I'm approaching 40, and started learning to play guitar when I was around 15. In between, there were a lot of years when I didn't play that much for various reasons (none of them very good). Anyway, over the last few years I've committed to rebuilding my rig and getting back into a passion that I've cared about deep in my soul ever since I was a kid. Finding this show is one of the very best things that's happened to me as a guitar player. It is the friendliest, most accessible set of explanations I've ever been able to find about pedals and amplifiers. From a Yank living in the cold, snowy American upper Midwest (Minneapolis), thank you guys for this show. I love it.
That's awesome dude... I love this show and most of the time they are great, but they are beig totally misleading here on how a Big Muff will sound on different amps without dialing them differently for each amp... That is absolute rubbish, but most other episodes are great... Not this one .
Same situation. Same experience. This channel has been such an inspiration. I can't believe how much more fun it is to play with sounds when I have some idea of what I'm doing! Highly recommend the Anderton's channel as well if you haven't stumbled across it. There's a similar positive vibe over there.
I learned more in this video than any other. It’s funny how everyone misses the obvious (in hindsight) key: the amp. Just like how so many people get caught up on tone wood, tubes and so on when it’s the speakers and how you mic them that has the largest impact on tone. Thanks guys!
It is a beautiful thing to reach point on the arc of life where appreciating the deep seated irony of a big muff into a fender twin is bound to cause spontaneous outbursts of merriment.
When I was a kid, I bought a Sam Ash Fuzztone. I brought it home, and it didn't make a fuzz sound. I brought it back to the store, and it sounded properly fuzzy. Took it home again, no fuzz. Based upon the demos in this video, I bet it was due to the differences in the amps I tried the pedal with. I certainly didn't understand that back then. Thanks for a great, instructional video. Always learn something from you guys.
Still going back through your old vids... This is one of the most informative you have yet produced and it should be compulsory watching/listening to anyone interested in so-called transparent overdrives or alternatively mid -heavy drives and how they relate to individual amp sounds and styles of playing. Great! Pete.
I've watched this a few times but today (for some unknown reason) I decided to watch it again and actually got something new from it. Maybe before I was listening from a different perspective - I don't know but today some stuff just clicked! Thanks guys! :)
Guys, your vídeos are a masterclass. Loved them. Just so much info all together, so valuable. I just don't have words to describe how much I have learned lately with you guys. THANKS SO MUCH
max salas I've watched almost every video from this guys, up until this day and indeed they are a masterclass. I got a lot better with my sound, based on their videos
It's 3 years on, and this video has helped immensely. Drummer of 19 years, focusing more on electric guitar now to increase theory, start writing and just cos I love it. I'm seeing there is so much too learn from guitar > from theory, technique, gain structure and electronics, eq etc etc.. love your work guys. Thanks so much.
This is a really great video explaining and showing why pedals sound so different in different amps, and how important it is to choose a pedal for a specific amp. It totally makes sense why Tubescreamer-type pedals sound so good in blackface Fender amps: Fender blackface amps are so mid-scooped and a TS pedal makes up for it. Great job guys! I always love your videos, but I believe that this one is one of your best!
Lads that was a brilliant explanation about amps as well as overdrives. I pushed the mids beyond where I normally would and got the best sound I've ever had out of my amp. All these years!!
First off, I'd like to thank Mick and Daniel for taking the time to explore the different tones available. I would like to express how incredibly hard it is to choose, the right tone a person would be looking for. I personally find it very difficult to think what setup would be right for me. With a limited budget and limited time to play, I want to get the most our of what I experience. I consider myself a very logical person, but with an infinite amount a variables it's easy to get lost. Keep up the good work. -Drew
Congrats guys. You've had a video on UA-cam for a week, with over 11 thousand views and not one thumbs down! That says a lot. Seriously, keep up the great work.
@5:14 you nailed it! I called my '73 master volume silver face 'The Guitar P.A." Ha ha, so clear, and loud, but a bizarre pedal platform. It almost sounded like plugging into a Mackie board. It weighed about 70lbs.
I listened to this video twice tonight. Kudos to both of you. This had more information about OD pedals and amps than hundreds of other videos. Cheers!
Hi Daniel, just wanted to say that this is one of the very best guitar channels! So much knowledge and good information! Thanks for the good work. Rock on...
Ok guys, I love your videos. They are very insightful, but I just have one problem with this segment. This video was supposed to be about setting up your amp to work with drive pedals. To me, it seemed like the bottom line here was throw out your Fender and Marshall amps if you're going to use certain drive pedals, and get a Hamstead because it will seemingly handle everything better than the latter two. You demoed the Fender with the fuzz pedal and said it had a "bad sound". You also demoed the Marshall clone with the SD1 it also had a "bad sound", but my problem here is that you never gave any suggestion or insight on how to remedy these "bad sounds" if you happen to own these amps. I have a Marshall JCM 800 clone, but what I don't have is time or money to endlessly try and buy pedals to find ones that work best. I, like most I assume, have to make the best out of what we have so to that effect, it would have been nice for you to share some tips on overcoming the sort of flaws in these two amps in regards to using drive pedals.
The moral of the story is pick the right pedals for your amps circuit. You don’t have to buy to try them out. Bring your rig to your local guitar store and throw some different things in front of it. Or just google which pedals work best with a jcm800 (cough tubescreamer cough).
@@wildbob I noticed the tone knob on the muff was all the way to the right which is very bright. If they had of turned the tone knob down a little it may have introduced some more mid range on the Fender.
Daniel, I love and appreciate your passion in helping and aiding guitarists in the creation of expanding our colors and palettes with the use of pedals. thanks for your dedication and enthusiasm, also you're a great player ! Kudos to you!
