What ODs Are You Guys Using in Front of Your Marshalls

[tallcoolone]

That's probably gilmourish.com
But the thing is, he never used a distortion in the FX loop per se, he actually has modded Hiwatts with a power amp input, and others that only have the power amp section (no preamp section, and used them with an Alembic preamp (which basically is a bass preamp, and pretty clean), and distortion pedals in front of it (he even used a Boss HM-2 for a while).

And saying YJM uses "a ton of gain" is a total misconception. He uses mid/low output Strat pickups into what's basically a low gain overdrive (nowhere near the amount you get from a RAT or even a TS) into cranked 50w Plexis. Nowhere near EMG 81 into Diezel or Recto or Engl. On his first albums he barely has any distortion, and that's how he has so much clarity. That and perfect technique, of course.

Love Gilmourish.com, great resource! Makes sense that a player who experimented with delay and atmospheric effects as much as DG would tinker like that but I am kind of shocked that a Rat before the preamp would sound very pleasing?

I agree with you on the ton of gain thing tho. I see both Angus and Yngwie as pretty low gain players. I’m kinda curious about the DOD 250 now tho—I thought the reissued that?

 

[tallcoolone]

Nowadays I play hard rock and heavy metao on my jcm 800 with no pedals at all. I just hit harder . Or I use a strat that I have with a dimarzio super distortion . In general high output pickup with 800 is so damn good you don't need any overdrive

Hey, more than one way to skin a cat...never got along with strong pickups myself, don’t like the high end loss. I prefer low output pickups, lower amp gain and a low/no gain boost in front with those amps.

In the end there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong‘...right lol?

 

[Kolanti]

Hey, more than one way to skin a cat...never got along with strong pickups myself, don’t like the high end loss. I prefer low output pickups, lower amp gain and a low/no gain boost in front with those amps.

In the end there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong‘...right lol?

yeah man totally. Good tone is on the eye of the beholder for sure. For me high output pickup with the 800 its just makes me play with less effort ( i mean in strumming etc) also I like the more "loose" and muddy sound of my 800 without an overdrive to tighten it up

 

[tallcoolone]

yeah man totally. Good tone is on the eye of the beholder for sure. For me high output pickup with the 800 its just makes me play with less effort ( i mean in strumming etc) also I like the more "loose" and muddy sound of my 800 without an overdrive to tighten it up

That makes complete sense!

 

[WellBurnTheSky]

Love Gilmourish.com, great resource! Makes sense that a player who experimented with delay and atmospheric effects as much as DG would tinker like that but I am kind of shocked that a Rat before the preamp would sound very pleasing?

I agree with you on the ton of gain thing tho. I see both Angus and Yngwie as pretty low gain players. I’m kinda curious about the DOD 250 now tho—I thought the reissued that?

Well, the RAT isn't my favorite pedal either, but it has its uses. And Nuno has been using one in front of a DSL100 for the last 2 decades or so, so it definitely can be made to sound good as a boost (if you have Nuno's insane playing skills, that is).
As a standalone distortion...it's a tone. Again, not particularly my thing, as always it's a matter of context. And also, Gilmour likes super textured tones from time to time. See the intro to Sorrow for an example of that, you can get those tones from either a low gain Big Muff (which the Cornish G-2 is) or a RAT all day long. So...yeah, kinda makes sense.



As for the DOD250, seems like it's been reissued a couple of times, though as far as I can find it's not currently in production. Though the Fender YJM pedal is supposed to be very close to the original run that YJM himself uses, though I have no experience with the Fender one. Or, if you're handy with a soldering iron, it's a dead easy circuit to build, pretty low parts counts (and if needed, lots of vendors offer PCBs for that circuit and the MXR D+ -basically the same circuit with just a couple changes).
In case you want to give it a go (or just want to learn more about this particular circuit), this will be of much interest:
http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-drivestortion-project.html

As soon as my partscaster is complete (at most a couple of months from now) I'll definitely give the OD250 another go...but again, basically any overdrive, fuzz or distortion pedal (apart from the gainier ones) can be made into a good boost into a Plexi circuit, in my experience. Some are better at it than others, and all of them bring different things to the table, but from the dozens of ones I've tried (again, a perk of building your own pedals), pretty much none has struck me as being 100% rubbish, totally unusable, flat-out bad sounding no mater how I set it.

