A Juice pedal instead of a Gain or Drive pedal?

Grocer_Jack

I don’t think you need to spend on a ‘posh’ pedal to do the ‘louder, sparkly, fatter but not gainy’ boost thing for solos. Three budget options that will do exactly that are the TC Spark, Mooer Pure Boost and Caline Pure Sky. I’m sure there’s loads of others - you just want something without a hump/profile of its own.

Keefy

TTBZ said:

Interesting thread. I think I’ve wanted what you describe as a “juice” pedal for a while as when playing lower gain classic rock stuff, I often find an overdrive (even a TS) to add to much gain and saturation where really I just want more sustain and thickness on the leads so it feels less “sticky” to play. Just messing around on the Helix the SP Compressor seems to do a nice job of this. 

Yep, I’ve often used compression to fulfil this role. 

TeleMaster

So... this thread isn’t about putting a juicer on my board??

lukedlb

@Wazmeister is it me, or is your board comprised of pedals with all the Juice one could ever need? What's the earthquaker one do? 4 pedals supplying Juice, colour, tone and drive. No more compressor of any shape? Honestly, I sold mine when I found the Ryra did slightly better than my comp (very light comp with blend). 

lukedlb

Could the Chase Bliss Condor be a valid Juice pedal?

Johnnyseven

I think you need a DOD Juice Box.

Wazmeister

lukedlb said:

@Wazmeister is it me, or is your board comprised of pedals with all the Juice one could ever need? What's the earthquaker one do? 4 pedals supplying Juice, colour, tone and drive. No more compressor of any shape? Honestly, I sold mine when I found the Ryra did slightly better than my comp (very light comp with blend). 

The EQD Swiss Things is many things, but mainly an A/B amp switcher, with 2 loops and a boost. The boost is good but too close to the others to switch accurately live. Hence, the Cornish NB3 which has that lovely Cornish buffer and guaranteed 'silence' in your rig...

No comp any more. Only the ThorpyFX one survives, but Ive run out of board room.

"4 pedals supplying Juice, colour, tone and drive."

Precisely. All simple to use, I know them inside out and they all offer different shades.

The JHS Clover is simply magnificent, and I use the RYRA with virtually no gain.

Very very happy, and the Kemper offers me the creative options.

Having the delay/verb into one speaker (and stereo into the PA) and a dry boostable Carr is a wonderful combination

lukedlb

Matt_McG said:

I used to have a Durham Sex Drive clone on my board for this (not really an original, the Fuzzdog Libido Boost clone). Unless you really crank the gain, it just does a good job of making a bit louder, adding some light compression/sustain, and adding a really addictive sparkle to the top end and upper mids. Neck pickup tones sound instantly better with it on.

I don't use it now with the HX Stomp, as I can get the same effect in other ways, but it's a nice pedal.

This could be interesting. There’s one for sale in my part of the world for 130 euros. 

lukedlb

RandallFlagg said:

I find that a good Klone such as a Tumnus works well into an overdriven amp. Turn the gain to zero and bring up the volume to boost your signal as far as you want, adjust the tone for the right level of bite and then slowly bring up just a hint of the gain to thicken with warmth and mids, you don't need much for a great boost to an already overdriven amp.

I’ve only ever used my ryra as the clean on my amps. I’ll experiment at the weekend. 

lukedlb

HAL9000 said:

Not 100% sure what you mean by 'juice' but I'm guessing that you're thinking of something that fattens things up without colouring or distorting your sound too much. If I've got that right then I'd suggest the Rockett Blue Note could be worth a look. I've also heard very good things about the Thorpy FX Peacekeeper (but not actually heard one myself).

As long as the blue note and the peacekeeper can be used as a toolkit for crafting the tone of the amp/drive pedal. I’ve read that the pk, while providing an excellent light drive, is a great tool for tone shaping. 
good suggestions. 

lukedlb

@Wazmeister I will look into the clover too. Did you ever have your hands on a chase bliss condor?

lukedlb

Johnnyseven said:

I think you need a DOD Juice Box.

I do like the control names: sweet, pulp, tang, juice. Not sure if a distortion pedal is what I’m after though. 

