The "Best" Overdrive

Lordy!  It has been quite some time.  I've been rather busy with various projects, so busy in fact, that I have yet to come up with a reasonable excuse for my absence.  To the few of you regular readers, I apologize for my absence.  Very soon I should have a nice photo blog of my 70's Guild S-100 project.  I just need to locate a bridge position Guild HB-1 and I'll be raring to go!

In the meantime, let me get back to some smug gear talk.  Probably the most common question I've ever been asked is, "Which overdrive is the best overdrive?"  If I was a prattling snob I'd tell you to get out your checkbook and buy an original Klon.   If I was a true TGP'er I'd probably tell you to buy my old dirt box, so I can leap on the next overly priced bandwagon dirt pedal.  But glory be!  This is Stonewall's Guide, not theirs!  First thing I'd like to clear up, is that there's no best dirt pedal.  If there was, we'd all have one and there would be one company.  That being said, your musical tastes will change and you may use one consistently for years and then one day, never use it again.  I used a Fulltone OCD as pretty much my only drive pedal for a long time.  I've recently gotten a new amp and now all I use is my Xotic RC Booster and my sweet sweet Orange amp breakup.  It's going to change, you'll have to get used to that.  However, don't get caught up in hype, or you're going to end up one of those people losing lots of nickels constantly buying and selling new "best pedals".

Pedals are a math equation.  Your playing/style + your guitar + your amp.  They all make a big difference on the sound that's finally going to come out of the speakers.  If I don't know you all that well, my first question is always going to be "What kind of music do you like to play?".  Please don't tell me that you like everything, that doesn't narrow things down at all.  What do you truly like to play?  Rock?  Blues?  2 Step Thrash?  All of those are going to make a difference.  Basically it helps me decide if you might be looking for something with lots of gain on tap, or just a little bit of drive.  This also tells me what kind of overdrive voicing you might like.  In a really oversimplified way there's really only two voicings, Modern and Vintage/Classic.  Modern voiced pedals are typically going to be much brighter and have a more scooped sound, which is very common in that racket you kids call "metal".  As you might guess, Classic/Vintage voiced overdrive will sound a tad darker, have a more pronounced mid range, and might be more raw sounding than edgy.  I will digress for a moment, and say that with so many boutique pedal makers there are plenty of pedals that can be vintage voiced with a scooped sound and vice versa. Some pedals even can do both with the flip of a switch.

The next bit of information I'll need to know is how you're going to use it.  Are you running a completely clean amp and using it for your rhythm sound?  Are you going to be blending any amp distortion/overdrive? Are you wanting to just massacre everyone in a 9 mile radius with your Big Muff?  Some pedals don't stack well, meaning, they sound like shit with other dirt pedals or amp distortion.  (A Merriam Webster definition of course).  Stacking is a whole 'nother ball game I'm probably going to save for a later post.  It can get complicated because it depends on what order you have your stack, how you're running each one, etc.  We're just talking about "best overdrive" here.  The final piece of the puzzle is what amp you're using.  Clean Fender-esque amp?  Pushed class A amp?  Crunchy British amp?

Here are a few recommendations that've worked for me.  They may or may not work for you, but it would be selfish of me to withhold my experience.  I haven't tried everything, but I have tried more than my fair share.  Don't take my lack of examples as lack of experience.  I only recommend the "shining stars" that come immediately to mind.  The best drives, in my humble opinion, are the ones you can get at least 3 different usable sounds out of.  There's no bigger pain in the ass than bumping the setting and feather touching the knobs to get that non existent "sweet spot".  (Guess what?  You turn your amp up or down and that "sweet spot" moves around or disappears).  I tend to prefer "Vintage" voiced pedals, but I used to love that "Modern" sound.  Both have their place in music, you just have to use your ears.