I play mostly funk and soul music. So I play a fender twin with the master at 10 and gain at around 3, clean, clean and then when I turn my guitar volume from 8 to 10... also clean, but with great cut and tone for single note lines. So the way I get my dirt is by having a clean boost, Fuzz, low gain drive and a medium gain drive on my board. Many options this way. I've found that I get a good fuzz tone if I run the fuzz into my low gain drive
Great explanations. One of the best Descriptions I've ever heard. I'm playing since 35 years. A few of them as a professional guitarist. You nailed it perfectly . Thanks a lot. Greetings from Germany Thom
Daniel, what you said is spot-on correct. The question SHOULD be: "What effects are going to work better with my amplifier?". I know this through my own personal experience. For about 2-years, I played through a Fender Blues De-Ville 410 Reissue. Good amp, not the best. The 4 x 10 amps can sound toppy so I replaced the original Eminence speakers with Jensen's to make the amp project a warmer and rounder tone. I chose the 'Clean channel as my sonic 'canvas' and then set about finding good overdrive/distortion pedals. I must've tried out a dozen or so and the ones that worked well did so because of the way they interacted with the De-Ville's tone. I always paid attention to how the pedals sounded when I tried them out at the shops through other amps, but I had to know my amp well enough to hear how they would sound going through it. The importance of tone and EQ controls on the pedals was crucial. I had to be able to tailor the tones to work well with my amp. What I have discovered in the end was that the tonality and and flexibility of the pedals were the most important so that if one day I was to switch to another amp, the pedals would still sound great. I found a new amp (a very, very good one) and when I ran my old trusty pedals through it, the tone was amazing! I hope this can shed some more light on the subject.
Really helped with the new pedal additions to my board. I also used something that I saw you do in another video, by using the volume on the pedal to push the amp into overdrive. Great job guys.
Thanks guy's.Great posting.I played with my favorite amp and gained a bit of knowledge. Then with an amp I picked up on the cheep but set it up like my Marshall and wasn't impressed.Then switched out a peddle or two and now found a noise I really like. I had 3 or 4 pedals that were collecting dust and they have now found a home on what I was considering passing on...
I subbed initially a few months back when you guys did the first "The Pedal Show" thinking it was just another channel to promote your gigrig products. But on the contrary, these are really some great informative videos. I love the honesty. That big muff into the twin sounded hilarious. Keep the honest videos coming. We enjoy them!
In 1977 I remember being a budding 16 year-old rock-hero... and believing that I needed more watts in the same way that Blue Oyster Cult needed more cowbell on 'Don't Fear the Reaper'... in fact our band was called Reaper. ;) Sadly our band lasted just one gig because I went out and bought a Laney 100w head and 4x12 on the day, plugged my Carlsbro Suzz-pedal into it during the evening... and sounded like a very angry wasp in a jam-jar. I've been suffering from PTSD ever since... :)
Peter Marshall been there seen it done it,I had a sound city 120 ,2 4x12 ,flat out !!!!!!!,then bought a Hiwatt dr105 ???? used to drive to a gig in an old breadvan !!!!!,drove home in a rolls royce !!!!!!! right ear has no top end now !!!!!!!
Hi Guys, Just discovered the show and as an acoustic singer songwriter for years I am learning a ton of information that I'm taking audio notes of in my brain. I know it's a pedal show, but damn Dan I love your tele both in look & sound. Cheers, Joe
I look forward to watching your videos every week, thank you for them! I'd love to see a video of the process you may use when 'setting up' an amp that you have never played before. How do you learn what EQ settings sound good to you, or the settings of master volume vs. the gain. Please keep the videos coming! :)
Great show Guys. I accidentally stumbled on to your site. This is a great tutorial. Its people like you guys that keeps me interested in music. I really appreciate the time you guys put in to this stuff. Thank you.
Huge video, guys. Have spent the last few weeks going back and forth on the knobs bc I'll land on a tone that i think i like and then dislike it 4 days later. Hoping the amp tips you provided in this video clean up my tone direction for drives as I prepare to dive into reverb and delay on top of it. Thanks!!
I've played a silver face 1969 Twin Reverb since the early 1990s. It's a wonderful but very challenging amp, especially for overdriven and distorted sounds. The amp reveals everything, but lots of pedals sound harsh and thin as Mick and Dan demonstrate so well. I've had great results with a number of pedals, though. For example: Fulltone "The 69 Pedal" (from the mid-90s) is a rich fuzz that really works. Zendrive and Zendrive 2 work great (and an Archer Icon into the Zendrive 2 is visceral experience!) because both pedals offer some compression and mid boost. Wampler Black 65 (with mid boosted and treble and bass down) sounds like an extension of the amp itself-very open and uncompressed. Wampler Euphoria works too with mid boosted but treble and bass down. Exotic RC Booster (fabulous) and BB Booster work. All of these pedals seem to preserve the openness and headroom that make the Twin what it is. Tube Screamers sound OK too (and maybe less revealing of every tiny detail and flaw in my playing), but at the cost of a lot of low frequencies. I'm still looking for a TS808-style solution. BTW, I tend to play Strats and Teles.
Great video. after years of using cheap modelling amps (Line6 spider and Marshall MG) recently I bought a Blackstar tube amp. I was so surprised how different my pedals sounded. I also have a Vox AD30VT, so as an experiment I used a switch pedal to A/B test with my drive pedals. I was astonished how they (Mooer Green Mile,TC'S Dark Matter and TC'S Mojo Mojo ) sound completely different.
You guys nailed it! I have been trying to explain the interaction of pedals to amps to my friends for years. Now I need you to do the same thing with speakers, cabinets, string gauge and (heaven forbid!) "tone" wood.
Every electric guitar player should be required to watch this video. so helpful. I wish I could've had this knowlege when I was 15. You guys are awesome.
