Pedal - what to do?

shaunm

I've just taken delivery of an MXR 78 distortion. It sounds great when being stacked with my AC booster but on its own sounds a little thin or weak. From a point of giving me versatility it's great as I can get a good clean from the amp, a good blues tone from the AC Booster and then a good Brian May type drive tone when the 78 is stacked. Does anyone else have pedals on thier board that are there only for the stacked tone? I'm contemplating sending it back but I will sleep on that idea.

ThePrettyDamned

That's odd, I wouldn't consider it a thin sounding distortion at all.

Where is it in your chain?

Other than that, some pedals just work great stacked. If it gives the sounds you need, I wouldn't worry too much.

shaunm

@ThePrettyDamned I have it in this order wah, tuner, AC Booster, 78 Distortion, Jimi mini fuzzface, TC Spark. I might experiment with this a little though? I'd have thought that was a decent way to set the pedals though? Stacked the Drive I get is really good so I can live with it.

steamabacus

On my board I have both an Xotic AC+ and a VFE Dark Horse that only get used stacked into my Award-Session JD10.

The only problem I could envisage with your setup is if you wanted to go from clean to full-on drive you'd have to stomp on two pedals. But if that is an issue, you could put the drives in a looper/switcher so that they could be activated with a single stomp. This is what I have on my board - AC+, Dark Horse and JD-10 are all in a separate loop and any combination of them can be switched in with just one press of the looper switch.

shaunm

@steamabacus good point! I've been playing around this morning with it and the good thing about the AC booster is it does clean up well as does the 78 from the guitar volume. I was playing this morning with the 78 on but the volume down on the guitar and then turning on the AC and turning up the guitar to get my thick drive tone. Your route is easier though!

mike_l

I have one and it's an awesome pedal.

The tone needs to be past half-way though. Same (IMO) as the Distortion3.

shaunm

@mike_I I was messing with the tone this morning. I was going to start a thread based on this point - The tone works well but what works well on the bridge pickup of my strat sounds a little muddy on the neck and what sounds great on the neck sounds thin on the bridge. The AC booster seems to have a one size fits all setting. Again stacked it works incredibly well so its a keeper.

mike_l

Ah, I've not tried it with my Strat, works really well with 'buckers.

shaunm

As it happens I've not tried it with my P90 semi yet either

mike_l

I've used it with my Charvel, Jackson and ESP, (all twin 'bucker) and it does work really well with neck and bridge pickups.

The D3 is similar, but the voicing is different.

Both (IMO) sound weak if the tone is low (IE under half-way) but are both awesome with the tone pushed up.

mike_l

As for your pedal chain, I'd put the fuzz first and see which sound best being stacked into the other.

AC-78 sounds different to 78-AC

shaunm

I just checked it again and I've got it set to about 11 o'clock which works well on the strat if the gain is under 3 o'clock. On a side not do you find that the gain has a massive increase at anything past 3 o'clock?

shaunm

mike_l said:

As for your pedal chain, I'd put the fuzz first and see which sound best being stacked into the other.

AC-78 sounds different to 78-AC

I am getting together with a friend on Monday to build a new pedal board so we are going to put the set up through its paces. It's all new to me I've got all my pedals in the last week so it's experiment time. So far I'm enjoying the fuzz being egged on by the drive pedals, especially as it's a nice thick sound.

mike_l

Not really, certainly no more pronounced than any other pedal I have

shaunm

I think sitting down and spending some time getting to know each pedal individually is in order and then sorting out what is going to be my best order is going to be prudent

mike_l

Defo

The MXR's are really nice pedals, but do have a definite MXR sound. I'd say they're best for a low-mid gain blues-rock sound.

 

shaunm

Agreed, when looking for this pedal that's the sound I was after. I don't really get into heavy rock territory so a good classic rock tone that I can thicken with the TC spark for leads was what I was going for

shaunm

@mike_I just an update, I've spent the last two hours isolating each pedal then putting them together in different orders. My findings are that if I put the AC in the chain first then the MXR when used together I get more of a fuzz tone and a little of the guitars characteristics get lost, however I get more drive. If I swap them over the tone is has more clarity but with less drive on tap. So it will depend on the gig which way round I will have them as different jobs will dictate what I need. Of course I haven't even put the TC spark in the mix yet or the fuzzface...... This will be a long weekend!

mike_l

It's not a long weekend, it's a fun weekend.........