I really hate this site. I wish I never found it because it keeps costing me hundreds. I sit and read all of this and I keep wanting and wanting.

Here is my problem.

My live gear.

G&L ASAT Z3
Les Paul Standard
Fender standard Tele
Gibson ES 335.


65 Fender Super Reverb


Pedals. Lovetone Brown Source, Blues Pearl Blues Screamer, Blue Pearl Blue Balls. I have others I run through but these are the main ones playing live.

Running the Blues Screamer with the Z3, I get a wonderful slightly overdriven strat sound that is very touch sensitive and breaks up more when you play harder and very clean with slight touching of the strings. I LOVE this sound. When I kick in the Brown Source, it really takes off. Gives me a great heavy saturated sound and I love that as well.

I use the Blue Balls for my more Marshall sound and it sounds excellent. Both Blues Pearl pedals have shitty switches though. THe Blue Balls is quite a bit darker that the screamer where the Screamer is more of a TS808 sound.

This setup works wonders with straight rock. I play a mixture of straight forward rock but also play quite a bit of Roots Rock, alt-country type of sounds (whiskeytown, jayhawks, wilco). My tele gives me the spank I need but my lead and Rhythm sound sounds too rock and not country enough.

I hate changing my amp setting while playing live and rock setting would be a little different than country. So, i would think I need an overdrive that can give me quite a bit of midrange and still keep the bass to give me a country sound. I don't want something that goes over the edge into distortion range of things. Just something that will give me a nice slightly overdriven country sound and then a boost that will give me a nice lead tone as well. I understand that will be two pedals but I can buy two pedals as long as they are not too expensive.

What boost or overdrive do you think will work well with my gear? Should I check out a Micro tube? I am thinking something like that might help. Any suggestions?

TK

quote:

---

Originally posted by TeleKing:


So, i would think I need an overdrive that can give me quite a bit of midrange and still keep the bass to give me a country sound. I don't want something that goes over the edge into distortion range of things. Just something that will give me a nice slightly overdriven country sound and then a boost that will give me a nice lead tone as well...

What boost or overdrive do you think will work well with my gear? Should I check out a Micro tube? I am thinking something like that might help?
TK

---

As far as an overdrive that will push your mids AND retain low end, I strongly recommend you check out the Banzai Cold Fusion overdrive. Based on what you're saying, this will work for you. Very musical. The $199 price includes shipping (company based in Germany - must order direct).

The same company makes a boost called the New Rising Sun. Price is $149 and that also includes shipping.

I own both and are very happy with the way they sound.

Also, Banzai makes a Fireball which has a built in boost function. You can probably get medium overdrive type sounds out of the regular channel and then boost for leads. That's one pedal and that could save you some money.
http://www.banzaieffects.com

I'm not really sure what you're after when you say "overdrive" and "country" in the same sentence. Country tones are usually associated with clean and more clean. Also, boosting midrange frequencies is the last thing you want to do.

It sounds like you already have the equipment to do the job: a Super Reverb and Tele with a volume knob. For country tone, lead and rhythm, it's all about volume. Crank your amp up for leads, roll the guitar volume off for rhythm. Or, if you don't want to change your amp settings, get a good clean boost pedal (Fulltone Fat boost, Zvex Super Hard On, etc.), have it on all the time and roll the guitar volume down for rhythm.

If you want country tones, you got to forget using an overdrive pedal altogether because, as you're experiencing, those types of pedals sound way too rock.

I am not sure if you are familiar with the style of music I am describing. In this type of music, overdrive is used quite a bit but it's very slight, more overdrive is used on leads. I am sure many just use their amp but the sound men bitch when i am turned up that loud. To push a Super where I need it, it has to be at 6 and that is too loud for most sound men. This style is not traditional country at all. More of a rocking country. The country comes from 2/4 beats, fiddles, pedal steel, country lead lines played on guitar and such but the sound is more of a rock sound. As far as the mids, from my rock sound, i tend to add mids for a more country sound. It sounds right to me anyway. I agree, a boost might be just what I need to kick the amp into overdrive. I try to adjust my volume to clean up but I have to have the amp runnning so hot to get my initial sound that it's too loud. Maybe I just need to buy a Deluxe but then my clean will break up too early as well. Why can't they just build the perfect amp?

Thanks,

TK

Rumor has it that a lot of Nashville session players use the Nobels ODR-1. It's a cheap-ass version of a TS-9 with very little balls. I personally think it sounds sweet. I don't like the tone control on it very much, but it does the job. Try one; they're only $~40 new!

Actually I do know the music you're talking about. My band's on rootsrock.com!

It sounds to me you're familiar enough with all the equipment out there, so this is a tough one if you're not getting the sound you want. But it should be within your grasp.

I think you might want to check out some of the lighter overdrives out there (the Klons, the FD2s, etc). But I think you posted somewhere else you have a FD2 but don't use it?

To me, it seems you need a natural sounding overdrive. An overdrive tone that's shaped mostly by the guitar and amp; the pedal helping only to get the distortion at a slightly lower volume level. I lot of people don't like the mid boost on the Klon/FD2/808 type pedals. But you don't have to totally crank the gain knobs on these pedals. With the amp on the verge of breakup, use the settings on these pedals moderately and you'll get a "natural" overdrive. And I think "natural" will sound more country to you than rock.

I know what you mean about the perfect amp. It's hard to get good tone and please the soundman. One thing I did recently was have my Pro Reverb switched to cathode bias. It warmed my amp up a bit and it distorts a little sooner than before. It's a subtle change, but it's definitely allowed me to dial in that sweet spot at a lower volume. And it's not like playing out of a Deluxe at all!

Check out a Barber Tone Pump ... the brand new one with 2 channels . I do gigs where I have to cover similar ground ( rock , soul , country ) and this pedal is really working for me . I generally play an ASAT through some type of Fender with tubes . The tone is definately in the TS vicinity but you get a bass knob and separate gain and volume for each channel ( global tone control ) .