Hello all - grateful for any advice/guidance here - I just want to check my thinking
I trying to sell my Fender Tube amp and replace it with a solid state amp - mainly as I have a bad back, but also because I play ska/reggae - so nearly always clean.... I don't really need that edge of break up thing that is so sought after....
So 90% of the time i am playing rhythm.... I use an EP exotic for a clean volume boost if the guitar has a lead melody and a tube screamer for a little bit gain for the occasional solo.....
If I do go solid state I am assuming the EP exotic will still be ok for a small volume boost - but I am wondering if the tube screamer will still be effective for solo's? With the tube amp it gives me a nice bit of extra gain and some crunch from the amp - that wont be the case with a solid state amp will it? I am wondering if I'll need a new solo pedal - I don't want loads of distortion or anything - though maybe if the pedal has to do all the work maybe some vintage fuzz?
thanks
James
Comments
It just goes to show - I always thought of the RAT as a metal pedal - based on nothing other than my own biased and assumptions.....
thank you for the advice @DrCornelius + @Grunfeld - I am sure I once had the brief use of pedal that did was a nice cleanish boost and went into feedback if you held it down - I am sure it was grey BOSS pedal - but it was years ago and cant remember if I dreamed it....
I am guessing I could DI into our PA for the mix - but I'd need some volume on stage as i typically don't have a monitor....
I haven't looked into a Tonemaster - but I will do thank you @monquixote - on the list were the Roland Jazz Chorus and Blues Cube as well as the Boss Katana - not ripping up any trees in terms of original thinking I know... at this point I just want light and reliable when we get backing to gigging - I am not a good enough guitar player to be a real tone purist nor does the role in the band I play call for it.... thank you
I find that in general amp in a box type drives work better on ss. I do like the rat, big muff and silicon fuzzes. I dont like germanium fuzzes on my ss amps.
If you want one dirt box to go from clean to mean to scream on solid state, then the Ethos TWE was one that impressed me most. Quite expensive but very nice.
Perhaps the Mooer preamps and Harley Benton and Tech21 pedals can offer you cheaper solutions.
But my experience when playing at home, the more expensive boxes do deliver. Really liked BJFE and Trombetta on my solid state. The minibone is a really versatile pedal but very difficult to find and most of the times very expensive. Ethos TWE was very very nice. Liked it better than the Ethos preamp.
But I'll mention it again, amp in a box types worked best for me. Rat, muff and silicon fuzz are very nice as well. (I use a big muff and silicon fuzz myself these days).
My ss amps are a double clone of an Ibanez GA10, ZT Lunchbox Acoustic, unknown cheap brand ss amp build into a can in the shape of a car.
I use a Quilter Problock, because I don't like carrying stuff. I use the guitar's volume knob (cheaper than a boost pedal!) and a Mooer rat clone (Black Secret?) for those occasional noisy bits.
I've used a Katana 100 and a Tonemaster in rehearsal rooms, both can be fine for what you're after. The JC and Bandit too, though they weigh a bit.
(Digitech Freqout for fake feedback?)
Quilter head, neo 1x12 cab, + a Wampler Belle or Nobels ODR1.
alternatively, Fender tonemaster+ Wampler Belle or Nobels ODR1.
I've used the latter and it does pushed clean/light gain very well.
Pushing solid-state amps with pedals doesn’t always give the results you expect - although if the amp itself has a decent overdrive channel it can - so you’ll probably need to use the pedal for all the extra distortion, and a TS can sound a bit boxy like that... the designers seemed to think that ‘valve amp overdrive’ meant ‘nothing but mids’.
Some solid-state amps work better with distortion and boost pedals if you use the overdrive channel set to a clean sound, rather than the clean channel - even if you want a purely clean sound and get all the dirt from the pedal - the clean channel can sound typically ‘solid state’ and buzzy, but the overdrive channel sounds warmer.
If it doesn’t work well then as already said you might want more of an ‘amp in a box’ pedal - something less midrangy, and/or with better EQ than the TS. You can still use the TS stacked into this if you’re used to using a small amount of amp overdrive.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I would stump up a bit more for the Blues Cube
I like the Katana, but the clean channel isn't the best (though it takes pedals very well). It wouldn't be my choice for a Ska gig.
They also take pedals really really well. I've been a pedal junkie for years and have found as mentioned that a lot of ss amps (and valve amps tbh) can be quite fussy with some drive pedals. However, the Quilter's have worked with everything I've ever chucked at them well.
I'm quite happy using a problock and now tone block for rehearsals/festival gigs etc.
As for pedals something like a timmy, barber gain changer or a revv G2 would do the trick. Very versatile and work well into a solid state amp.
I'm selling a Revv G2 at the moment if interested, but the recommendation is not based upon that! it is a very good pedal indeed
There is a section of this where they mess around with a JC40 plugging in some posh overdrives, they don't go down the MIAB route but just dial in the sound they want. They are using both sides of the DandM Drive which something like the equivalent of a Tubescreamer into a Bluesbreaker (?).
A Tubescreamer by itself might be a bit boxy so without going down the stacking pedals route maybe something like the EQD Plumes which is a bit more of a fatter tubescreamer and the three way switch means you can make it less tubescreamerish. Also has a momentary mode so you can just stand on it whilst playing a short solo/ fill and it goes off when you take your foot off it.
With an old tranny amp (Wem er40) I used a boss os-2 for light dirt and a fuzz face in front of it for solo boost.
This is the trannie with both guitars and bass recorded through it and those pedals.
https://m.soundcloud.com/davemc-2/crowbar-bues
Anyway, I really like my solid state amp (an old Marshall) with distortion pedals and gain lower - think rat, boss df-2 etc. I tend not to love mid-focused ones unless it's stacking into a dirty Marshall.
I was looking up what I'd said on a previous not dissimilar Discussion where I'd mentioned Aaron Barrett from Reel Big Fish who does the ultra clean to crunch to lead gain. He has a Guvnor for crunch and a tubescreamer into that for more gain and runs the amp completely clean. Almost exactly what the DandM drive is doing in that video I posted on here earlier.
So, probably of no use but it's an excuse to post some RBF anyway...