30-50 db boost?!! Is that thing made by NASA or something?

if NASA were only so bold...
Actually it compares volume wise with what a Fuzz Factory does which is BIG volume as you know if you've ever owned/played one. My Fuzz Factory always kinda scared me with it's vast volume but now I have something to compare it with in that department, tho of course they sound vastly different!

Here's a vote for the Red Snapper. I play a Tele through a silver face Deluxe, and the Snapper adds just the right amount of grit and grain to my sound. It doesn't cloud my chords, and ever-so-slightly compresses my signal. It's pretty transparent, holding most of my low end and adding a touch of presence, even with the bite control turned all the way down. It doesn't exaggerate the mids like a lot of overdrives do. I set the Gain on one o'clock, keep the Bite rolled all the way back, and set the volume so it's slightly boosting my signal. I keep it on all the time, and use a Blue Collar for solos and such. It sounds great with my Tele, but not so great with my old Gibson ES-330 -- I haven't been able to find an overdrive that works well with that guitar. If you're a Fender guy, you can't go wrong with the Snapper for Petty/Richards sounds. Good luck!

I forgot to mention in my previous post how many pedals I tried and disliked for various reasons before deciding on the Snapper:
Klon -- great clean boost, but gain sounds too hi-fi
Hotcake -- gain is more like a fuzz than tube overdrive
Drive-O-Matic -- harsh, ragged, nasal sounding
FD2 -- mid heavy and slightly barky; no chime
( I should say that both the FD2 and Drive-O-Matic gave disappointing results with their boost features.....IMHO two pedals always work better than a dual feature pedal for boost effects)
Blackstone -- artificial, synthetic sounding
Frantone HepCat -- too bright and slightly fizzy
Austone Millennium -- shrill with no bottom
Voodoo SparkleDrive -- not bad, but the overdrive always sounds a bit recessed when blended back with the clean signal
Marshall Bluesbreaker -- I still own one of the originals, and swore by it for years, but it does give a little mid hump and take away a little bottom. Nice gain sound, though.
Hope this all helps!

quote:

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Originally posted by japhy:
[B]Here's a vote for the Red Snapper...It sounds great with my Tele, but not so great with my old Gibson ES-330 -- I haven't been able to find an overdrive that works well with that guitar.

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Based on your above post with your opinions on different overdrive pedals, you may want to try a clean boost set to saturate your tubes to get your overdrive sound. I have a '65 ES 330 and tested this out with a Fat Boost some time ago. Any overdrive pedal that boosts the mids will make my 330 sound harsh. P-90 pickups have plenty of midrange already, so I would say if you want to get some great overdrive sound out of them, try using a boost. Personally, I love the sound of a P-90 overdriving an amp, especially an old one.

Thanks, Dave. I actually own a Fat Boost, but have never tried using it to overdrive my amp's input stage....... I usually use it to just take my solos up a notch or two. I'll give it a go -- thanks for the advise!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by justin:
[B]why is it that people either swear by klons or absolutely hate them

Justin, the reason so many people hate Klons, I think, is because Klons really need to work in conjunction with a good sounding tube amp in good working condition. I've found that most players don't have this, and you rarely find a dialed amp in the store. So I think a lot of people don't really understand the Klon - or Bill for that matter. He's basically a gear Nazi. He builds one of the finest pedals, so he expects you to use a fine amp with his pedal. I personally don't think this is a bad thing.

Japhy, with the Silverface Deluxe, it should sound incredible. Then you can just back off the volume knob to clean up. The Fat Boost works well that way. You can also use the input gain knob on it to give you a little more dirt.

A Gear Nazi? "No tone for you!" lol

paul,
does this mean you own a klon? and what amp(s) do you use? thanks!

I agree with the persons who like the Sigmeund pedal. I bought one strictly on the raves of musictoyz.com. I never played one before I bought it. I might suggest that you will not find a single pedal that will be all things to you, but, if you were to get a Sigmeund pedal and one of the transitor distorion pedals, I like the Marshall pedals, you would then have the ability to combine your amp with the two different pedals to get all kinds of distortion/ overdrive. That's what I did, and I'm not frustrated anymore by not having to try to get all types of tone from only one pedal. You might want to try a Lovetone Brown Source. I bought one, again, sight unheard, based on the tone sample at musictoyz.com. I was told by Ted at musictoyz.com, that many were unhappy with the tone, but I plugged one into a clean amp and immediately got all types of Marshall Vintage overdrive, without the high-end fizz, or buzzines. It also combines beautifully with my other 3 distortion/overdrive pedals, and the distortion from my Marshall. What type of sound are you seeking?

I like the Menatone Blue Collar more than the other tubescreamer types.

quote:

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Originally posted by justin:
paul,
does this mean you own a klon? and what amp(s) do you use? thanks!

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Justin,

Yes, I own a Klon and I am a person who swears by it. I like it because it's extremely transparent with just enough of it's own characteristics to make it more than just a "clean boost". It's got mid range. Some people don't like this - I do. It's got gain, despite what people say. When you use a Klon, it's more about how your amp and guitar sound than what the pedal sounds like. It really needs to be pushing the amp's tubes into distortion to sound its best. The thing that differentiates the Klon from just another clean boost is that, like other overdrive pedals, it allows you to get a saturated tone at a lower volume. So you don't have to completely overload your amp's input to get distortion and sustain, which sometimes can be a bit out of control.

I play a really clean sounding Pro Reverb that doesn't give up distortion too readily. It's great for country and really articulate lead playing. But when I want a darker, tweed-like tone, the Klon helps a lot. I have the amp cathode biased which helps soften the edges a bit, and the Klon gives me just enough mid range and dirt to sound tough, but still sound like I'm playing a Tele through a Pro Reverb.

By the way, the Klon is a great sounding clean boost if you set it that way. I guess most people do!