I laughed my hind end off when you played the Big Muff through the Fender. On my computer speakers it sounded like you were playing it through a 7 transistor radio speaker. I have an original black face Super Reverb. I bought it back around 1969 or 1970 and it doesn’t sound anything like your Fender amp. I like the tone of mine a million times better. It isn’t as clean as yours either. I seldom use pedals… but when I do I use my Timmy and a few others. They all sound great through my Super Reverb. Thank God they don’t like pedals through your Fender - lol
Saw this video today and it really made sense and I actually had an "ah hah" moment. I have a Blues Junior that I haven't really played much. I've been searching aimlessly for a good tone that really rocks my socks off and haven't had much luck. I was playing distortions and od pedals into a super clean tube amp with the master volume up and the pre amp volume down. Today, after seeing this, I went to the local guitar store and got a Boss SD-1 and grabbed my Blues Jr. and did what you guys did in this video. I dialed in a clean tone but this time put the pre amp volume up to 4 or 5 so that my JR was just starting to break up and on the edge of growling. Then I stomped on the Boss and OMG...BLUE STEEL, FERRARI, LE TIGRE and MAGNUM all at once. THANK YOU SO MUCH for opening my eyes and putting my rock and roll wheels back on the tracks!
A lot of early Rivera amps like my r55 12 has the Marchell /Boogie on channel 1 and fender cleans on channel 2. I just switch which channel for what peddle. This video was very helpful as I couldn't figure out why my fuzz was so tinny as I had just assumed using the fender super clean was just the way to go for all the peddles. I switched it over and it was bad ass so thanks guys.
Great demo guys!! I have also gone with a "clean platform with pedals" formula recently, it just gives you so much versatility. I currently use a Brunetti Singleman 35W combo (with a WGS ET-65 speaker), a great Blackface-type amp which also takes pedals like a champ. Watching your video has taught me how to really get that amp to work with the different pedals I have on my board... I have never really been a big pedal guy, but this setup has made me change my mind about using pedals, they can be sooooo much fun to play!!
I do watch quit a few of your videos but this one left me a little wondering why there was no setting up of the Fender and the Marshall considering the first 20 minutes was through these amps. I know from years of experience with different amps and pedals that it is just experimentation to find what someone likes but I guess by the title I was expecting a little different process. Anyway, thanks guys.
Excellent information you guys provide! I've been playing a long time and still find your tutorials to contain tidbits I was not aware of and can utilize, thank you!!!
Never had such an extreme change when I switch from my Marshall Class 5 and my Fender ML Deville. Only been into electric guitars for about 10 years, but my experience has taught me the most important thing for a pedal amp is to get a very simple amp, as a result, getting better tones with any of my overdrive pedals. The only fuzz I have is the Velvet fuzz, I don't have this problem. You most likely have addressed this in your shows, still learning great job with your show, speeds up my learning curve.
My first amp I played with in a band was a Fender Twin with silver face. It was stolen. That was one loud amp. I had to use a distortion pedal to get a gain sound I liked for the 70's and 80's music. I played a lot of Thin Lizzy, etc. Would love to see you guys do a video about using over drive with a really clean amp such as a Roland JC, etc,. or more analog solid state amps that many guys buy. I know they have a bad rep, but if you buy a good one, they sound great. Many have said bad things about them because they played one of the little cheapy things that came out and were sold at box stores. Thanks again. Tim
IMO one of the best lead tones is a Strat bridge pickup running into a tube screamer with the gain turned almost off so it's just giving you a clean mid boost into a vintage style Big Muff. It's how Gilmore got that HUGE tone for the solo on Comfortably Numb. On the album he just ran into a Muff and they goosed the midrange post recording, but you obviously you can't do that live, so the tube screamer (or any mid hump OD or an EQ pedal)
Great video as always - with great points made and so much information - thanks! I would love to see where the Gain knobs on the pedals were set - as that also makes a huge difference. Thanks Dan and Mick
I had a 73 Silverface Twin Reverb for years. I loved it. Not sure how it stacks up to a Blackface, but I never had a single complaint about it whatsoever. Beautiful amp!
Daniel TheGigRig Yeah. I was super sad to let it go, but I sold it to get a Mesa Recto-verb 25 combo. I wanted something with a good gain channel, and also something a lot smaller than the Twin. It was a hard call (but a good call indeed, as the Recto is killer!), but that's what being a gear head is all about, no?
I have a silverface Bassman and that’s great too. A couple of circuit tweaks and attention to the components can make them amazing.... every bit as good as a 2 grand boutique amp. I’m sure Dominic Miller had a silverface Fender of some sort with Sting when I saw him a couple of years back. They are a steal for the quality, surely they’ll soar in value in years to come.
Thank you so much! Funnily I had the same problem as Mick but with my Peavey JSX. Thanks to this video I finally can put my Deluxe Big Muff to use. I tweaked my crunch channel (which I never use anyways) so it sounds almost like the Mallard in your video and now I have a decent usable Muff sound! Thank you so much!
6:35 That sounds like a Metal Zone into a clean channel. And yet, the Metal Zone sounds great as a pre-amp into the effects return of an amp. It just goes to show you how much different combinations of effects with your particular amp make a big difference.
I noticed this a while back. I have a Laney Cub 12R and have found that certain pedals work fine with the gain dialed back to clean or just on the verge of breakup and others, like my Visual Sound Angry Fuzz work better going into a slightly dirty amp. The midrange properties of the amp never really occurred to me, but that's a good consideration too. The Cub 12's midrange response is closer to a Vox or Marshall so pedals with a less pounced midrange seem to work better for rhythm tones; but I like the extra midrange punch of a tubescreamer type pedal for leads.
Dan's noiseless laughs gets me every time lol. Great video guys, it helped me A LOT! I'm going out on a limb here and ask: Could you please make a video with tone tips for tow guitar bands to play live? I can't seem to get my band´s sound right, the sound always get messy and confusing.
It's great to see people comparing amps as well as pedals and guitars, I've come across many players who think 'tone' comes either from pedals or the effects processor with the guitar doing little more than providing note information and treating the amp as nothing more than a volume machine. Great to see a practical comparison, The only thin missing was a hum bucker loaded guitar or two, but then the video would have been twice as long...
Thanks for the great videos. These are great demos. I am learning a lot about pedals... how to use them, where to place them, and how they sound dynamically different on different amplifiers. Keep them coming, i definitely look forward to more.
I dug and dug and dug to find this episode again. I needed to clarify something in my mind (or what's left of it). I remembered the principle of the lesson but not he bloody details.. The topics this video covers are of pivotal importance in the search for good tone. Should be a big neon banner on your vid list "WATCH THIS FIRST", regular notices in Guitar magazines .... Sunday colour supplement pull outs...