Sassafras

Effectrode Firebottle adds a nice richness and depth to clean sounds as does an Orange Squeezer set to barely perceptible compression. I only used single coils so can't comment on  humbuckers.

Seziertisch

http://www.apiaudio.com/product.php?id=142 

https://youtu.be/8MkhClEMamk

In terms of “juicing” this is the ultimate for me. Just an amazingly musical bit of kit, on all the time, makes everything sound better.

I expected the compressor to be slightly limited owing to its minimal controls but by balancing the input and output gain it does everything from transparent to super squishy.

The headroom on it is amazing, hitting it with other drive pedals, it never feels like it is struggling or farting out. And it is super quiet, even with the compression jacked it adds no noise.

It’s expensive, particularly on this side of the pond and bulky, but it does so much - it could theoretically replace a compressor, eq, drive pedal and DI. Balancing the input and output gains and using the EQ makes it a boost/overdrive that can be tailored to any amp.

Fishboy7

What's the difference between a boost/od pedal and a Preamp pedal anyway?  

lukedlb

Seziertisch said:

http://www.apiaudio.com/product.php?id=142 

https://youtu.be/8MkhClEMamk

In terms of “juicing” this is the ultimate for me. Just an amazingly musical bit of kit, on all the time, makes everything sound better.

I expected the compressor to be slightly limited owing to its minimal controls but by balancing the input and output gain it does everything from transparent to super squishy.

The headroom on it is amazing, hitting it with other drive pedals, it never feels like it is struggling or farting out. And it is super quiet, even with the compression jacked it adds no noise.

It’s expensive, particularly on this side of the pond and bulky, but it does so much - it could theoretically replace a compressor, eq, drive pedal and DI. Balancing the input and output gains and using the EQ makes it a boost/overdrive that can be tailored to any amp.

Impressive and fulfills my Juice demands. The price puts it above the pettyjohn although they are competing for pedalboard estate. I can’t help wondering why an fx loop was not included. The buffer might limit the compatibility of successive pedals and ideally the buffer would be last. 

lukedlb

The drybell unit 67 could also be a contender with a smaller footprint. The pettyjohn and api appear to suit a studio application. 
Does anyone have any experience with the drybell?

lukedlb

Fishboy7 said:

What's the difference between a boost/od pedal and a Preamp pedal anyway?  

Good point. Help needed for their definition as there is overlap. Mine are poor but feel somewhat right, at least in the way I use them (I’m using painting terms):

background and foreground. 
Od is the wash, whereas preamp is the definition. 

lukedlb

Sassafras said:

Effectrode Firebottle adds a nice richness and depth to clean sounds as does an Orange Squeezer set to barely perceptible compression. I only used single coils so can't comment on  humbuckers.

Yes, in fact I found my Kingsley Bard tremolo with the trem set to zero does a similar job, probably buffering the signal too. 

Seziertisch

lukedlb said:

Seziertisch said:

http://www.apiaudio.com/product.php?id=142 

https://youtu.be/8MkhClEMamk

In terms of “juicing” this is the ultimate for me. Just an amazingly musical bit of kit, on all the time, makes everything sound better.

I expected the compressor to be slightly limited owing to its minimal controls but by balancing the input and output gain it does everything from transparent to super squishy.

The headroom on it is amazing, hitting it with other drive pedals, it never feels like it is struggling or farting out. And it is super quiet, even with the compression jacked it adds no noise.

It’s expensive, particularly on this side of the pond and bulky, but it does so much - it could theoretically replace a compressor, eq, drive pedal and DI. Balancing the input and output gains and using the EQ makes it a boost/overdrive that can be tailored to any amp.

Impressive and fulfills my Juice demands. The price puts it above the pettyjohn although they are competing for pedalboard estate. I can’t help wondering why an fx loop was not included. The buffer might limit the compatibility of successive pedals and ideally the buffer would be last. 

I use it last and treat it as part of the amp. The Predrive is intended to be used first in the chain. I use a Mission buffered volume pedal set to the fuzz friendly setting after it, though the only picky pedal I have is a Fuzz Factory