How/why do you use overdrive/distortion stomps in front of the amp?

  • For many years i've always had simple setup- guitar into amp, maybe a touch of rev/del then out the other end, even owning multi-effects processors and the good-old 'marshall JMP1' i had prior to the KPA.
    For boost/solo stuff with the Kemper (the same as my old setup) it was a case of finding a similar or same profile/settings with more gain and knock the output level up a few dB.
    Seems to me that many players rely on a stomp and can be quite particular about their favourite overdrive pedals in front of their amp (KPA=pre-amp stomp slots) for that extra drive or maybe just to dirty up their tone. I've often found this to colour the sound going in to the amp in a non-favourable way, but thats just my "old school" approach.


    So, i'd be interested to hear how everyone else uses their overdrive/distortion FX in stomps 1-4 (pre-amp) and their reasons and chosen FX/settings. I might be missing something good here having been a minimalist for well over 2 decades. perhaps someone will show me otherwise...? 8)

  • Well, in real life boost pedals were invented so people could hit the front of their amp with more signal and thus get more distortion out of it. Additionally, most pedals have a bit of EQ going on, so they also change HOW your guitar gets distorted.


    - Treble boosters, such as the Dallas Rangemaster, do exactly what the name suggests. Amps get overloaded by your bass frequencies really easily, so cranking up the treble keeps the amp from getting all dark and woofy. Think early Sabbath.


    - Tube screamers a) cut a bunch of bass, similar to a treble boost but more subtle, b) add a small peak in the mids, which gives you a bit of a "nasal" quality that can help cut through in a mix, and c) add their own distortion if you want. Pick any modern metal album and I bet there's a tube screamer on the rhythms.


    - Fuzz pedals, well... they really distort your signal. Hendrix, Smashing Pumpkins.... if you hear a guitar tone and think "wow that's fucked up", it's probably a fuzz.


    - Distortions are often run into a fairly clean amp to get it into rock/metal territory. Or you can use a cranked distortion into a high-gain amp and end up with the stereotypical '90s Swedish death metal tone.


    Sometimes it's a matter of style/genre, often it's about adjusting the sound of your guitar. For instance, my Schecter is fairly dark and bassy even with a pretty bright pickup (Duncan Custom) in the bridge. A tube screamer helps control the low end and gives me a bit more pick attack.

  • I used to just have a single channel amp that was 'master volume only'. Whilst it was only 7w, it would still shake the windows if you cranked it to get the most angry distortion it'd do. That was a monster sound but, if you were in a covers band that needed a few different sounds, it was easier to set the master volume just before it cracked and then use stomp boxes to take it in different directions. A booster pedal took you to 'just this amp distorted a bit' and a stomp distortion that is very coloured took you in another direction.


    With the profiler, I rarely use the stomp section. If I'm wanting a different colour, I tend to select a different amp. It's not that the stomp section is 'bad'. It's just that the amp side of things in the Kemper is sooooo good that it's tempting to just switch profiles rather than tweak what you're on now by stomps. I am being lazy and probably missing out in my approach so I'm not saying it's the way to go - just what I tend to do!


    I still use a couple of my pedals in front of the profiler; one is a home made Sunface Fuzz / Rangemaster in one box (along the lines of the SunLion pedal that Analogman do). Mine has transistors in with rather less mojo than the ones the pros use but then again I'm not a pro so, for my uses, I'm happy with it.

  • Yep, I am definitely an OD/Distortion pedal kind of guy, and prefer to slam the front of an amp that is set for medium/crunch gain. Fantastic way to get singing lead tones.


    This is just my personal preference. Even with uber high gain tube amps, I always preferred the mid-range articulation of using something like a Tube Screamer or a DOD-250, to push an amp dialed for medium gain, over the edge into higher gain regime.


    I still do this with my Kemper. Invariably, I will dial back a bit of a given amp profile's default gain, and use a Green Scream stomp to put it right back in. I have owned quite a few tube amps through the years, and I never got my distortion exclusively from the amp. It was always a combination of OD pedal and amp.

