rookie Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Hi, I have never used any pedal and I am getting lost in the endless number of pedals available. I have a H555 and an Swart STR. What pedal(s) would you recommend for a Blues player? Here is the short list I have based on my readings: - Boss Blues Driver BD-2 - Ibanez Tube screamer - Xotic BB - Digitech screaming blues I have bought a boutique guitar and a boutique amp, I don't think I will buy a lot of pedals so I would like a nice boutique hand-wired pedal... Thanks Rookie
koula901 Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Rookie, First off, if you buy pedals that are "true bypass" then when the pedal is off, it's off, and not coloring the tone of your lovely guitars. Some people feel its good to mix in some "buffered" pedals, because if you run a lot of cable, then you might experience signal loss by the time it reaches the amp. The buffered pedals will tend to boost the signal. Personally, I don't have any buffered pedals, and my rig is very warm sounding, and I feel the tone of my guitars shines through. Now, lots of people have many buffered pedals and are quite happy with the result. You'll have to figure out what you want. Secondly, you'll need to tells us what kind of effect are you after: delay, reverb, flange, chorus, tremolo, low-medium gain or high gain dirt, phaser, octa fuzz, phase shifter, wah, volume. Once you get your pedals, you'lll need to learn what order to put them in, for maxium effect. Others can speak to that, or I can chime in, later on. Good luck!
JeffB Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Ive got all the ods on your list and really only use the xotic BB pre out of that list. It suits my amp and playing but I dont know how it works with a your gear. Pretty well I should imagine. The BB pre is really just a smoother tube screamer with a bit more eq control. Sometimes think its a little too compressed most times I dont think about it. I dont care about buffered v non buffered, I will use either as long as they work the way I want.
DetroitBlues Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Hi, I have never used any pedal and I am getting lost in the endless number of pedals available. I have a H555 and an Swart STR. What pedal(s) would you recommend for a Blues player? Here is the short list I have based on my readings: - Boss Blues Driver BD-2 - Ibanez Tube screamer - Xotic BB - Digitech screaming blues I have bought a boutique guitar and a boutique amp, I don't think I will buy a lot of pedals so I would like a nice boutique hand-wired pedal... Thanks Rookie I would recommend a Boss Powerstack ST2 or a Digitech Bad Monkey.
rjsanders Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 pro friend of mine loves his Swart AST w/Tim pedal. recommended. + you can try it for a full week & return for full refund, if it doesn't do it for you. hand-built in Tennessee, finest kind, etc.
Gitfiddler Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 I've tried a bunch of pedals and have it narrowed down to what I like. You might not like my choices, but here they are. Ibanez TS808: This is the tone many blues players depend on. It stays in my pedal board. Ibanez Tubro Tube Screamer: It has switchable overdrive voicings at the twist of a dial. Zendrive: I find this one really subtle and perfect for my blues stuff. Try out as many pedals as you can at a local GC or other music if that's possible. Avoid reading too much into the various marketing stuff, hype and forums. Go for what YOU like. Some of the best blues tones I ever heard came directly from an amp. Pedals are always a compromise and subject to an amp's output and compatibility.
Spectrum13 Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 I don't remember using anything more than a clean boost and an attenuator with mine. It breaks up around 4 and does not get much louder after 5. It is only 5 watts and I don't know how loud you will play but something like the Swart nightlight will get all the tweed distortion at lower volume. It can burn through the 6v6, El34 or whatever power tubes you run if you tend to open it up much. With a 555 you should beable to get some great "reelin in the years" tones.
Blunote Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 I hate to always be recommending stuff I bought. It seems self serving. But given your list and recommendation for TS-808, or just a boost, I'd say find a Super Signa Drive from CMATMODS. It has a similar tone to the TS-808, with three gain modes, in addion to a gain knob and gain level knob, and a TMB for the gain stage. There's also an adjustable clean boost that works independently of the gain side so you can boost your clean or overdriven signal. It's a true bypass pedal that produces no hum or buzz.
rookie Posted January 21, 2012 Author Posted January 21, 2012 pro friend of mine loves his Swart AST w/Tim pedal. recommended. + you can try it for a full week & return for full refund, if it doesn't do it for you. hand-built in Tennessee, finest kind, etc. This Tim pedal looks pretty good but 3 months of delay to get it :-( Thanks for all the recommendations Rookie
Bonefish Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 A nice reverb (or analog delay used as a slapback) can be great for blues. I really like the Holy Grail + for reverb. Also, if you like the Tube Screamer and like the idea of boutique, there are a number of great Tube Screamer clones (and mods) out there that provide the vintage Tube Screamer tone along with some great additional tones.
212Mavguy Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 I am getting good results with my TC Electronics Nova System. It operates in the effects loop, but have used it in front of an amp with good results. I use it with a volume pedal. I don't use the presets, I run it manually. It features digital switching of analog effects. One thing cool about this kind of pedal is that you can store setting/multiple fx mixes for a given guitar or room so that the upon return to that instrument or room you don't have to spend time trying to chase down those best settings again. Ordinarily I shun any kind of solid state unit for a distortion device, but the distortion and drive effects are tunable enough that I can get some tones that even finicky me can stand. The downside is that the instructions come in a 3/8" thick booklet, the thing is complicated. Was easy for a low tech type to learn how to use, though, very easy to learn! Good for the old dog factor...
Bulldog Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 I own a Swart AST and have been considering a Fuchs Extreme Creme. I like the idea of the 2 levels of distortion. And, I've noticed a lot of the Wolfe Guitars demos use the Fuchs. We'll see, but I'm really leaning toward that direction.
Bulldog Posted January 26, 2012 Posted January 26, 2012 Does anyone have thoughts on the Fuchs Extreme Creme?
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