What is the "best" or your personal fav OverDrive?

[ripgtr]

Originally Posted by BJW

All Valve, hand wired point to point, EQ circuit derived from Portaflex and it has a re-amp out so you can loop out to it at a Line in and back out at line, or vice versa so you can insert studio gear before your amp.

Dickinson Amplification - Intro

No vested interest, but I did recently get one of these -
jester

I had an old Ibenez tube king, it died recently. I had a gig coming up and was thinking about one of the new tube kings, but I had been interested in this one for a while. I got it - it sounded great. I was running an old strat through a 70s Deluxe. Kick the pedal in, it did not sound like a pedal, it sounded like an amp, just more overdrive.

I think a tube, high voltage, is the way to go if you are looking for overdrive, like a tube amp overdrive. I've tried a lot of pedals and most of them sound more like "distortion" than "overdrive" - not a bad thing, but different.

[jakey1]

Well, I've tried everything, and my absolute fave is the Pete Cornish G2.

it's somewhere between a good OD and a mild Fuzz.

Think cranked JCM 800 and you have a pretty good idea.

[SpiderM69]

Klon Centaur

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by ripgtr

No vested interest, but I did recently get one of these -
jester

I had an old Ibenez tube king, it died recently. I had a gig coming up and was thinking about one of the new tube kings, but I had been interested in this one for a while. I got it - it sounded great. I was running an old strat through a 70s Deluxe. Kick the pedal in, it did not sound like a pedal, it sounded like an amp, just more overdrive.

I think a tube, high voltage, is the way to go if you are looking for overdrive, like a tube amp overdrive. I've tried a lot of pedals and most of them sound more like "distortion" than "overdrive" - not a bad thing, but different.

I have one of the Ibanez Tube King TK999HT reb box high gainers. One my fav high gains. I do not have the white OD model. Really a nice unit, runs 100v stepped up internally not as much as some real tube pedals but sounds superb.
I would agree somewhat on pedals in general especially digital platforms. But even running those into a good tube amp makes for a much better tone. They are just tools, its how you use them. A bad player can make anything sound bad while an experienced tone merchant can make anything sound good.

Having had and used more overdrive pedals than I can honestly name or remember, once I tried the Wampler Ecstasy drive I found the drive I had been wanting for my Strats. Just a pure tone box no matter where you set it. It is in the design of the pedal and the know how of the builder. Brian Wampler has a genius gift. And if you use that Pinnacle Distortion you would swear it was like power tube saturation. Some guys just feed pedals into the wrong type of channel EQ, the amp makes or breaks the tone. Running a pedal into a solid state amp will never sound as good as great tube amp channel.

Wampler overdrives are just amazing. I am not a country player and I use Strats 98% of the time (1 model does have a fullsize HB in the bridge) but the Ecstasy drive does all the thick and heavy Trower tones I was looking for as well as great clean Hendrix vibe tone and J Beck fusion tones I love. I cannot imagine anyone finding problems with this pedal. With its 3 modes there is any imagined diode config op amp tone that is extremely transparent and does not alter the wood or tone of your guitar just improves it. This pedal is not a TS clone and Brian is clear on that. It does not have the mid hump or muddy bass.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by SpiderM69

Klon Centaur

The new version Klon is coming out soon. Should be interesting to A/B and test. No matter what I do in the future my Ecstasy Drive is on the board to stay. Klons are cool no doubt but way too much for the out of production ones. Word has it that long time Klon user J beck has been messing with the Wampler drive. I am probably going to to get at least another one to have some quicker tone setting changes underfoot.

[Jim Williams]

Funny how some claim to get Trower's tone via pedals. When I saw him (and recorded the show) back in the early 1990's all he used was a Boss Chorus ( I wished he would shut that damm thing off!) and a super lead 100 Marshall stack on "10".

No fuzz, no overdrive, just the hands on a Strat. Most of the live Hendrix shows I saw he layed off the Fuzz Face for most of the show, it was just Jimi and the Strat.

Point is, these guys could have used anything and they still would sound like them. As they did.

[litepipe]

People forget how much those guitarists worked the amp. Overdrive was often in addition to a pushed amp. All of the tone is not coming from the pedal. It was a spice. That's one of the reasons their tone was so good.

[jackaleks]

Zvex Box of Rock, never heard a pedal like it.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Funny how some claim to get Trower's tone via pedals. When I saw him (and recorded the show) back in the early 1990's all he used was a Boss Chorus ( I wished he would shut that damm thing off!) and a super lead 100 Marshall stack on "10".

