Overdrive for Orange Crush Pro

HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
Ok, I like a fairly clean sound with very little grit to it. When the clean channel on the Crush Pro is turned up past halfway it starts getting just a bit crunchy but is still very clear and articulate which is pretty much perfect. Sometimes though it would be be nice to just fatten up the sound just a little bit more but still keep things not too gritty.

At the moment I tend to this via the guitar's volume control. That is I will normally have it around the 6 or 7 mark for chord work but up to 10 for solos or fills.

The question is would there be any benefit to using a fairly subtle overdrive in front of the amp?

Or would I be better off...

1) Carrying on what I'm now.

2) Rather than buying a pedal, just buy a footswitch so I can just change to the dirty channel as and when.

Unfortunately my experience of pedals is that they usually sound great in the shop but are a disappointment when I get them home. Usually too fizzy and/or too brutal. I suspect it might be my own fault though for buying pedals that are perhaps getting too much into distortion territory whereas something more subtle might be better.
I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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Comments

  • nick79nick79 Frets: 252
    From personal experience the EHX Soulfood works well with the Crush amps, should do exactly what you need. 
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
    nick79 said:
    From personal experience the EHX Soulfood works well with the Crush amps, should do exactly what you need. 

    Interestingly the Soul Food is on my list of candidates. Did you use it with the clean or the dirty channel?
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • PhiltrePhiltre Frets: 4164
    I owned an Orange Crush Pro 60 (and still have a 35w Crush). I found that it took pedals well and used a Soul Food with it and it sounded just fine.
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  • MagicPigDetectiveMagicPigDetective Frets: 2992
    edited October 2017
    I use a DOD looking glass with my CR60, it has a low gain setting to boost the clean or drive chanel for a solo. The higher gain sounds good on its own. I haven’t tried many other pedals with it but the Looking Glass sounds fantastic through this amp. 
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  • LuttiSLuttiS Frets: 2243
    I use a bad horse, which is another klon/soul food clone. Keeping the gain low its great for fattening up the sound. Plays well with other pedals too, stacks up nicely.
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  • nick79nick79 Frets: 252
    HAL9000 said:
    nick79 said:
    From personal experience the EHX Soulfood works well with the Crush amps, should do exactly what you need. 

    Interestingly the Soul Food is on my list of candidates. Did you use it with the clean or the dirty channel?
    I seem to recall with both, but it was very nice going into the Crush set to a bit of crunch. I demo'ed it loads to customers when i worked in a guitar shop, pretty much everyone bought a Soulfood after playing with one. It's a very good pedal.
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
    Update - I came across an old Marshall Bluesbreaker BB2 pedal that I’d completely forgotten about. It has two functions - ‘Blues’ and ‘Boost’. The ‘Blues’ option gives the distortion sound whereas ‘Boost’ is exactly that - a clean, uncoloured, boost that pushes the amp into distortion (as opposed to adding distortion to the input signal). A pedal I’d pretty much discarded years ago since the distortion, quite frankly, wasn’t great. I’d never used the ‘Boost’ but turns out this is exactly the thing for giving the Crush that extra kick.

    I’m still very keen to try the EHX Soulfood though. It certainly does attract some rave reviews.
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • PhiltrePhiltre Frets: 4164
    Or Boss BD-1, or JRAD Archer, or Tone City Sweet Cream...
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