Damn, this video is so eye-opening! I've been playing for years with constantly shifting pedals and amps. I always consider how my pickups interact with pedals (particularly because I love octavers and had to know that those track better with humbuckers in the neck), but pedal & amp combination seem just as, if not more important.
Damn you! Joking. Just made an offer on a Hamstead amp, same one. They're hard to find here in the states. I mentioned before that I play clean a lot but the crunch on this is gorgeous. Thanks for the introduction.
+Maxfield Stephens I was thinking the same thing. Its settings are clearly set up for the Marshall. With the tone at 11 o'clock it would sound bad on the Marshall and much better on the twin.
Exactly and if the bright switch is on on the twin turn it off (like most people do). The OD simulates preamp (square wave distortion , hard clip/soft clip diode). Take and plug into the fuzz pedal, then into the OD pedal then into the twin. Guitar>fuzz pedal>OD pedal> twin = closer rep of what the Marshall was doing. Or turn all the preamp distortion off of the Marshall till it's perfectly clean. Not a decent comparison between amps and pedals. I've played through Marshalls and fender twins for over 30 yrs.
Regarding the Fender twin, When Leo fender was out of the way so to speak, there were eager technicians that wanted to make changes to the amp that Leo had forbidden from a soundperspective. Those were; making the amp more stable electronically, and getting cleaner, away from that "terrible" distortion (that Leo knew was good). I grew up around these amps and the guitars of that era (spikey 70's Teles - ouch) I'm glad that Fender got back on course. A lot of info can be found on this, should you so desire :-)
This was such an informative video, I've learned so much. Whereas before I would twiddle the knobs in a hopeful fashion, now I'll do so with more understanding. If it wasn't 22:20 and the kids weren't in bed I'd fire up my little Boogie Express 5:25, plug in my Mooer Rumble drive and Blues Crab and get some sounds happening. Thanks guys. Keep up the good work
Really helpful video (as usual). It can be difficult to find demos with your own specific combination of guitar/amp so having some guidelines to consider is helpful in getting the desired results.
To me you need to cut off a little of tone ( it's way open!!!) in that BigMuff and probably it would sound better with that Silverface. I'm using a BigMuff with my Blues Deville (beautifully clean and bright) with the tone set slightly over noon and I love it. Obviously everyone has a tone in mind, and maybe my settings would not satisfy everyone, that's just my two cents. Interesting video anyway, thanks guys!!!
+Enrico De Nard Exactly, why would you leave the tone completely open before a clean amp? I play a super-clean silverface Pro Reverb and like to use Muff-type Fuzz. It sounds much better than what we hear in the video. I get the point the video is making, but this bugged me a little.
I have an acoustic amp, carvin ag100d and use its guitar channel as a practice amp as I can actually turn it down unlike my Marshall. It is super clean solid state amp as you can imagine and I use a muff pie through it. Being a sterile super clean amp you'd think the muff would be shrill but its not. Its got mega balls. Clearly I prefer my Marshall but its strictly reserved for certain times of day.
I agree that was a weak point in this video. I won't argue that a Big Muff pairs better with a Marshall amp than a Fender Twin, but to not readjust the Big Muff for the Twin was very unfair. Not only should they have brought the tone knob on the Muff down to around noon, but they should've increased the sustain a little (and lowered the volume to compensate), that would've given a much warmer and more pleasing sound.
![How To Set Your Amp For Pedals [Gain, EQ, Volume & FX Loops]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wdUGAmYqiDc/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm approaching 40, and started learning to play guitar when I was around 15. In between, there were a lot of years when I didn't play that much for various reasons (none of them very good). Anyway, over the last few years I've committed to rebuilding my rig and getting back into a passion that I've cared about deep in my soul ever since I was a kid. Finding this show is one of the very best things that's happened to me as a guitar player. It is the friendliest, most accessible set of explanations I've ever been able to find about pedals and amplifiers. From a Yank living in the cold, snowy American upper Midwest (Minneapolis), thank you guys for this show. I love it.
That's awesome dude... I love this show and most of the time they are great, but they are beig totally misleading here on how a Big Muff will sound on different amps without dialing them differently for each amp... That is absolute rubbish, but most other episodes are great... Not this one .
Same situation. Same experience. This channel has been such an inspiration. I can't believe how much more fun it is to play with sounds when I have some idea of what I'm doing!
Highly recommend the Anderton's channel as well if you haven't stumbled across it. There's a similar positive vibe over there.
Same. Played from 14-24 then put it down for 15 years. Started getting serious again around 3 years ago. Love it.
Wampler is also a good channel.
STOP BEING AN IDIOT AND GET A LAUGH OUT OF IT,the twin sounds like ass.............. period......
Man this video is perfect for showing people/my wife why I need to buy more amps!
I learned more in this video than any other. It’s funny how everyone misses the obvious (in hindsight) key: the amp. Just like how so many people get caught up on tone wood, tubes and so on when it’s the speakers and how you mic them that has the largest impact on tone. Thanks guys!
It is a beautiful thing to reach point on the arc of life where appreciating the deep seated irony of a big muff into a fender twin is bound to cause spontaneous outbursts of merriment.
Professional, intelligent, insightful....putting other You Tubers to shame!
When I was a kid, I bought a Sam Ash Fuzztone. I brought it home, and it didn't make a fuzz sound. I brought it back to the store, and it sounded properly fuzzy. Took it home again, no fuzz. Based upon the demos in this video, I bet it was due to the differences in the amps I tried the pedal with. I certainly didn't understand that back then.
Thanks for a great, instructional video. Always learn something from you guys.
Still going back through your old vids... This is one of the most informative you have yet produced and it should be compulsory watching/listening to anyone interested in so-called transparent overdrives or alternatively mid -heavy drives and how they relate to individual amp sounds and styles of playing. Great! Pete.