No fuzz, no overdrive, just the hands on a Strat. Most of the live Hendrix shows I saw he layed off the Fuzz Face for most of the show, it was just Jimi and the Strat.

Point is, these guys could have used anything and they still would sound like them. As they did.

Being a long time follower of Trower, I know his chain and he has several walk throughs of his rig line on youtube. A Boss Chorus instead of a Vibe??? Seriously? God if I saw that I would be tempted to walk the show as I have seen Robin so many times over the years and I would feel robbed if those old tones had fallen to such a bad end.

For some time his rig as been a Fulltone DejaVibe> Fulltone Wahful (custom fixed position wah)> Fulltone std Wah> new Fultone RTO> old model Fulltone Fulldrive. (Drive on RTO at 9:00, tone about 1:00, Fulltone drive all the way down) This is his tone.
No way to get Trower tones without a Vibe much less a Boss pedal. A chorus does not have the Vibe pulse Warble. Sometimes Robin is not so high tech in his rig line (often using batteries) but no way you are going to get those old tones with just an amp.
I go for a lot of differing tones than just Trower so I have my rig set up to be more versatile. I just do not like the Vibe into an OD. When I run the Vibe amp in on some dirty or gained up channels the overdrive pushes the tone into feedback if I hold the note. The tone is very, very Bridge of Sighs sounding but without that Vibe just is not the tone.

Since most of the tone of a noted player comes from their technique and style I do not think you have to clone their rig to sound like them, accounting for their hands it is doubtful you will. I have to use what works for my hands and what my amp responds to. Most cannot get the tones they got in the studio themselves. Trower always sounds a little different but never without the Vibe pulse. You can make the case he overuses it but it his signature tone. I find the pitch of the Dejavibe using a dark or gained channel with an overdrive causes the tone to warble into a feedback pulse that really nothing else can do nor is it there without it.

Jimi used a Vox Wah, a Fuzz face and a Univibe in the later days. He would often back the volume down on the guitar with the fuzz on as those old boxes made for some great clean tones vol down. Also no way to get just an amp to drive out and dist without something to boost the signal. Impossible to play some things without the Univibe no amp does that. Certainly Hendrix's thing was massive volume and he did all his tones with a wah and fuzz face, the octavia and univibe were also used for some tones which again nothing can get without them.

I should add that I am not doubting what you say, given there was nothing going on behind the stage. At best artists do "versions" of their tunes, they seldom are able to capture the studio magic live and many do not try, keeping things simple keeps touring simple. That being said there is a reason Trower has not in many years attempted some of his older more pedal oriented tunes as he simply not using the pedals these days to create the sounds. A dry version of some of these be it Hendrix or Trower would leave much to be desired and sort of would make me feel cheated not hearing the better tones. A Boss Chorus over a DejaVibe, I would probably walk. You could play Bridge without the pulse but again it would be a version and not what I would term a good one. Hendrix can do a lot with a super volume amp but he cannot get the fuzz, octavia or vibe tones much less a wah. How about a Shaft version without a wah?? Machine Gun or Voodoo Chile without a wah....

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by litepipe

People forget how much those guitarists worked the amp. Overdrive was often in addition to a pushed amp. All of the tone is not coming from the pedal. It was a spice. That's one of the reasons their tone was so good.

Quite true. I always argue an overdrive is not used properly, it is not a lesser gain dist box. Seems like the first thing most do is gain it up like a dist pedal.

I use mine much more cleaner with enhanced tone range and push to the amp. My main tone is always my amp clean to darker gain to ubergain. The pedals just add to the palette of tones that are possible, they enhance the tone but are not solely the tone basis (except of course things like delay or reverb). Nothing gets tones like that Ecstasy drive I just got, just kills on any of the 3 modes it has. It can gain up more than I will ever use but the cleaner more boost tones of that pedal are what get me. Being a Strat player that is the best drive I have found.

[rp108]

I have tried a bunch of overdrive pedals and I have to say my favorite is my 1984 Ibanez TS-9 with the JRC-4558 chip.

I think the Maxon OD808 is really good too but the TS-9 has a nice midrange boost that I can't seem to get with newer overdrive pedals.

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

Being a long time follower of Trower, I know his chain and he has several walk throughs of his rig line on youtube. A Boss Chorus instead of a Vibe??? Seriously?

Yes. It was that blue colored Boss Chorus pedal, not the grey original that was so popular in LA back in the 1980's. Add to that was a stock looking Dunlop Cry baby and the super lead 100. I have the recordings, ya know what? It sounds like Trower. His vocalist at that time was also quite good.