  • I'm an OD guy for 80-90% of what I play. I actually still use three overdrive pedals in front of the Kemper, because I find the ODs in the Kemper severely lacking.


    I tend to play through amp sounds that just start breaking up when pushed hard. Overdrives (and multiple ones) give me the options of shaping my tone in multiple ways for multiple occasions. I have a low gain, a low-mid, and a screamer. I can get anything from a slightly broken up clean to a wall of near-fuzz distortion with all three engaged.


    On the Kemper, I basically have an EQ and a gate pre-amp (in addition to the built in gate, simply to clean up some excess noise when using single-coils). I do also have a Green Scream and a compressor set up but I never enable them. Post-amp I have a stereo loop (with a Strymon Timeline and Strymon Bigsky) and a compressor.

    Guitars: Parker Fly Mojo Flame, Ibanez RG7620 7-string, Legator Ninja 8-string, Fender Strat & Tele, Breedlove Pro C25
    Pedalboard: Templeboards Trio 43, Mission VM-1, Morley Bad Horsie, RJM Mini Effect Gizmo, 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive, Foxpedals The City, Addrock Ol' Yeller, RJM MMGT/22, Mission RJM EP-1, Strymon Timeline + BigSky
    Stack: Furman PL-Plus C, Kemper Rack

  • I agree with Nicky - this is very helpful.


    Question: do any of you guys play slide guitar and if so, would you use a boost/distortion pedal in the same way or just natural amp? I may be starting a new project this summer as a Little Feat tribute and I'll be 'Lowell George'. I know he used a Dumble Overdrive Special and I just happen to own Michael Britt's (aka @lonestargtr ) Dumble pack so I should be mostly there already (now I just have to get a 'new' guitar to set up exclusively for slide and learn how to play slide! LOL!). After reading this thread I am wondering if I can't get some enhanced tone from some strategic pedal use?

  • I use my Kemper like any tube amp I have and run my OD pedals in front. I was never happy with the OD's settings in the Kemper. With my pedals and a few good profiles, it's sonic heaven.

  • I hardly never use pedals cause they change too much the sound of the amp.
    I am really waiting for the morph function and will set up my lead boosts more or less with +few dB pre-stack, EQ some additional mids or just a cut-the-mix preset and tweaking something near +little amp gain/defintion/power sagging .
    All with a pedal :thumbup:

  • I use a variety of pedals in front of my Kemper..mostly overdrive units of the Klon type..they just add a little flavor and coloration and boost of my signal. i have a fulltone univibe which sounds great in front but not in the loop. With different rigs they all sound a little different.. i use them mostly with cleaner gain rigs. There is one pedal that just sounds great with my Kemper, it is Biyang Metal End. the least expensive pedal i have, but adds great coloration to the Klon clones and Xotics in front of it. (except i have the distortion knob almost off on the biyang). i was leery about how the Kemper was going to handle them as i have many dollars invested in my pedal board, but fret not, they all have the same sonic quality they had in front of my Mesa Mark V. love that toaster

  • Hey flyingheelhook Lowell used two mxr dynacomps for his slide sound also. both on. must have been noisy when not playing cuz those pedals are hiss monsters. Big Little Feat fan, seen them at least 10 times, and have met them and talked to them. Nice guys

  • For 90s rock/grunge and alternative I find it very difficult to get the sound I want just using amp distortion.


    Most of the bands I like used Big Muffs and Rats to get those alternative sounds. It seems that only classic rock bands rely on amp distortion to get their sounds.


    So I love stomp distortion. And I find nothing beats an analogue stomp into a profile. The modelled stomps are not 100%. The modelled Rat is very good but the Muff isn't. But as I have the pedals I just use those.

  • For 90s rock/grunge and alternative I find it very difficult to get the sound I want just using amp distortion.


    Most of the bands I like used Big Muffs and Rats to get those alternative sounds. It seems that only classic rock bands rely on amp distortion to get their sounds.


