Overdrive Pedal Suggestions for Comanches

Hello Folks,

New forum member here. I have a 98/99 Comanche, and have recently purchased a Vox AC10C1 through which to play it. I've read a bit about overdrive and distortion pedals that work well through top boost Vox amps. I was wondering if Comanche users have experience with some of the typical suggestions (Hot Cake, Sweet Honey, Rat, Timmy, etc.), particularly through a Vox. What would y'all suggest?

Best,

Tyler

I have an AC10C1 also with a Legacy & S-500. I like the mini tube screamer for overdrive, and a cheapie Donner fuzz for distortion/fuzz. Or times I crank the gain & go al natural.

Not the same animal as a Comanche, but my SC3 and F100 like the Fulltone Fulldrive II for a transparent overdrive into an AC4 . I'm enjoying my BBE 427 for distortion/fuzz sounds; it gets pretty splatty/fuzzy when you turn the guitar volume down, but smoother/creamier with more output.

My main amp (90%+) is a Vox AC15C1 and all of my 6 stringed G&L's are equipped with MFDs. The OD pedal I'm using currently is Greer Amp's Ghetto Stomp. I have been happy with the results. I think it works especially well with my ASAT Z-2. Basic tweed overdrive, no where as aggressive as the Rat but I like it. Currently I'm contemplating replacing my Nano Big Muff Pi with a Dirt Preacher and my Small Clone with a Julia. I really need something to replace the Nano Big Muff Pi, I'm less interested in each day. Get loss so easily...

Another pedal that has been tempting me is Catalinbread Katzenkonig (sp). Love the clips I've heard but some of the reviews do scare me off.

Cheers, Dan

Hey Tyler,
when playing at home, I usually just use the gain/drive/soak channels of the amps with my comanche. the z-coil p'ups push the drive channels into harmonic distortion surprisingly nicely.

when playing out i have used a boss blues driver (BD-2) pedal for about 15 yrs, which i find to be a fairly simple and reliable boost/OD pedal, into various amps like Marshall AVT 100 and Carvin V3m. sounds good enough thru the clean channel, another option instead of the drive channels.

i also have a Fulltone FD-3 boost/OD pedal that I use with my G&L skyhawk or my Strat thru a Carvin Nomad 112 clean channel, works very well with those guitars but I don't believe I have played the comanche through it. alot of folks like the Fulltone OCD, I have never tried it. of course there are a gazillion OD/distortion/boost pedals and you will get alot of well intended recommendations here.

I'm sure that there are a lot of pedals that would work well, but I'm all-in on Kingsley for drives. My pedalboard drive section has a Page -> Maiden D w/ EQ Lift Boost -> Page DS.

I also use a Kingsley Minstrel from time to time.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!

I do prefer simply cranking the amp and using the volume knob on my guitar to clean things up. However, I usually practice while my children are sleeping, so was hoping for something I could use at low volumes. The reason I considered the Rat is that it seems to be capable of everything from overdrive to fuzz. I thought it might be decent for tweaking during my practice time at home, while maybe having a single function as a distortion pedal when I'm able to be louder (using my amp for basic gain... which is why I wanted a Vox to begin with: I love the top boost sound!). The Katzenkonig does sound interesting, Dan!

I had a comanche for a hot minute. To me the pickups had lots of mids, so I would pair it with drives that tended to be scooped. My favorite pairing was with a nano big muff playing smashing pumpkins and what not. But for more mild overdrive, I opted for pedals like the fulldrive (2 or 3) where there was a Flat Mids mode, or with a pedal that had a full TMB tone controls.

I second the muff. I built my own, and have a video to show how it sounds with my Tribute Comanche. Insert here all the standard, "I suck as a player" apologies for the less than stellar off-the-cuff junk I was playing. But it should give you a feel for how a Tribute Comanche sounds through a BYO muff.

Thank you for your suggestions, Mike and Dan. I'll look into the Muffs!

I have a Lil' Big Muff that does the tone well enough - but usually I use a Devi Ever Rocket when I want that:

(In all honesty - I bought this pedal mostly for the artwork and the Pumpkins tie-in, but it really is a more useable Muff to me) :

I have a Comanche and an AC15; I tend not to use distortion pedals at all but a Soul Food sounds great in front of just about anything.