Why still a Drive pedal and so many Amp models? (it’s not about the nr of Amp or Drive models)

Dave Merrill said:
I enjoy amp gain, drive pedals into a nearly clean amp, and drive pedals into a pretty crunchy amp.

But will say this, which no doubt means I have to hand in my license to Drive: I have never, not once, put a Tube Screamer in front of any amp and thought it improved anything.

Lately I've been digging the Jam Ray in front of a the Class A 15 TB, and the Hoodoo with the Dirty Shirley, and I've dug the OCD, and others. But no TS. Even if the pedals I do like are slight variants on a TS, the TS itself has just never worked out for me.
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Update, not that anyone cares: My recent find is the MCMLXXI drive into a medium-driven Fender amp. Find Cliff's SRV, throw that in front, boost the lows in the drive, tweak the cut and/or highs, dry it up a bit, and have big fun. Same into the Deluxe.
 
Another reason for me, in addition to what has already been mentioned, is I like to use delay before a clean amp block.
Placing it after doesn't sound the same, repeats don't decay in the same "natural" way and don't glue with the dry sound as they do when the delay is placed before the amp.

So basically I use drives also cuz I can have delays (and modulations) post distortion but pre amp block
 
DLC86 said:
Another reason for me, in addition to what has already been mentioned, is I like to use delay before a clean amp block.
Placing it after doesn't sound the same, repeats don't decay in the same "natural" way and don't glue with the dry sound as they do when the delay is placed before the amp.

So basically I use drives also cuz I can have delays (and modulations) post distortion but pre amp block
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That's a really good point. Running any effect like delay, reverb, or modulation sounds very different after drive pedals but before the amp. A lot of those type of sounds wouldn't work if we didn't have drive pedals.
 
I had never used the drives much because I could mostly find what I wanted just by cranking the amps, but I've been messing around with them more recently. I like how in some cases you can get better results with a drive than just by cranking the amp's gain.

I like the 3 Knob Tube Driver, which has a sh!t ton of gain and a good low cut for driving flubby amps without mushing out. Also, since this isn't one of the new models, you can still change the clip type to HV tube, germanium, etc.

Played around this morning making a high gain Deluxe Reverb. No point in it really, but it's fun to play around with.
 
While to some it appears to be an excess of riches, the WISH page had many requests for additional amplifiers and drive pedals.

For novice users it’s easier to be spoon fed every option under the sun. Players with more experience, especially analog experience, understand there are several paths to achieve sound X.
 
luke said:
While to some it appears to be an excess of riches, the WISH page had many requests for additional amplifiers and drive pedals.

For novice users it’s easier to be spoon fed every option under the sun. Players with more experience, especially analog experience, understand there are several paths to achieve sound X.
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I think there is a grain of truth in this, but there is also another side to it.

It's not that players don't understand there are several paths to achieve sound X, it's that different players have their own preferred way of achieving that sound, and it's nice to have a wide array of tools available so more players preferred ways are available.

If I love using a Boss SD-1 to boost and tighten up an amp and I don't have access to an SD-1, I know there are several other ways I can make do without one to get that sound. But I'm going to be much happier if I've got an SD-1 so I can use my personal favorite way of achieving that sound.

The reason for having 100 different amps isn't because every player needs 100 different amps. The reason is because 100 different players may each have a different favorite, and providing 100 different amps means more players are able to use their favorite within the same piece of equipment.
 
gberto said:
The reason for having 100 different amps isn't because every player needs 100 different amps.
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Blasphemy!

As GAS-y and demanding consumers of the latest tech, of course we each NEED all the 100s of different amps, even if we don't actually need them.
 
All the Marshall's sound the same? I can tell the difference on all of them? Shouldn't even have read this thread.
 
I think I get the OP’s point. The drive blocks are a different matter but I agree that if you step through the presets, with a few exceptions, dirt is dirt. It can be said that it’s down to eq and filtering to change the sound and bite of it. Of course different amps have different sounds and feel. But in the modelling world you can pretty much turn any amp into any sound you like by tweaking.....this isn’t always the way in the real world. I LOVE the Axe FX 3 and wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s flexibility is stupendous. But I do tend to stick with two or three main amp setups.
 
DLC86 said:
I like to use delay before a clean amp block.
Placing it after doesn't sound the same, repeats don't decay in the same "natural" way and don't glue with the dry sound as they do when the delay is placed before the amp.
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Did you ever try inserting your delay and other time based effects after the amp block and before the cab block?

It's another flavor of character that you might like.
 
dr bonkers said:
Did you ever try inserting your delay and other time based effects after the amp block and before the cab block?

It's another flavor of character that you might like.
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Yep, it's what I used to do before and what I do when I'm forced to (e.g. with high gain amps).
But actually it doesn't make a difference if the delay is placed before or after the cab, unless you use some form of distortion or pitch shifting in those.
 
DLC86 said:
Yep, it's what I used to do before and what I do when I'm forced to (e.g. with high gain amps).
But actually it doesn't make a difference if the delay is placed before or after the cab, unless you use some form of distortion or pitch shifting in those.
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I find the IR shapes the decay of delays in a cool way and makes phasers/flangers more hi-fi sounding as it gives you the effect without added noise.
 
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