OD without an annoying mid hump

Aahzz

Habanero Evangelist
OK folks, please recommend me an OD for mild overdrive that doesn't make everything sound boxy and nasal like a tube screamer....thought I liked my Electro Harmonix Soul Food, but when I up the OD it gets as nasal as everything else....for harder distortion I'm loving my 78 Custom Badass and my Metal Muff, just need to get the OD taken care of now!
 
I like (and use) the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive MOD for that. It is essentially a tube screamer but the first "MOD" setting eliminates the mid range hump inherent in those kinds of pedals. You'd need to look for a used one at that price I think though. And the regular Sparkledrive would not work.
 
Skreddy Screwdriver or Hybrid Fuzz Driver. Yes, they're expensive. You'll never need another overdrive, and they're not tubescreamer based.
 
I seem to keep coming back to my Marshall Jackhammer. Tube Screamer clones through a Peavey Classic are a little too much midrange for me, too.

Of course, I suck at distortion, so take it with a grain of salt.
 
Looking for a thread where I thought Mark talked a bit more about the Sparkle Drive MOD brought me here...

So did you ever find the pedal you wanted? Did you go with the Sparkle Drive? I'm wanting one of those and/or this:



It has a three band EQ so you can not only minimize the mid-range hump with the ability to tweak the bass and treble which is pretty unique.

Sorry about the store demo vid, but it's the least myopic (musically speaking) video of the reviews that I quickly searched for on youtube.
 
EQD Talons is a good choice, but outside that price range, like the Skreddy. FWIW, I like the Skreddy even more than the Talons.
 
I've used the sparkledrive MOD for a few years and have left it in the first "MOD" position the whole time which is a little flatter sounding. One thing I learned from the "That Pedal Show" guys which should have been a common sense realization is that some amps can use the mid bump because they are lacking in that frequency range and others sound terrible because then you have way too much going on. It's more about matching the pedal to the amp than anything else.
 
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I've used the sparkledrive MOD for a few years and have left it in the first "MOD" position the whole time which is a little flatter sounding. One thing I learned from the "That Pedal Show" guys which should have been a common sense realization is that some amps can use the mid bump because they are lacking in that frequency range and others sound terrible because then you have way too much going on. It's more about matching the pedal to the amp than anything else.

Yeah, I saw that one as well (been sorta binge-ing them). It explains how all you pedal guys keep cycling through various pedals. Seems like in addition to the perpetual tone chasing, part of it is a pedal version of John's guitar GAS (the thrill of the chase and all :thu:) yet it's also that some of those pedals are not voiced in a manner that's suited to your total set-up.

Are their many/any pedals that seem to work with all set-ups? I guess that even there were from a transparency standpoint they wouldn't necessarily be to everyone's liking.

We guitarists are bunch of picky bitches!
 
Yeah, I saw that one as well (been sorta binge-ing them). It explains how all you pedal guys keep cycling through various pedals. Seems like in addition to the perpetual tone chasing, part of it is a pedal version of John's guitar GAS (the thrill of the chase and all :thu:) yet it's also that some of those pedals are not voiced in a manner that's suited to your total set-up.

Are their many/any pedals that seem to work with all set-ups? I guess that even there were from a transparency standpoint they wouldn't necessarily be to everyone's liking.

We guitarists are bunch of picky bitches!
The pedal I use in every situation is the Xotic RC Booster but you won't get a ton of dirt from it. I've been playing with where I put it in the signal path this week. Instead of last I put my white RC booster earlier and the Scott Henderson version last and in playing with how much I drive the amp in each place.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1464887983.494806.jpg
 
The pedal I use in every situation is the Xotic RC Booster but you won't get a ton of dirt from it. I've been playing with where I put it in the signal path this week. Instead of last I put my white RC booster earlier and the Scott Henderson version last and in playing with how much I drive the amp in each place.

RC stands for Real Clean

They also make the AC...Almost Clean, which will have a little more grit. I have no experience with either though.
 
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