Guitar guys, Overdrive pedal?

[Nathans_Dad]

Hey all,

Been taking guitar lessons and finally getting to where I can play something that sounds like a song...mostly. LOL.

Anyhow, my current gear is:

Amp: VOX AD30VT - This is a cool amp, has lots of different amp models in it and your basic effects in the amp that you can play with, chorus, delay, flanger, reverb, compression, etc.

Guitars:
Fender Highway 1 USA Strat (HSS)
Fender USA Standard Tele
Epiphone Dot
Epiphone Masterbilt Acoustic

So, I was thinking about getting a new toy, my first pedal! I was thinking about a basic overdrive pedal to start with. I don't really want a heavy distortion pedal, metal isn't really my style. I like classic rock and some of the British rock as well.

I was thinking about a Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9 or one from Fulltone called the OCD.

Any thoughts? Both run about $135 new.

Oh, lemme save you the bandwidth...yes I know I should just practice and tone is in the fingers! Ain't the point of this, ya know??

[nostatic]

I had a Fulltone Bassdriver that I used on both guitar and bass. Their pedals are nice. Realize that you're heading down a serious slippery slope. Guys go *whack* on buying pedals. I know some bass players that have half a dozen different distortions. BASS PLAYERS! I currently use a Source Audio Multiwave Bass Distotion - very cool odd sounds you can get out of it: http://www.sourceaudio.net/

Take a look here. Stu is great to deal with. But you've been warned

Fat Sound Guitars Boutique Shop

[Christien]

I'm not familiar with the fulltone, but I love my tube screamer. It can provide you with a really wide range of tones, and levels of "dirtyness". On that line, though, it won't give you a sharp, clean distortion - that's not what it's for. I use it in tandem with the gain on my marshall, and I can get just the right combination of tube warmth and sound, with the power of the marshall gain.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by nostatic

realize that you're heading down a serious slippery slope. Guys go *whack* on buying pedals.

qft!

[Nathans_Dad]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Realize that you're heading down a serious slippery slope. Guys go *whack* on buying pedals. [/url]

Heard that, just go to a forum like guitargearheads and those guys are buying pedals like it's going out of style!

Like I said, I'm still a noobie guitarist but I like the sound from the overdrive pedals.

I'm leaning towards the Fulltone OCD just based on what I hear on Youtube but the Tube Screamer is a classic.

Played my first "gig" this week, my guitar teacher had a recital and I paired up with a kid who was playing acoustic on Pinball Wizard by The Who. I was on my strat just playing power chords behind him and we had instructors on the drums and bass. What a blast!! We actually sounded decent too! It was actually perfect timing because I was starting to get sick of playing scales all the time and I think my instructor saw me losing interest. Now I'm totally hooked again!! My kids all were amazed that daddy could "rock". LOL.

[slodave]

Rick, I found this site a few days ago. I've not actually played against it, but I did listen to a few tracks and it looks worth a shot.

Free Guitar Backing Tracks @ GuitarBackingTrack.com

[ramonesfreak]

if you like the ibanez TS sound and want to save some money, check out the BBE Green Screamer. It sounds good, is usable for a nice range of music, very well made and is inexpensive at less than $100. I think mine was around $60 (new)

look at demos on Youtube for the BBE pedal and others. There are an enormous amount of pedals out there. I love my BBE and also my Big Muff. If you want to spend more than $200 there are some seriously awsome distortion pedals available out there but you can get some great ones for less than $100.

http://www.bbesound.com/products/stomp-boxes/green-screamer.aspx

[IROC]

The best overdrive pedal that I have personally used is a Barber Direct Drive.

[WolfeMacleod]

I've never used pedals untill recently. Picked up a Fulltone OCD and a Fulldrive 2. Liking them quite a bit.

Might check out some of the Fuchs Amplification "Plush" pedals too....verry tempting.

[Nathans_Dad]

Pulled the trigger on an Fulltone OCD pedal today at the local Guitar Center. They had it on special for $135 (which is what it sells for online). I'm at work now but I'm gonna plug that bad boy in and rock out when I get home!!

Thanks for the advice guys!

[Rob Channell]

I think I'd like to try one of these one day. It is a low power tube amp and overdrive pedal all in one.

Rock Block

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

another +1 for the Fulltone.

[Nathans_Dad]

Just got home and plugged in the Fulltone. WOW! I'm a new guitarist so I won't try and talk about the miles of creamy tone that spill out of the amp or whatever the ads say, but it does sound cool! Just playing with it for a little while you can get everything from just a little boost with minimal gain and distortion to some nice AC/DC crunch to full fuzz at the top end (not my favorite but it's there if you want it). I played my tele and it sounded awesome! I was stoked because I have felt like the tele was a little too thin sounding for my tastes, not any more!

Other cool things, you can control a lot of the tone from the volume knob on the guitar. Roll off the volume and it cleans up again, roll it back on and the crunch is back. It's also pretty responsive to picking, soft picking is cleaner tones, more aggressive gives you the crunch.

Also cool for me is that the pedal sounds VERY different with my different amp models on the VOX. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun exploring all the sounds I can get.

First impressions, great pedal. Very happy.

[Dan Himan]

You have a VOX, see if you can find and tune in a sound you like. I have been there, you get this pedal and that pedal, only to go crazy with all your options and adjustments, you will start to forget what the F**K you where doing in the first place.

[Nathans_Dad]

Agreed, Dan, that's why I wanted to stick with a simple overdrive pedal. I like my amp but I couldn't get the rock type sound I was looking for. The amp models that are towards the rock side are all very overdriven sounding. I have been playing on the more classic models, Fender, Vox, Marshall but I wanted a little fuller sound. Add in the OCD and it's a lot better.

[VINMAN]

Wish i would have seen this earlier.

I would have given you this.

[matthew-s]

I recognize I'm late, but I'd like to throw in $0.02.

I am just getting started too. At some point, when I am worthy, I think I'll be getting one of these: Catalinbread: Formula No. 5

I've seen it described as "Keef-in-a-box". Then again, I like the stones, so YMMV.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I have to wonder how many of these boutique pedals are really just the guts of a BOSS DS-1 in a new case.

FWIW I have a DS-1 and hate it. It has one setting that doesn't suck.