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One question as well: are you using an amp that itself stays stupid clean on its own, and not pushing it into overdrive with said pedals?

Can't take away gain downrange if you're pushing it too far there, and that's your enemy of complex.

My amp is admittedly not pristine clean (JCM800 variant), but it's set clean enough and I've been running my dirt boxes at just past unity volume, so I have a suspicion that isn't the culprit.

I've yet to see a JCM that'll do what you're asking, but would depend a lot on tube choice and other stuff.

It generally nets Sonny Sharrock, not Les Paul.

I don't think Sonny Sharrock played lots of "jazz chords" considering he wanted his guitar to sound like a tenor saxophone.

Exactly.

But in the "jazz" realm that's what JCM800 nets in my experience.

Yeah, when I want "jazz chords", I just play power chords into a Green Ringer.

Not that my rec means anything, but I will concur about the Four Eyes being quite good for this.

Take a look at Team Awesome Fuzz Machine. I got one when I got tired of fuzz farting out/loosing articulation. Since then, I've landed on lots of tone bender variants that work well/responsive to pick dynamics. TAFM is just so easy to get a good result, though.

Something mentioned earlier that helps me is to pick a note or two then strum. My playing that people consider "jazzy" is always just different triad inversions. If I just strum along on the triads they sound mostly like power chords, but if I pick a note or two then strum, my brain can pull it apart a lot better. Even something as simple as sliding in one of the notes then strumming the chord makes it all work better.

Any more than a triad and my brain can't track with any sort of tasty gain.

I don't play anything remotely heavy or doomy, but i've found success in not having muddy jazz chords by riding the amp barely breaking up and using more volume and less gain on a drive pedal to push it.

rfurtkamp wrote:Exactly.

But in the "jazz" realm that's what JCM800 nets in my experience.

Lol, just so we're clear: I'm not really trying to play Jazz, just get more articulation with dirty tones. My OCD clone does have a diode lift mode, should I try that with less gain and more treble response? Something that would keep some saturation would be rad, though. Gonna fool around with a tubescreamer, see if there's anything else I can try today while I'm out at the space.

My only issue with using it more as a boost is I need my dirty tone to be similar in volume to my clean sound, since I play in a 2 guitar band and we sometimes mix and match tones.

It's a case of if I wanted articulation, just isn't what I'd go with.

I'd get all my gain from boxes, and have a pristine clean amp.

Adjust pedals to the clean level, and wham!

rfurtkamp wrote:It's a case of if I wanted articulation, just isn't what I'd go with.

I'd get all my gain from boxes, and have a pristine clean amp.

Adjust pedals to the clean level, and wham!

Ya, that's what I'd been doing; guess the circuit isn't quite what I want now. Lowering the gain and increasing the treble on the pedal didn't really help very much, which is a shame. Will probably keep it for dark woolly riffs that don't need clarity. I did try a few other things, the first was to switch to my lower wattage AOR and stack its built in boost with an overdrive set for low gain and unity volume. Works better than the way I've been doing things, but isn't quite 100% perfect. It's definitely a start though.

Aren't you selling a Boneshaker? I would imagine you could get a good bit of clarity with the eq section on that.

If it hasn't been said already, I'd vote for an Elements. That's what I use when I need some articulate dirt. Handles my bar chords alright, and there's a lot to be said for picking/strumming style. If I use a pick I get less articulation than when I just strum with my thumb.