Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals!!!

matarroano · Post by **matarroano** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:12 pm

Hi guys!

So I'm ready to start "pedal'ing" on my Thunderverb 50 + PPC212 Closed-back setup! I'm new to all the "Effects Universe" and don't know where to start...

I'm ok with the clean and dirty sounds I can get out of the "just amp/cab setup" but, I have a couple extra money and would like to add some texture and power, something different to my sound. I would like to have a boosted lead and/or a slightly heavier distortion, heavier/doom-ier/sludg-ier... More "metal", but not "tight modern metal"...

Do I need a pedal? Probably not. (?) I'm not sure. I need to be schooled on this... LOL Should I run a pedal through a clean channel? One clean (A), and the other one clean (B) using the fuzz/distortion/overdrive, for dirty? Is there a primer/tutorial about this I can read, about this? I'm clueless...

So what do you think will get me started in the "effects scene"? I'm thinking something fuzz/overdrive/distortion... I will get into the modulation and time-based stuff later.

So, which pedals will be a nice addition to my setup? Which pedals works "awesomely great" with the TV50?

I play some kind of stoner/doom/sludge metal. Very Sabbath-y and Motorhead-y, but heavier. I tune in Standard C. And I use HH Fenders, loaded with DiMarzio Super Distortion/PAF and active 60/81 EMGs ...

Yes, a "can of worms" I know... And, right now, I really can't afford it. For the next couple of months, I'm thinking of a tuner (Boss TU-2/3 or a PolyTune 2), that distortion/booster/overdrive/fuzz, and a Wah, probably the Dunlop 535Q...

As for the distortion/booster/overdrive/fuzz, from from the reviews and videos around the internet, (and the Orange Amps Blog), I'm trying to decide between the Fulltone OCD, EHX Big Muff with Tone Wicker, Pro Co RAT, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh Fuzz and the Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz.

The latter, the Swollen Pickle, being the one I'm most inclined to, because it's a "heavier", "violent", "different", more extreme "out of control" fuzz, that will make a great difference from I already have with the "amp alone"... So I will end up with 3 dirty channels, one slightly crunch-dirty (A), heavier-dirty (B) and the Swollen Pickle, for "extreme fuzz", leads and "out of control" random crazyness... It will be great to be able to use a wide, different array of distortion tones. Yes, I rarely do anything "clean"...

What do you think? Am I thinking right? Help me out because I'm really oblivious about what to do...

Keep your tips and ideas coming!

Thanks in advance!

Have an AWESOME 2017!

Cheers!

Daniel

sylnau · Post by **sylnau** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:20 pm

I'm not sure you need a fuzz... but if you do, try some muff style fuzz (similar to distortion to my ears).
The Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian would be a good start.

Then a flanger... I really like the Subdecay Starlight V2.

And a delay... Fairfield Circuitry Meet Maude or/and Empress Superdelay would be my choice.

You'd probably like to have a clean boost too... any clean boost would be good (maybe ZVex SHO).

rickenbastard · Post by **rickenbastard** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:28 pm

As for what channel to plug into/signal chain order etc. just try them all out and decide what you like the best. Certain dirty signals sound awesome with fuzz added some don't. Only one way to find out what gives you the sound you want.

My personal go-to brands I support are Mountainking, Earthquaker, Fuzzrocious, Philly Fuzz and Moog. I feel you can't go wrong with any of their stuff especially looking for slightly more unique tones. I'm a brand loyalist though so I don't experiment with much outside those. Seems to be the brands on here that people never say anything negative about too

coldbrightsunlight · Post by **coldbrightsunlight** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:57 pm

vidret wrote:If the dirt channel is anything like the one on my orange th30 you WANT, no NEED a black forest for it.

I use it to do black metal, stoner metal, jimi hendrix shit, led zeppelin, everything. It's made for the orange TH dirt section. On your clean section it becomes a loud clean boost if you want.

That's all I'll say, and i've tried a LOT of stuff with my amp.

Can confirm. I've tried the black forest through his amp and it is ridiculously good.

Also The Elements is a fantastic distortion pedal and I highly recommend it. Incredibly versatile, brilliant for metal.

Out of the things you listed I think the Pharaoh would work reaaaaally really well.

As for how to use pedals, dirt pedals can be good on the clean channel or the dirty channel. Free game!

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 2:27 pm

monkeydancer wrote:
vidret wrote: As for how to use pedals, dirt pedals can be good on the clean channel or the dirty channel. Free game!

I often read this, and find it somewhat frustrating, as pretty much any dirt/fuzz pedal on my Mesa Boogie's Royal Atlantic's distortion channel sounds god awful, regardless of the gain setting. So for me, it's fuzz on clean channel all the time.

I'm guessing it must be a very amp-dependent thing, and maybe I just have an oddball amp in that aspect.

coldbrightsunlight · Post by **coldbrightsunlight** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 2:35 pm

True it doesn't apply to all pedals/amps. I was just trying to say treating all options is cool.

odontophobia · Post by **odontophobia** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 3:42 pm

Pete wrote:
monkeydancer wrote:
vidret wrote: As for how to use pedals, dirt pedals can be good on the clean channel or the dirty channel. Free game!
I often read this, and find it somewhat frustrating, as pretty much any dirt/fuzz pedal on my Mesa Boogie's Royal Atlantic's distortion channel sounds god awful, regardless of the gain setting. So for me, it's fuzz on clean channel all the time. I'm guessing it must be a very amp-dependent thing, and maybe I just have an oddball amp in that aspect.