On Clean High Headroom Amps
Fender amps are fairly "neutral" sounding to me, which makes them a great platform for using dirt pedals for different colors of drive.  Since amps like a Twin or a Hot Rod series amp have lots of headroom, they also provide a great platform to use the full range of gain in a pedal.  High headroom prevents lots of natural clipping; or the amp being overdriven/compressed on its own.  Once an amp starts to overdrive by itself, there's only so much gain you can work with before that gain knob just turns into a noisy mess.  This is what worked for me:

-  Wampler pedals:  The large amount of headroom allows the "amp in a box" Wampler pedals to really shine.  Given, you're not gonna turn your Hot Rod Deville into a Mesa Rectifier, but you'll still have a better platform to work with than say, a Vox.  They offer a pretty wide selection of tones, but I really bonded with the Black 65 and the Pinnacle.  The JHS stuff claims to do the same thing, but to me sounds like nasally shit.
-  Fulltone OCD:  It's based on a Marshall circuit, I used this for years.  I like the Fulltone stuff.
-  Tubescreamer Variants:  Although TS circuits aren't my cup of tea, they really fatten up a Fender.  Fender amps lack midrange, and a TS has a mid hump, making it an obvious choice.
-  Proco Rat (only with LM308 chip):  If you want to sound like old Sabbath get this.  The models without the LM308 chip sound thin and fizzy to me.
-  Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde:  These pedals are underrated.  Despite the ugly triangle (even uglier on current versions) they sound great.  Provides you with a TS circuit on one side, and a nice distortion on the other.

On Class A Amps
All you need to know about Class A amps for this post, is that they have a different power section, which in turn creates less headroom for you to work with.  (If you want to know more about Class A, Mesa has posted a nice little article about most of the differences).  Due to the lack of headroom, your amp will break up nicely without having to kill everyone at the volumes you'd be playing at with a non Class A amp.  A Vox AC15 or a Mesa Lonestar Special are great examples of a Class A amp.  Most people who buy these types of amps do so, because they want this type of natural drive/compression.  So if you've got this nice creamy  drive, why would you muck it up with an "amp in a box" pedal?  You can, but I'm not a fan.  I like to simply blend a more transparent drive, or simply boost the amp to get more gain from the amp itself.  If you boost the right frequencies on these amps, you can get a nice warm fat sound.  If you boost the wrong ones, you'll get an ice pick in the ear.  Here are some recommendations:

-  Xotic RC Booster:  Does a nice job of getting more dirt out of a Class A amp, while leaving the natural tone of the amp intact.  The Gain on the pedal itself blends very nicely without taking over the show.
-  Durham Sex Drive:  Same deal as the RC Booster, just with the ability to choose a Raw, Soft, or Hard Compression within the boost.
-  Fulltone OCD:  If you turn the Volume up to 2 or 3 o clock, and the Gain down to maybe 9, you can get a nice crunchy rhythm tone.  A lot of people recommend the Hot Cake for amps like an AC30, but I much preferred the OCD because it wasn't as fizzy.
-  Klon:  If you know what a Klon is, you can feel however you want about it.  I like it.  It's a Swiss Army knife for either a little grit or just a boost.  It's not my go to, but it sure makes a Class A amp sounds pretty.
-  Fuzz Face Variant:   I think FF's sound incredible when blended with some natural amp drive.  It makes 'em warm and fat. (Everything a man looks for in a lady).  I had great success with Analogman products and the new version of the Fulltone '70 (the old one sounds like shit).
-  Muffs:  A Muff can be brutal sonic mayhem, but like the FF I think they sound best when blended with a little drive.  I personally like the Wren and Cuff stuff, but I've heard Mojo Hand has been making some great clones as well.  You'll have to look online at the different types of muffs (probably shouldn't search that word at work) to find the kind that suits you best.

For Those High Gain Fiends
If you asking me, and you're wanting to play high gain/heavy music, buy an amp that's gonna get you there.  Although I don't dabble in the black, hairy, unshowered corners of music anymore, I learned quickly that there's no pedal that will ever do it right.  Some do an okay job, and will get you by if you're not wanting to dish out.  But, do you really think a little metal box with transistors can do a better job than 15 glowing KT88's?  If you didn't buy that $250 boutique "Mesa in a box", you could have saved up a few more bucks on gotten yourself a used Sovtek MIG, Read Bear, or 5150 secondhand that would leave you feeling more satisfied.

You can blend drive pedals with these types of amps, but once you reach a threshold of distortion you're either gonna get lots of buzz or not as much buzz.  You should sit down with a well produced metal record and listen to how "distorted" the guitars are, not as much as you think.  If you really need a little push, this is what I'd recommend:
-  Turn the Gain halfway down on your amp and try some pedals and see if you like the blended drives more than your amp alone.  If you do this, Muffs and FF's come back into the picture and they'll actually be usable.
-  TS Variant:  Turn the Gain down (or even off) and turn the volume up on the pedal.  It'll have the same effect as those Class A amps, but you can use the tone knob to color your drive without adding unnecessary gain from the actual pedal.
-  EQ or Clean Boost:  When you're dealing with lots of distortion, it's all about hearing the right frequencies. The audio engineers out there will appreciate this advice, don't always boost frequencies.  If you find that you  want more Treble, cut some Bass.  If you cut frequencies to enhance others, you'll get much less noise and your signal will be "cleaner".



