Getting the most out of a stomp box

[Charlie Bernstein]

Just got a new stomp box, an 808 clone. (The Gearmanndude Luther Drive, to be exact.) I love it, but I'm still not nailing the singing sustain I'm after (and that it does well in several You Tube demos).

It arrived yesterday, and last night I was playing it between a single-coil Strat and a Fender Pro Junior - both in perfectly good condition. Great sound, big, bad, and bold, a great addition to my pedal board. But singing sustain? No - not even with the volume and drive knobs dimed.

I'm just an old folky, poorly versed in the ways of electric guitar. What am I doing wrong?

[Steve Conner]

Two things: Buying audio equipment based on YouTube demos, and not using a Les Paul.

[pdf64]

What gauge strings are on it? Consider 11s, tune down a half step, avoid a super low action as that tends to choke the fundemental even without bending. Pete.

[Mark Hammer]

A lot of pedals that appeal to us strongly when we hear demos are played under fairly particular circumstances. Yes, you need to set the controls appropriately, and yes it can pay to feed it the "right" guitar and strings and pickups, but there is also much to be said for how the pedal pushes the amp. Often, the amp needs to be pushed to a point, and the pedal is used to push it beyond. The "sound" doesn't come from the pedal alone, but from the joint effect of the amp and pedal. And sometimes, those sounds only come when the amp is cranked louder than our partners, neigbours, kids allow.

[Regis]

Don't want to hurt your feelings but a Pro Jr is not exactly a world class amp.

I run a Strat through a dimed Bassman or a Traynor YBA1 or Pro Reverb with even my crappy TS5 Tube Screamer and it sings like a chorus of angels.

Mark is essentially correct. A Tube Screamer pretty much sounds like ass by itself.

[pdf64]

Yes, youtube audio is heavily compressed; that will add sustain in itself but also it gives a false impression that the amp is only at speaking volume, when in reality it's cranked. Tube screamers are generally used to push a loud amp into overdrive; on their own, Regis has nailed it.

[Steve Conner]

Well, it might not be a "world class amp" whatever that means, but it's still worth a try, wait till the neighbours are out, crank it to 12 and then give it that "extra push over the cliff" with the overdrive pedal.

[guitarmike2107]

Like these guys said.

Getting a guitar to sustain longer than it does acoustically requires positive re-enforcement, so either you need an e-bow or sustainer pickup or a very loud signal.

It should be so loud that you’re at the point of thinking "can I really get away with this" or "How will I ever look my neighbour’s straight in the face again" or “this feels so good it must be illegal” or “is my amp about to blow up” or “is that blood dripping off my ears”

To ease your way into it roll your guitar volume right down, set your amp on the more “vintage gain” channel then turn your master up full turn the pre gain up to full or just backed off slightly then slowly roll your guitar volume back up until the grin meter on your face hits both ears.
Most good tube amps will do this without a tubescreamer type pedal in front

Disclaimer: If you live in the UK I would not advise doing this.. you could be asbo’d … assuming that’s is still going.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Thanks, everyone!

Yep, tried turning the amp up more last night, and that did it.

I do have a rockin' Bassman - a '65 head modified to run on a pair of EL34s. But not in the living room!!!! The SRV high, heavy, tuned-down string approach is a nice sound, but it's not mine. My attack isn't hard enough to warrant it. My attack on electric is more in the Bloomfield/Bishop/B.B./Garcia/Weir zone - not in terms of accomplishment (!), but in terms of muscle-to-string ratio. I do pound my old D28, which I think has 11s on it right now, maybe 12s. But folk guitars are born to pound.

No Les Pauls in the house, either, unfortunately, but I also have an old 335, which sounds just right on its own and through my other overdrive, a King of Tone. (A nice pedal, but a different sound - a little like a pair of Barber LTDs, but without the noise I usually get from running two overdrives at once.) Haven't tried the 335 through the Luther yet. Should be interesting.

Anyhow, the point about using overdrive to push a pushed amp harder is right-on, and I thank you all for setting me in the right direction. After a few nights of experimentation, the Luther Drive is starting to give me just what I was after.

[guitarmike2107]

I remember having the same struggle trying to get my guitar to feedback through a peavey bandit amp and wondering why I couldn’t get it to sound like Gary Moore on parisienne walkways... once you know how though it becomes easy to do.

[Steve Conner]

The bit where he sustains the same note for a full 5 minutes, and then the crowd goes wild? I always thought Gary Moore's tone was complete crap apart from that one cool trick.

[guitarmike2107]

yip that five minutes makes watching him for a whole concert worth while .. I take it then you were not one of the older gentlemen with a silver/grey ponytail and a black leather jacket that attended the gig in Glasgow a few years back

[Steve Conner]

God, no. And when I shout "Play Free Bird!" at a gig it's supposed to be ironic.

[52 Bill]

God, no. And when I shout "Play Free Bird!" at a gig it's supposed to be ironic.

Man, is that you? You really get around, you've been at every show that I've seen in the last 20 years!

[Charlie Bernstein]

To ease your way into it roll your guitar volume right down, set your amp on the more “vintage gain” channel then turn your master up full turn the pre gain up to full or just backed off slightly then slowly roll your guitar volume back up until the grin meter on your face hits both ears.
.

Nice! Clear, simple instructions! Every overdrive pedal AND every tube amp should come with something like this!

=O]