Pedal Overdrive/Distortion versus Amp Distortion

[la szum]

I am shocked that's now 2 JCM800 owners that NEVER used the Lo Input?

 

[Budda]

What???!!!!!!!!!!

I have a few vintage Fender amps and the 800's Lo Input has clean tones that rival those. It's just a
padded down input so you don't hit the preamp section as hard. Can still roll up the Master and get
those power tubes singing.

Oh my volume was on 8 lol. When i left the band our 800s were dirt and we had twins for cleans - but the album we were touring was recorded with 800s for everything (shhh).

Low input wasnt the sound we wanted so it didnt get used. Iirc it was also too quiet…

 

[LiamH]

I am shocked that's now 2 JCM800 owners that NEVER used the Lo Input?

Better make that 3 of us. My 2203 does however have a rotary switch with 6 different V1 (or was it V2a) cathode resistors, so I can select early preamp gain staging anywhere from low gain Fender to high gain 90's boutique amp. Between that and selectable voicing via switchable bypass caps on another one of the preamp stages, it's like the worlds loudest Swiss Army knife. Never loved the Lo input enough though!

Going back to the OP, you'll be getting the picture that drive and distortion provide colour and interest, but the ultimate character of the tone is always governed by the amp that they are driving. JCM800 (well actually late JMP Mk 2 2203 normally, but they are exactly the same circuit) has been my "go to" pedal platform in real amps and then Fractal modelling world for almost 30 years now. In both instances I tend to set the amp up so it just starts to break up noticeably when I dig in, and then let the pedals take it over the top. Master volume somewhere around 4 is the sweet spot for me, depending very much on where the Presence is set. Remember because Presence is in the negative feedback circuit, if you turn the Presence up (well, actually, I start with it full up), you'll need to turn MV and/or amp drive down to compensate.

Big Muff Pi is a great starting point for fuzz. For something tighter, Ibanez Tube Screamer has been my starting point since before I got my first 2203. Axe FX models them all really well, and they are honestly not that different between the models. TS-808, TS-8, TS-9 (TS-10 isn't modelled but sounds the same as a TS-9, and can be the same as the earlier ones with the right op amp fitted and very few components changed). King of Tone model in the AFX also really good for tighter sounds. I am a massive fan of the Klon Centaur tones, but have found them of limited value with Marshalls. Absolutely amazing into cleaner Fender circuits though. With all of those, keep the drive down and the level up if you want the amp to be goosed in a relatively tight way.

Hope that helps

Liam

 

[laxu]

I honestly don't like the Fractal platform when used as a "pedals into clean amp" type setup. I don't care for things like classic overdrive/distortion pedals which most of Fractal's drive lineup consists of and somehow never gelled with the sounds I was getting with drive + amp models. I liked Helix's selection of drive models better too. I feel that drives have always been more of an afterthought for Fractal. I just can't give a damn about having half a dozen TS variants and would trade all that for just one Klon model of any kind.

While Fractal's drive block offers a lot of "build your own drive" options, with pedals what I am after is simplicity. Monkey turn knob, monkey bang out power chords!

To me Fractal works best when using the amp models for your drive tones. That's where the main development focus has been and there's no overdrive/distortion sound you can't get out of these, fuzz aside.

As for pedal vs amp distortion, I don't have a clear preference nowadays. I was quite adamantly in the amp distortion camp in the past but nowadays I jump between amp distortion, pedal distortion and combination of the two with my real amp rigs. I don't think pedal distortion into a nice tube amp has to sound worse, it's just a different flavor. There's a lot of ways to get to tone you want and especially fuzz pedals, console preamp pedals etc can do things that amps do not (and were not meant to do).

Real overdrive pedals have also gotten way better than they used to be, with lots of great options on the market. My main od/distortion pedal is the Strymon Riverside so also a digital unit. I like it because it's more "tube preamp-ish" with an active EQ and presets which makes it a whole lot more versatile than most analog drives I own or have owned.