This obviously was a very short overview.  It'll at least get you looking at videos deciding which ones work best for you.  I'm obviously biased, but it's been based on what's worked for me.  If you want a recommendation, feel free to drop a comment.  Although they won't throw me shillings for this, I would recommend checking out the Pro Guitar Shop, "Demo It Live" service on their site.  It allows you to hear various pedals through your amp so you can get an idea how they'll work for you.

Until next time,

Cheers!

- Stonewall

Stereotypes

As with most training, to fully understand the textual slap(s) on the wrist(s) that I will be handing out, certain terms must be defined.  In any sort of teaching (or parenting), a student must understand why they are being beaten, before (sometimes during or after) the beating has occurred.  Over the course of my music career, I have studied guitarists and their habits and have developed classifications for the different types that have emerged.  Not everyone falls into these categories, but many fall into one or two of them in some way or another.  Enjoy.

The Wookiee  (woo - key)(like cookie, with a "w")

Look at them, lingering.  

Wookiees spawn from interest in various metal and hardcore music, but also from Classic Rock bands of the 70's (Pink Floyd, Zeppelin).  Long greasy hair, faded black "Maiden" or "Floyd" shirts, and plain wranglers.  They are one of the most frowned upon guitarist types, not because of musical tastes, but due to lack of personal hygiene.  Although Wookiees despise Hippies, they have much in common with them (i.e. no job, horrible musk, lack of ability to properly communicate).  The main difference being Hippies do more drugs, and Wookiees play more video games.  The Wookiee will always travel in packs, and communicate through a form of grunting to one another.  Once a Wookiee pack migrates to a guitar store, they tend to linger long past the point of being welcome.  It's very common to see a Wookiee hunting for EMG pickups, and an amplifier with the utmost amount of gain.  Once comfortably seated, they dial the master volume of an amplifier well beyond tolerable playing level, and furiously pick 32nd notes.  Despite their impressive playing speed, their technique is rarely clean, and resembles the ascending and descending of basic scales.  Once satisfied (or kicked out), the Wookiee pack leaves, buying nothing, leaving a disconcerting aroma behind.


The Prattler (aka The Pretentious Snob) (pratt - ler)

Prattlers are a less common species of guitarist.  The average Prattler has a 6 digit income and a European made car, or a rich wife.  It is common to find a Prattler at a boutique music store, or a church.  They get along with most P&W guitarists, but despise everyone under the age of 35.  Be warned, being cornered into a conversation with a Prattler is inescapable.  However, most Prattlers are much too pompous to talk to anyone, being preoccupied with deciding which R9 to play at church next Sunday.  It is common for a Prattler to casually instigate conversation about an extremely swank boutique company (which shells out a grand total of four units each year), then scoff at you for having never heard of it.  Prattlers tend to spend long amounts of time, even days, playing high end instruments in stores.  Despite being well financed, they will always ask for bottom dollar on an instrument.  Very rarely do they buy the instrument.  On such occasions, they typically bring them back the following week with the remark, "It just wasn't the sound I was looking for."


The Hipster (vag - uh - bond)

Mmm, Starbucks.

Hipsters are a young form of guitarist, and usually evolve into a Prattler or an Academic.  In its early form, a Hipster commonly will commonly play P&W, John Mayer music, or the ever vague "Alternative" genre of music.  Being independent thinkers, they hang onto every word spewed from the newest Rolling Stone or AP magazine.  Since they are easy to spot (sporting a cardigan and a scarf in the summer), they are subject to quite a bit of ridicule.  A Hipster has to have the latest effects pedals with the most options (especially ones they will never use).  It is common for a Hipster to be on the waiting list for the latest Strymon spaceship pedal, with their old Eventide spaceship for sale with a pretentious price tag.  If you're not sure whether you're looking at a Hipster or an Indie Rocker, check his/her pedalboard for a JHS brand pedal.  That's a dead giveaway.

