Any "How To Guides" for Drive Block?

B

blaggers

Power User
Hi,
I was playing around with the drive block tonight - trying to match some of my fuzz pedals, and realised I don't know what slew limit and bias actually do. I've read the manual but didn't really follow it, and was wondering if anyone had written any useful guides to the more obscure pedal settings - or what to set to emulate the better known pedals? I was trying to match my Fulltone 69 and a Wampler Velvet if that helps. Cheers.
 
Fulltone 69 is a Treble Booster (germanium = GE Diode clip type). So you can use the Treble Booster of Mid Booster.
 
Wampler is great sounding "fuzz' pedal. Reminds of the Hard Fuzz (into a clean amp), or the LED-Drive (into a dirty amp.)
 
Pretty good Yek! I ended up with Hard Fuzz, Hard Clip type and a 4 db mid boost at 750 Hz to get close to the Velvet.

Still doesn't help me understand the various settings though. Sounds like I need to ask you each time I want to replicate a pedal ;-)
 
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I'm an "overdrive and fuzz" addicted ... from an original Ibz TS808... to a Chandler TD with NOS Muller Tube... to Radial (Classic and Hot British)...to EH Pi... a Dallas Arbiter Fuzzface... to Fulltone (Mosfet, 69, OCD) ... to an original RAT... and a sweet Tim (tons of tones inside this little blue beast!).
So... i can say: try your pedal in front of the Axe... than follow the Yek's Hints... and tweack to taste...
You'll find your tone! :encouragement:
 
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The drive block is the one thing I haven't quite cracked yet.. there's definitely an art to getting it perfect, it doesn't behave like any 3 knob OD stompboxes i've ever used, but I know there's insane potential there.
 
Mid control has the biggest difference in overall tone I've found, really seems to shave the fuzz the most. I've also had pretty good luck putting a mild OD after the fuzz (you can run 2 drive blocks in a row, FYI) and this shapes the tone a good bit too, EQ block would also work.

I've got a Wampler Velvet Fuzz sitting right here and can pretty much copy the tone when I a/b it, but only for a given knob setting. Adjust anything else, even the pickup used, and it goes out of whack and I need to adjust again.

Its really just a complicated mix of EQ, high and low cuts, drive, and output levels more than anything. Sometimes the clip type makes a difference. Using the Octave fuzz and changing the clip type from recto takes away the octave up effect and sounds pretty good as a general fuzz (Band of Gypses fuzz is octave up minus the octave part of the circuit from what I understand).

The overall level of the amp makes a difference too

The Wampler Velvet kind of mimics a cranked amp a little bit too, so to cop it closer you need to run the drive block into a slightly dirty amp....

See thing to remember is that in the real world, most people can't always run a fuzz into a cranked Plexi due to volume issues. With the Axe, you can easily emulate the tone of an amp cranked up loud, and the way the fuzz reacts is really going to differ based on the amp model.

I find ones with a fair bit of headroom can work really well, HiWatt for example

Finally, the Velvet is kind of a dark pedal, even with the tone knob all the way up. Really have to cut some treble/high cut on the Axe to match it, as otherwise the drive block can sound too bright


As you said though, the drive blocks are pretty tricky..... The Axe can do a fantastic fuzz tone, but it also does a bunch of fuzz tones that sound like crap unless they are carefully tweaked, which can be a bit annoying to say the least.

The tones are there though......

I've a/b'd and sold off my Axis, London I and II, Fulltone 69, Dunlop turqouise, Si, Ge and BoG Hendrix FF's, Lunar Module, P19, Box of War, Big Green Russian, If 6 was 9 fuzz etc. The Axe really can come 99% of the tone to where I couldn't really tell them apart, but I will have to sit and go back and forth for like a half hour before I can match the tones
 
Thanks lqdsnddst, gives me some useful ways to approach tweaking the drive (and what to look for in the amp its run into)!
 
I found that I can get a near identical A/B using my strat with CS69 bridge pup with the Velvet full with the "big" mode, fuzz at noon, and brightness at 1pm with the following settings and amp model

Two-Stone present, no tweaks

Insert drive block, set to "hard fuzz" drive 7, tone 3.5, level 6, low cut 20 Hz, high cut 4500 Hz, 4558/Diode clip type, slew 0, bias -0.15, bass 6, mid -2, mid freq 900 Hz, treb;e -2.7

Gets that exact same slightly woofy, yet smooth and soaring tone, kinda a FF crossed with a Russian muff

Give it a try
 
My recent post related to it, still not right though. Too fizzy or not enough gain sustain. I guess tweaking is the name of the game.
 