 

[Chrome]

In front of my jmp 2204, none. Don’t need it because it gives me all I want. I do however use a volume pedal that has a adjustable 15 db boost on the top end.

 

[ampeq]

Something a lot of people don’t even think about is some of the new all in one pedals have some pretty awesome stuff in them. My HX Effects has some great stuff for clean boost, OD, distortion and fuzz. Once you learn which ones you like they can be kept as favorites to pull up anytime you want. Plus if you get sick of them you have a ton to choose from. They are every bit as good as any single pedal and can be tweaked to taste. You can even have 6 set up at a time.

 

[Acvox]

I previously mentioned David Gilmour using the Boss GE7 to fine tune the tone of his Rat pedals, but imo theres a lot to be said for using the GE7 or any 7 band eq pedal as a boost into the front end of your Marshall.

I used one as my only pedal in front my 100 watt halfstack for the first 18 months or so of my playing career.
I found a setting that worked for both cleanish and more driven tones and just worked with it.

Its not perfect, theyre not that quiet and theres an obvious limit to the level of boost available, but the ability to shape your tone any which way you choose is a feature unique to eq pedals in a way thats found nowhere else.

Combining one with your diirt pedal of choice opens up many creative possibilities, and 20 yrs on Im rarely without one on my board or in my bag of tricks should the need arise.. Cheap, reliable and versatile, its my Swiss army pedal..

 

[Edgar Frog]

Still using the Ibanez TS7 Tube Screamer and now a Proco RAT 2 instead of my GFS Brownie Classic Rat/Turbo Rat clone.

 

[Acvox]

Putting aside eq pedals for a moment, Id like to add to the tubescreamer list of pedals already mentioned, and add the Maxon OD 820 Overdrive Pro to the list. (If it hasn't already been mentioned).

I let my Fulltone Mosfet Fulldrive go in preference for the Maxon OD 820, which I only mention in order to illustrate how much I value the Maxon.
Maxon developed the pedal to be the last word, the Rolls Royce, if you like of tubescreamers, and imho they succeeded.
It excels in front of my Bass and Lead Marshall heads, not to mention my '66 AC30. In addition, due to its reduced compression artifacts it responds really well to all kinds of boosters including 7 band eq pedals without loosing those essential dynamics. All the best,

Acvox

 

[Calebz]

15k P90s, Tube Screamer, HotMod and the gain on my SC20h at about 7.

It's very close to the perfect signal chain for me. Nearly every aspect of it is made to boost something

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

In the last year I have put my SD1 back in front of my amps , and there it will stay..
I am still loving the tones I get from it..
Cheers
Mitch

 

[yladrd61]

https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/t...s_G69ritZrNl4cmTZ_ocnFbttMNqFgeiH3wDHAQbGQf2Y

https://godlyke.com/collections/frontpage/products/tamura-mod-ibanez-ts808

https://godlyke.com/collections/maxon-custom-shop

 

[fitz]

SD-1
BD-2
FZ-5
TC Tube Pilot
TC Cinders
MXR M77
DemonFx TS2

not all at the same time...

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

Morning Glory
OCD
Timmy
Pinnacle
Sparkling Blue
SD-1
Plumes
Bonzai
DS-1
Riot
Mud Honey II
Super Badass
Paul Gilbert PG14
Buxom Boost

Also, not all at the same time.

 

[anitoli]

This in front of the 800 Super Bass 100. Kicks it in the balls.

 

[junk notes]

IYO, how would this would sound paired up with a 1992 or 1986?

This in front of the 800 Super Bass 100. Kicks it in the balls.

 

[anitoli]

IYO, how would this would sound paired up with a 1992 or 1986?

Not having either of those heads around i still think it would work very well. There are many tonal options on this pedal and honestly i am still exploring them. If it means anything i lets me get a Lemmy sound.

 

[junk notes]

Not having either of those heads around i still think it would work very well. There are many tonal options on this pedal and honestly i am still exploring them. If it means anything i lets me get a Lemmy sound.

cool I have 2203s/2204s, and the BASS 100 is on the 2022 list! ;-). GAS could be a good thing whenever involving Marhalls!

 

[Davide Margiotta]

The best I found so far are the Rockett animal and the mxr distortion plus csp104, followed by boss od3.