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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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It doesn't clean up and it is crap at bedroom volume but it's the closest thing I've heard to changing a clean fender into something that truly sounds like a Marshall jcm800.
Doesn't have ridiculous gain levels - I ran mine just a bit under max. But it has so much oomph to it, and it really just seemed so right.
Better loud, but still very good. It has a resonance control which makes a clean combo really churn out some bottom end - it's easy to dial in too much, mine was always less than a quarter up. But it was excellent.
Did you try a boost in front, summat like an SD-1? Worked really well for me. Tightened everything up, and gave it a little extra kick. The low boost needs to be set carefully otherwise things get a bit flubby and bass heavy.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
I've just put together a preamp-based board (AMT F1 always-on at the end of the chain, basically a Fender Twin preamp) with the Red providing the distortion. It's utterly incredible; acts exactly as you'd expect a high-gain amp's preamp to behave, and has the unusual property of the boost switch being both dependent on the bypass (so when it's bypassed, the boost does nothing) and the boost acting on both the volume and the gain, just as you'd expect from a two-channel amp with shared EQ.
On top of all that, the Variac switch is a revelation! Can't quite put into words what it does, other than to say that it takes a "precise"-sounding tone and makes it all squishy and amp-like.
I've even been recording a bit with the board direct into my interface instead of through the power section of my JCA22H then a reactive load, and it sounds just as good to my ears.
It ain't cheap, but it's bloody-well worth it.
Re the GV2, as I mentioned, I use mine with an EQ after it, which enhances both the highs and bottom end.
The reason they're called Valvestate is actually the supposedly valve-emulating solid-state power section, hence why the rack power amp models have a switch on the back marked 'Valvestate' and 'Linear'.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Well worth trying, turn the gain right down on the SD-1, add mids to taste.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
The same goes for the RV600 (Verbzilla clone). I actually think it sounds better, as it doesn't have the weird distortion issue that the Verbzilla suffers from.
I said maybe.....
In addition to that, im.bloody loving my Boss DS1 at the moment. It's a bit sad used on it's own as the output ctrl is a bit weak and the tone knob only sounds good in one position. But, run it into a ZVEX Channel 2 (set just above unity) and it smells like glory.
+ ZVEX Channel 2's are still only £60 at GAK? That's less than half the price of a new SHO, and you receive the added bonus of not having a pre-school drawing of a guitar wielding gorilla on your pedal, or having it decorated with the words "super", "hard" or "on".
The Dr Scientist Frazz Dazzler is a hugely underrated fuzz pedal. I've still got one and keep trying to sell it because I barely use fuzz, but hasn't sold yet, and that surprises me. It sounds huge (tremendous bass end), the sizzle control is great and you can blend in the dry/wet signal. Great pedal. But if it continues to be this underrated, I may have to remove it from the forum and keep it forever