Amp In A Box Pedals Vs ‘Normal’ Overdrive & Graphic EQ [And A Couple Of Cranked Amps]
Can a pedal ever sound like an amp?
Life too short for long YouTube videos? Please see the ‘Interesting bits and go-to sections’ information below.
Welcome to the show! Amp-in-a-box pedals are marketed as a great way to invoke the character of a classic guitar amplifier… without actually needing the classic guitar amplifier. We put that premise to the test in this video, with a selection of such beasts. Importantly, we also ask: ‘How close can we get with a ‘normal’ overdrive pedal, an EQ and maybe a compressor?’
Now clearly, there are many hundreds of pedals we could have chosen instead of these, so don’t get too twisty-wristy about our choices today if your particular fave isn’t featured (probability says it’s almost certainly not). Instead, consider-ye the bigger question.
Anyway schmanyway, by the time we’ve all got annoyed about the pedal choices and argued that this one really //does// sound like an amp… at the end we do actually crank a couple of ‘classic’ guitar amps to sorta, kinda prove the point that AIAB box pedals can only go so far! Do you agree?
Enjoy the show!
Pedals & stuff used in this video
• TheGigRig Three2One
https://www.thegigrig.com/three2one
• Sonic Research ST-300 Mini Tuner
Australia: http://bit.ly/2mR1s8c
• ZVEX ’59 Sound
https://www.zvex.com/guitar-pedals/59-sound-hand-painted-guitar-effects-pedal
• Crazy Tube Circuits Crossfire
https://crazytubecircuits.com/crossfire
• Wampler Plexi Drive Mini
UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: https://bit.ly/3z7FJAQ
• Boss GE-7 Equalizer
UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: ttps://bit.ly/3m5XYPe
• Nobels ODR-1
UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: https://bit.ly/3PTJcJd
USA: https://imp.i114863.net/DVGQ0n
• Xotic SP Compressor
UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: http://bit.ly/2FcjbSW
• Source Audio Collider Delay & Reverb
UK & Europe: http://bit.ly/2HwaALt
Australia: http://bit.ly/323SzgS
USA That Pedal Shop: https://bit.ly/3ozRtX3
• TheGigRig G3
https://www.thegigrig.com/g3
Interesting bits and go-to sections…
0:00 Intro playing
3:24 What are we doing today?
4:55 We have a problem with it
5:37 Today’s pedals and premise
8:00 Today’s amps
10:56 ZVEX ’59 Sound
14:57 ODR-1 & EQ?
25:50 CTC Crossfire amp side
35:25 Crossfire OD side
38:50 Wampler Plexi Drive Mini
49:40 Thoughts so far
50:45 Cranking the Deluxe Reverb
54:00 Cranking the Bass Breaker (Bassman)
57:12 Closing thoughts
Guitars in this episode:
• Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster – watch Dan’s video here: https://youtu.be/rnQ4OIJFTgY
• 1970 Fender Stratocaster – no video yet
• Gibson Custom True Historic 1957 Les Paul Goldtop Murphy Aged – no video yet
• 1961 Gibson Les Paul Junior – watch Dan’s video here: https://youtu.be/0CORolxVmeY
Amps & cabs in this episode:
• Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue
• Supro Black Magick 1×12 combo (no reverb)
• Fender Custom Shop Bass Breaker (c2002)
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#Amp #Box #Pedals #Normal #Overdrive #Graphic #Couple #Cranked #Amps
Originally posted by UCnUXq8mGmoHt0e6ItuTs10w at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7IP7llbWD8
Posted bits of this around, keeping it going because I am proud.
I've got my own amp modeler in pedal form.
The "amp" itself is Zeus (klone) as the preamp or 1st stage. Can be high headroom or gain stacked. Perfect for…
Then a BD2 as the 2nd stage. Not always needed. Adds clean tight harmonics like a Metal Zone going high gain.
Last is the DS1 as the power-amp from slightly crunchy to full speaker distortion-like.
Sooooo much EQ power. Each stage matters but early cascades at the right gain structures.
And then a 7-band EQ to cleanly shape as needed.
The Zeus is the sauce and its shape greatly impacts either BD2 or DS1 greatly.
But that's all part of my brown/gain channel.
I have an SD1 fed by a CS3-clone compressor fed by a fuzz/boost, mostly used as a boost, usually set with slightly higher highs than lows for bluesbreaker EQing.
How I boost the Zeus with any/all pedals affects the fluting which lets me have any of the genres, maybe even amps.
I seriously can fine tune Sixteen Stone's various tones and then do Crunchberries, and then do Hendrix or AC/DC in their essences (like, I'm sure I've found a Plexi-like chime, could be my developed technique).
It's inspiring to learn much because the tones are there.
But most of all, the bluesy edge of breakup is in so many spots, and the most natural is the Zeus set at just enough gain to tickle the treble strings with fluting.
