Best off drive pedal!

Jozsef Kiss

Jozsef Kiss

Inspired
Now that Klon Chiron has rented the first place!
I want four drive pedals for my idea!
I have never used Fuzz, Drive, Distortion pedals.
I haven't really favored it so far either.
But now Klon Chiron has changed my idea.
My question would be, which are the four best drive pedals?
I want to use overdrive, a little crunch.
The sound should be scratchy. You don't need the squared-off fuzz!
Thanks for the suggestions!

I forgot to mention!
I especially favor Fender amps!
The guitar is also a Fender!
I'm a Fender fanatic!
 
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Jozsef Kiss said:
Now that Klon Chiron has rented the first place!
I want four drive pedals for my idea!
I have never used Fuzz, Drive, Distortion pedals.
I haven't really favored it so far either.
But now Klon Chiron has changed my idea.
My question would be, which are the four best drive pedals?
I want to use overdrive, a little crunch.
The sound should be scratchy. You don't need the squared-off fuzz!
Thanks for the suggestions!
Click to expand...
this is always going to be real personal but some of my favs
Maxoff, Crunch Box, Zen, Super OD ,, I use a Mesa Grid slammer copy one member made and its the Valve screamer with one or 2 tweaks
 
I've always been a fan of the Timmy (Timothy Mid). I have the real pedal as well, one of the few that I kept after buying the AXE III. I also really like the mid boost for subtle stuff, the blues breaker for a brighter drive, and I want an 808 style in a channel in case I need to tame a bright amp.
 
Casimir said:
I've always been a fan of the Timmy (Timothy Mid). I have the real pedal as well, one of the few that I kept after buying the AXE III. I also really like the mid boost for subtle stuff, the blues breaker for a brighter drive, and I want an 808 style in a channel in case I need to tame a bright amp.
Click to expand...

How close is the FAS Timmy to the real deal? Just curious
 
George Estremera said:
How close is the FAS Timmy to the real deal? Just curious
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Not sure how close it is to the real deal, but it sounds excellent with a variety of amp models. It is my go-to drive pedal for a variety of amps from Fender to Marshall and Boogie. The higher headroom Mid version is my favorite personally. Just know that the Bass and Treble knobs are actually cuts, so they react in the opposite way they would normally. This is accurate to the real pedal.
 
State of Epicicity said:
I almost listed the OC11, but I find that I only use it when I want to push a Plexi to sound like a more dynamic 5150! I love the OC11 in front of both the 1959 Super Lead Treble and the 6CA7.
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Correction: I meant the 3 knob Tube Driver, not the OC11. Both are great, but for turning a Plexi into a 5150, the Tube Driver really does the job. this is the opposite of the OP's question; sorry about the derail!
 
George Estremera said:
How close is the FAS Timmy to the real deal? Just curious
Click to expand...
Funny you should ask, I made a thread a long time ago with an A/B of my Timmy vs the "Timothy 2" model, and I did not feel like they were similar at all.
Casimir said:
Hello All,

I absolutely love the FM3, but the one thing that does not have me convinced yet to sell everything else when I get an FM9 invite is the drives. To me it seems like all the fractal drives are darker and muddier than their real counterparts. I attached a quick sample of a open G chord with first my "clean" tone, then the fractal Timmy 2, then my real Timmy with the switch in position 2. I set all the knobs to noon on the pedal, and on the fractal model for the sake of comparison, so it is not how I would normally set it.

I can get it closer with EQ, but no matter how I set it, the real Timmy seems noticeably more clear and more open to me. I noticed the same thing with a few other drives I own that are not exactly the same as the fractal counterparts. My morning glory seems a lot clearer than the KOT or bluesbreaker models, and my Moonshine overdrive is equally clearer than the TS808 models. Does anyone know any tricks to get these sounding closer to the real things?

Also, I am very intrigued by the CNFB method that Cliff has been working on. Is this something that may be improved with the CNFB method?

This is not a dealbreaker for me, as everything else Fractal does I think is world class, and the worst case scenario is I just keep a couple drive pedals around with me when I get an FM9. I'm just curious as someone newer to the ecosystem if there are ways to improve the drive experience, or if there are improvements coming.

Click to expand...

Within an hour Cliff created this thread.
FractalAudio said:
One real pedal, three modelers (except for the Timmy for which the third modeler doesn't have a model).

Pedal into Band-Commander model set clean.

Tube Screamer:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/tmp/ts_808.mp3

Super OD:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/tmp/sd_1.mp3

DS-1:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/tmp/ds_1.mp3

Timmy:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/tmp/timmy.mp3
Click to expand...
For starters, it turned out the "Timothy 2" model was not actually the middle position, so I was A/Bing the wrong model. In the next software update, they changed the model names to reflect the positions on the actual pedal. If you listen to the A/B from Cliff's post, the FAS model sounds identical to his reference Timmy.

Even with the correct model, I noticed significant differences with my Timmy. I assume that each generation of Timmy's sounds a bit different, so that may be why. I was able to get crazy close to mine tweaking the EQ tab though, and I have a library file I saved as a reference.

After dialing it into to mine, I kept tweaking it to just sound better over time. I tried out my real Timmy again a week or two ago, and I almost instantly went back to the FAS model. The tweakability of the FAS platform got me to the point where I thought the model sounded significantly better.
 
Casimir said:
Funny you should ask, I made a thread a long time ago with an A/B of my Timmy vs the "Timothy 2" model, and I did not feel like they were similar at all.

Within an hour Cliff created this thread.

For starters, it turned out the "Timothy 2" model was not actually the middle position, so I was A/Bing the wrong model. In the next software update, they changed the model names to reflect the positions on the actual pedal. If you listen to the A/B from Cliff's post, the FAS model sounds identical to his reference Timmy.

Even with the correct model, I noticed significant differences with my Timmy. I assume that each generation of Timmy's sounds a bit different, so that may be why. I was able to get crazy close to mine tweaking the EQ tab though, and I have a library file I saved as a reference.

After dialing it into to mine, I kept tweaking it to just sound better over time. I tried out my real Timmy again a week or two ago, and I almost instantly went back to the FAS model. The tweakability of the FAS platform got me to the point where I thought the model sounded significantly better.
Click to expand...
I think this is the heart of what Fractal does in general. Provide great starting points with everything from the amp models to the effects, and then provide the flexibility to tweak parameters so that you can create your own custom versions of those things. Cliff was quoted long ago as saying that the amp models would have been all FAS models in the units as they could be optimized beyond what is possible in the real world, but people would insist on real amp reproductions so they had to include them. I would be thrilled to see more FAS amps and drive models in the future. The creativity to move beyond a simple reproduction of an existing amp or pedal is a wide open frontier for modeling that seems to fit Fractal's philosophy and capabilities quite perfectly.
 
My main rock gain used to be Rat as a boost into a 5150 clean channel with the drive up, but since I got the Axe it's Timmy Up into just about anything.
The Klone is sick boosting the ODS though, I'm having a midlife tone crisis.
 
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