I'm gonna make a bigger post on this soon, but my biggest hint is to use a PEQ/GEQ rather than a Drive, and goose the Level, and shape the EQ to taste (less low lows, large smooth bump in the mids). Less noise and better push for the front end of the virtual amp, IMO.
 
Wolfenstein98k said:
I'm gonna make a bigger post on this soon, but my biggest hint is to use a PEQ/GEQ rather than a Drive, and goose the Level, and shape the EQ to taste (less low lows, large smooth bump in the mids). Less noise and better push for the front end of the virtual amp, IMO.
Click to expand...

That works, but just pushing the amp harder isn't always the goal. So many amps in the Axe have all the more gain one could really want and then some, plus with control over input gain trim, boost etc, you can push harder, account for weaker pups etc and then there is the beauty of X/Y switching and more

For me, I use the drive blocks to add character to the sound; to specifically make it sound like a pedal is being used. I want it to sound like a fuzz, a muff, an octave, a TS etc. One can certainly do the old trick of running a TS with the drive turned down to increase tightness, but, I personally find I just instead find a tighter amp model since the Axe has tons of options. I use the TS to specifically get that sound of a TS and its signature mids.

Again, that isn't to say there is anythign wrong with boosting an amp, and plenty of ways to do so, but I think its important to consider what your overall goal is, and then with that in mind, work backwards on how to create it
 
I personally like to crank the slew limit and the drive and the mix. I keep the bias close to the middle and don't get too extreme with any other setting. But that's just me. I like a
drive into a clean amp.
 
Hi,

Is it possible you could share your pedal creations? That would be cool as I am also struggling to get the 'right' sound out of the drive block.

Thanks
Pauly


GuttaLaser said:
I'm an "overdrive and fuzz" addicted ... from an original Ibz TS8... to a Chandler TD with NOS Muller Tube... to Radial (Classic and Hot British)...to HA Pi... a Dallas Arbiter Fuzzface... to Fulltone (Mosfet, 69, OD) ... to an original RAT... and a sweet Tim (tons of tones inside this little blue beast!).
So... i can say: try your pedal in front of the Axe... than follow the Yek's Hints... and tweack to taste...
You'll find your tone! :encouragement:
Click to expand...
 
pauly said:
Hi,

Is it possible you could share your pedal creations? That would be cool as I am also struggling to get the 'right' sound out of the drive block.

Thanks
Pauly
Click to expand...

Not the right way Man! My setting 99% aren't right for you! Drive is not "just drive"! They compress... color...eq... emphatize frequencies and squish other... there isn't a perfect setting of the drive "alone" ... but a perfect synergy between drive settings ... amp type... and amp settings.
Think about this: many BIG (and I... that I'm nothing!) uses 2 drive pedals at one time... one with the drive knob near 0 just for the color of the tone... and the other for drive the amp and little corrections. And... this are the best crunch/distortion tones you can ear. Want more? don't increase the drive... just double you recording tracks!!!
 
Yeah maybe but having a baseline to start with is often a good thing. Cannot hurt to ask.
Pauly


GuttaLaser said:
Not the right way Man! My setting 99% aren't right for you! Drive is not "just drive"! They compress... color...eq... emphatize frequencies and squish other... there isn't a perfect setting of the drive "alone" ... but a perfect synergy between drive settings ... amp type... and amp settings.
Think about this: many BIG (and I... that I'm nothing!) uses 2 drive pedals at one time... one with the drive knob near 0 just for the color of the tone... and the other for drive the amp and little corrections. And... this are the best crunch/distortion tones you can ear. Want more? don't increase the drive... just double you recording tracks!!!
Click to expand...
 
Got the same problem. Wanted to emulate Brian May's We Will Rock You sound - but so far to no avail.

The real Rangemaster the Treblebooster is simulated on has two controls - a boost switch and kind of a drive knob. How are they mapped to the myriad of controls the virtual Treblebooster has? No idea...

Maybe it would be of huge help if the wiki showed some 'typical' settings for the stomp boxes simulated in the drive block. I am sure there are many users who could contribute to the list, maybe with sound samples, and even more users (like me) would benefit from it.
 
FWIW, I read that the Mid Boost drive type works better as a treble booster for some people, than the Treble Booster drive type.
 
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