I've watched this a few times but today (for some unknown reason) I decided to watch it again and actually got something new from it. Maybe before I was listening from a different perspective - I don't know but today some stuff just clicked! Thanks guys! :)
As a budding guitarist with 45 years of gigging I have to say this video is the best on the subject that I have ever seen! Simply brilliant!!!
giving the back end more love........while Daniel plays with the big muff
I see what you did there
Guys, your vídeos are a masterclass. Loved them. Just so much info all together, so valuable. I just don't have words to describe how much I have learned lately with you guys. THANKS SO MUCH
max salas absolutely our pleasure Max, feedback like this makes it all worthwhile ;)
max salas I've watched almost every video from this guys, up until this day and indeed they are a masterclass. I got a lot better with my sound, based on their videos
I love the videos also, sometimes way to much talking, but still good
It's 3 years on, and this video has helped immensely. Drummer of 19 years, focusing more on electric guitar now to increase theory, start writing and just cos I love it. I'm seeing there is so much too learn from guitar > from theory, technique, gain structure and electronics, eq etc etc.. love your work guys. Thanks so much.
This is a really great video explaining and showing why pedals sound so different in different amps, and how important it is to choose a pedal for a specific amp.
It totally makes sense why Tubescreamer-type pedals sound so good in blackface Fender amps: Fender blackface amps are so mid-scooped and a TS pedal makes up for it.
Great job guys! I always love your videos, but I believe that this one is one of your best!
Lads that was a brilliant explanation about amps as well as overdrives. I pushed the mids beyond where I normally would and got the best sound I've ever had out of my amp. All these years!!
First off, I'd like to thank Mick and Daniel for taking the time to explore the different tones available.
I would like to express how incredibly hard it is to choose, the right tone a person would be looking for. I personally find it very difficult to think what setup would be right for me. With a limited budget and limited time to play, I want to get the most our of what I experience. I consider myself a very logical person, but with an infinite amount a variables it's easy to get lost. Keep up the good work. -Drew
Congrats guys. You've had a video on UA-cam for a week, with over 11 thousand views and not one thumbs down! That says a lot.
Seriously, keep up the great work.
@5:14 you nailed it! I called my '73 master volume silver face 'The Guitar P.A." Ha ha, so clear, and loud, but a bizarre pedal platform. It almost sounded like plugging into a Mackie board. It weighed about 70lbs.
I listened to this video twice tonight. Kudos to both of you. This had more information about OD pedals and amps than hundreds of other videos. Cheers!
Hi Daniel, just wanted to say that this is one of the very best guitar channels! So much knowledge and good information! Thanks for the good work. Rock on...
Ok guys, I love your videos. They are very insightful, but I just have one problem with this segment. This video was supposed to be about setting up your amp to work with drive pedals. To me, it seemed like the bottom line here was throw out your Fender and Marshall amps if you're going to use certain drive pedals, and get a Hamstead because it will seemingly handle everything better than the latter two. You demoed the Fender with the fuzz pedal and said it had a "bad sound". You also demoed the Marshall clone with the SD1 it also had a "bad sound", but my problem here is that you never gave any suggestion or insight on how to remedy these "bad sounds" if you happen to own these amps. I have a Marshall JCM 800 clone, but what I don't have is time or money to endlessly try and buy pedals to find ones that work best. I, like most I assume, have to make the best out of what we have so to that effect, it would have been nice for you to share some tips on overcoming the sort of flaws in these two amps in regards to using drive pedals.
The moral of the story is pick the right pedals for your amps circuit. You don’t have to buy to try them out. Bring your rig to your local guitar store and throw some different things in front of it. Or just google which pedals work best with a jcm800 (cough tubescreamer cough).
@@wildbob I noticed the tone knob on the muff was all the way to the right which is very bright. If they had of turned the tone knob down a little it may have introduced some more mid range on the Fender.
Totally agree with you. What a waste of my time this video was.
Daniel, I love and appreciate your passion in helping and aiding guitarists in the creation of expanding our colors and palettes with the use of pedals. thanks for your dedication and enthusiasm, also you're a great player ! Kudos to you!
I play mostly funk and soul music. So I play a fender twin with the master at 10 and gain at around 3, clean, clean and then when I turn my guitar volume from 8 to 10... also clean, but with great cut and tone for single note lines. So the way I get my dirt is by having a clean boost, Fuzz, low gain drive and a medium gain drive on my board. Many options this way. I've found that I get a good fuzz tone if I run the fuzz into my low gain drive
Watching Daniel every time he puts the big muff into the twin is the funniest thing I've seen in ages lol. Really informative though guys well done.
Love that Marshall! That natural drive is glorious.
That Marshall is the best sounding amp I've heard on UA-cam
Just infront of you for years without realising it..Thanks guys u re d best.
Great explanations. One of the best Descriptions I've ever heard. I'm playing since 35 years. A few of them as a professional guitarist. You nailed it perfectly . Thanks a lot. Greetings from Germany
Thom
Daniel, what you said is spot-on correct. The question SHOULD be: "What effects are going to work better with my amplifier?". I know this through my own personal experience. For about 2-years, I played through a Fender Blues De-Ville 410 Reissue. Good amp, not the best. The 4 x 10 amps can sound toppy so I replaced the original Eminence speakers with Jensen's to make the amp project a warmer and rounder tone. I chose the 'Clean channel as my sonic 'canvas' and then set about finding good overdrive/distortion pedals. I must've tried out a dozen or so and the ones that worked well did so because of the way they interacted with the De-Ville's tone. I always paid attention to how the pedals sounded when I tried them out at the shops through other amps, but I had to know my amp well enough to hear how they would sound going through it. The importance of tone and EQ controls on the pedals was crucial. I had to be able to tailor the tones to work well with my amp. What I have discovered in the end was that the tonality and and flexibility of the pedals were the most important so that if one day I was to switch to another amp, the pedals would still sound great. I found a new amp (a very, very good one) and when I ran my old trusty pedals through it, the tone was amazing! I hope this can shed some more light on the subject.
Just stumbled upon this channel at the weekend. I love it. This is probably the most informative guitar related channel out there. Brilliant work.
