AND the Blues Driver too. I especially like the way the OD-3 reacts with other pedals like FF or a Tube King. No bass roll-off either. pHiLtHy

12/30/1999 12:43 AM

pHiLtHy

Jim,

If you think Boss didn't quite get it right with the BD-2, check out their OD-3. I love it. It doesn't have as much distortion/gain on tap as the BD-2 but it is a very "friendly" pedal. In other words, you can pretty much set the tone or drive knobs anywhere and survive the results.

I have 2 of them AND the Blues Driver too. I especially like the way the OD-3 reacts with other pedals like FF or a Tube King. No bass roll-off either.

pHiLtHy

12/30/1999 5:41 PM
Bryan James	I have 2 of them AND the Blues Driver too. I especially like the way the OD-3 reacts with other pedals like FF or a Tube King. No bass roll-off either. pHiLtHy what i found that i like (by accident, could do the foot tapp dance fast enough the other night) is the Boss SD-1 running along with the BD-2. very great sound with great sustain to it and very touchy to what it picks up on the strings. i'll try to get you my pedal settings. now there's a question? what is everyone fevorite settings on there pedals or do you change them?

12/30/1999 5:41 PM

Bryan James

I have 2 of them AND the Blues Driver too. I especially like the way the OD-3 reacts with other pedals like FF or a Tube King. No bass roll-off either.

pHiLtHy

what i found that i like (by accident, could do the foot tapp dance fast enough the other night) is the Boss SD-1 running along with the BD-2. very great sound with great sustain to it and very touchy to what it picks up on the strings. i'll try to get you my pedal settings.

now there's a question? what is everyone fevorite settings on there pedals or do you change them?

12/30/1999 5:41 PM
Bryan James	I have 2 of them AND the Blues Driver too. I especially like the way the OD-3 reacts with other pedals like FF or a Tube King. No bass roll-off either. pHiLtHy what i found that i like (by accident, could do the foot tapp dance fast enough the other night) is the Boss SD-1 running along with the BD-2. very great sound with great sustain to it and very touchy to what it picks up on the strings. i'll try to get you my pedal settings. now there's a question? what is everyone fevorite settings on there pedals or do you change them?

12/30/1999 5:41 PM

Bryan James

12/30/1999 6:36 PM
pHiLtHy	what order do you run them in? if i'm stacking OD / Dist boxes I usually have the OD-3 last. before i discovered the OD-3, i always used a tubescreamer. the OD-3 is somewhat like a tubescreamer in the way it feels and responds only better since it doesn't have the bass roll-off. also, it's not grainy at all when it clips. by itself, i run the OD-3 with the gain dimed, tone about 12:00, and output to match or boost signal slightly. when used in combination with a FF, i have the tone set slightly lower, say 10:00. the FF that I use the most is a modified germanium (AC128) Dunlop model with bias and contour mods.... but for the most part it's cranked up for optimum fuzz. talk about violin tone! but the nice thing about these two pedals is that even with their gain controls mostly maxed, i can still calm things down with my guitar volume and get a really nice Hendrix like rhythm sound. i haven't experimented enough with the TK / OD-3 combo to decide on a favorite setting but my initial attempts sounded pretty good... i'll see if i can mess with it some more this weekend and will post. i overcame the tap-dance problem by using one of those B.C. Rich looping pedal boards... it has 5 presets and 4 loops. pretty nice little unit... great for a/b'ing stomboxes too. i'm surprised somebody hasn't reissued something similar... it seems like there's a need for such a device. pHiLtHy

12/30/1999 6:36 PM

pHiLtHy

what order do you run them in?

if i'm stacking OD / Dist boxes I usually have the OD-3 last.

before i discovered the OD-3, i always used a tubescreamer. the OD-3 is somewhat like a tubescreamer in the way it feels and responds only better since it doesn't have the bass roll-off. also, it's not grainy at all when it clips.

by itself, i run the OD-3 with the gain dimed, tone about 12:00, and output to match or boost signal slightly.

when used in combination with a FF, i have the tone set slightly lower, say 10:00.

the FF that I use the most is a modified germanium (AC128) Dunlop model with bias and contour mods.... but for the most part it's cranked up for optimum fuzz. talk about violin tone! but the nice thing about these two pedals is that even with their gain controls mostly maxed, i can still calm things down with my guitar volume and get a really nice Hendrix like rhythm sound.

i haven't experimented enough with the TK / OD-3 combo to decide on a favorite setting but my initial attempts sounded pretty good... i'll see if i can mess with it some more this weekend and will post.

i overcame the tap-dance problem by using one of those B.C. Rich looping pedal boards... it has 5 presets and 4 loops. pretty nice little unit... great for a/b'ing stomboxes too. i'm surprised somebody hasn't reissued something similar... it seems like there's a need for such a device.

pHiLtHy

12/30/1999 7:56 PM
Bryan James	let's see if i can remember the order of right them now. AC-2 then OC-2 then SD-1 then BD-2 then a Cry-baby in the effects loop i have a rockton delay/chorsus MXR phase 90 and a Zoom 509. i'll try to get the settings and post them

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