The Indie Rocker (saw - Nick - you - th)

This territory is fairly shaky, since the term "independent" can mean anything you damn well please.  This type of guitarist can be very innovative (mostly awful), and are downright weird people.  Indie Rocker and Electro Harmonix are commonly used together in speech when describing each other.  In many instances an IR is a niche shopper, looking for odd devices that turns a guitar signal into an 80's pad synth, or sets their amp aflame.  It is common to see Indie Rockers wielding an Offset Fender, slew of fuzzboxes, and quite possibly a mullet.  IR's have much in common with Hipsters, but don't like being called one.

The Academic (ack - uh - dem - ic)

The Academic is a guitarist that is more concerned technique and playing, than the gear itself.  In many cases,  an Academic will be able to outplay you on a broken guitar with no strings.  Due to most of its life spent practicing, the Academic is socially awkward.  Academics are friendly creatures, but sometimes can be competitive and territorial when in the vicinity of a formidable scholarly foe.  Due to fluctuating hormones, Academics will go through violent mood swings of sheer cockiness to utter depression, questioning their own ability as a musician.

P&W (Praise and Worship)(Disclaimer:  Nothing to do with religion)

Due to the ever growing trend of worship music sounding more and more like U2 and Coldplay, the emergence of the P&W guitarist came to be.  A typical modern P&W guitarist has 4+ delay units on their extremely tidy pedalboards.  They litter online forums with questions that they think only apply to themselves such as, "I need a direct box for P&W music, help!".  (In all of my research, I have not been able to discern a secular or religious DI box company, but I'll keep looking).  It is common for a P&W to speak of themselves as a full-time musician, believing that making whale noises for 15 minutes in church once a week counts them as such.  P&W guitarists are friendly.


This was a brief overview, and there are many sub genres which I may delve into someday (but probably not).  Frankly, if you don't fall into any of these categories you probably actually play guitar outside of your house.

Until next time.

- Stonewall

Controlling the Insatiable Lust: Delay

Due to the growing pedalboard envy (similar to the other type of male envy) of the middle class bedroom guitarist, planks of wood covered in shiny colored boxes have grown to substantial sizes.  It has become a trend for guitarists to spew forth boastful prophecies of the unlimited capabilities of their new noise making spaceships.  Forums once dedicated to making fun of Eric Clapton's latest haircut, are now flooded with threads variably titled "Is X or Y Delay Better For My Niche Use Of It?"  On a few occasions, I have spotted pedalboards in the wild that are completely covered in 5-6 Echo devices.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, no one will never need that much delay.  Ever.  *waits*


Now that all the Coldplay fans have angrily tightened their scarves and left the room.  If you've got that many echo boxes on a pedalboard, you've either:  A) wasted a lot of money, or B) don't leave the house. Most "textural" guitarists would argue this with me, but I would simply counter-question them if they can actually make a record or move out of their mother's basement.  Every time I read that someone is "needing" a delay for a specific niche function, my brain immediately assumes they are too lazy to bend over and turn a knob.

With that much echo or reverb EVERYTHING SOUNDS THE SAME.  Congratulations, you've made a post rock song, now make another that doesn't sound just like it.  Reverb and Echo can be useful to create depth if you're clever.  Ever notice how dry everything on a Radiohead record is?

 Listen to Thom's voice (pronounced th - Ah - m)  around 1:00.  Next listen around 2:03 for when echo is used on his voice.  It's very subtle but it sounds huge.  Why?, because it's not clashing with all that useless noise you've already made.  As much as we all dream, not everyone can be Ed O'Brien and get paid to stand around, tap delays, and do nothing.

"What key are we in guys?!?!?"

So when you're trying to decide how to fit your M13, Timeline, Timefactor, and Space all on your Pedaltrain Supreme, just remember, you're probably making whale sounds.  So, please stop.  One of the turning points for me in using delay was limiting myself to one that has a limited range (DM3, Maxon AD9) and seeing what cool things I can do with it.  Long quarter notes echoes are boring, and dotted 8th delays should be left to the Edge/P&W guitarists.


You may be asking yourself, "So now that he's trashed everyone, what does he use?".  Well to answer your question:  3 Echoplex's with a single tape being strung through all of the units (counts as one long delay), and a spring reverb tank which I have replaced the stock springs with slinkys.

(I'm just kidding, it's only a double.  The third was photoshopped)

- Stonewall