Drive Pedals That Preserve the Classic Telecaster Tone

exocet

I've been playing more of my Telecaster recently and have grown more fond of the classic "both pick-ups on" tone.

However I've noticed that most of my Drive pedals completely trash the fundamental "chirpy" nature of this tone.

Only one of my pedals (Joyo Sweet Baby) makes a good fist of keeping it in tact. All of the others (Kalamazoo, Zen Drive, ReezaFratZitz) appear to "add" too much Lower Mids into the mix which upsets the balance.

The Joyo Sweet Baby rolls off quite a lot of low end so I'm guessing that's why it sounds pretty good with the classic Tele tone.

However, to my ears - the Joyo rolls off too much lower end and can make things overly bright as a result.

Which other drive pedals preserve the Tele tone without loosing too much low end.........or am I going about it the wrong way?

mike_l

I've not tried them with a Tele (Me and Tele's don't get on) but have a try of the MXR range, all retain the tones which go into them, yet retain their own sound.

The Distortion+ tightens the low, and adds a sparkle to the top (For example)

not_the_dj

Subdecay Liquid Sunshine is fantastic with a Tele (and most other guitars).

A Timmy perhaps, or the Timmy flavoured Lovepedal OD11

exocet

I'd forgotten about the Timmy...it's not on my board at the moment but given the Bass EQ provided by that pedal I'm sure it can work.

Liquid Sunshine is on my acquisition list - are there significant tonal differences between the different versions e.g. MK1, MK2, MK3 etc or are they all good? 

meltedbuzzbox

nobels odr

impmann

Nobles as mentioned above or any other 'transparent' drive does well.

Frankly, I like a Tele into my Okko Diablo or my Hotcake (set to Bluesberry) - still sounds like a Tele to me. :-)

jonnyburgo

My Box of Rock clone retains my Teles character really well

not_the_dj

exocet said:

Liquid Sunshine is on my acquisition list - are there significant tonal differences between the different versions e.g. MK1, MK2, MK3 etc or are they all good? 

I've had the Mk2 and Mk3. I never had both at the same time though, but I think I preferred the Mk 2, it's slightly lover gain compared to the Mk3 and on the Mk2 you have two gain controls that interact, takes a bit of playing with. The Mk3 is a bit simpler to use, with the empasife control (a fancy tone control really).

stickyfiddle

Rat, Hotcake, Liquid Sunshine

crunchman

OCD is transparent, and not mid heavy.

exocet

I'm not convinced that the issue is down to one of transparency of pedal. My view is that a transparent pedal at its simplest, does not roll off bass ala Tubescreamer.

My Kalamazoo does not roll off bass , neither does it "add mids" - the pedals EQ does not contain the required components to selectively boost Mids - you'd need a 3 band EQ for that or similar.

When using the Kakamazoo with Bridge Pickup - I don't get the same effect - it sounds like a Telecaster, but dirty. The Bridge / Neck combo however is completely different.

I get the same effect with the drive channel of my amp ( Dumble clone) - leaving the EQ where it is, Bridge sounds good but Bridge / Neck sounds wrong....played clean with same EQ the Bridge / Neck combo is fine. This amps "drive" is pretty much full range as well...no bass roll off. This leads me to think that the issue is related to allowing too much low end through.....in that respect a "Transparent Pedal" does not appear to be the way forward....there again that's just based on my interpretation of what a Transparent pedal is.

I should add that my main amp is not the Dumble clone - it's a basic Fender derived combo - 6l6 based , pretty clean and bright sounding.

DarnWeight

Red Llama loves my Teles

equalsql

I built a clone of the Xotic BB and without doubt it is the most transparent OD I have every used on my Telecaster. Most ODs rob the low end or hump the mids, but the BB keeps all the original slappy-fatness but with rich harmonic drive.

Additionally I would also recommend you SERIOUSLY check out the Emma Stinkbug as it born for Telecasters. It is jaw droppingly good and not bad value either.

JackGriffiths

crunchman said:

OCD is transparent, and not mid heavy.

This. It keeps the low end so makes Teles sound especially rich without altering the base tone.

exocet

Stinkbug sounds good to my ears. I like Emma approach to Product Design / Marketing - definitely different from the norm.

I dug out my ReezaFratZitz last night for some "heavy tones" - don't normally go for that kind of sound nowadays but I have to say that with a Telecaster and Clean amp, the RezzaFratZitz kicks ass.....doesn't work with the Classic Tele Neck / Bridge combo but with that amount of gain, I wouldn't expect it to.

noisepolluter

exocet said:

I'm not convinced that the issue is down to one of transparency of pedal. My view is that a transparent pedal at its simplest, does not roll off bass ala Tubescreamer.

As has been said: liquid sunshine

If you find an Xotic BB second hand, go for it (or alternatively an Xotic AC - slightly different voicing but still very good for tele).

I tried a Digitech Hardwire Overdrive (green one) a while ago and was also very impressed. Another TS-derived pedal, but with a bass control, and a voicing switch. 

meltedbuzzbox

if a pedal has a voicing surely it is not transparent?

Deijavoo

Zvex SHO or Clone. Not really a drive pedal but sounds awesome!

shaunm

I'm going to give a vote for an MXR 78, I've only tried one on a strat and a semi but it did not mask the guitar at all. I found it better than the OCD or the AC booster both of which I have (or have just sold)

Dave_Mc

impmann said:

Nobles as mentioned above or any other 'transparent' drive does well.

+1- nobels odr, timmy, blues driver/screamin blues, etc. etc. should all work more or less

I didn't notice the sweet baby to roll off much bass? i actually use mine with bass now since it sounds really good on bass (and normally pedals which cut bass don't). Maybe mine's dodgy )

NPP

My Strat has a Tele bridge pu and I love bridge+neck for Motown-type sounds. Both a modded Soul Food and a Formula no. 5 clone work well in that context. With the latter, I turn the guitar vol down to 7-8 for clean rhythm.