Favorite "pedal platform" amps?

gberto

Inspired
What are your favorite amps to use as a pedal platform?

Before switching over to digital I was all about pedals into an AC30, but for a long time after switching to digital I stopped using this approach because drive pedals just didn't sound right. But things have improved a lot, and the new updates to the drive block have me rethinking my approach and spending more time going back to my roots.
 
I've been using the Bludojai Clean a lot, into a 4x12 IR that I cannot recall right now. I set it to get a touch of grit when my guitar is wide open, and hit the front end with a Facefuzz ( and bit reduction...it's just filthy) and/or a clean boost that I cannot recall right now.
 
Twin, jcm800, plexi, hiwatt.

You know, one of the things the AxeFX has taught me is how good Marshall amps can be as a pedal platform. Especially ones like the jcm800 and 2204 that I never would have thought of using that way before.
 
You know, one of the things the AxeFX has taught me is how good Marshall amps can be as a pedal platform. Especially ones like the jcm800 and 2204 that I never would have thought of using that way before.

It's definitely fun to think outside the box there, and the Fractal gives easy access to that kind of fun.

In the tube amp world, my favorite pedal platform was a Fryette Deliverance 120. It has a huge clean tone (when set that way) and played well with all distortion boxes and delays I used. My favorite dirt box was a Catalinbread DLS into the Fryette.

I actually haven't tried this with the Fryette model in the Axe 3 yet.
 
You know, one of the things the AxeFX has taught me is how good Marshall amps can be as a pedal platform. Especially ones like the jcm800 and 2204 that I never would have thought of using that way before.

An 84 CSA 2203 into a 412 was the basis of my live rig 4 of 5 years I toured. Loved it. It was also cranked up.
 
In the past, I've used JCM900 and 2000 amps live and loud, but I didn't really use them with pedals so much. And the only few times I played an older Plexi wasn't in a setting where I could turn it up loud enough, so it sounded very cold and brittle to me.

I think being able to finally play through those kind of amps at a proper level has made me realize how good they can work for clean sounds and pedal platform rigs.
 
In real life, the best pedal platform I've ever heard was a hiwatt. They have reputations for taking pedals well, but I never really knew what that meant. Occasionally there are blatant mismatches of gear, but usually if you know how to set things up, it will work. When I brought home a hylight era dr504 it just blew my mind. Pedals just "melt" into it. Doesn't feel like you're filtering a signal going in, it feels like you are altering the circuit. Haven't really experienced a bad pedal platform (unless the high end is wonky) but this amp outshines everything else I've tried

The model is the same way, but the axefx just seems to take pedals very well in general as long as you're at unity (or leave it on constantly)
 
Wondering if any analog amp users out there can attest to the modeling capabilities of the AXE for stacking multiple digital pedals onto the digital equivalent of their analog platform?
 
Wondering if any analog amp users out there can attest to the modeling capabilities of the AXE for stacking multiple digital pedals onto the digital equivalent of their analog platform?

I can tell you with digital gear I had stopped doing the pedal platform setup thing because it just didn't work well.

With analog pedals and tube amps when you hit the amp with the pedal, the two sort of blend together into a cohesive sound. In digital gear, they never seemed to blend together. It always sounded to me like the sound of the pedal sitting on top of the sound of the amp; they didn't blend they stayed parallel in a way. The interaction just isn't right.

When I first got the AxeFX 3, it was the first time I'd ever heard a digital unit where the drive pedals seemed to interact with amps the way they should. They blend together the way I expect them to, and feel the same to me as my analog pedals into tube amps.

I actually started getting back into this concept of a pedal platform rig again because of how well it works in AxeFX 3. It's been fun finally having digital gear that lets me get back to that type of rig.
 
I can tell you with digital gear I had stopped doing the pedal platform setup thing because it just didn't work well.

With analog pedals and tube amps when you hit the amp with the pedal, the two sort of blend together into a cohesive sound. In digital gear, they never seemed to blend together. It always sounded to me like the sound of the pedal sitting on top of the sound of the amp; they didn't blend they stayed parallel in a way. The interaction just isn't right.

When I first got the AxeFX 3, it was the first time I'd ever heard a digital unit where the drive pedals seemed to interact with amps the way they should. They blend together the way I expect them to, and feel the same to me as my analog pedals into tube amps.

