What do you use to boost your tube amp?

[Shekoski]

I might get a Peavey Valveking sometime and I was wondering what to use as a boost for it to go into metal territory(It doesn't have enough gain for metal). I'm thinking TS9 or a clean boost?

 

[subversion]

if you have not heard it in person, no use speculating. i have note heard the Valve King in person either but from my experience, other than the Classic 30, Peavey amps can do high gain well.

the various Valve King clips i heard had the player turn the gain down becaue according to them, the VK does crunch munch better than distortion per se.

 

[kank_39]

Try an EQ pedal in the loop. I feel that an EQ pedal helps more than a boost pedal if you want to get metal tones. As for me, I use both. :lol: A HBE Dos Mos or Zoom Power Drive as boost and a MXR KFK 10 band EQ in the loop.

 

[Shekoski]

I've heard it already and, judging by the brief time I tried it, I don't think It can go metal without some sort of booster or I could set the amp on clean and use a distortion pedal. I'm looking for something that can give me a fairly clear yet aggressive distortion. Also, I'm only BASING my desired tone on metal since not a lot of people know what kind of tone I like.

I'd like the tone of Saosin, Chiodos and Alexisonfire, Yesterdays Rising and S.O.A.D. specifically. Not an exact copy but something pretty close. Yeah, most of them aren't metal but they do sound pretty close.

 

[subversion]

you're after intense distortion more than metal type per se...

i own the Ibanez Valbee amp, the default drive isn't near intense but hooking up any mild-type drive pedal does drive it rather intensely. i've heard clips of the Valve King & believe that it's more intense (drive-wise) than the ValBee so coupling it with a mild drive unit might do the trick.

 

[Shekoski]

can you give an example of a mild drive pedal?

 

[subversion]

Sure:

*Ibanez Tubescreamer
*BOSS OD3
*Guyatone OD-2

...among others.

 

[nysk]

lol klon...

 

[nysk]

oh sorry my above post doesnt answer ur question of "what do you use"

hehe

if u want heavy metal tones y dont u got for heavy metal pedals instead and just put ur gain low on ur amp when u turn it on?

 

[Shekoski]

@nysk:

I sort of don't want to do that. No use in getting a tuber(that banks on a good gain channel) if you're going to use a metal pedal anyway. I'd like to use the AMP's distortion BUT with a bit more grit via a pedal.

 

[guitarnub]

i use a TS7 at the moment, but im looking at other more transparent overdrive units too.

 

[Gearjunkie]

Try a fulltone OCD, or one of the barber pedals - LTD, direct drive. Crunch box would do a similar thing to the OCD as well i would think.

 

[Shekoski]

Do I need a "transparent" overdrive to boost? What does transparent mean exactly when it comes to overdrive/distortion pedals?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, you have asked an interesting question. Sit back, relax and wait for different responses withtheir definition of transparent..

i start first

transparent to me means theres no different in tone, frequency when you engage the effect to process your signal. The processed signal almost sounds like no different before you engage/disengage the effect

transparent ovedrive/distortion- Not sure bout it, coz everytime when i put in any "transparent overdrive/distortion", my tone become overdriven/distorted, i cant seem to find and transparency in my tone

but then, i heard theres something called a clean boost which can be used to push tube amp. With the tube amp crank to the verge of breaking up, engage the clean boost to pump it further.

 

[thor666]

Do I need a "transparent" overdrive to boost? What does transparent mean exactly when it comes to overdrive/distortion pedals?

imo, it means that you retain the fundamental timbre of your guitar sound. Or to put it another way, you can identify your own vocal voice whether it be through a loudspeaker or through a normal microphone.

 

[Shekoski]

So a clean boost is what I'm looking for? :lol:

 

[guitarnub]

correct me if im wrong, but clean boost is simply a volume boost. A transparent overdrive on the other hand, is simply an overdrive unit that adds overdrive and nothing else, doesnt alter your EQ(unlike a tubescreamer, which adds mids).

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

but then,how can the overdrive add overdrive without alteration to the tone eq when almost all drive pedal has their own bass/mids/treble section?

And if we adjust the those on the pedal to give us a so call transparent drive, aint it using EQing on pedals to EQ the eq section on the amp?

So is it really transparent or EQed transparency that we want to believe?

No flame intended. Just some thoughts which i had, at some point of time.

 

[guitarnub]

hmm well transparent isnt 100% transparent either, but some are more transparent than other i guess you can say. Plus, pedals like tubescreamers have a mid bump which you cant control.

 

[subversion]

transparency here refers to the ability of the pedal to let through a more inherent tone from the guitar/ amp. with a drive pedal in use, transparency is limited.

if you like the amp's default tone but wish for more thump- clean boost. if you think the amp's default drive can use a little assistance- drive boost.