Really liking stacking OD + Boost over the regular OD/OD

[Kapo_Polenton]

Been messing around with making my JCM800 into a three channel amp.. Classic Rock, Hot Rodded, Liquid Leads. The key I feel is not overdoing the volume on the OD (75%) and leaving the gain fairly low (2-3). For me, the el cheapo bad monkey rains supreme. It's got the mojo. So much so that I think i should go get another in case this one ever craps out. I've tried lots of high end pedals and this one just has the tightness i like and is relatively (meaning enough) "transparent".

I had bought the koko boost to serve both functions but i found the boosts sat too much on top of the tone and fattened the tone too much making it splatty at higher levels. The winning combo however is the Koko boost set no higher than 2 ( I know, this really means i am not using the pedal to it's fullest extent) pushing the bad monkey when i need Sykes or Vai or Aldrich levels of gain. I'm talking barely needing to touch the strings and effortless alternate picking.

I consider myself a med gain guy but at the end of the day if you want those harmonics and fast runs, ya need some gain. Piling gain on gain ends up sounding like $hit. So the key for me, was slight gain increases through each stage/pedal and a good med output pup or hot pup (SD or JB). Lovin the tones. Helping however, is that beastly 800 or 800 type circuit sitting in the background. Allows you to cover a lot of ground in a pinch and with a les paul type, you can roll back your volume on the neck pup and go from clean to crunch where required.

I know this is no brainer but just had to say that OD into boost is what I was looking for. The clean boost thickens the mids i am getting with the monkey. A perfect combo. OD into OD squashed signal a bit more I found and cranking the gain on a TS type or SD-1 compressed the tone too much when I went back to rythms. Glad I tried it. You guys should too!

 

[cardinal]

I'm really liking the CAE boost pedal at about 33% pushing into an OD pedal set with the level high and gain low. Just like you say. The boost on its own makes things too fat and hairy. But the OD, while adding gain and tightening things up, thins the tone out. And not just cutting low end, it takes away something in the mids, too. But using the boost restores it IMHO.

I bought the CAE wah and noticed it sounded huge with the boost engaged, so I bought the stand-alone boost and haven't been disappointed at all.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I'm really liking the CAE boost pedal at about 33% pushing into an OD pedal set with the level high and gain low. Just like you say. The boost on its own makes things too fat and hairy. But the OD, while adding gain and tightening things up, thins the tone out. And not just cutting low end, it takes away something in the mids, too. But using the boost restores it IMHO.

I bought the CAE wah and noticed it sounded huge with the boost engaged, so I bought the stand-alone boost and haven't been disappointed at all.

Exactly, it's like having the mid cut without the thin tone because the boost restores it. Like you said, the boost alone gets way too tubby for me and splatty/hairy. I have listened to tons of demos of boosts and to me, they really become unusable when set to where I'd need them. So now I am thinking of moving the koko and just getting something like the mini spark booster or a used CAE. Either way, versatility and killer tone!

 

[ned911]

pics?

I'm dying to try this, pedal selection: TS9, MS10, OD808, Barber LTD Silver, Catalin Bread Super Chili Picoso, Super Charged OD, Hyper Pak.

So what order to stack two?

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I'm essentially running it like this:

Amp -- ISP decimator --boost --OD--Guitar

Take the level on the OD and put it 3/4 way up or full up and take the gain about 1/4 way up (depending how much you need). Other EQ options on your OD will depend on taste. My high/low knobs are set straight up.

Adjust the boost to taste for me it is set just under 1/4 way up. Actually, just barely cracked to fill out the notes for fast runs.

Works like a charm.

 

[cardinal]

Ah, I'm running it the other way:

Amp <-- OD <-- boost <-- guitar

The OD (either an SD-1 or a OD9 Pro+ depending on whether the amp is a 2204 or a Recto, respectively) has the gain off or nearly off and the level up pretty high. I typically have the boost (CAE 401) up to ~33% of 20 db max (so maybe 7 db boost?).

The SD-1 adds a lot of gain to the Marshall. The OD9 Pro+ isn't really adding gain, it just tightens up the sound. But both thin out the tone a bit on their own. The boost pedal adds back whatever the OD pedals are robbing IMHO. If you've every used a pure boost pedal (typically one knob: it just increases the signal by however many decibels), it makes everything louder and fatter. Stacked with the OD, you get the tightening effect of the OD with the fattening effect of the boost. Makes the amp sound like a real monster.

I've tried it the other way (Amp <-- Boost <-- OD <-- Guitar), and it also sounded nice. I run it my way simply because when I'm using my wah (CAE 404), it has the same boost built in, and the wah always runs in front of any OD pedal, so I put the CAE 401 right after the wah just to be consistent/predictable with what the wah is doing.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Yeah Od-Boost or boost-OD seems a lot like the chicken before the egg argument. I imagine it sounds great both ways and essentially accomplishes the same thing because neither of them are set to high where gain or grit is concerned. It is just tone shaping. Adding some fatness back into those thinned out mids.