Quality of overdrive

[brebis]

Hello,

I wondered how you could compare the quality of the overdrive produced by a Fender combo tube amp (super champ XD or twin amp for instance) and the overdrive produced using a pedal such as the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 for instance.

What do you think?

Thank you for your time.

Cheers

[hasserl]

I think "quality" is way too subjective of a term, and it would be difficult to come to any concenses, as everyone has their own subjective likes & dislikes.

If I had personal experience with that particular pedal I could give you my personal opinion, but you may not agree with it at all, and it's pretty much gauranteed that at least somebody wouldn't (if not everybody).

I tend to prefer the natural distortion of an amp vs the distortion of a pedal. But I know there are many that prefer it the other way around. I like to develop the tone and distortion I want in the amp where I don't need any pedals. But that doesn't mean I go completely without pedals either, I do like to use them occassionaly. I liken them to using spices in a dish where you don't rely on the spices for the main flavor, but rather to enhance the natural flavor, or add something interesting to it.

But other players like to have a nice clean amp and develop all their distortion in a pedal. And since there are so many great pedals out there these days, they've got a lot to choose from.

It comes down to personal opinion, and whatever is right for you is best.

[Enzo]

Amen.

There are so many ways to overdrive something, and the sounds are all different, and your ears are different from mine, as are your tastes. And what are you playing? SIngle coil pickups sound different from humbuckers.

I like having a selection of tones, so even with the BEST amp in the world (by my tastes) I'd STILL have some pedals around. SOme guys work on getting their tone and then that is all they play. Not suggesting that is wrong, playing everything with the same tone, but it is not for me. But that would affect how you view amps, and overdrive.

Really, the thing to do is just play through as many things as you can to find the sounds you like and don;t like. After all, it is YOUR ears you have to please, not mine.

[dustyoldamp]

Originally Posted by brebis

Hello,

I wondered how you could compare the quality of the overdrive produced by a Fender combo tube amp (super champ XD or twin amp for instance) and the overdrive produced using a pedal such as the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 for instance.

What do you think?

Thank you for your time.

Cheers

in keeping with the two earlier replies, you'll have to hear those sounds yourself that you describe in your post in order to make that judgement.

to that end, here's a very large sampling of sounds that have been produced employing the fulltone pedal

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

here's the fender superchamp xd

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

and the fender "twin amp"

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

that's a wild array of examples to be sure with a lot of variables thrown in for good measure but hopefully it will provide the answer you're looking for.

[Sir Cuitous]

The Fulldrive pedals are highly versatile and well built. Let's just say I have had some direct experience playing hundreds of Fulldrives. There are going to be at least some settings on a Fulldrive that you will find to your liking. If your amp overdrive is not sounding good but you have a good clean channel, then an overdrive pedal can provide the drive.

Even the same pedals can vary greatly. Like amplifiers, you get 1 in 20 or 30 of the same model that really stands out. After playing so many, I like the Fulldrive pedals, but personally I would still want tubes for the tone I like (with deference to all of the above comments - it is all subjective). To me there's always something "cruddy" sounding about non-tube overdrive.