(silly and unsophisticated) overdrive questions

[retinal orbita]

So...... I am playing a SG '61 reissue through a Marshall JCM 900 SL-X 100W and am considering an overdrive pedal for my setup. Problem is, I am watching a lot of videos on youtube but not really sure if this is going to actually help me out with what I'm hoping it will do. I have replaced the stock EC83s with Sovtek 5751's in the preamp for a cleaner tone to get closer to an older classic Marshall sound. I usually use an old op amp 70's Muff for my fuzz fix, but am wanting something that's a little less over the top between fuzz and nothing. Having never owned an overdrive pedal, I am not sure if this will actually help my tone the way I want it to...... because even with the preamp at the middle levels it's still pretty gainy, what I'm looking for is if the preamp is at a low, cleaner volume and the master is cranked I could could still get some diverse and varied overdriven tones....... thinking that the od pedal might push the preamp in a different sort of direction but I'm not totally sure....... I'm pretty clueless about overdrives!!! I guess "transparent" is a word that I'm looking for, my muff, even at a lowered volume, medium sustain and the tone bypassed is still pretty fuckin' nuts, looking get something a little raw, but also I like to use a wah pedal and when the muff is on it essentially renders the was useless, regardless if it's pre or post........

I'm considering:
White Light overdrive
Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop Overdrive

Perhaps:
Singing Tree
Interstellar Overdriver
Or other suggestions?!?!?

[Astricii]

Keeley Blues Driver? The guitarist in the band I play bass in uses a Keeley blues driver and Keeley DS-1 those allow for many levels of in-between loud and fuzz levels while playing nice with a wah... YMMV

[hclapp219]

Not to get all TGP on you, but this is basically what the Timmy was created for. The wait list is kind of a bitch, but you end up with a great OD pedal for 130 bucks.

[retinal orbita]

I'm not even sure I know what the Timmy is......

[jarder]

Danelectro makes a transparent od for cheap. I don't remember what its called, but they are pretty popular maybe someone else can help me out. Also the digitech bad monkey is supposed to be pretty good too.

[D3rP]

I believe it is called the Danelectro Transparent OD.


You should get a Timmy if you can though and support Paul C. Instaed of Mr. I'mintolerentDano.

[hclapp219]

I'm not even sure I know what the Timmy is......

http://www.myspace.com/paulcaudio

It's one of the holy grail pedals on The Gear Page. There are tons of threads over there about, I suggest you check them out! The maker, Paul Cochrane, basically wanted to push his Marshall without changing his fundamental tone, so he invented the Tim and the Timmy, and has been selling them as quick as he can make them ever since.

[tchen]

yeah, "tim(my)" is definitely every other word over at TGP... but i dont hear of it much here. is it really all that? ive been real curious about the timmy.

[sjtele]

Well, I'll give another big vote for the Timmy. It's one of the only pedals that has remained on my board for years. Can run clean for a boost or dial in more gain for a nice crunch or even more for somewhere in the light fuzz category. The treble and bass controls make it easy to fine tune it to your setup. Sounds reeeally juicy when stacked with fuzz pedals too. Yeh, the wait is kind of a pain but it goes quick and it beats paying an extra $50 from someone reselling.

I've dealt directly with Paul C and gotta say he's a truly nice person and one of the best builders out there.... I had a Timmy for years that started to have a small issue with the 9volt plug so I called him up to order a new pedal (figured I'd keep the first one as a spare). Just in conversation I mentioned the issue and he urged me to send it to him to fix it at no charge, even tho I told him it was a few years old. He said it didn't matter. I shipped it out and he had it back to me within a week, good as new and no charge! Try getting that service from Danelectro. Oh, and I still bought another one as a spare, sometimes use one set for crunch and the other set for clean boost, I love it that much.

[hclapp219]

yeah, "tim(my)" is definitely every other word over at TGP... but i dont hear of it much here. is it really all that? ive been real curious about the timmy.

Yeah, it's definitely great at what it does. You can add just the tiniest bit of hair to your sound which I loved, and the eq controls are great. I ended up traded mine to modernage here on the forums for his Cleanness, but I'll probably get on the list again in the future.

[tchen]

yeah, i myself have been debating whether to pull the trigger on a Timmy or a Red Snapper. the Greer Tone Smuggler also has my attention now.

[nbabmf]

It sounds like you'd be happy with a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver or a something based on the Way Huge Red Llama. I build one, the Camel Sutra, with tone controls to make it even more versatile.

[t-rey]

Barber LTD - alot of people compare the SR to the Timmy as far as being really transparent. They are really versatile pedals...they can do low or mid gain into a clean amp; and they can do clean or dirty boost into a dirty amp. Plus they can be had for cheap if you find them used.

[BlindtoFaith]

Mike @ http://www.rhythmanddetonation.com/ can make you a bad ass Zendrive clone. I bought one a few months back and love it. It is very transparent and has a decent amount of gain that sounds killer cranked or with just a touch. The Voice function allows you to match this pedal up with just about any frickin' amp/speaker set up.

[hazelwould]

Mike @ http://www.rhythmanddetonation.com/ can make you a bad ass Zendrive clone. I bought one a few months back and love it. It is very transparent and has a decent amount of gain that sounds killer cranked or with just a touch. The Voice function allows you to match this pedal up with just about any frickin' amp/speaker set up.

I can attest to greatness of the R&D Zendrive clone. Mine is the Jules et Jim one on his site.