Do you use an OD in front of a hard rock amp tone?

cragginshred

Fractal Fanatic
I do 99.9% of the time but last night I tried a Leon Atomica and custom IR pre set. There was no OD in front. I heard some cool aspects of the tone that 'popped' which tends to be too compressed with an OD before the amp. More real amp articulation and rawness without being harsh is the only way to describe what I'm hearing.

Can you guys explain why on some amps it is better without an OD in the front and others really needs one? Hard rock and classic metal tone is the context of the tone I'm talking about!
 
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the Amp block now has a selectable Drive Boost, which can do the job of that drive block/pedal. maybe it has that on?

the main purpose for it with real amps back in the day was to limit the amount of low frequency going into the amp. that's why the Gain was down but the Level all the way up. the circuitry of the Drive pedal just happened to reduce bass at its output, so it made a cleaner high gain sound because the mud was gone.
 
the circuitry of the Drive pedal just happened to reduce bass at its output, so it made a cleaner high gain sound because the mud was gone.

Very good point. And the Axe has a "low cut freq" control that can achieve similar results. I find I'm usually happier cranking up the amp gain and sculpting the low end with this filter, instead of adding a drive block.

-James
 
I do 99.9% of the time but last night I tried a Leon Atomica and custom IR pre set. There was no OD in front. I heard some cool aspects of the tone that 'popped' which tends to be too compressed with an OD before the amp. More real amp articulation and rawness without being harsh is the only way to describe what I'm hearing.

Can you guys explain why on some amps it is better without an OD in the front and others really needs one? Hard rock and classic metal tone is the context of the tone I'm talking about!
I used to use drives in front of the amps for the reasons stated above, Now I only use the boost function in the amp block. It takes care of the excess bass and seems to have less coloration than the drive pedals. I only use a drive pedal (SDD preamp) in front of my clean channel.
 
I normally use the grinder boost in the amp block so double check whether that's on.
 
FTM: "Input Boost, Boost Type, Boost Level – The selectable input boost acts as a “clean boost” to replicating the common technique of setting a drive pedal’s Drive knob to 0 and using its level control to hit an amp harder. Turn the switch on, choose the type you want (types are based on real drive pedals) and set the level to drive your amp harder without needing a separate Drive block. "

Are the amp block "pedal based" input boosts just EQ, that is with no additional clipping distortion, similar to what's shown in Leon's post below?
 
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I normally use the grinder boost in the amp block so double check whether that's on.
Just checked and it's an 808 in that particular preset.

If you're not using any clipping from the pedal (the oft used drive on 0 level on 10 settings) then you're basically just using pre-eq to shape your gain. the Mesa Mark series bass/Middle/Treble controls are pre gain so they function in a similar way. They're probably the only amps I don't feel the need to pre-boost.

I posted this video in the lounge but it's relevant here as well.

 
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