OD box or none to tighten gain tones?

[cragginshred]

Historically I always use an OD in front of an amp and it always sounds great primarily as a level boost to tighten the tone. Last night I dug into my Austin Buddy 'Live Gold' pack and grabbed the HBE sans OD and wow it has a greasy gritty great tone.

What is your approach with OD versus no OD, and with rhythms versus solo tones?

 

[McGurk]

Personally, I find myself going without ODs for rhythm and cranking up the input low cut in the Input EQ page. I put it between 200 and 400 depending on how much gain I'm using and that keeps things tight enough. One thing I tried for leads, recently, was using a control switch to flip on the saturation (ideal) switch, and use the same control switch to alter any other parameters that are helpful for lead. Haven't tried it with a band yet, but was kinda fun.

Sometimes an OD in front is a great answer. I've just found myself experimenting with other ways of doings, in part to save CPU for other things, and in part, because sticking with just the amp sounds more natural to me.

 

[Ugly Bunny]

I use them like I would in real life; a good tube screamer with gain on zero, volume dimed, and tone to taste for tightening up high gain.

Sometimes I’ll just use the built-in boost in the amp block to save CPU.

 

[marsonic]

I don't play high-gain, but I've done the TS in front thing for a long time. I got away from it as soon as I got my FM3 and then went back to it.

Lately, I've been experimenting with the input EQ to do what I like about the TS without its clipping...and I'm really liking the result, without spending CPU on the drive block or having to deal with its levels and with a bit more control.

 

[sprint]

I always try out a TS or similar with lowish gain and even tone / level as an alternative to higher amp gain - sometimes its better to my ear, sometimes not.

 

[dicXjonesify]

Instead of an OD, you can do some low cut in the amp’s input EQ tab. Very impactful.

That and/or turning up the negative feedback in the amp block will stiffen things up a bit.

 

[Fab8040]

I always use the od in the preamp section to tighten and because i like the eq.. Sd1 for Marshall type ts808 for others.. The only amps doesnt need are the diezel..