    So I love stomp distortion. And I find nothing beats an analogue stomp into a profile. The modelled stomps are not 100%. The modelled Rat is very good but the Muff isn't. But as I have the pedals I just use those.


    I think the difficulty with any modelled distortion is 'which one do you model'?


    I started my working life as an electronics engineer. Fixing stuff, not designing stuff :) I still dabble in terms of building stomp boxes - I've built loads over the years.


    If you build a Muff, there are sooooo many different designs of even a Muff. If you look here http://www.madbeanpedals.com/p…ny/docs/Mudbunny_2015.pdf


    and then look at the variations you can do with just this one board. There are 6 different variants on the EHX Big Muff.... That's before you get into any possible mojo of 'that was a good one of the Ram's Head kind'.


    Strangely enough, I've not built a Muff - it's on my 'to do' list.


  • Yeah it is strange because when I got my first muff I took it for granted that all muffs sounded as good. I got a large black box Russian Muff that sounds amazing. I bought another one - same type but the enclosure was very slightly different (probably a later batch). And it didn't sound as good. Then I realised that even the same Muff can sound different depending on the components available during that production run.


    I have a Muff made by a guy called Mike. madebymike. It is based on the Smashing Punmpkins style muff. It has a mids control and sounds amazing. Really really good.


    I would love to build but I have no idea how to start. I may get a kit. Do you sell pedals too?

  • The Kemper really helped curb my pedal and amp buying addiction. I have tried ODs in front of the Kemper, and it sounded great, but now just use tweaked profiles switched with the remote to keep it simple and stage setup clean and fast.


    This pic is a few years old now, taken back when I first got my KPA unpowered head (has since been changed to a powered rack KPA). Many of the pedals have been sold... and many many new ones have been bought.. lol.


    I did say the KPA only curbed my pedal addiction - not erased :D


    (quite a few home made fuzz, OD's and boosts in this pic that I'd forgotten about. I really should pull them out again and give 'em a whirl)


    [Blocked Image: http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o566/bradgreen78/All%20Pedals%20Crop%20Small_zpsibpihyob.jpg]

  • Sometimes I can get "there" (specific tone) just tweaking an amp profile. Sometimes it needs a boost or added distortion or some fuzz to get there. I don't like turning an amp profile's gain up or down too much. I made and saved some KPA "pedals" (models?) that closely represent the pedals I was using; AnalogMan's 808, Prince of Tone and AstroTone Fuzz. I use these mostly and occasionally the Rat and DS1 models in the KPA too. I recently went back to using AnalogMan's 808, the actual pedal, in front of the KPA. but now it's set to be totally transparent tone wise and just adds a little gain. The actual 808 is a little "smoother" than I get get out of the KPAs version of the 808 (Green Scream.)

    Learn to Swim


  • Nice pic. What are the pedals you have saved to use with the Kemper? Any mods or delays?

  • The main ones I used with the kemper were the Eventide Time factor delay, Analogman Nkt275 fuzz, Kingsley Jester overdrive, Arc Effects Klone (was always on to do the classic klon warmth/presence/fattening thing).


    Those 4 have pretty unique sounds and worked really well.


    I haven't used any outboard fx in the last several months however and now just used tweaked profiles and the kpa's on board fx and Im pretty happy with all the tones. I do miss some of the Timefactors delays though, but not enough to screw around with the fx loop and switching headaches again.

  • I use a green scream set to neutral:


    <0.0> drive
    -2.5 tone
    <0.0> volume


    With my PRS 7 string loaded with BKP Ceramic Nailbombs (medium gain pickups) going into a medium gain direct profile (into cab) with a post eq HPF on 87hz and LPF on 5.1kHz. This sounds incredible at high volumes, so clear, no fizz or treble at all, none. Low gain = perfect for modern metal IMHO.


    In regards to the green screen, it fattens it up as you'd expect and makes it 'stronger'.

  • I've tried various o.d.,s and delays, but now I,m down to one external stomp.
    its a Paul Trombetta Bone Machine...very complex fuzz, o.d. pedal. that works
    miricals w most profiles.