Really helped with the new pedal additions to my board. I also used something that I saw you do in another video, by using the volume on the pedal to push the amp into overdrive. Great job guys.
Thanks guy's.Great posting.I played with my favorite amp and gained a bit of knowledge. Then with an amp I picked up on the cheep but set it up like my Marshall and wasn't impressed.Then switched out a peddle or two and now found a noise I really like. I had 3 or 4 pedals that were collecting dust and they have now found a home on what I was considering passing on...
+Patrick Teto excellent work Patrick :)
I subbed initially a few months back when you guys did the first "The Pedal Show" thinking it was just another channel to promote your gigrig products. But on the contrary, these are really some great informative videos. I love the honesty. That big muff into the twin sounded hilarious.
Keep the honest videos coming. We enjoy them!
So great to find a place where not only gear is demo'd but technical issues are disgusted as well. Thanks guys!
+Steve Boldt cheers Steve, make sure you check out our new channel too :)
In 1977 I remember being a budding 16 year-old rock-hero... and believing that I needed more watts in the same way that Blue Oyster Cult needed more cowbell on 'Don't Fear the Reaper'... in fact our band was called Reaper. ;) Sadly our band lasted just one gig because I went out and bought a Laney 100w head and 4x12 on the day, plugged my Carlsbro Suzz-pedal into it during the evening... and sounded like a very angry wasp in a jam-jar. I've been suffering from PTSD ever since... :)
Peter Marshall been there seen it done it,I had a sound city 120 ,2 4x12 ,flat out !!!!!!!,then bought a Hiwatt dr105 ???? used to drive to a gig in an old breadvan !!!!!,drove home in a rolls royce !!!!!!! right ear has no top end now !!!!!!!
Hi Guys,
Just discovered the show and as an acoustic singer songwriter for years I am learning a ton of information that I'm taking audio notes of in my brain. I know it's a pedal show, but damn Dan I love your tele both in look & sound.
Cheers,
Joe
I look forward to watching your videos every week, thank you for them!
I'd love to see a video of the process you may use when 'setting up' an amp that you have never played before. How do you learn what EQ settings sound good to you, or the settings of master volume vs. the gain.
Please keep the videos coming! :)
Great show Guys. I accidentally stumbled on to your site. This is a great tutorial. Its people like you guys that keeps me interested in music. I really appreciate the time you guys put in to this stuff. Thank you.
Huge video, guys. Have spent the last few weeks going back and forth on the knobs bc I'll land on a tone that i think i like and then dislike it 4 days later. Hoping the amp tips you provided in this video clean up my tone direction for drives as I prepare to dive into reverb and delay on top of it. Thanks!!
Great show. I just went from a Traynor with 6L6 to one with el84 and you showed me how the correct pedal makes all the difference
I've played a silver face 1969 Twin Reverb since the early 1990s. It's a wonderful but very challenging amp, especially for overdriven and distorted sounds. The amp reveals everything, but lots of pedals sound harsh and thin as Mick and Dan demonstrate so well. I've had great results with a number of pedals, though. For example: Fulltone "The 69 Pedal" (from the mid-90s) is a rich fuzz that really works. Zendrive and Zendrive 2 work great (and an Archer Icon into the Zendrive 2 is visceral experience!) because both pedals offer some compression and mid boost. Wampler Black 65 (with mid boosted and treble and bass down) sounds like an extension of the amp itself-very open and uncompressed. Wampler Euphoria works too with mid boosted but treble and bass down. Exotic RC Booster (fabulous) and BB Booster work. All of these pedals seem to preserve the openness and headroom that make the Twin what it is. Tube Screamers sound OK too (and maybe less revealing of every tiny detail and flaw in my playing), but at the cost of a lot of low frequencies. I'm still looking for a TS808-style solution. BTW, I tend to play Strats and Teles.
great video, great show one of the best out there, lots of quality infos
Thanks Marcel :)
Great video.
after years of using cheap modelling amps (Line6 spider and Marshall MG) recently I bought a Blackstar tube amp. I was so surprised how different my pedals sounded. I also have a Vox AD30VT, so as an experiment I used a switch pedal to A/B test with my drive pedals. I was astonished how they (Mooer Green Mile,TC'S Dark Matter and TC'S Mojo Mojo ) sound completely different.
You guys nailed it! I have been trying to explain the interaction of pedals to amps to my friends for years. Now I need you to do the same thing with speakers, cabinets, string gauge and (heaven forbid!) "tone" wood.
Every electric guitar player should be required to watch this video. so helpful. I wish I could've had this knowlege when I was 15. You guys are awesome.
I laughed my hind end off when you played the Big Muff through the Fender. On my computer speakers it sounded like you were playing it through a 7 transistor radio speaker. I have an original black face Super Reverb. I bought it back around 1969 or 1970 and it doesn’t sound anything like your Fender amp. I like the tone of mine a million times better. It isn’t as clean as yours either. I seldom use pedals… but when I do I use my Timmy and a few others. They all sound great through my Super Reverb. Thank God they don’t like pedals through your Fender - lol
Saw this video today and it really made sense and I actually had an "ah hah" moment. I have a Blues Junior that I haven't really played much. I've been searching aimlessly for a good tone that really rocks my socks off and haven't had much luck. I was playing distortions and od pedals into a super clean tube amp with the master volume up and the pre amp volume down. Today, after seeing this, I went to the local guitar store and got a Boss SD-1 and grabbed my Blues Jr. and did what you guys did in this video. I dialed in a clean tone but this time put the pre amp volume up to 4 or 5 so that my JR was just starting to break up and on the edge of growling. Then I stomped on the Boss and OMG...BLUE STEEL, FERRARI, LE TIGRE and MAGNUM all at once. THANK YOU SO MUCH for opening my eyes and putting my rock and roll wheels back on the tracks!
+UsMaLeMan1 that's fantastic! So glad you put the info yo good use. Now go forth and rock!
I love Daniel's reactions when he cracks up, especially at 6:35.
Cornford Hurricane also uses two EL34 at the output stage...and sounds brilliant clean or dirty. Great show guys - really informative and enjoyable.
