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!


PS: sorry to the moderators I accidentally posted this in the feedback thread by mistake.
 
What you need is a compressor mate! Check out the Origin Effects SlideRig. It's expensive, but it's so good. It's 2 1176 style compressors running in parallel. Origin's Cali86 is a bit cheaper and great as well, sans the 2 compressors in parallel thing.

https://origineffects.com/product/sliderig/

There's lots of other compressor options out there too, of course. I really like the BearFoot FX Evergreen and the Keeley compressors.

For actual gain, look into some fuzz sounds. A Tonebender or Fuzz Face style circuit can really beef up a sound, and should really help at lower volumes. The Keeley Sun Face is a great fuzz face style pedal at a decent cost. The Dunlop mini Fuzz Face sounds killer too. For Tonebenders, check out the ProAnalog Mk4. If you're more of a Big Muff fan, the JHS Muffuletta or the Thropy Mushroom Cloud would be good options.

Oh, if you've got an EQ pedal lying around, try that out as a boost. Cut the low end a bit, boost the mids, slight boost to the highs and boost volume to taste. You'll hit the front end of your amp a bit harder without adding any pedal based gain. It should add a lot of character to your sound without changing it up too much. Pushing those mid frequencies and the overall signal level will help your amp overdrive on it's own.
 
When I read the title my first thought was the ole Boss Blues Driver. After listening to the clip and knowing Derek's tone, that is going to be difficult to do with a pedal. That's a fantastic tone and getting all those tones by just adjusting volume/attack isn't easy. Compression is a great idea too since those old Fenders compressed a lot. You can practically get 'clean' feedback/sustain they compress so nicely. That flutey/saxophone-like voice might be the hardest part to get.
 
thanks guys, that slide rig looks sick but heck $400 is more than I have in both my amps combined!(Bassman was a hand me down). I totally agree it is going to be difficult to obtain that exact sound with pedals but I just want to at least be in the ballpark and create a "good" tone. I know that is super subjective. I have a Fuzz pedal and its not doing it for me, its a BBE Free Fuzz the sound is just not tight enough, hard to explain. To me that sound he is getting does involve compression at least on the top end and more of a mid boost with a clipped low end that is why I was thinking OD or Boost pedal. I've read a few places that OD pedals help get that tone,a few recommendations for a basic tube screamer type pedals. I've also read quite a lot of people recommending a compressor, I will admit that I don't have a lot of experience with them. Would this be used as a stand alone pedal? I tried a couple out at GC the other day and I couldn't really tell much of a difference in the tone, the sustain was great but it didn't really do much but make me sound a little smoother. Maybe I was doing it wrong, I'll definitely put it back on the list of thing to try when I go pedal shopping. If it should be used with an OD/Boost pedal do they go before or after those pedals?
There is a video on the Pedal Show with Joey Landrath and he said his must have pedal is an OD and reverb if the amp doesn't have it built in.
 
TC Electronic SP compressor is absolutely fantastic. Drops pixie dust on your tone man. Run that into your Bassman with a good reverb pedal, TC Hall of Fame or other, and your golden.
If you want more overdrive a TS-808 is fansatic for slide.
Nothing with higher gain. Just a light overdrive pedal. The 808 has that slight mid jump that gives you a classic tone.
Good luck
 
A Klon style OD is a good idea. J.Rockett Archer, EHX Soulfood. A compressor in front of a Klon will do wonders.
 
SpiderWars":190hwjl9 said:
When I read the title my first thought was the ole Boss Blues Driver. After listening to the clip and knowing Derek's tone, that is going to be difficult to do with a pedal. That's a fantastic tone and getting all those tones by just adjusting volume/attack isn't easy. Compression is a great idea too since those old Fenders compressed a lot. You can practically get 'clean' feedback/sustain they compress so nicely. That flutey/saxophone-like voice might be the hardest part to get.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking. A friend of mine is a fantastic slide player, that's what he uses. Into a 70's JMP NMV.
 
Thanks guys! I've added all these suggestions to my list. I will give the compressor a second go and pair it with some sort of OD pedal, I'm sure I won't get the exact tone but I'm guessing I'll find my own cool tone! The journey is half the fun!
 
A Keeley modded Blues Driver, or the Keeley Super Phat Mod (which is just his Blues Driver mods) could be up your alley. Check out some JHS stuff too, like the Angry Charlie.
 
The Origin Effects slide rig is hard to beat, its an 1176 clone in a pedal, but its pricey. My bass player has one in his bass rig, it sounds fantastic for a lot of stuff besides slide, but its main thing is slide ;)
 
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