What OD pedal or other pedals would you recommend for Slide

C

CCG30

New member
Hey guys,

I’m in the market for an OD pedal, I think, that will help warm up and fatten up the tone of my humbucker guitar for playing slide. What OD pedal or other pedals would you recommend for Slide guitar to achieve this goal? I have been doing a lot of research on how to get that great slide guitar tone but I haven't found any real guidance on this topic. Ideally I want to get as close to that Derek Trucks/Duane Allman tone without having to buy another amp, especial a spendy vintage Blackface Vibrolux or deluxe reverb. I know that Derek's set up is simply a SG with vintage pick ups into a vintage Blackface cranked to 8. I can't do that as I play in the basement and my neighbors and wife would kill me, so I’d like to achieve a nice slide tone that replicates that wide open valve tone as best it can at a lower volume. That said do you have a suggestion for a pedal or group of pedals to look at that might help me get close to that tone? I'm guessing it will be an OD pedal of some sort.

For reference I have a older Epiphone Les Paul tuned to open E and have two options for amps, '69 Fender Bassman 50w silverface with twin 15s and a Fender Rampart 9w with Eminance Texas Heat speaker, I can also run the Bassman through this single 12 speaker. I typically play with a glass slide and my fingers, with the tone rolled back to about 7, guitar volume rolled back to control overall volume and with the amp as loud as I can, typically about 3 on the baseman and about 5 on the Rampart and the tone I'm getting now is just very thin and kind of shrill, especially on the high E and not that warm fat tone I hear when listening to Derek play so I tend to play more on the lower strings but many of the famous likes are played on the high strings. I am practicing as much as I can and currently doing the Learn Guitar Now open E tuning slide guitar series. I know a lot of tone comes from your right hand, so I'm constantly working on my muting and so on.

I'm sure you are all family with Derek and Duane but for reference, this is the holy grail of tones and what I'm after:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VkB5x8Z41w

Thank you for any suggestions!
 
Thanks I'll check those out. I am aware that Derek plugs straight into the amp and a lot of it is in his hands but there is a lot that goes into it. He know has custom built PRS amps and custom built Gibson SGs. He puts smaller caps in the tone knob to cut highs. Also he plays at volume 8 which I can't do. I haven't tried this but per his rig breakdown review on his black faces he pulls the first pre amp tube to increase the gain and has some other mods and runs vintage pile driver speakers. I know a huge portion is the player and I'll never be able to replicate that even if you gave me his rig. All I'm trying to accomplish is to improve my tone as much as I can to give me a better sounding platform for playing and hopefully it will improve as I improve my skills.
Cheers
 
Do a search for gain boosting mods for Fender amps on Google, there are a bunch of essentially freebies.
 
paulyc":3b3xmew4 said:
Do a search for gain boosting mods for Fender amps on Google, there are a bunch of essentially freebies.
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cool thanks I will look into that option!
 
Well, none of them will make a huge difference, but every little bit helps. Pulling a tube works in 2 channel Fenders (you pull the first tube from the unused channel to boost gain in the other channel because of the shared cathode arrangement in Fender amps). Put a 12AX7 in the phase inverter spot instead of a 12AT7 to boost gain. Put a pot with a switch on the back to disable the vibrato and boost gain. If you have a 4 power tube Fender pull 2 tubes to half the wattage. Put in a less efficient speaker to kill volume allowing you to run the master higher on the dial. You could spend a few bucks with a tech to "blackface" your '69 Silverface amp too.
 
paulyc":urc3p7q4 said:
Well, none of them will make a huge difference, but every little bit helps. Pulling a tube works in 2 channel Fenders (you pull the first tube from the unused channel to boost gain in the other channel because of the shared cathode arrangement in Fender amps). Put a 12AX7 in the phase inverter spot instead of a 12AT7 to boost gain. Put a pot with a switch on the back to disable the vibrato and boost gain. If you have a 4 power tube Fender pull 2 tubes to half the wattage. Put in a less efficient speaker to kill volume allowing you to run the master higher on the dial. You could spend a few bucks with a tech to "blackface" your '69 Silverface amp too.
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Actually I just had the Bassman went through and the guy did tech it to blackface, i'm not 100% sure what that even means or entails but it sounds great for playing everything but slide on it. Its a great amp, super clean, tons of head room and sound great through both the single 12 and the 2x15s, just so, so bright on the higher strings with the slide
 
Usually a few component changes to bring it back to blackface spec, makes the amp warmer and less harsh. Try an Ibanez tube screamer, I love them with Fender amps. Try rolling down the tone knobs on the guitar too to kill some highs. Try different brand/gauge strings (old strings work best for slide).
 
paulyc":2a8k49s1 said:
Usually a few component changes to bring it back to blackface spec, makes the amp warmer and less harsh. Try an Ibanez tube screamer, I love them with Fender amps. Try rolling down the tone knobs on the guitar too to kill some highs. Try different brand/gauge strings (old strings work best for slide).
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the help! I recently put on DR Pure Blue 11's as that is what I read Derek uses and I'm going to switch the Cap on the tone knob to a .01 as that was recommended by a guitar tech I know and I'm going to pick up a tube screamer soon. Just shopping the used market or I might just go with the Mini.
 
Is that Bassman of yours really a 50 watt ? Is it ultra linear ? Those amps always sound harsh and too clean, kind of sterile...I know the Bassman 135s are ultra linear... don't like those. If it's not ultra linear it's not 50 watts, more like 35 I think...you could try the yellow jacket converters to replace the 6L6 tubes with EL84s or 6V6s for less power...
 
Oh, ok. Sorry. I've seen metal (copper pipe) that gets that greenish hue when they get really old. I prefer a metal slide myself, but I have glass too. Johnny Winter used an OLD piece of conduit that was super smooth from years of use.
 
paulyc":3qdatdkn said:
Is that Bassman of yours really a 50 watt ? Is it ultra linear ? Those amps always sound harsh and too clean, kind of sterile...I know the Bassman 135s are ultra linear... don't like those. If it's not ultra linear it's not 50 watts, more like 35 I think...you could try the yellow jacket converters to replace the 6L6 tubes with EL84s or 6V6s for less power...
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it's 50 watts
 

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Yes, your amp is 50 watts. I have a 2x12 silver face Pro Reverb (smaller Twin) and it's supposed to be 40 watts ( same power tubes as yours 6L6s). Fender always baffles me with the output power ratings... 2 amps share the same type and number of power tubes and have different power ratings...
 
All I know is it is super loud and sounds pretty good with my telecaster playing most tunes. I lucked out and got it from a friend that was a traveling musician that no longer plays and had got the amp for very cheap and he now has three kids and no space to store it and his wife said get rid of it so I got it.
I had just started to really figure out the bluesy tone I liked for normal guitar and I don't have or use a lot of effects pedals but starting to get into that game. I've really fallen in love with slide playing and that's an entirely new rabbit hole of finding tone as I've found out
 
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