Such a sweet base tone setter alternative to a Morning Glory.
As usual, gosh darn these guys are both inspiring and helpful in getting exposure to great tones.
PS: What is the pedal effects equivalent to "perfect pitch?"
@21:00 mic is basically playing “beating around the bush” …fitting because I thought that was a right nice acdc tone. the *real acdc tone, aka malcom with his gretsch and an almost clean tone. that’s on of the heaviest songs in my oppinion, and it’s damn hard to play with the right groove like they do.
edit: I just wanted to add how insanely good the tones in this vid are. specifically from that goldy strat…good lord. normally I’m simping over dans’ tele tone. also, I have both a ge-7, and an odr-1. recently picked up a thorpy dane as well. I’ve already been using the three into the front of my badcat to get just about any tone a person can dream of…you two have inspired me to keep doing so un-endingly. the “amp in a box” pedals never really made sense to me anyways.
At about 22 minutes in, you guys come to the conclusion that the (Bassman) sound is rich but still inherently clean. I think the one critical part you just weren’t able to get your fingers on with these pedals is a phenomenon called the “Fender Shimmer,” which loads of people claim to understand because who hasn’t heard “the fender sound?”
The real trick comes from the capacitors in the passive tone stack and the way, specifically the bass and treble caps, create an out of phase relationship with each other which is centered around the 4-500 hz area (with all controls centered). It creates a sound that seems like two guitars playing at once, one in the low-mids and one in the high-mids. If you look up “Rob robinette phase shift fender shimmer” it should come up. Awesome read and a good link for a free tone stack calculator!
Keep doing what you’re doing, your synergy when copiloting a rig is unlike any other show like it!
I don’t mean to hate, but I don’t get the point of these pedals ????
I started running the Wampler plexi on 18 volts, made a nice difference
The issue with an EQ+OD+Compressor vs AIAB, is that most people don’t want to spend the time matching EQ, or don’t even understand EQ enough to recognize bands to boost or cut and it ends up being a very lengthy trial and error, let alone understanding compressors. The compressor also may steal the sensitivity to dynamic changes which some AIAB pedals get incredibly well. The type of OD color the sound additionally and may be to dial out with EQ. AIAB pedals tend to be simple, but some (quite a few I’ve found) also start coming into doing the emulation of the amp better when their Master is turned up quite a bit. Kind of mimicking power amp behavior, compression, feel, saturation, the more you turn up the master. At that point you will have lost anything close to unity gain with the amp’s clean channel turning it off and on. Just dial in the AIAB the best you can with those and forget unity gain at all. I prefer a good AIAB over all that work to get frequencies, OD color, and compression just right. It can greatly vary results though with AIAB, depending on which amp you plug into, and speakers meant for one amp doesn’t mean they will sound right with the AIAB flavor. Just halfway into video so you may end up discussing all this later. Interesting experiment though. Obviously you two know your frequencies and how to work EQ compressors good. Finally subscribed and hit the like. Nice ending cranking the amps. You should check out the Axiom Effects PAE-1 (or now PAE-2 being built) Power Amp Emulator pedal. 9v analog pedal that does uncanny tube power amp emulation. Great with preamps or even some AIAB pedals to get that cranked tube amp sound and feel at lower volumes and can make some solid state amps sound and feel tube when run in the fx loop. Great video guys!
They should put line-level outs in these things so you could use them as a preamp for recording or go right to the PA, So then the actual amp and or speaker cabinet won’t color your tone like they’re talking about.
Nice Video ❤❤
The chase bliss preamp is my favorite OD for the simple fact of the parametric EQ pre or post. That’s why you can Mimic other pedals with it. I can’t wait for more pedals incorporate it because the core tone of the preamp while great, does have a certain hi fi sound that can sound great but not ideal for everyone.
I love that goldtop!
Here trying to decide whether to try the 59 Sound after being pleased with the Box of Rock. Same controls and a very useful single pedal for a quick setup. Boost after drive is a great thing. Wondering if the early Marshall circuits were taken from the Bassman whether these pedals are similar or quite different
The long chip that has many legs is most likely is a DSP processor.
This is excellent. I love how on the first try I could hear the difference on my phone. I wish I'd seen this video. I'm here after doing my own trial and error????
Completely unrelated: I just listened down to Texas flood again and I can hear the boss dimension C all over it. Thanks for the heads up!
When Mick started playing the quarter notes at 31:28, all I could hear was, “And-ah I would walk five hundred miles…”
I absolutely agree. Still we have moved to go DI via a small Tube Amp (1W) that has a speaker sim in it. It sounds good to our guitarist and it gives the soundperson more control, which is important for small venues. Its quieter on stage then as well, which helps protect our hearing, which
you knowas musicians is superimportant. That being said…Mick should have taken that Strat down to D on the Bassman. Might have summoned Jimi.
