The pedals that survived the elimination round!

[Zoltan]

Inspired by the post from Ted (From songcrafters, not the original Dead Kennedys drummer). Here are some pedals that survived the elimination round.

Beetronics - Overhive. Transparent overdrive. I've never wanted a transparent overdrive, but this one does so much. Can go from Tom Petty, Lou Reed to Iggy Pop & the Stooges.

JHS Superbolt V2. Supro sound in a pedal. The Led Zeppelin sound. I've never had a Supro amp, and i'm not the biggest Zeppelin fan either, but this is fun. The antithesis of transparent. In my setup this doesn't sound great with humbuckers. Loves single coils!

Bitoun Fuzz. From the land of Jean Pierre comes a biscuit themed fuzz pedal. A Fuzz Face circuit feeding into a Super Fuzz. There's a ring modulation effect inside so it has that octave fuzz thing going for it. Inside the pedal there are potentiometers that can be adjusted. I was going to trade this away as the octave effect felt too pronounced for regular use, but after playing with the insides this turned into a keeper pedal. In fact i got rid of the Fuzz Face and Octavio and kept this instead.

Of course the best sound comes from the dog (goes from full snore to hysteric barking in a split-second), but as she isn't for sale there's no reason for a detailed review.

[Ted]

WTF (What the Fido) is that? Looks like a Chihuahua body, but not a Chihuahua face. Kangaroo?

I'm becoming curious about what a transparent overdrive is. One of the available pedals in the Slim Pickins selection is a "Clear Boost." Is that the same thing as a transparent overdrive? Another is (maybe) a TS 808 clone.

Part of me wants to analyze this. Another part of me wants to roll the dice and buy one of these without so much as an in-store test.

Because – speaking of Chihuahuas – I have a philosophy. I call it The Eddy Principle: You can't – and shouldn't – always try to design your experiences to your pre-planned ideals. Maybe you buy a pedal without overthinking it, and you discover what it does. You let it surprise you, and that becomes part of your voice, part of you.

Here's the Chihuahua part: I have a cousin who years ago rescued a Chihuahua – Eddy – and she was thinking of adopting it. Her husband "Marvin," a rich kid used to getting "the best" of everything, thought Eddy was ugly. He didn't want Eddy. I was playing with Eddy on the floor, and Marvin came in and said, "Ugh. That dog."

"He's fun," I said. "And he's sweet."

"He's ugly," Marvin said.

"Maybe you think so," I said, "but he needs love, he deserves a happy life."

"Okay then. Would you have chosen a dog that looks like that?," he asked rhetorically, like Checkmate!

I thought, well, no, I wouldn't have. I said, "Sometimes life puts a Chihuahua in your path, and your life changes. You can't have a designer life. You can try, but you become poorer for trying."

The whole conversation made me really sad, and it stuck with me. The Eddy Principle was born.

Anyway: My aunt (the mother of my cousin) found a home for Eddy. I lost a little respect for Marvin that day that has never recovered.

[Zoltan]

She's are Peruvian hairless dog And she's actually very pretty. The image doesn't do justice and makes the whole face bigger. Originally i wasn't going to post the pic with the dog, but as every pic had such a photobomb going... I gave up.

I'm a firm believer that we get the kind of dog we deserve. And I would take an ugly (and evil) dog in a heartbeat. Actually one of our dogs was described like that in real life before we got her.

I would think the "clear boost" is another way of saying transparent overdrive. It's a good thing if one has the main sound already cooking and want to push it harder. The TS 808 should have that mid bump thing going that works especially well with stratocasters (single coils). I used to think that it's the best pedal in the world (TS-9/TS 808) and then went and bought a Metal Zone

If you don't have the kind of sound already that inspires you then i'd stay away from clean/clear boost -type of pedals. Also if you're an adult you'd probably start with those anyhow and see how things go.

As for having to have a tube amp. At least Humboldt Simplifier works well with clean boost pedal(s) and there are no tubes anywhere.

As an aside. I think i've mentioned about these before, but those dirt cheap American Sound / Actone (made by Harley Benton, Joyo etc.) pedals might be worth the trouble. You could use one of those as your "amp" and drive your pedalboard thru that into Micro BR. Those work as distortion pedals also, but are based on Tech 21 Character pedals so they're in the vein of Sansamp.

[Ted]

If you don't have the kind of sound already that inspires you then i'd stay away from clean/clear boost -type of pedals.

You know, I don't! Since buying the Strat a few years ago, I have really neglected it.

Now you've got me leaning towards the TS 808 clone. But first I need to do some tests to make sure I really don't need the noise gate.

[bruno]

Transparent overdrives... there is a lot of terminology used in guitar world which is more of a feeling than an exact definition, so is a little wooly. My understanding is that the overdrive or boost maintains the core sound and dynamics of the guitar, but as Zoltan says, pushes the amp a little more. It tends to thicken or fatten the sound a bit - but will sit in the mix in exactly the same way (so relatively flat in terms of EQ). The tube screamer style circuits have a mid range push, which is great if the guitar sound is lost in the mix, so will bring it to the foreground, but will change the core tone of the rig. No hard and fast rules though.

People also use transparent drives as part of 'stacking' overdrives, just to push either the output volume/fatness or to increase the distortions, depending on where the transparent overdrive is set in the chain. This does feel like overthinking a bit, but this is the bread and butter to tone hounds.

I sure there is much, much more that can be written about this subject, but this is my 10c worth
B

[bruno]

I am intrigued by the BeeTronics range. They look so cool, apparently the PCB have amazing art work inside as well. I have been thinking about their Fuzz. Nice pedals.

[Ted]

In case you missed it, I bought the Joyo Classic Overdrive. Except it doesn't say Joyo on it. Apparently it's an OEM manufacturer, and Joyo is just one of the companies slapping their name on the box. Mine has the brand name "Element."

[Pete C]

Transparent overdrives... there is a lot of terminology used in guitar world which is more of a feeling than an exact definition, so is a little wooly. My understanding is that the overdrive or boost maintains the core sound and dynamics of the guitar, but as Zoltan says, pushes the amp a little more. It tends to thicken or fatten the sound a bit - but will sit in the mix in exactly the same way (so relatively flat in terms of EQ). The tube screamer style circuits have a mid range push, which is great if the guitar sound is lost in the mix, so will bring it to the foreground, but will change the core tone of the rig. No hard and fast rules though.

People also use transparent drives as part of 'stacking' overdrives, just to push either the output volume/fatness or to increase the distortions, depending on where the transparent overdrive is set in the chain. This does feel like overthinking a bit, but this is the bread and butter to tone hounds.

I sure there is much, much more that can be written about this subject, but this is my 10c worth
B

Thanks for the explanation of transparent overdrives and stacking Bruno. I've heard the terms before but now it makes more sense.

Pete