The Univibe as Hendrix used was the first commercial phase shifter. It used 4 discrete all pass filters with fet variable resistors to sweep the phase. That concept was "borrowed" first by Maestro and later MXR.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Yes. It was that blue colored Boss Chorus pedal, not the grey original that was so popular in LA back in the 1980's. Add to that was a stock looking Dunlop Cry baby and the super lead 100. I have the recordings, ya know what? It sounds like Trower. His vocalist at that time was also quite good.

The Univibe as Hendrix used was the first commercial phase shifter. It used 4 discrete all pass filters with fet variable resistors to sweep the phase. That concept was "borrowed" first by Maestro and later MXR.

Be that as it may, players tend to sound like themselves no matter what they might use but some things do not produce the effect of others. A flanger does not sound like a phaser and a vibe does not sound like either. The univibe was a photocell circuit using a light source, 4 stages as I recall but very unlike a staged IC chip phaser circuit. A chorus is basically a flanger circuit with added short delay. All our present forms of phaser and chorus modulation were a result of attempts to recreate the rotating speaker of the Leslie cabinet. Instead each came out with a unique sounding pedal.

The true issue of the Univibe was to mimic the sound of a Leslie rotating speaker with the pronounced throw at the point the rotor moves past you. A phaser does not do that nor a chorus or a flanger. The vibe remains a unique animal in the modulation arena with the photocell circuit still arguably sounding better than recent attempts at a tuned phaser circuit trying to put the throw into the sweep (ref:Lovepedal PickleVibe or T-Rex Viper as notable models). They sound OK and a decent mimic but an A/B still will have a tone maven coming up with the photocell circuit. In no way is the MXR or Maestro phaser a photocell light source mimic of the univibe but an entirely different IC circuit. The Maestro three speed button unit was probably the first one widely used, a cool unit, I had one, as well as an original univibe, had I only half the fingers then I have now I might have kept them. The MXR remains perhaps the benchmark 4 stage IC phaser circuit.

The original univibe was a really moody, noisy, tone sucking pedal. As Trower's ability to use the effect and even find them became problematic he sought replacement effects (noted in interviews). Obviously the Chorus attempt was one of these and must have been before the resurrection of the vibe photocell circuit which I think perhaps Mike Fuller (Fulltone) developed the first true to the original circuit and sound but better components, noise reduction and true bypass. I believe ever since Fuller came out with the DejaVibe it has been the one Trower has used and is never without. Says something about the pedal considering there are quite a few since that have come out with the photocell circuit that Trower could have switched. There are arguably better vibes of course. Trower stays with the early model black DejaVibe and prefers the std version Fulltone Wah which is more a Clyde McCoy circuit than a CryBaby. Which is also a tone sucking non bypass pedal.

Robin's consistant use of Fulltone is a means to create the sounds of the past with modern circuitry bypass and better quality. Fuller continues to try and move Robin into the modern era as he still often uses batteries. As I mentioned before, I do not know of anyone who can properly duplicate their studio tones live, it all amounts to a "version" of that optimal performance. Robin's live tone of even pre Fulltone still pales in regard to the original sonic magic of his material more so than his current pedal chain.

As for the real photocell circuit Vibe effect, it remains a unique effect that nothing really gets. A quick play through one and it is an easy tell, those of use that love the effect, love it, the hate modulation crowd has something to really hate in the Vibe. It is not really a highly useful effect like a chorus can be but just something that wacks the tone and gives it that amazing pulse sweep that throws the sound into a warble feedback. As to using a chorus or anything else, there is just no way to properly get the tone of say Hendrix's New Rising Sun with anything else, it would just be a version of something that is much better and cooler.

I am sure as good as Robin is he could make a piece of shit sound sonic and that explains the Chorus pedal but in no way is that going to sound like a vibe with the rotor throw pulse that makes the effect sound unique. Also the photocell light source circuit of the vibe is not used in any phaser, it was a lost circuit until Fuller resurrected it again with modern design and better quality. Using anything else to mimic the original Trower or Hendrix tones makes for a "version" that sounds a little like it, but a vibe is a vibe and if you have used them you know nothing is like them.

[nedorama]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

...or Voodoo Chile without a wah....

... or without a Showman head into a 8x10 cab?

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by nedorama

... or without a Showman head into a 8x10 cab?

Hendrix was always Marshalls, except for a couple of occasions. He did experiment using Sunn amps in 1967 in the States, Noel Redding kept using them a little longer.

