Pedals for 800?

[sojatriani]

Oh, weird, I'm not really getting the crunch I was expecting.

The 2203 needs to be CRANKED...like volume at 6 plus to get a good tone. These amps were made for playing arenas, try an attenuator, get those tubes working and slap a SD1/TS9 in front, should be all the crunch you want...I had one for years...gotta get it crankin', otherwise it sounds flat.

 

[HOT TUBES 70]

+1 in a big way !!!!! they need major amounts of master volume to sound good.

 

[Ambrosius]

The 2203 needs to be CRANKED...like volume at 6 plus to get a good tone. These amps were made for playing arenas, try an attenuator, get those tubes working and slap a SD1/TS9 in front, should be all the crunch you want...I had one for years...gotta get it crankin', otherwise it sounds flat.

Cranked? A wee bit too loud ain't it?

What's an attenuator?

And I'm thinking of the SD-1 route, it's cheaper than the TS9. I'm a bit short on cash.

 

[sojatriani]

Cranked? A wee bit too loud ain't it?

What's an attenuator?

And I'm thinking of the SD-1 route, it's cheaper than the TS9. I'm a bit short on cash.

A wee bit loud for sure...that's why my 2203 is gone...too much amp unless you play arenas every other night...an attenuator lets you crank the amp up to get the tubes working and then you can turn down the volume on the attenuator to whatever level you want and keep most of the tone of a cranked amp, most all Marshall users who aren't in a world famous band use one...look thru the "pics" area in this board, look on top of the amp head, you'll see attenuators galore...So you run...amp head...attenuator...speakers, it acts as a dummy load. Or get a Variac and do it like EVH did!!!

 

[steelhorse]

If the money's too tight get a DS-1 rather than an SD-1. Better pedal imo for the money.

Attenuators are pricey and Variac's aren't cheap either and unless you know what you're doing they can be deadly.

 

[HOT TUBES 70]

+1 on that !!!!! the ds1 is far more tweakable inside , it can be a real moster of a pedal
when modded up , and thats way up !!!!

 

[BeëlzeM]

Attenuators can be great.
Some guy I know around here that plays in a band introduced me to his Weber Mass. Those are awesome. He has one in his rack, the master volume on his amp are somewhere around 6-7 and his preamp volume is way up. Normally this would be extremely loud for a 120 watt head. But that Weber hass two volume controls, one for lows/mids, and another one for mids/highs... so you can tweak volume differently when you have too much lows or too much highs. You can also bypass the whole thing. This unit can also be good for amps that are silent at 0 and in your face loud at 1, it increases the range. Great attenuator, just don't crank the master volume all the way up. It will suck some tone at high levels of attenuations.

 

[steelhorse]

All attenuators do pretty much the same thing and react the same way, some, better than others. The THD Hotplate is among the best. Had one, and like others have mentioned, in order to get the saturation at the adequate levels it affects the tone too much so I sold mine and have done without one since and this was only at the house as I never used one at the club.

 

[Ambrosius]

If the money's too tight get a DS-1 rather than an SD-1. Better pedal imo for the money.

Attenuators are pricey and Variac's aren't cheap either and unless you know what you're doing they can be deadly.

Yeah, I could probably end up blowing something up.

What's the damage for an attenuator?

 

[steelhorse]

Used they run about 200-250, new they're close to 400 USD IIRC

 

[Ambrosius]

Holy snikees!

Yeah, I think the neighbors will just have to deal with it for now.

 

[GibsonSlash]

Well said, an Attenuator is a must.
Get a THD hot plate, it's one of the best out there.

Ambrosius, I felt exactly the same to my amp as not having enough gain.
You gotta have an overdrive pedal in front of the amp.
If TS808 is out of your budget, try a MXR Zakk Wylde Overdrive, used is around $30-$70.

Not trying to be a snob, bu try this setting on yours, crank up the Pre-Amp vol up to 9, don't max it to 10, else it'll muffle the tone and it becomes muddy.
Then set your Master Volume around 0.5 - 1.
If you don't have an Attenuator, you'll still find it loud.
I ran the Master Volume around 1 - 2 thourgh my hot plate at -12 db.
Then power on the overdrive, you'll notice how different it will be now.

Also if you have a chance to get an Eq, get one.
I put an MXR 10 band Eq right in front of the amp just before the TS808, I notice a nice boosted tone out of it when it's on.

 

[Ambrosius]

Yeah, I put the Pre-amp on high and the vol at a low setting (1-ish). I got a decent distortion, but not that crunchy sound. It sounds a bit thin.

I'm definitely getting a distortion/od pedal, the 10 band EQ is next at well. Not sure about the attenuator.

 

[GibsonSlash]

I would try getting an 10 band eq first then the overdrive pedal.
I tried it without the od pedal, just the eq, it sounds amazing!

Yeah, I put the Pre-amp on high and the vol at a low setting (1-ish). I got a decent distortion, but not that crunchy sound. It sounds a bit thin.

I'm definitely getting a distortion/od pedal, the 10 band EQ is next at well. Not sure about the attenuator.

 

[spaceforlease]

u know what u should do? put ur earplugs + earmuffs on and try turning the master volume all the way to 5+. with the preamp still on 7. that'll convince u to buy the attenuator. but anyway, the ibanez TS808 is a highly respected pedal, though they they say newer production models aren't as worth the money as the vintage ones. im currently using a wylde overdrive right now.

RIG:
DSL100 > wylde overdrive > wah > guitar (+attenuator)
thats all there is to it to get a good crunch

 

[Ambrosius]

u know what u should do? put ur earplugs + earmuffs on and try turning the master volume all the way to 5+. with the preamp still on 7. that'll convince u to buy the attenuator. but anyway, the ibanez TS808 is a highly respected pedal, though they they say newer production models aren't as worth the money as the vintage ones. im currently using a wylde overdrive right now.

RIG:
DSL100 > wylde overdrive > wah > guitar (+attenuator)
thats all there is to it to get a good crunch

I did try that, it was squealing like a pig.

 

[Mase947]

Ambrosius forget the pedal and save your money for an attenuator. Trust me that is certainly the way to go. For now, just turn your Master to about 8 and play with your volume starting at 12 o clock and move it up from there if you want. If your not sure that it will deliver the crunch, I'm sure your doubts will be erased if you dime your amp and stand in front of it.

 

[Ambrosius]

Actually I did dime it... still not the sufficient crunch. I think I might take it to a tech and see if it needs new tubes or something.

Plus, I don't really need to have it that loud.

 

[liamlw]

Crank The Amp!!!

 

[plexipaul]

A simple and cheap preamptube swap may solve ur problem. Tip: JJ ECC83S have the most gain and lowest noise.