Pedal or new amp

[Sportrider24]

Hi all, I have a Valve junior amp which only has a volume knob. In order to get any mean distortion, I have to crank it up really loud. I'd really like to have that same distortion but also control the volume of it . Should I purchase a second amp that has more functions or would a distortion pedal do the trick ? Thanks!!

[drewbertca]

I'd swing for the pedal myself.....but I usually play loud enough to drive the My Valve Jr. into saturation

[toneguy86]

Originally Posted by Sportrider24

Hi all, I have a Valve junior amp which only has a volume knob. In order to get any mean distortion, I have to crank it up really loud. I'd really like to have that same distortion but also control the volume of it . Should I purchase a second amp that has more functions or would a distortion pedal do the trick ? Thanks!!

Honestly, I'm not a big pedals guy at all. Maybe they are out there, but I have never found a pedal of any kind that duplicates real tube distortion right from the amp. The only exception might be a King of Tone by Analogman, but they are pricey and you will wait for year or longer to get one.

I would consider paying a little more money and just getting a real amp. I'm not sure how much you have to spend, but there has been a lot of discussion on other threads about options in the $400-500 range. The new Peavey Windsor might be something to consider. For a little more you can score an Orange Tiny Terror. I would try to find a used one and get a 112 speaker from Avatar or something similar. Anyway, my two cents...

Mark

[b-squared]

You need an attenuator. The THD hotplate is a pretty good one.

You can run your amp full out, and turn it down with that. I let my buddy use one of mine on his, and he's sold on it.

If you want to use a pedal, I recommend the Fulltone OCD. It absolutely rocks. It'll also cost half of what the attenuator goes for.

BB

[LoKi]

Originally Posted by toneguy86

Honestly, I'm not a big pedals guy at all. Maybe they are out there, but I have never found a pedal of any kind that duplicates real tube distortion right from the amp. The only exception might be a King of Tone by Analogman, but they are pricey and you will wait for year or longer to get one.

I would consider paying a little more money and just getting a real amp. I'm not sure how much you have to spend, but there has been a lot of discussion on other threads about options in the $400-500 range. The new Peavey Windsor might be something to consider. For a little more you can score an Orange Tiny Terror. I would try to find a used one and get a 112 speaker from Avatar or something similar. Anyway, my two cents...

Mark

I'll record you a clip of my OD-2. It's been heavily modded, but its the only pedal I know I can throw in front of a solid state Peavey and still have my tone.

Of course I'll have to record it with a tube amp, since thats all I've got, but I'll use the clean channel. Hmm.. Maybe I'll do a gear demo and put it up on youtube. I've never thought about showing off my homebrew gear online...

[toneguy86]

Originally Posted by LoKi

I'll record you a clip of my OD-2. It's been heavily modded, but its the only pedal I know I can throw in front of a solid state Peavey and still have my tone.

Of course I'll have to record it with a tube amp, since thats all I've got, but I'll use the clean channel. Hmm.. Maybe I'll do a gear demo and put it up on youtube. I've never thought about showing off my homebrew gear online...

Who makes the OD-2 or is that one of homemade stomp boxes?
Mark

[Sportrider24]

Originally Posted by b-squared

You need an attenuator. The THD hotplate is a pretty good one.

You can run your amp full out, and turn it down with that. I let my buddy use one of mine on his, and he's sold on it.

If you want to use a pedal, I recommend the Fulltone OCD. It absolutely rocks. It'll also cost half of what the attenuator goes for.

BB

That hot plate is exactly what I'm looking for but it costs more that my guitar and amp together (considering the closeout discount I got). It looks like I will really need to go with a pedal. Thanks.

[b-squared]

Originally Posted by Sportrider24

That hot plate is exactly what I'm looking for but it costs more that my guitar and amp together (considering the closeout discount I got). It looks like I will really need to go with a pedal. Thanks.

Ya, they are pretty pricey.

Seriously, give that OCD a try. I'll try and post some clips of it when I get my new pickups in.

BB

[Sportrider24]

Originally Posted by LoKi

I'll record you a clip of my OD-2. It's been heavily modded, but its the only pedal I know I can throw in front of a solid state Peavey and still have my tone.

Of course I'll have to record it with a tube amp, since thats all I've got, but I'll use the clean channel. Hmm.. Maybe I'll do a gear demo and put it up on youtube. I've never thought about showing off my homebrew gear online...

That's ok. My amp is a tube amp also.

[LoKi]

Originally Posted by toneguy86

Who makes the OD-2 or is that one of homemade stomp boxes?
Mark

It's a Guyatone micro stomp.

