Drive Pedal Heaven

yek said:
But ... there was another candidate. Scene 8 features the SHIMMER DRIVE, Fractal Audio's custom creation. Unlike the others, this model isn't based on virtual diodes. But with some tweaking (low Drive, increase Bass, etc.), I can get it in the ballpark with the other ODs. And its advantage is that it uses a lot less CPU than the other 7 drives (firmware v13 Beta).

So, give Shimmer Drive some love when searching for your ultimate OD.
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I love the Shimmer Drive. It's my go to for medium gain tones. Something about it just hits my ears right-
 
Budda said:
https://media.tenor.com/images/ab25109e3887a6b35ea6d0b0c6203312/tenor.gif

Teach.
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(Note: I updated the clip on Aug 15 and 4:20 pm PDT so that the last run through the riff at the end collapses the L and R channels to mono so you can hear what it sounds like when you layer things but don't spread them across the stereo spectrum. This is truly multi-frequency distortion here. Replete with different amp and cab signal chains too!)

So the first take is no xover. All frequencies run through both parallel processing rows in the preset. It's too much. Huge, unusable in a mix or band situation really. Then I engage the xover and it tames it all but keeps it monsterous. I mute the right and then left side so you can hear both the low and high signal chains separate from each other. And then one more time together for fun.

The panning is a bit extreme here.

This works really well with bass guitars too. Put some growly overdrive on the low frequency content, but keep the high frequency content really clean.

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Preset is here: https://axechange.fractalaudio.com/detail.php?preset=8171
 
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Great thread. For many years, I've pretty much always preferred the organic sound of an amp with gain up over using pedals to get distortion or overdrive.

In last ten years, have come to really love fuzz pedals. I own several kinds of of them and some Octavia -types too, those are the only pedals I ever buy any more and I use them in front of the Fractal and they work GREAT that way.

The real fuzzes can be temperamental and they don't always sound great unless you know how to use them/dial them in to the amp you are using, The gain amount and the amp tone all blend with a good fuzz to make a nice thick thing that cuts pick attack noise and add sustain.

The Tone Bender is also a really great fuzz drive block, if you dial the bias down, it smooths out the rasp (which can be kind of fun too of course!)

I like a cleaner overdrive, like the FET set like a Klon clean boost, that you can use to "kick" a low or medium gain amp up a notch. That always has worked well in Axe-Fx for me to make any amp and guitar sound bigger.

I also like an RCB boost set up to shave a little high put on any Strat or Tele to lift the signal going into the amp (also the Micro Boost too).

I HATED Tube Screamers as brittle sounding, for years. But I get why metal guys like them (although it was funny to me they would want a pedal that cuts bass lifts mids and then go into an amp with extreme smile curve -- WTF? hahah) and why Strat guys do to add some mid bump and some pedal-engineered "grit" to the sound.

I much prefer the King of Tone to the Tube Screamers personally. So glad that pedal was added to the drive block arensal.

The Jam Ray and Timmy are GREAT pedals for Fender type amps to phatten things up. Am looking forward to really playing with some of these over the weekend!

In doing Live Gold I found the BB pre was useful a few times when i couldn't get another pedal to cooperate with an amp. New love for that.

I have found the Hiwatt model to be an exceptionally good "pedal platform" amp - your chosen drive pedal's character really comes through the amp there/projects. I like the JTM45 set pretty clean/just getting some grit as well for drive pedals to drive it into overdrive.

I think historically, many if not most distortion pedals were invented primarily for players owning cheaper Fender amps to try to get them to sound like more expensive Marshalls! We don't have to worry about that application!

It's all so GOOD! We are so LUCKY!
 
Many thanks @iaresee gonna go check this out now (and update).

I have a bi-amp bass preset where one amp is all highs and one amp is all lows. Not exactly where I want it yet, but it's a sweet thing to pull off. Essentially the "DI sound + dirty sound" trick.
 
