Dirty amp or Clean with a drive pedal

1poorplayer

1poorplayer

Power User
For years I was a "Dirty Amp Guy". Then , one day I bought Dr Z. Then quickly found low output pickups.
I finally discovered the beauty of a great clean amp , and soon after realized that adding my dirt to a great clean amp - was tonal bliss. Clarity , dynamics , fuzz , and cutting thru the mix.

I've been enjoying the JTM45 with a drive pedal lately , for my distortion. The spongy clean with enough dirt to have fun.
Anyone else use this route much , or are you just going straight for the mean amps ?
 
I tend to run my rig this way as well. I stopped using channel switching amps for the most part a long time ago. So I would always get a good not-too-clean-not-too-dirty base tone and back off the guitar volume for cleaner tones and use dirt pedals to get more drive. So my main patches for the AX8 are the same way - I really only use two - one is a Hook 1A and the other is a 1987X and both are set to work with drive pedals.
 
That's what I do. My rig before the Axe Fx was based around a Budda SuperDrive II 18W, which I used as a "pedal platform". The base tone was clean with some breakup and then I added a number of drive pedals.

When I first got the Axe Fx I started out with dual amps because I was not really connecting with the drive pedals... But since they have been reworked, there are more that I like.

I find the drive + amp is more organic sounding than switching amps.
 
I usually have a setup w/ one amp, and then a Control Switch to boost either the drive, input trim, boost switch, or sat switch. I'll often put an EQ in front as well, to be switched on w/ the boost and to cut the lows that sound good on the cleaner setting but not when I kick up the gain (if we could control the Cut switch that would be even better ;-) and maybe to fine-tune the overall tone since we can't control BMT. That's a lot of flexibility right there! Then I'll add a drive block, and maybe another EQ as a "2nd drive" so my typical IA layout has EQ-Drive-CS1 on switches 2-3-4. This way I end up w/ a number of options for gain structure in any one preset.
 
I build my amps pretty clean. I usually put 2 drives in front of the amp. The first drive is set to kick the front of the amp, such as the Esoteric ACB or Fulltone. The 2nd drive is usually a cleaner drive such as the Esoteric RCB or Timmy. I also never run the drive mix greater than 50%.
 
Geezerjohn said:
I build my amps pretty clean. I usually put 2 drives in front of the amp. The first drive is set to kick the front of the amp, such as the Esoteric ACB or Fulltone. The 2nd drive is usually a cleaner drive such as the Esoteric RCB or Timmy. I also never run the drive mix greater than 50%.
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So do you normally "stack" the drives?
 
hippietim said:
I tend to run my rig this way as well. I stopped using channel switching amps for the most part a long time ago. So I would always get a good not-too-clean-not-too-dirty base tone and back off the guitar volume for cleaner tones and use dirt pedals to get more drive. So my main patches for the AX8 are the same way - I really only use two - one is a Hook 1A and the other is a 1987X and both are set to work with drive pedals.
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yessir, that Hook 1a is one of those amps worth the price of the unit alone!
 
For a few years I used a Nova System onboard distortion a Bogner red pedal and a Blackstar HT Dual through a Quilter Steelaire rack head and a 2x12 every where I went people said it sounded awesome..........then the AX8 came into existence and the rest is sold off
history....
the rig.jpg
 
unix-guy said:
So do you normally "stack" the drives?
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No. I use the amp alone, then kick in the drives as needed, but only 1 at a time. I have experimented with 2 drives both engaged, but it is too much dirt for my tastes. I prefer my tones cleaner, retaining note definition and dynamics. Too much dirt puts the kabash on that.
 
I've run forever that way, usually with some Fender or Fenderish (or occasionally Voxish) amp with drive pedals, usually one at a time. Sometimes I'll use an EQ boost and/or compressor in front of the drives. I don't play anything high gain though. Clean to medium gain. That's my sense of how most people in the roots (jazz/funk/country/blues/jam) end of the spectrum tend to do it. Some people will gain their amps up enough and then ride the guitar volume knob to clean up. I'll do that with a Tweed Deluxe or Trainwreck sometimes. Sometimes I take those same amps and gain them down a bit for a cleaner clean and hit them with pedals for drive. For basic gig setup though I usually have amp plus pedalboard style variations available starting with very clean Fender as basic platform and ending with Trainwreck for max "clean" gain.
 
Geezerjohn said:
No. I use the amp alone, then kick in the drives as needed, but only 1 at a time. I have experimented with 2 drives both engaged, but it is too much dirt for my tastes. I prefer my tones cleaner, retaining note definition and dynamics. Too much dirt puts the kabash on that.
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Cool, thanks.
 
I'm using the AX8 different than my amps. I'm preferring the tones of the dirty amps on the AX8 (for my needs) and then controlling gain with 'controllers' /expression pedal to clean up the tone. It's working great for me for 90% of our tunes we play, and I'm preferring the sounds I program to those with the cleaner amps and drive pedals. . I'm not quite as into as many of the drive pedals as many of you guys. I like the 'less is more' pedals more on the ax8 than the hi-gain ones by far. . Eric
 
Geezerjohn said:
No. I use the amp alone, then kick in the drives as needed, but only 1 at a time. I have experimented with 2 drives both engaged, but it is too much dirt for my tastes. I prefer my tones cleaner, retaining note definition and dynamics. Too much dirt puts the kabash on that.
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You might want to try putting the 2 drives in parallel instead of in series. I've found that can work well when you have both engaged, instead of sending distortion into distortion...
 
bradlake said:
Kind of a revelation, actually.....
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Aw gee, thanks! I don't remember how I first came up w/ it, maybe just playing around one day or maybe it came from somebody else's preset (@iaresee?). Anyway, I was doing something w/ 2 drives and it just sounded nasty and it occurred to me to put them in parallel.

Keep in mind that when you send that second signal into the amp block, it's also sending an additional +6db (I think?) because of the 2nd path so it'll push the amp a little more than if you were in series. You can either turn drive/levels down a bit to compensate, or just let it rip w/ the extra signal ;)
 
jefferski said:
You might want to try putting the 2 drives in parallel instead of in series. I've found that can work well when you have both engaged, instead of sending distortion into distortion...
Click to expand...

Neat, that's an idea I've never even thought of! . Gonna try that out this week when I get a chance. . . As long as there's no 'out of phase' type issues, it sounds pretty exciting

Eric
 
@jefferski parallel drive and fuzz is DA BOMB! If you got the idea from me, then I'll acknowledge I got the idea from the very smart guys at empress effects who introduced me to it by way of their multi-drive pedal. Credit where it's due, I say!

Try doing some extreme, but opposite, high and low pass filtering in the parallel drive blocks for cool things like low-frequency drive and high-frequency fuzz. In the AFII you can use a cross-over block for really cool high/low frequency routing to the two, parallel drive blocks.
 
I'm glad to hear I'm not alone.
I hate to bring IRs into this , but that's another part of the puzzle. A lot of guys around here insist on using matched cabs.
I bought a couple of cab packs , and actually came back to use the old 103 factory cab for my "all arounder" for use with the band.
What are you guys doing ?
 
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