Quote:
Originally Posted by robroy
thanks for your insights. I bet you're on the right track. I'm trying to approximate with pedals but it's, of course, elusive. The more I play around with my boss tremolo and od-3, the more I like it though.
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The OD-3 is a good pedal (I keep one on my board) but tends to be brighter and cleaner than the tone you are seeking. I step on the OD-3 whenever I want a bright, jangly classic rock tone -- as on a Tom Petty or Who song.
On the same board I keep a DigiTech Bad Monkey and it's my go-to pedal for grit. The BM has low and high tone knobs and a little fatter gain, so you can dial in a gritty blues-rock tone a lot easier.
At the end of the day, though, pedals can't substitute for real burning tubes. Tubes, especially the 6L6s in an old Fender, get a bit "messy" when they break up -- and when they push a set of 10-inch speakers the smaller cones contribute to the grit. The more uniform sawtooth wave an analog OD pedal produces tends to sound gentler and more compressed.
The downside of a tube amp (the larger ones) is unlike a smaller amp with pedals, you can't really crank up the magic at home without the neighbors calling the cops. I have a couple of Fender amps, an old tube Super Reverb that's a big powerful beast, and a little Super Champ that has digital modelling and lower power for home practice. At home, the SC at low volume sounds way better than the SR -- but at a gig when the volume is higher, the SR squashes the Champ like a bug.