I actually started getting back into this concept of a pedal platform rig again because of how well it works in AxeFX 3. It's been fun finally having digital gear that lets me get back to that type of rig.
I run a full stereo pedalboard into the Axe III, using mainly the Matchless DC30 EF86 model (that's my home base amp). It has relegated my real amp to sit in my music room untouched for months. It's literally so good, while playing the Axe III live, I've easily convinced myself I'm using the real amp.

Here's a video from our church. I run everything, drive pedals, clean boost, delay and reverb (prodigious amounts at times) in front of the Axe III... no FX loop for me. The song might not be your thing, but this song will give you a good idea of how the Axe sounds with 1-3 gain stages and on different pickups.
 
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Most of what's mentioned before as good pedal platforms really work well for me too.

SVT dialed in clean is a great pedal platform.

The FAS Wrecker is a great when dialed in clean and accepting boosts.

SLO 100 clean is good too, if you almost dime the MV and adjust your clean/edge of break-up gain from the preamp gain side.
 
I run a full stereo pedalboard into the Axe III, using mainly the Matchless DC30 EF86 model (that's my home base amp). It has relegated my real amp to sit in my music room untouched for months. It's literally so good, while playing the Axe III live, I've easily convinced myself I'm using the real amp.

Here's a video from our church. I run everything, drive pedals, clean boost, delay and reverb (prodigious amounts at times) in front of the Axe III... no FX loop for me. The song might not be your thing, but this song will give you a good idea of how the Axe sounds with 1-3 gain stages and on different pickups.


Thanks for sharing! I'd be curious to hear more about what's on your pedalboard and why you chose to go with external pedals instead of what's inside the Axe III
 
Thanks for sharing! I'd be curious to hear more about what's on your pedalboard and why you chose to go with external pedals instead of what's inside the Axe III
I'll sheepishly admit my pedalboard is a little out of control, haha. Here's what's on it:
b8zGjSV.jpg


The biggest thing for me is that I tweak quite a bit while playing, and I'm just not comfortable with giving up the ability to change things on the fly. I've tried the route of "all in" with Helix, and pre-programming everything, but always ended up making a bunch of changes in Helix on the fly and it was cumbersome, and frankly time consuming.

I have about 10-12 songs preprogrammed in my PBC (Intro; verse; chorus; etc...) but I only do that on songs where I have to make a significant number of pedal changes between song sections (for example if I have to step on more than 4 pedals)... For 99% of what I'm doing I have a PBC preset that allows me to access any pedal via a switch, change between 3 different reverbs and 2 different delays subdivisions. I also have a page set up to access 8 different Mobius presets, so I have instant access to bit destroyer, filter, wah, flanger and other sounds.

I briefly tried the FC12, but I couldn't figure out how to get the same amount of control over the effects that I have via my PBC.
 
I'll sheepishly admit my pedalboard is a little out of control, haha. Here's what's on it:
b8zGjSV.jpg


The biggest thing for me is that I tweak quite a bit while playing, and I'm just not comfortable with giving up the ability to change things on the fly. I've tried the route of "all in" with Helix, and pre-programming everything, but always ended up making a bunch of changes in Helix on the fly and it was cumbersome, and frankly time consuming.

I have about 10-12 songs preprogrammed in my PBC (Intro; verse; chorus; etc...) but I only do that on songs where I have to make a significant number of pedal changes between song sections (for example if I have to step on more than 4 pedals)... For 99% of what I'm doing I have a PBC preset that allows me to access any pedal via a switch, change between 3 different reverbs and 2 different delays subdivisions. I also have a page set up to access 8 different Mobius presets, so I have instant access to bit destroyer, filter, wah, flanger and other sounds.

I briefly tried the FC12, but I couldn't figure out how to get the same amount of control over the effects that I have via my PBC.

Yeah, I totally get that. Sometimes it's nice to have the analog knobs right there at your feet where you can reach down and grab them on the fly.

My biggest wishlist item for the FC pedals would be the ability to handle multiple actions with one switch. Rather than just one action.

I know you can technically accomplish a lot of that with control switches, but it seems more cumbersome to work with.
 
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