I think is amp and pedal dependent. And sometimes you've got to find the right combination of settings. Definitely not an easy path.

My vote would be for BAT Black Forest or Pharaoh because both are great at slamming the amp with volume and will probably sound good with either channel.

The Elements by Dr. Scientist is also a great option. Very versatile.

sonidero · Post by **sonidero** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:06 pm

Not sure where you're at but you could pick up a DS-1 or a Grunge for $10 and see what you like...

goroth · Post by **goroth** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 5:32 pm

sonidero wrote:Not sure where you're at but you could pick up a DS-1 or a Grunge for $10 and see what you like...

Happy new year buddy!

If you can get either of them to sound good with your amp feel free to cut loose and buy anything because it will no doubt sound rad.

gnomethrone · Post by **gnomethrone** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 5:54 pm

Something to look out for:
stock OCD and tubescreamer pedals will kill a lot of your low end. RATs as well somewhat. Since you're tuning low and dooming out I assume you want to keep that bass. Black arts toneworks are great for pushing an amp. Black forest, pharaoh, witch burner... all rad, all bring the low end. If you are wanting to try fuzz the pharao is a good start. The swollen pickle was my first fuzz pedal and its pretty cool but I sold mine eventually. If you just want something crazy sounding for leads try a gated octave fuzz. Any of them, all of them.

sonidero · Post by **sonidero** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:01 pm

goroth wrote:
sonidero wrote:Not sure where you're at but you could pick up a DS-1 or a Grunge for $10 and see what you like...
Happy new year buddy!

If you can get either of them to sound good with your amp feel free to cut loose and buy anything because it will no doubt sound rad.

You too!!!

That's was kinda my point but Jero knows I can stack 5 of either and sound like anything through any amount with any guitar... You just gotta have faith; in your knob twiddlin and your ears...

Iommic Pope · Post by **Iommic Pope** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:06 pm

vidret wrote:If the dirt channel is anything like the one on my orange th30 you WANT, no NEED a black forest for it.

I use it to do black metal, stoner metal, jimi hendrix shit, led zeppelin, everything. It's made for the orange TH dirt section. On your clean section it becomes a loud clean boost if you want.

That's all I'll say, and i've tried a LOT of stuff with my amp.

What's up, baby?

coldbrightsunlight · Post by **coldbrightsunlight** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:27 pm

Dude I'm not sure I've ever read anything I agreed with more.

Eivind August · Post by **Eivind August** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 11:12 am

vidret wrote:Overall regarding dirt, not just orange:

round up your favorites from Dwarfcraft, LAL and Fuzzhugger.

close your eyes
pick one
?????
profit

Noise remix.

frigid midget · Post by **frigid midget** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 11:37 am

I know i'm alone in this...But imo for a first fx pedal experience it's usually not a bad idea to just get your feet wet, and go with one of those pedals you first mensioned: ehx big muff, ocd, tubescreamer, rat,...

From there on you can replace/upgrade as you start to get a better idea of where exactly you want to go

You'd be surprised what the gain channel on your orange can sound like when you boost your amp's front end with just a Boss OD, MXR Mirco amp, SHO (clone), or even just a cheap eq pedal.

Fwiw, of the muff-like fuzz peds I tried, the Swollen Pickle MKII was probably my least favorite one. Not that it's not a step up from the standard ehx bmp, but the tone/crunch controls only give you a small range of useable tones that don't sound either extremely harsh or overly dark and muffled. It shines when stacked with another pedal or your amp's dirt, but on its own there's really only a couple of sweet spots imo.

One of my favorite muffs so far: Musket. At least two of those controls might as well been left way imo, bot ither than that it's a really gainy variant bmp that can go from smooth gilmour distortion-y stuff to bigg nasty sludge/doom territory.

Another one I like a lot because of its simplicity, improved tone stack and well, low price: Maxon D&S. Or the Ibanez '60 fuzz, from the soundtank series. There's a bunch of other ibanez variations that are all pretty much identical internally. The new OD85O being one of those, the other ones might be kinda vintage and pretty sought after...

I'm much more into tonebenders, buzzarounds and superfuzzes these days though. They cut through a lot better, and I are better suited as allround dirt sources than muffs imo

The elements: All kinds of awesome. But might be a bit intimidating for a beginner. I found more than ten really good and completely different sounding tones in that pedal within the first 5 minutes after plugging it it...But since there's just one switch and no presets, I ended up replacing it with two seperate pedals. They cost me less than the Elements too

I din't bonde wit the Black Forest I had. At least not with the Fender Tone-master I had back then. Starting to think I should give it another try now that I've got an Orange

ilovefuzz.com

Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals!!!

Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals!!!

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals

Re: Let's "open a can of worms" and start adding some pedals