+Paul Greaves cheers Paul
I deal Matamp amps at The Guitar Den and today sold a 28 watt cathode bias EL34 combo! Sounded amazing.
A lot of early Rivera amps like my r55 12 has the Marchell /Boogie on channel 1 and fender cleans on channel 2. I just switch which channel for what peddle. This video was very helpful as I couldn't figure out why my fuzz was so tinny as I had just assumed using the fender super clean was just the way to go for all the peddles. I switched it over and it was bad ass so thanks guys.
+Phlop Alopagus fantastic! Our job here is done ;)
This is 'infinity + 1' territory! Highly educational - BRILLIANT video as always....
"We're giving the back end more love" LOL!!!!
Great demo guys!! I have also gone with a "clean platform with pedals" formula recently, it just gives you so much versatility. I currently use a Brunetti Singleman 35W combo (with a WGS ET-65 speaker), a great Blackface-type amp which also takes pedals like a champ. Watching your video has taught me how to really get that amp to work with the different pedals I have on my board... I have never really been a big pedal guy, but this setup has made me change my mind about using pedals, they can be sooooo much fun to play!!
I do watch quit a few of your videos but this one left me a little wondering why there was no setting up of the Fender and the Marshall considering the first 20 minutes was through these amps. I know from years of experience with different amps and pedals that it is just experimentation to find what someone likes but I guess by the title I was expecting a little different process. Anyway, thanks guys.
Probably the best pedal video I've seen anywhere. Thanks guys.
Excellent information you guys provide! I've been playing a long time and still find your tutorials to contain tidbits I was not aware of and can utilize, thank you!!!
I LOL'ed so loud when the big muff went into the twin. xD Good vid, guys.
Are you still laughing
Wow! This really cleared up why some of my pedals sounded like crap, when I first started playing in the late 60's/early 70's. Thanks!
Big Muff + Twin Reverb + Miku pedal = apocalypse?
Never had such an extreme change when I switch from my Marshall Class 5 and my Fender ML Deville. Only been into electric guitars for about 10 years, but my experience has taught me the most important thing for a pedal amp is to get a very simple amp, as a result, getting better tones with any of my overdrive pedals. The only fuzz I have is the Velvet fuzz, I don't have this problem. You most likely have addressed this in your shows, still learning great job with your show, speeds up my learning curve.
My first amp I played with in a band was a Fender Twin with silver face. It was stolen. That was one loud amp. I had to use a distortion pedal to get a gain sound I liked for the 70's and 80's music. I played a lot of Thin Lizzy, etc.
Would love to see you guys do a video about using over drive with a really clean amp such as a Roland JC, etc,. or more analog solid state amps that many guys buy. I know they have a bad rep, but if you buy a good one, they sound great. Many have said bad things about them because they played one of the little cheapy things that came out and were sold at box stores.
Thanks again.
Tim
You guys are brilliant. Love the explanations. This makes so much sense.
This was a real eye opener for me especially because I don't have easy access to multiple amps to do my own sound trade-offs.
This is by far the most helpful video that I have ever watched for guitar and tone. Thanks guys great job!
This is incredible stuff! You have a subscriber for life; thanks for taking a deep dive into why I love Fenders but hate them with (most) drives.
every time i hear the big muff i fall in love again...same goes for the hamstead head. such an achingly pretty amp
IMO one of the best lead tones is a Strat bridge pickup running into a tube screamer with the gain turned almost off so it's just giving you a clean mid boost into a vintage style Big Muff. It's how Gilmore got that HUGE tone for the solo on Comfortably Numb. On the album he just ran into a Muff and they goosed the midrange post recording, but you obviously you can't do that live, so the tube screamer (or any mid hump OD or an EQ pedal)
p
Probably one of the most enlightening gear videos I've seen.. thank you guys.
Great video as always - with great points made and so much information - thanks!
I would love to see where the Gain knobs on the pedals were set - as that also makes a huge difference.
Thanks Dan and Mick
You guys have the absolute best vids on UA-cam! Hands down the most informative and clear descriptions. Thank you keep them coming! 👌👌👌
Big Muff---> Twin= San Francisco 1967 Yeah!! BIg Brother + the Holding company. ENjoying your shows,thanks for Fun info....
thats why i love Vox AC's...you can do anything with them..
I had a 73 Silverface Twin Reverb for years. I loved it. Not sure how it stacks up to a Blackface, but I never had a single complaint about it whatsoever. Beautiful amp!
Mark Lugg they are great, loads of guys still use them and get great tones from them. I had a silver face Pro Reverb for years, killer amp :)
Daniel TheGigRig Yeah. I was super sad to let it go, but I sold it to get a Mesa Recto-verb 25 combo. I wanted something with a good gain channel, and also something a lot smaller than the Twin.
It was a hard call (but a good call indeed, as the Recto is killer!), but that's what being a gear head is all about, no?
I have a silverface Bassman and that’s great too. A couple of circuit tweaks and attention to the components can make them amazing.... every bit as good as a 2 grand boutique amp. I’m sure Dominic Miller had a silverface Fender of some sort with Sting when I saw him a couple of years back. They are a steal for the quality, surely they’ll soar in value in years to come.
Thank you so much! Funnily I had the same problem as Mick but with my Peavey JSX. Thanks to this video I finally can put my Deluxe Big Muff to use. I tweaked my crunch channel (which I never use anyways) so it sounds almost like the Mallard in your video and now I have a decent usable Muff sound! Thank you so much!
+FRZNGLSRBM you're very welcome
6:35 That sounds like a Metal Zone into a clean channel. And yet, the Metal Zone sounds great as a pre-amp into the effects return of an amp. It just goes to show you how much different combinations of effects with your particular amp make a big difference.
I noticed this a while back. I have a Laney Cub 12R and have found that certain pedals work fine with the gain dialed back to clean or just on the verge of breakup and others, like my Visual Sound Angry Fuzz work better going into a slightly dirty amp. The midrange properties of the amp never really occurred to me, but that's a good consideration too. The Cub 12's midrange response is closer to a Vox or Marshall so pedals with a less pounced midrange seem to work better for rhythm tones; but I like the extra midrange punch of a tubescreamer type pedal for leads.