How about doing things where you plug directly into the PA? Most gigs now days you need to play at certain volumes. I use a direct DI Amp in a box to run straight into the board. Called the Dream and it is a fender blackface with reverb and tremolo built in at the end of my pedalboard. Would like to see a show about this stuff. No amps.
Tech 21 makes a pedal that totally amazed me. I couldn't believe it. The Hot Rod Plexi. Wow!
Ah, you idiots! Well this is much better than that and that's much better than that and that's much better than that. 9:42
I own a couple of mini amps. Would it work to connect them to a switcher?
I've never really been a huge fan of the Marshall sound, but I do have to say, I was watching to the Anderton's recent video on building the Captain an affordable pedalboard, and I thought to myself that the Wampler Plexi Drive really sounds amazing. I've been warming up to Wampler pedals over the past year, and I just might grab a mini Plexi Drive, if one crosses my path at a good price.
Why would you run one of these pedals into an amp?
I don’t use an amp when I use my UA Dream 65 that’s the purpose of using the darn thing I thought.
The true test would've been to have Mick blindfolded and switch between them and have him guess which was being played…
Zvex Box of Rock into my AC30 is a phenomenal sound. It doesn't turn the Vox into a plexi, but it sounds almost like when I have a Marshall and the Vox playing together. It sounds massive without losing the AC30 sparkle. I think the key with "amp in a box" is matching them to your amp's sound and feel. I had a Catalinbread DLS (mark I) that sounded fantastic through a Peavey tweed-style amp, but through the Vox it was just too mid-heavy. The character of your amp is going to dictate which tones are complimentary out of an amp in a box. It might take some experimentation to find a pairing that works, but I think amp in a box pedals are worth it for getting close to the feel of the cranked amp at the push of a button, and in my experience are different enough from regular OD pedals that I prefer them.
Sad that the benson preamp didn’t make it
BLUG Amp1
Love your playing Mick, just so tasty and inspiring.
Go for the loud n proud by mad professor….. Free tone deluxe!!
My face made the same face as Dan's face at 35:33
You know what, that zvex 59 gives you a decent flavour of it.
Having thought about this for a couple of days, it seems to me that the cranked amp segment has taken attention away from the experiment in the main part of the video. The amps sounds great and lots of the BTL comments reflect this. I'm not sure that the EQ + overdrive managed to fully replicate the AIAB pedals, though. Through Youtube we get some idea of the equalisation but not the feel. I've just had delivery of a modern MIAB pedal and this does a better job for my ears of delivering the "cabinet thunk" than previous generations, when played through a cab. Certainly my "proper" overdrive pedals won't do this. So true that it's more than about equalisation.
Was cool to see how close the pedals could get…but the cranked amps at the end were incredible.
Every video should end with jamming into a different cranked amp from now on.
lol not 24hrs ago I went from being ready to buy a Selmer T&B I couldn’t really afford, to realizing Thorpy makes it in a pedal for a few hundie bob, and taking my finger off THAT button & thinking, wait, if they can squeeze it in a pedal, can’t I just set EQ, distortion & compression settings between my Blackbird & RLNA that basically match it, without electrocuting myself on a vintage amp or buying another approximation? We live in parallel universes, TPS
I got new headphones today…. Everything sounds so much better….now to listen to everything again!
Though not exactly related, this video helped my try something for a solution to something… I have a pedal with a mod, but wanted to use another similar one (true bypass issue) and I had a free EQ pedal that I was able to use to get the exact mod sound… would not have thought of that had I not watched this… thanks gents!
I love overdrive pedals. I build them. They can be fun and useful. But nothing beats being in the room with a cranked amp. Got chills when you cranked the deluxe reverb. I'll let you know when a pedal does that.
You should have used a full frequency overdrive like a boss blues driver with the eq pedal. The full range od might have been easier to get the different amp in a box sounds frequency wise. But otherwise you did a good job with nobles odr-1
I'm watching this episode on June 7. Perhaps someone has commented on this already or in the VCQ yesterday that I haven't gotten to yet, but that last amp is called a "Bass Breaker" but it must be a "Bassman" which is totally different! Or am I wrong?
Two things Gents. 1)You came out of the gate on this early. Universal Audio just released three AIAB pedals that may make what you tried to prove really hard. YES UA is using the dreaded "Modeling" compared to the ones you showcased, but I have to wonder what would happen if you put the Dream and the Woodrow up against the 59 Sound and the Crossfire. No Marshall amp from them as of yet. Which leads me to
2) No Vox? Two Fenders and no Vox. This seems to be a current trend. You either see Marshall or Vox but not both. I have to wonder if its because Marshall is easier to achieve in an AIAB than Vox is. I for one would have LOVED to see how you would have achieved a Vox sound.. But again, for me The UA Ruby(Their Vox in a box) is the best of all. So hopefully you'll revisit this again at some point.