'Fender in a box' pedal recommendations please

mellowsun · March 2018

Pricey but you won’t get a better Blackface in a box sound with the Effectrode Blackbird.

Takes pedals really well and with some IRs and reverb you have a rig in a box that combines the best of old skool and latest tech

ICBM · March 2018

mellowsun said:

Pricey but you won’t get a better Blackface in a box sound with the Effectrode Blackbird.

Takes pedals really well and with some IRs and reverb you have a rig in a box that combines the best of old skool and latest tech

This is one of those, through a clean Twin...

munckee · March 2018

JezWynd said:

On a more general note; how much influence does the amp being used have with these ampinabox pedals? Is it a suck it and see scenario? I can imagine them working better with solid state amps where the clean tone is more likely to be a flat uninflected sound but how about a Vox AC15 fr'instance, that has a very defined sonic signature?

I used the Boss/Fender pedals to spice up a JC-22 and while they worked quite successfully I still preferred my humble Laney Cub 10's tones.

I use the american sound into a 5f1 modified champion 600. With the voice at 12 o clock its the same sound but I can use the EQ and drive. Below 12 is more modern fender sound above 12 gets more middy is how I would describe it. Each control really affects the other though so you can really tinker if you so wish.

-NFM- · March 2018

ICBM said:

-NFM- said:

Just make sure to have a load attached to the amp input & FX Send sockets (a stomp box & patch cable on each is fine) so the circuits of the amp are fully engaged & dial the power down to a minimum on the preamp stage as its not in use anyway so saves wear on tubes.

You definitely don’t need to do any of this, unless the amp has some sort of switch in the input jack which mutes the power section - very unusual, although some Blackstars do have this.

The preamp does not need to be ‘loaded’ in the same way as a power amp does, and with no input signal the preamp valves are all operating at idle irrespective of where the controls are set.

In fact, unless the power section is muted with no lead in the input jack, putting a cable in will do the exact opposite of what you want since there is a signal muting switch for the preamp in the jack in almost all amps, so putting a cable in will defeat this.

Unless you can’t get the power section to work without a cable in the input, don’t do it.

Thanks @ICBM - Glad you could clarify where I'd gone wrong there. I wasn't too sure myself as my own amps (Fender/Vox) seem to work fine with just the FX loop return but I've had to use that setup on other ones and always been a bit unsure if was just my amps!

ICBM · March 2018

-NFM- said:

Thanks @ICBM - Glad you could clarify where I'd gone wrong there. I wasn't too sure myself as my own amps (Fender/Vox) seem to work fine with just the FX loop return but I've had to use that setup on other ones and always been a bit unsure if was just my amps!

Not really 'wrong', just unnecessary. It won't do any harm, but it's more of a faff than you need

.

If it matters, if you have an amp like one of the Blackstars which does need a plug in the input to turn it on, what you really need is a 'shorting plug' - a spare jack plug with the hot connected to the sleeve. That will both make the amp work and maintain the muting of the preamp.

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'Fender in a box' pedal recommendations please

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