Need a little something in a driver

Hey Folks,

I am thinking I need a little something in a driver/OD pedal for my ASAT special. It just doesn't hit the front of the amp hard enough for me liking, compared to a humbucker axe so I think I need to reconcile my non-OD pedal ways and get something to add that little more oomph when I need it. What are you using and why?

what kind of amp are you using? i usually find MFD's have more than enough on tap although this does depend on the amp. for boost and mild OD i use an Xotic RC Booster and I also like their AC Booster and BB Preamp. the RC can go from clean to just a bit of hair at the highest gain and has the added plus of both treble and bass tone controls (as do the other 2). that said, there are a ton of pedals to choose from including those with "magical tone powers" like the Klon (actually it a great pedal but now too pricey on the used market), Fulltone, Keeley, AnalogMan and the usual suspects like Boss, EH and of course BBE. you might want to check out some of the threads on the MusicToyz forum as a lot of the guys there have tried a wide swath of pedals and you can read their, at times, rather detailed tone reports. happy hunting.

http://www.musictoyz.com/guitar/pedals/newpedals.php

http://musictoyzforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=51 (do a search for "clean boost" "od" etc...)

I do a double clean w/ my Kot(King of Tone). Works great w/ MFD's.


Cheers,

Will

I use a Radial Engineering PB1 booster pedal to add a little extra drive. I like it because it's a clean boost pedal.

Sprinter 92

I am using a Mesa Boogie Mark V, as far as MFD's hitting it, they are extremely mild compared the the humbuckers I run, very audible volume difference, so I need something to help bridge the gap. To add that bit more hair I am looking for an OD, I would like a clean boost too, ofcourse, thinking for that a MK4.23 (lots of boost, very clear, so it could squash a preamp pretty good).

I am not even running high output humbuckers, just some Carvin C22s (B and J). The whole MFDs having 'high' output levels seems to be a phenomenon of the vintage players (used to much less out), and vintage amps. I think as far as output these would classify as low bordering medium output.

I have a clean boost - a Durham Sex Drive. They're great. It has a very smooth boost, not brittle like some others I've used. It doesn't change the the sound or dynamics of the guitar at all (with the compression set to 'off', of course), just makes it louder. That MK 4.23 sounds very similar, looks really cool and costs significantly less than the Sex Drive. I just might have to get one and try it out!

When I need more grit I use an MI Audio Tube Zone OD pedal which is the best OD pedal on the planet, IMO. They're infinitely tweak-able so you can tailor it for use with any amp. I can even get it to work with my 5E3 clone. There's also a HUGE amount of volume boost available, even when, like me, its powered using 9VDC. It can use 18VDC and give even more boost! From what I've read it sounds even better at 18V too. You can actually use it as a clean-ish boost too, but I have one of those!

To me it would be a waste of money to put an OD pedal in front of a Mesa Mk5, which surely has enough gain on tap for any style of music, and so I'd use a clean boost. That way all you're doing is feeding it more of the guitar's signal and getting the famous Mesa OD that you paid (a lot, no doubt!) for.

I believe that the MFD pickups are a high output SINGLE COIL pickup. The output is similar to humbucker with a low output like the Seth Lover in the Bluesboy. They are a lot louder than the Don Mare vintage style pickups I have installed in another ASAT.

To me it would be a waste of money to put an OD pedal in front of a Mesa Mk5, which surely has enough gain on tap for any style of music, and so I'd use a clean boost. That way all you're doing is feeding it more of the guitar's signal and getting the famous Mesa OD that you paid (a lot, no doubt!) for.

You are right there, I never dime the gain on this thing, it is just unnecessary. I have previously been quite adverse to drive pedals, and distortion pedals are something I have never been interested in, so maybe I will just stick with only the clean boost (which was lined up for use with my humbucker guitars. The amp has a built in 'solo' boost also, but I believe that is power stage, at the volumes I am playing I need something pre amp stage. As far as Mesa prices.. well lets just say dealers are pretty rigid with what they advertise on mesa typically, I have never regretted it though. The thing was and is my dream amplifier.

I don't own any ASAT so far, but I own a Barber Small Fry and that's a really good OD pedal (It even has 4 nice "fine tuners" on the inside), it ranges from bassman growl to I'd say big crunch a la Angus Young... but most of all, it respects the tone of your guitar very well, and that's a thing I'm very picky with... take a look at their website

it even do a nice clean boost

http://www.barberelectronics.com/SmallFry.html

As far as Mesa prices.. well lets just say dealers are pretty rigid with what they advertise on mesa typically, I have never regretted it though. The thing was and is my dream amplifier.

Undoubtedly. That thing will be worth at least what you paid for it even today, not that you'll ever sell it of course. I had a Mesa F30 once, I really regret selling it. Talk about solid - if it was an animal it'd be a wombat.




And a hearty congratulations on knowing what your dream amp is AND owning one!!!

A clean boost is a very handy thing to have on hand (or feet, as the case may be) even if you only use it to give your solo's a little push to get them higher in the mix. From what you've said about your own playing situation it almost sounds (and I know I'm kind of contradicting myself here) like you'd be better off with an OD pedal - if you're playing at home at partner/neighbor respecting volume levels your amps own OD will sound crap. Yeah, so get an OD pedal too - the one I recommended earlier! Honestly, it can't hurt to have these things lying about.

Blarg, no risk of being contradictory, however the master volume on a MK5 is a pretty good deal, sure I am not pushing power tube saturation in the slightest, but there is a dual stage master on this one that works pretty dang well. "Respecting" volume is just slight of giving myself aural fatigue (and likely damaging my ears), and as my building is concrete the neighbours don't seem to mind. I still get some good preamp levels, although I fall shy of saturation primarily as I do not want the dynamic loss, then I run to power in 10W mode (1/2 as loud as 100, so I am driving it that much harder I suppose). Never hurts to have more pedals though (as long as the wife doesn't find out ). Thanks for the input.