Dan's noiseless laughs gets me every time lol. Great video guys, it helped me A LOT! I'm going out on a limb here and ask: Could you please make a video with tone tips for tow guitar bands to play live? I can't seem to get my band´s sound right, the sound always get messy and confusing.
Just found you guys as well! You seriously know your gear... very impressed indeed! Subscribed :)
It's great to see people comparing amps as well as pedals and guitars, I've come across many players who think 'tone' comes either from pedals or the effects processor with the guitar doing little more than providing note information and treating the amp as nothing more than a volume machine. Great to see a practical comparison, The only thin missing was a hum bucker loaded guitar or two, but then the video would have been twice as long...
I know I really appreciate all of your help and going through all of the little details guys. Thank you!!!
Thanks for the great videos. These are great demos. I am learning a lot about pedals... how to use them, where to place them, and how they sound dynamically different on different amplifiers. Keep them coming, i definitely look forward to more.
Binge watching That Pedal Show and tweaking my board and amp. My tone is sounding all grown up. Thanks!
I dug and dug and dug to find this episode again.
I needed to clarify something in my mind (or what's left of it).
I remembered the principle of the lesson but not he bloody details..
The topics this video covers are of pivotal importance in the search for good tone.
Should be a big neon banner on your vid list "WATCH THIS FIRST", regular notices in Guitar magazines .... Sunday colour supplement pull outs...
I never heard a Big Muff sounding any good. The same time I love the sound of the SD-1. It didn't change in this video. No matter what amp.
Damn, this video is so eye-opening! I've been playing for years with constantly shifting pedals and amps. I always consider how my pickups interact with pedals (particularly because I love octavers and had to know that those track better with humbuckers in the neck), but pedal & amp combination seem just as, if not more important.
Damn, Dan's voice sounded completely different back in 2015 than it does today. A dramatic difference.
He had a cold that day
Great, great video. You gents sit firmly atop the plethora of youtube guitar shows
Damn you! Joking. Just made an offer on a Hamstead amp, same one. They're hard to find here in the states. I mentioned before that I play clean a lot but the crunch on this is gorgeous. Thanks for the introduction.
Wow, how interesting this was. Learned a massive amount about a misunderstood topic regarding pedal sounds. will look more outside the box in future.
Loved the sound of the strat the SD1 and that Marshall!
turn the tone down on the Muff and itd sound a lot better....
+Maxfield Stephens I was thinking the same thing. Its settings are clearly set up for the Marshall. With the tone at 11 o'clock it would sound bad on the Marshall and much better on the twin.
+Seth Gingerich my thoughts exactly :)
+Maxfield Stephens And stop playing everything with telecaster bridge pickup.
Exactly and if the bright switch is on on the twin turn it off (like most people do). The OD simulates preamp (square wave distortion , hard clip/soft clip diode). Take and plug into the fuzz pedal, then into the OD pedal then into the twin. Guitar>fuzz pedal>OD pedal> twin = closer rep of what the Marshall was doing. Or turn all the preamp distortion off of the Marshall till it's perfectly clean. Not a decent comparison between amps and pedals. I've played through Marshalls and fender twins for over 30 yrs.
i have the tone all the way down
Regarding the Fender twin, When Leo fender was out of the way so to speak, there were eager technicians that wanted to make changes to the amp that Leo had forbidden from a soundperspective. Those were; making the amp more stable electronically, and getting cleaner, away from that "terrible" distortion (that Leo knew was good). I grew up around these amps and the guitars of that era (spikey 70's Teles - ouch) I'm glad that Fender got back on course. A lot of info can be found on this, should you so desire :-)
This video was extremely helpful for me. Thanks for clearing up something that was so confusing for me. You guys are awesome!
A bloody fantastic episode guys!
The most informative you tube video I have EVER seen! Thank you so much! Just put a Little Big Muff onto my board....
This was such an informative video, I've learned so much.
Whereas before I would twiddle the knobs in a hopeful fashion, now I'll do so with more understanding.
If it wasn't 22:20 and the kids weren't in bed I'd fire up my little Boogie Express 5:25, plug in my Mooer Rumble drive and Blues Crab and get some sounds happening.
Thanks guys. Keep up the good work
Guys, you rock!!! Congratulations!! Every video I watch, I learn a lot from you!! Best channel for guitar players on youtube, for sure!
Really helpful video (as usual). It can be difficult to find demos with your own specific combination of guitar/amp so having some guidelines to consider is helpful in getting the desired results.
To me you need to cut off a little of tone ( it's way open!!!) in that BigMuff and probably it would sound better with that Silverface. I'm using a BigMuff with my Blues Deville (beautifully clean and bright) with the tone set slightly over noon and I love it. Obviously everyone has a tone in mind, and maybe my settings would not satisfy everyone, that's just my two cents. Interesting video anyway, thanks guys!!!
+Enrico De Nard Exactly, why would you leave the tone completely open before a clean amp? I play a super-clean silverface Pro Reverb and like to use Muff-type Fuzz. It sounds much better than what we hear in the video. I get the point the video is making, but this bugged me a little.
I have an acoustic amp, carvin ag100d and use its guitar channel as a practice amp as I can actually turn it down unlike my Marshall. It is super clean solid state amp as you can imagine and I use a muff pie through it. Being a sterile super clean amp you'd think the muff would be shrill but its not. Its got mega balls. Clearly I prefer my Marshall but its strictly reserved for certain times of day.
I agree that was a weak point in this video. I won't argue that a Big Muff pairs better with a Marshall amp than a Fender Twin, but to not readjust the Big Muff for the Twin was very unfair. Not only should they have brought the tone knob on the Muff down to around noon, but they should've increased the sustain a little (and lowered the volume to compensate), that would've given a much warmer and more pleasing sound.
Thank you guys....I am learning a lot of things from you...and the most important thing, that I do it with happiness and emotion...thank you