Crunchbox or _____

[Deus Vult]

Looking for a good stompbox to throw my 1959 Marshall into brown sound/80s hair metal and maybe 80s thrash metal territory while I wait for my King of Tone.

Looking at the Super Crunch Box and the XTS Atomic Overdrive. I know both of these work well with clean amps....anyone know how they will do on top of plexi?

 

[Rich]

Looking for a good stompbox to throw my 1959 Marshall into brown sound/80s hair metal and maybe 80s thrash metal territory while I wait for my King of Tone.

Looking at the Super Crunch Box and the XTS Atomic Overdrive. I know both of these work well with clean amps....anyone know how they will do on top of plexi?

Oh ye of so little faith!

If you want big hair band sound out of an older-style Marshall, another type of pedal you may not have considered is a treble booster. Once again, I will recommend Analogman - Beano Boost.

Blah, blah, blah, Clapton, blah, blah, blah "vintage," blah, blah, blah, "creamy" ...

Pick up a treble booster ( again, I recommend Analogman), set the output to "Stun" and behold the majesty of over-the-top gain with effortless pinch harmonics.

As for the Crunchbox, I've never tried one but the sound/video clips are very impressive and the price is very nice. I'm still tempted to throw down some bones just to check one out.

 

[Rich]

What Fenn is debating against:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eiiN26BY3M]XTS Atomic Overdrive, demo by Pete Thorn - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usRrr2c3eQE]Analogman King of Tone V4 standard gain guitar effects pedal demo Kingbee Filtertron Tele - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Rich]

Whatever you go for, the Beano Boost is worth owning for any thing for any reason.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGu93-1GXDo]Analogman Beano Boost demo (w/ Les Paul) - YouTube[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsvGuT3OUrI[/ame]

 

[Rich]

Mind you, treble boosters are not dirt pedals, they just get really gnarly and are great for kicking the shit out of an amp that is already overdriving. There is NO compression in a treble booster either which, IMO, is what makes it really great for throwing a dirty amp over the top.

 

[Canman]

I built a Crunchbox a couple of months ago and gave it to my brother because it NAILED the 80's hair metal tones, and he's a big fan of pretty much all 80's music, haha.

I've been missing that sucker since I gave it to him!! I'm planning on building another one because I liked it so much!! (If you are interested in me building you one send me a message, we can work something out!) Unfortunately, I didn't run the Crunchbox into a dirty amp so I can't say how it sounds in that scenario. But I can tell you this much...the CB has the classic Marshall mid-honk and it's a BEAUTIFUL thing. After I built it, it was the only pedal I used for a few weeks (and I'm a multi-pedal guy...I love David Gilmour's stuff...)

 

[Hector Arcadius]

Crunch Box. Yes, DO IT. Go for the "Super" version, since it adds more tones in the game and solves one problem the standard CB had: it sounds even better at higher that 9V voltage, so the Super one comes with a current doubler inside.

It took the all-mighty Wampler Sovereign to kick the CB out of my board. DO IT!

 

[Canman]

The Super CB has the presence control on the outside right? I added the presence control to the one I built, the way the tone and presence knobs interact is SO COOL!!!

 

[mdubya]

I am surprised you can't already get there with the boost on (I assume we are talking your YJM) and your Bad Monkey or your EP Boost (or both! ).

I owned a JCM 800 2205, maybe the definitive "hair metal" amp. At the same time I owned my 1976 2204. Since I didn't really like the 2205, I would boost the 2204 with an old Boss DS-1 (I realize the new ones aren't the same) or, I would run a line out from my solid state Marshall Lead 20 (Lead 12 should do the same thing) for the occasions I wanted "more" than the classic tones the 2204 gives so sweetly.

I was never going for "hair metal", but more like early Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and even Rage Against The Machine and later Sabbath.

I would say by either path, nothing could have beat those tones.

JMHO.

The edgy and acerbic solid state tones coming from the Lead 20 or the DS-1 pushing the sagging warmth of the 2204...

 

[Deus Vult]

i don't like the onboard boost. it may work for YJM, but not for the lowly Fenn.

The EP boost when turned up adds gain, but I don't like it. I keep it at about 11:00 at all times and it fattens up the sound nicely- especially with single coils.

The Bad Monkey completely alters the sound of the YJM- almost solid state. It works for leads; I don't like it for rhythm.

And Rich, I have not lost any faith. I just have a long wait for my King Of Tone and your pedal whoring has inflamed my GAS.

I've also become aware of the Carl Martin Plexitone. Sounds pretty awesome on the professionally mic'd, recorded and engineered youtube videos. lolz.

 

[snaredrum]

another YJM owner here - can confirm that the onboard fx can go eff themselves

 

[Rich]

And Rich, I have not lost any faith. I just have a long wait for my King Of Tone and your pedal whoring has inflamed my GAS.

I'm just busting your balls, Ron.

The guys on this board know their shit big time so this is a great place to get more suggestions; they've steered me in the right direction on more than one occasion.

 

[mdubya]

It is tough to wade through what sounds "like" a plexi or JCM 800 through a clean amp, possibly made for low volume practice, and what will boost your already raging old school amp into the next decade.

Seems as though not too many play live and loud these days.

 

[Rich]

That's true, and what works in the living room doesn't always translate very well to a stage.

I haven't used my Atomic Overdrive with my regular band rig except for once when I needed to play with this extra SS Crate half stack (set clean) we have sitting around at our rehearsal space. I bought that pedal to mostly use at home and be sort of a Swiss Army knife for times when I can't bring my own amp and need to plug into something unknown. Very versatile pedal.

The KoT works everywhere and with every amp I've used it with. I like it so much that I bought a second pedal - one for my live board and one for home. Not anywhere near as flexible as the Atomic OD, but it always sounds and feels good.

The Beano Boost seems more finicky about amps. I think it sounds like ass with the Blues Junior I use at home but sounds like death from above with the Soldano Hot Rod 50 I play with my band (who knew anyone would want MORE gain from a Soldano? ) as it gives me more focused sounds that is, I believe, similar to what Fenn is looking for - a kick in the mids and high mids and more overtones/harmonics.

 

[snaredrum]

and yeah, the crunch box gets a great marshall sound. Currently we run the bass guitar into the crunchbox and YJM live to get that lemmy style sound!

 

[Stuff]

Just throwing in a couple 'amp in a box' pedals that might be just what you're looking for. The Wampler Pinnacle and the Mad Professor Mighty Red Distortion are both built to give that 80s brown sound, and often turn up 2nd hand on eBay. I've had both, and there wasn't much to choose between them.

 

[HDS]

OD808 or any overdrive (with gain turned down and level turned up) into a good distortion pedal. I use a Suhr Roit myself and a Plexitube. 80's hair band for days. The idea is to slam the distortion pedals front end and run to a clean amp. This also keeps the noise level low unlike using a pedal with the gain all the way up (you get to much noise).

This is my secrete to getting anyones sound from Ratt - White lion. Works even with cheapo pedals.

 

[JohnnyWalker]

Wampler?