I need help..

So I experimented with my pedals, amp and substituted them with my friend's amp and pedals.

If I placed any delay pedal (his memory man) in front of an overdriven amp, it still got in the way of my playing.

If we placed any overdrive pedal before the delay to add some more gain to the overdriven amp, it created even more chaos.

Since I can't buy an amp with effects loop right now, I am gonna swap my OD pedal for one with more gain which I can use in front of my amp. I will not dial in any gain on my amp (use it as a clean pedal platform of sorts).

I will buy something like a Wampler Pantheon or EHX Spruce goose soon. Pedals like those have option of more gain and I also like tweakable EQ on these.

If you know similar, yet more affordable pedals; please chime in.

Thank you, everyone.

EHX are the kings of affordability.

It’s a journey. Sometimes you are going to buy things and that’ll be the best decision you could have made at the time, but a few weeks/months/years later you’ll be trading it, probably at a loss, when you have outgrown it or changed your style or whatever.

That loss is the “tuition fee” - it’s not wasted money, you’ve learned something and moved forward.

I trip over delays if they're too in-your-face.

When you boost your signal with an overdrive or boost (level or drive) it can have the effect of also boosting the degree to which your pedals after that source are noticeable. I simply reduce the delay level or repeats or a combo of the two to keep the delay subtle...unless I'm covering a song like "Mainstreet", for example, where the delay is really part of the song's vibe.

Before doing anything drastic just play with the level of your delay to tamp it down a bit. I rarely have my delay mix knobs past 10 o'clock...if I use delay at all. For a bit of ambience I'll usually just use a splash or spring, plate, or hall reverb instead.

Good luck!

David1970 said:

I will not dial in any gain on my amp (use it as a clean pedal platform of sorts).

I will buy something like a Wampler Pantheon or EHX Spruce goose soon. Pedals like those have option of more gain and I also like tweakable EQ on these.

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GM's comments are golden, in my book. try them out.

I like your direction...the cleaner the amp, the cleaner your signal will be.

I like the idea of moving in the direction of getting OD from a pedal...the ones you mentioned advertise EQ control. Flexability. The caveat, is the pedal choice for your amp that works best. They all different somewhat, depending on the amp used.

I essentially do this with my Hiwatts...as Dave Gilmour discovered long ago. I simply arrived at this on my own, because i loved the clean power of the amp...and works very well with pedals. I increase the amps preamp volume, just enough to where the tone fills out...but distortion from the amp is minimal. Overall volume to taste from the master.
I mix this tone, with my echos, one warm and fat from a 61 Super...and the second repeat, a clean,clear SF. fender sound from a '79 Vibroloux. There is minimal distortion from any of my amps.

I have a pedal, which does the slight ,warm edge...and a nice volume boost.(on all the time). It sits at the front of my chain...the first pedal my guitar signal hits, before going through a phaser and a chorus, that then goes into a loop selector, 2 loops, to select either echo unit, or both, before exiting to the amp.

when i want serious, over the top drive...2 pedals, in series...does it, tweak to taste is important. Different purpose built pedal board and rig for this application( still Hiwatt, now 1/2 stack...still clean.). One echo unit on that board, the venerable Maxon AD 900. I use it sparingly.

To clarify, this is an at home solution only. Any time you are *live* volume, back off on ALL pedals. The amp takes over.

I clearly, use less echo, the more drive i use. My ear preference. If i want to have fun with echo, i go cleaner.

I was a guy who originally gig'd driven amps. Glorious sound, true. Also loud. But never needed any kind of echo support the sound. It was all there already.

If the signal going in has any kind of undesired component, an amp pushed will do what it is supposed to do...amplify it. Clean is king, for any echo in my book...ymmv.