Which OD Pedal?

OK, I have always stayed away from using pedals in front of my preamp but I think I should give it a shot (basically so the squeals are easier to pull off 8) ).

I'm gonna have to rule out Maxons as they are a little too expensive. I can get a Boss OD, Digitech Bad Monkey, Tubescreamer or an MXR at a good price. Does it matter what OD I use? Can someone please give me some tips on how to set them up?

If you are looking for a boost then turn the level knob all the way up and the gain at a minimal setting. If your stock module doesn't have enough gain then turn the gain knob to your liking. Keep in mind though that you might need a noise gate if you like a lot of gain. Of the pedals you've mentioned I've tried the tube screamer and the mxr zakk wylde od. The screamer is a great pedal because its very transparent and it boosts your mids which is great for leads cutting through the mix but not so great for scooped metal. The zakk wylde od is based on the boss od pedal but tweaked to zakk's liking. It colors your tone a bit but it can give you brutal distortion on a dirty amp. My personal favorites are the xotic bb, t-rex mab, and the dod yjm which awesome for a 30 dollar pedal. Some people love the fulltone ocd but I've never had the pleasure of trying it.

get on ebay and check out the boss SD-1. there is 100's of them for sale and they can go very cheap. I picked up mine for $16. then google sd-1 mods and start soldering. the sd-1 can be easily modded to hell and back. there is millions of mods out there for these pedals. I did a version of the popular "keely 5 star germanium" mod. I tweaked mine for a bit lower gain and fatter lowend. It flat out screams. Even makes the clean ch's glassier.

$16 pedal, $5 worth of parts and about 45 min of my time...I have a smokin boost pedal.

droptrd said:

get on ebay and check out the boss SD-1. there is 100's of them for sale and they can go very cheap. I picked up mine for $16. then google sd-1 mods and start soldering. the sd-1 can be easily modded to hell and back. there is millions of mods out there for these pedals. I did a version of the popular "keely 5 star germanium" mod. I tweaked mine for a bit lower gain and fatter lowend. It flat out screams. Even makes the clean ch's glassier.

$16 pedal, $5 worth of parts and about 45 min of my time...I have a smokin boost pedal.

Click to expand...

That is most awesome advice...thanks!

droptrd said:

get on ebay and check out the boss SD-1. there is 100's of them for sale and they can go very cheap. I picked up mine for $16. then google sd-1 mods and start soldering. the sd-1 can be easily modded to hell and back. there is millions of mods out there for these pedals. I did a version of the popular "keely 5 star germanium" mod. I tweaked mine for a bit lower gain and fatter lowend. It flat out screams. Even makes the clean ch's glassier.

$16 pedal, $5 worth of parts and about 45 min of my time...I have a smokin boost pedal.

Click to expand...

This is actually a GREAT idea. There are so many mods available for the SD-1 that you have a lot of flexability. There is even a Fulldrive II mod online somewhere. I've been wanting to try it out, but I havent needed an OD since I got the MTS stuff

I had a thought - I have an old Boss DS-1 (distortion pedal) lying around unused somewhere in the loft. Whats your take on trying to use that as a boost? Will it sound like crap?

Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai among others use a DS-1 as a boost. I dont see why not

wengnutt said:

Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai among others use a DS-1 as a boost. I dont see why not

Click to expand...

Well, they use DS1's with Keeley Ultra mod while mine's stock. Wish i could know now. My rig's in the studio...I'll be able to try it only next week.

These sites can get you started.

http://www.erikhansen.net/?page_id=28
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/


Also, I recommend get a socket for the op amp, so you can easily experiment with different op amp chips. They all sound different

fwiw: Gary Moore (Irish Blues-Rock player) used a DS-1 as a boost for a few years (into an 1980s Marshall stack. he is well known for having a great tone.
If you havent heard him..youtube him and listen to "Parissiene Walkways".
WooooooooooooooooooooW.

Great..thanks guys. I'll rummage through the loft over the weekend and try running the stock pedal as a boost. If it doesn't sound too great, I'll try the mods.

George - I used to love Gary Moore's tone when I was growing up. I now play metal, But if I could get a tone like his to start with, I'm sure I could tweak to get more gain and bite.

Thanks for all the advice again. Will keep you posted on how I get on with the DS-1.

Turn the output of the pedal all the up. For the gain, start with the gain all the way down (off). The tone knob, start at noon and tweak from there. Set the gain on your amp to a nice medium distortion and go from there. You will probably find out that the DS-1 will probably suck some lowend out of the tone. So you will probably need to boost the lows on the amp.

Party on

Also picking up a Boss NS2 soon. I'll run that in the parallel loop and turn off the Hush noisegate on the Xpression. I'll run all the other effects in the Xpression in the series loop. This way I'll keep the Xpression on Analog and hopefully, it will make the tone even more natural.

Given that today's my last day at work, next week will be a total tweak week. 8)