One concert was held in my backyard at the time, Devonshire Downs 1969. Hendrix arrived without any gear. Valley Sound in NoHo set him up with a white strat body and fitted a maple Telecaster neck on it. They rounded the heal so it would fit the strat cutout. At that time they were selling all sorts of Fender stuff they would buy at auction, I bought a Rosewood Tele body and some Tele maple necks for fifty bucks.

For amps, they rented 6 Dual Showman's, the new 1969 models with the silver trim and grill cloth. You know, the ones that created the "pre CBS" thing. Hendrix played about 3 songs and walked off, pissed off at the crowd, the gear or something. He then drives down to Daglas Char Broiled Burgers on Devonshire Blvd. in Northridge and orders a burger to cool off.

I guess he felt bad about the whole thing as he returned on Sunday to give a rip roaring concert. I do have one recording of the show, a clip of Red House on a blues compilation. It sounds like Jimi, not Dual Showman's. I suspect the cabs had D-140 bass 15" speakers as the tone is thick and a bit dark compared to the familiar Marshalls.

Many posters were made of Jimi at that concert. You can identify those as he's wearing a blue/white flower outfit and has that Tele neck in his hands. Behind him is clearly seen the 6 showman's, all stacked up in weird ways. On another Hendrix box set I have there is a photo of Hendrix and the crowd in front. Clearly seen are a couple high school friends, Ron Gaiser and Dennis Wilkenson. Guess I was out at the loo.

[drbob1]

There is a difference in sound between a Univibe and most phasers, but the WAY the effect is made is still a phaser: filters causing phase shift, mixed back with the unaffected sound. The Toneczar Halophase has a switch to go from phaser to Univibe sounds (useful to set the two sides differently because one sounds better slow and the other better fast).

There are 3 ways to cause the notches to sweep: optical, CMOS and matched transistors, they each impart an idiosyncratic nature to the sweep, hence the difference in sound between the Phase 90 and the Small Stone...

[nedorama]

Jim - only reason I mentioned it is I recalled an Eddie Kramer interview where he mentioned that Voodoo Chile specifically was on a Showman, but yeah, he's the guy I think of with Marshall amps and strats or a flying V.

Of course, that didn't stop Gibson from issuing Strat-Style Hendrix guitars... man that company has gone nuts with gimmicky junk.

[darkhorse]

I have never bought into the deal of trying to replicate a heroes gear or rig line. That sort of thing I think appeals to younger cats and hero worship, I was there a long time ago I get it. But after you have been playing for a number of years you start to understand you are not going to sound like someone else just because you have their equipment or guitar. I have found a lot of times when trying to get close to someone's tone I like for certain styles I go at it from an entirely different manner. I love old school Trower but I do not like the sound of my Vibe unit into an OD yet I get a killer Trower deep heavy tone w various levels of gain. He uses the Fulltone RTO overdrive but I find the Wampler kills and has more options and tone capabilities.

Most important is a great sounding amp. And I do not think in that regard you have to buy into the name brand hype so much. It takes some reasonable bucks to get into a quality range as I do believe you get what you pay for. But not 3K for an amp head. What they are selling as Vox, Fender and Marshall are certainly not what they used to be but the prices are higher than ever. You pay a lot for that name. Most important thing for me is tubes. A great sounding clean tube channel will make any pedal sound better. Tubes are not really just all about ubergain distortion that is just some of the hype they sell to the young players. Fender style amps or VOX sound great because of their vibrant clean tones. These modern multichannel amps can often give you the tones of several different types. Most I think set them up for gain distortion levels but you can really dial in a completely different amp sound.

As for guitars I gave up on name brand and popular names guitars quite a few years back. I have had some of the best Fenders and some of them were not really great guitars. The thought of spending like 6K on a guitar which lacks a lot of features I like, such as locking tuners, is really not something I would ever do. I can get 5 really amazing custom builds with the wood and features and finish I want with my name on them no less. Vintage is a whole lot of hype for my opinion. I prefer my custom builds and actually a kit I finished out and assembled remains my fav guitar workhorse. Not the prettiest one in my collection but my god it sounds incredible. Imagine a Strat with an Ebony fingerboard and I have pickup base plates on my two single coils, it has a fullsize HB in the bridge with split coil and a special switch I wired in to get the neck pickup with the bridge. The action, feel and tone of that guitar is priceless for me. The most important thing in guitars is just the basics, the pickups; single coil or HBs is the main difference. Split coils do not really sound like single coils because the mag field is still HB size. I have various woods and I cannot tell so much it makes that much difference, more the pickups I think.