It starts out life as an 808 clone without a tone control. After I was done with it, it now sounds like a tube amp. I have no idea what I did even. I'm gonna have to take it apart and draw it up so I can make others.

It's an $80 stomp when its new. I put about $30 worth of high quality parts into it and everytime I use it somebody tries to buy it from me.

I brought it with me to try out a Blues Deluxe in my buddy's shop, and some other guy wanted to try the amp, so I left my OD2 plugged in. He didn't want the amp when he was done, but offered me $300 for the pedal.

I told him it wasn't for sale and he begged me to build him one. I'm not in that business at all, I just want to play music, but its tempting to get into the amp and pedal game.

[drewbertca]

Another option is the Electro Harmonix MUFF Overdrive......that thing is sweet and cheap...It's small has one knob.....it's inexpensive (I got it for $50) and I like it....replaced my Tone-Lok Tubescreamer.....the website sucks but go to: http://www.ehx.com
then click on effects and then nano and it's one of those.....

[Robster]

Hey, Sport,

I have a VJ, and I use an overdrive pedal to get that really milky tube overdriven distortion at low volumes. A fuzz (distortion) pedal will not do the same thing. Try an OD before you buy a fuzz.

R

[drewbertca]

Originally Posted by Robster

Hey, Sport,

I have a VJ, and I use an overdrive pedal to get that really milky tube overdriven distortion at low volumes. A fuzz (distortion) pedal will not do the same thing. Try an OD before you buy a fuzz.

R

I said it was an option......but I know what you're saying.....but honestly with the Muff OD I get a pretty good ZZTop ish sound.....it's a good tone IMO.....my Tubescreamer works but not as pleasantly to me....

[drewbertca]

I guess it depends on what sound you want....I haven't, in all honesty, been using any pedals........My singnal Chain

Gibson Les Paul BFG
Fender 15' Cable
Epiphone Valve Jr
3' Speaker cable
home made 2x12 loaded with Eminence The wizards
or a home made 1x12 with a Celestion G12 412 AVT

[El Toro]

Krank Distortus Maximus. That's the real deal in gain.

[drewbertca]

I've never tried any Krank products...no dealers anywhere near where I am.....and if either shop can get their line neither stocks Kranks

[Sportrider24]

Thanks guys. All great suggestions. I really like the tone coming from the amp I'm not looking to change it. I just need something inexpensive that will allow me to control the volume but keep the tone that comes from the amp when I have it cranked up.

Maybe what I should do is bring my amp to a GC / Sam Ash and try it with some pedals. Do they let you test pedals or just guitars and amps ?

[Deftone]

I just bought the new Krank Rev. Jr. It's a 20 watt all tube head with an all tube effects loop and a solid wood 1X12" cab. I've been using a Boss GT5 but I've got a Digitech GNX3 on the way. I like multi effect processors in the effects loop.

I also use a Tom Scholz Power Soak attentuator...it's really old but it works great and it has multiple ohm settings, it's very vesatile as far as attentuators go. I think I paid about $75 for it on Ebay. I trust any real Scolz made products. Tom Scholz (Boston, of course) Is an MIT grad in Elec. Engineering and a Les Paul player.

[dwagar]

AFAIK attenuators only work with amps that have output tubes, not with solid state or even SS with tube pre. Their function is to get the output tubes cooking up to speed. An SS amp has nothing to cook.

Go with a good pedal.

[Willy]

I have had debated this question myself over the past few years. While there are som great pedals that can give you quality distorted tones, at best they can only hope to emulate the true sound of a broken up valve state amp.

Case and point: I have a Randall G3 75w Solid tube/mosfet combination amp. I wanted to play up the tubes on this amp to get the maximum tube sound out of it. Since it only has power tubes and no preamp tubes, I bought a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic which has a pair of preamp sized tubes in it. In essence, I was using this pedal not only as an overdrive pedal but as a preamp. While this pedal does a great job, it didn't give me the true sound of a fully tubed amp. Only a tube amp can do this.

To shorten up this long story, I went out and purchased a Crate V30 Head with 2x12 Tone Tubby Cab. I should have done this years ago. The quest for "that" sound that I was after was just a saturated overdriven Class A tube sound. No matter which pedals I bought I wasn't going to get "that" sound, I needed a fully tubed amp.

The Valve Jr. is a great amp. I would suggest that if you are experiencing this frustration then bite the bullet and go get a larger tube amp. You won't have to crank it up to get that saturated overdriven sound and therefore won't have to shorten the life of your amp just to get qaulity overdrive.