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Admin M@ said:
My very first pedal was also an MXR Distortion+ (mustard version). I paid $20 for it at my neighbor's garage sale in probably 1980. The only way I liked it was to run it into my amp (also a Crate... CR112!!) set to overdrive.
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Same - bought my Distortion+ ~75 new, putting that into either an Ampeg V4 or MusicMan 210. I was never crazy about it, as it was a bit too buzzy, but I didn't know any better. I actually preferred my Fender Blender, as that was in-your-face apologetically buzzy.

As I only have an FM3 now, I'll have to wait to try these new drives :)
 
FractalAudio said:
I'm kinda digging this Compulsion Distortion...
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Yeah, with my (now gone) Axe 2, my pedal OCDs (v1.1/1.4) and Eternity Love Pedal into the Hipower model was my Lifeson/Gilmour heaven. Of course so many other ways to get there in the III but appreciate the Compulsion.

Cliff, a question about the diode quantity setting. The description below doesn't say how they are wired (series, I assume?). Headroom seems higher with more of them.

"Diode + Type, Diode Quantity, Diode - Type, Diode - Quantity – (Shown only for types based on op-amp and diode clipping) These control the type and number of diodes in the positive and negative polarity. For example, you might select (2) 1N34A diodes for positive signal polarity and (1) red LED for negative. Experiment with the various diode types and quantities to obtain new and unique sounds."​
 
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yyz67 said:
Yeah, with my (now gone) Axe 2, my pedal OCDs (v1.1/1.4) into the Hipower model was my Lifeson/Gilmour heaven. Of course so many other ways to get there in the III but appreciate the Compulsion.

Cliff, a question about the diode quantity setting. The description below doesn't say how they are wired (series, I assume?). Headroom seems higher with more of them.

"Diode + Type, Diode Quantity, Diode - Type, Diode - Quantity – (Shown only for types based on op-amp and diode clipping) These control the type and number of diodes in the positive and negative polarity. For example, you might select (2) 1N34A diodes for positive signal polarity and (1) red LED for negative. Experiment with the various diode types and quantities to obtain new and unique sounds."​
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Yep, since the headroom increases when you increase the number of diodes, it can only be series.
 
@Budda I updated the clip in my post above so the last run through the riff collapses things to mono. Gives a much better sense of what it sounds like when you're not abusing the stereo spectrum. :)
 
Admin M@ said:
Anyone else loving this update as much as I am? I've always been a "pedal platform" player.

The way I use drive blocks is to run two of them in series. One low gain, one low/med gain. Use both for "more". Try it!
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exactly what i do and i’ve never been able to do it in a convincing way on the axe..waiting to see this on the fm3 so i can try it out!
 
Smittefar said:
Me too 😅 I've seen very high profile players talk at length about how they could never play thru anything but a tube amp. And then they get the cleanest Fender/Mesa amp they can find and put a Marshall-in-a-box pedal in front of it.

I've always preferred multichannel amps, but in the Axe I don't need that. I still get most of my drive sounds from (boosted) amps.
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Once upon a time, my rig was a Vox Tonelab LE into an Epiphone Valve Junior stack. I used one of the amp models on the Vox into a clean Valve Junior. It was a simple little valve amp and a lot of people did mods or upgraded components. I found a guide that described what every component did and replaced/upgraded almost everything.

When I was done, I was shocked to find that I heard more of a difference in my dirty tone (basically using the Tonelab LE like a pedal) than with the clean tone. The amp underneath the dirt pedal is a lot more important than people naturally assume.
 
Admin M@ said:
To this day, one thing I listen for in a sim is the sound of the drive as my fingers squeak on the wound strings the first thing I noticed about this update was the dynamic liveliness of the sounds. They just sound and feel better "all over".
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Yes! The squeak! To me, that's the quintessential dirt-pedal thing. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone else speak of it.

The squeak gives those guitarish vowels a consonant to work against. And drives bring it out in a way that amps by themselves just don't.
 
zenaxe said:
Never really understood "pedal platform" guys . Makes no sense to me; unless you are playing mostly clean, what is the point of getting some fancy, esoteric tube amp only to get all your tone from a battery powered SS box... :D
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If you're touring or playing in other situations where the venue provides the backline, your pedalboard is your only shot at a consistent sound from night to night. Whatever amp lands in your lap on a given night, just dial it clean and let your pedals work their magic.
 
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