Pedal recommendation for EVH 5150 iii

Valendom

I'm after some advice and pedal recommendations for boosting (adding gain only, not volume) to the blue channel of an EVH 5150 iii. I would like to set the blue channel up at a lowish gain setting (approx. 2/3) for lighter crunch and then add more gain via a pedal for an overdriven rock tone (as if the gain was set to 6/7 on amp). I have tried setting channel 2 and channel 3 up in this way but there is too much of a difference in tone and compression between the two - I also like to use channel 3 purely for solos as it has the separate master volume.

Any recommendations would be great, I have tried using a bad monkey and a HT dual but found they colour the tone a little too much for my liking. Would a boost rather than an OD be the way to go? Cheers.

fretmeister

Suhr Koko Boost.

Although if you boost the signal going into the front of the amp you are always going to get a little volume boost as it is the increased signal that causes the drive increase, rather than a pedal that adds drive itself

guitarfishbay

Have you tried the opposite methodology?

Set the amp up for the higher gain sound then turn down your volume pot to see if you like the lower gain tone?  If this looks like it works for you then you could pick up a volume pedal.  This is essentially what I do when I use my Ironheart.

As far as pedals go I've been experimenting with using an EQ to boost recently precisely because OD pedals can sometimes be too coloured sounding.  I've got the MXR 10 band Kerry King but I guess any decent EQ should work.  I cut some bass and boost a bit of mids and add a bit of output volume and it pretty much does the same thing as an OD without making it sound so cloudy at the top end.  You have to be careful to not boost a single band too aggressively otherwise it can sound notched and unnatural.

Gassage

EP Booster.

Monstronaut

When I had the 50watt I used the green channel with the gain most of the way up and then hit it with a tubescreamer for more gain

BigBearKris

Try TC Spark (normal size with EQ). Will do exactly what You're looking for.

leerocker

100 or 50 watt??

I use a koko boost with the evh and its just the ticket for boosting the blue, had an ep booster on the board for a long time as a boost with the 5150 but found it added a lot of bass with humbuckers and flubbed a bit, sounded great with my white falcon but no so much with my les paul, koko boost is just fine for all my guitars through the 5150

Valendom

Cheers for the responses guys. Pulled the trigger on an EP Booster yesterday, I'll have to see if it does the trick. If not it will be going back and I'll try the Koko or TC spark. @leerocker - it's the 50.

Dave_Mc

Valendom said:

Any recommendations would be great, I have tried using a bad monkey and a HT dual but found they colour the tone a little too much for my liking. Would a boost rather than an OD be the way to go? Cheers.

Not necessarily- a more transparent-style (timmy, blues driver, bluesbreaker or klon-style pedals) od pedal will do more or less the same and be more tweakable. normally you want the ability to cut bass if you're going for highish gain tones. though some clean boost pedals have separate treble and bass controls too.

i haven't tried your amp so i can't help with specifics- just though it was worth pointing out that you didn't necessarily need to look exclusively at clean boosts.

if the BM only colours the tone a little too much, a boss sd1 might be worth a look.