Overdrive Pedal

[lppier]

Hello , I have a Boss SD-1 pedal and while it does the job, I am looking for more gain .. this pedal can only give me the sound I want when I turn up the gain on my practice amp (Beringer Gx-108) and the drive on the pedal itself... I am looking at the Boss OD-3 now.. what do you guys think of this pedal? Does it provide more gain than the SD-1?
Thanks.

 

[mikemann]

Gain is a very tricky issue. It's very dependent on the amp you are using.

Some amps DO NOT work well with overdrive pedals and will break up badly if you drive it too high early. (if you have such amp, you'll have to live with it or change amp)

Your practise amp model already have a complex input shaping selection (the so called amp modelling), which I interpret as the different gain setting on it. This model can give you very high gain by itself.

Do note that your amp is practise grade, so it will react differently from a performing amp to your effect pedals.

Overdrive pedal is like adding another stage on the pre-amp side, the effects are highly subjective. Normally give more desirable result with tube amps.

 

[dhalif]

u can get a boss DS-1 and boost it with the current sd-1 you have

 

[lppier]

Exactly! When I set up everything nicely on my home amp system, I bring the same setup (minus the amp) to a studio, it just falls apart.
I tot that it was due to the performing amp not having the gain knob (to get the sound I want I turn the gain knob on the amp to about 7-8 and turn the drive knob of the sd-1 all the way up) I am playing with a Godin LG SP90 (P90 pickups). The sd-1 does allow me to do what I wanted it for in the first place - to play with overdriven distortion at low volumes - but in the studio where the amp doesn't have the gain knob it doesn't "get" that sound, even with drive all the way up. I can't turn the level up coz I want to match the sound of the guitar alone when the pedal is off with the sound when the pedal is on.

Gain is a very tricky issue. It's very dependent on the amp you are using.

Some amps DO NOT work well with overdrive pedals and will break up badly if you drive it too high early. (if you have such amp, you'll have to live with it or change amp)

Your practise amp model already have a complex input shaping selection (the so called amp modelling), which I interpret as the different gain setting on it. This model can give you very high gain by itself.

Do note that your amp is practise grade, so it will react differently from a performing amp to your effect pedals.

Overdrive pedal is like adding another stage on the pre-amp side, the effects are highly subjective. Normally give more desirable result with tube amps.

 

[lppier]

Will that give me more gain? I only see the distortion knob on the ds-1... forgive me for asking silly questions - i'm quite new to all this, just picked up electric guitar.

u can get a boss DS-1 and boost it with the current sd-1 you have

 

[headwan]

hmmm bro......i tink u should listen to them.....coz i did and im happy with my tone...trust them.... \m/

 

[thor666]

a ds1 can do the trick... but well you haven't really stated what kind of a sound you want/influences you are into. ds1 should have volume/gain/tone knobs.

unfortunately sound can be extremely reliant on amps if u ain't looking for metal-crunch tones (a MT2 consistently produces that sound on most amps i've heard so i guess that's one of the + feature..) ... perhaps you might want to try other studios for that matter.

 

[lppier]

i don't really know how to describe the tone... maybe a list of some songs we play would help...
Faithfully, Spiderwebs, The Reason, Don't Tell Me, Yellow, etc
I would say I"m looking for a thicker sound for chording like in Reason.

 

[mikemann]

Will that give me more gain? I only see the distortion knob on the ds-1... forgive me for asking silly questions - i'm quite new to all this, just picked up electric guitar.

u can get a boss DS-1 and boost it with the current sd-1 you have

The DS1 (Boss distortion) is an independent distortion unit. Which means you can use just this unit to get a distortion sound on any guitar amp clean channel.

The OD2 (Boss overdrive) need to be used in conjunction with another "pre amp stage" to give you that overdriven distortion sound. The result is not consistent with different amps. This pedal is more difficult to use, but the result is a less harsh and warmer distortion when used correctly.

Do interpret what the name says, distortion or overdrive, 2 different things.

You can use either or both to further drive or distort any signal to achieve the desired effect. Good luck.

 

[thor666]

i don't really know how to describe the tone... maybe a list of some songs we play would help...
Faithfully, Spiderwebs, The Reason, Don't Tell Me, Yellow, etc
I would say I"m looking for a thicker sound for chording like in Reason.

a DS1 would be suitable then. if u're looking more numetal or sth then go for MD2.

 

[lppier]

Okay, a DS1 it is then. :wink:

Pier.