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Don't care for 'dirt' - I spent too many years playing pedal steel and got used to really great Webb and Evans amps that were designed to be super clean with lots of headroom. If I were playing southern rock which I haven't done for many years, an overdriven Super Reverb was my weapon of choice but nowadays, it's just an Evans RE200 and my GB10 with a little Reverb (and maybe a little delay if I'm playing 'Chet'). In my old age , even a tiny bit of distorted guitar sets my teeth on edge.
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08-13-2025 10:51 PM
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I've done distortion, classic rock, a Janis Joplin Big Bro. and the Holding Co. tribute band...
These days I play jazz clean with clean headroom (Twin Reverb even in small places), but the other thing is real clean guitar tone out in the wild may be increasingly rare. I've had a lot of people mention very positively about playing clean - I think for some of them it was their first time actually hearing a guitarist play absolutely "barefoot" with no outboard gain, modulation, or time based effects. My playing has changed because of it and I like it.
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The funniest thing is watching a guitar equipment demo on YouTube and the guy goes, "Let's start off with the clean tone" and then the sound is like a Boss Overdrive pedal with the overdrive on 3. Like, that's not clean, my man.
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My tone for the archtop I use for jazz, a 1970s player grade Gibson Johnny Smith, is dependent on the backline amps at the venues where regularly play at open jam sessions. I like the spontaneity and unpredictability of that, and adjusting as needed on the fly with what’s available on stage.
For a very occasional formal gig, I bring my Henriksen Blu Six, which is clean but round and punchy like the old Polytones of yore. And if I need I little grit, which is rare for jazz, I might use the Barnyard. I enjoy the Burrell type sound, of course, but for the most part see no need for me to sound like that.
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Great pedal. I own two of them. One is like yours(the V2) and the other is a Page TS, which has the full adjustable tone stack.
Originally Posted by ruger9
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Anyone tried the Beekeeper? Anderton’s (UK music store) have quite a good YouTube demo which isn’t just screeching metal riffs …
BEEKEEPER
– Tubesteader
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"A little"? No. Give me obvious fuzz*, or give me clean. The in-between shit sounds awful in 95% of the contexts I hear it in. (John Scofield, I'm looking at you.)
*fwiw I use the terms "fuzz", "overdrive" and "distortion" interchangeably, since to my ear they're all variations of the same phenomenon. Regardless of whether you're squaring off waveforms and increasing the level of harmonics via germanium diodes, saturated tubes & transformers, or some digital algorithm, you're still squaring off waveforms and increasing the level of harmonics. It's splitting hairs imho to try and differentiate between degrees and then give a different name to those points along the spectrum.
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Meh. I don’t think that you can categorize the unintentional limitations of tube guitar amplification with the intentional production of distortion.
remember, overdrive was, initially, an accident. It was a product of the limitation of the volume achievable with a tube amp. When rockers discovered this sound, they found a new tool. Randall Smith capitalized on this extensively by producing amps that intentionally over drove
Overdrive was an accident. The tones that are equated with quintessential, original jazz, electric guitar recordings were a product of limitation of the amps. And, as such, they were subtle overdrives.
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Yeah I don't disagree with folks here that the best overdrive and crunch comes from amps! I'm an English teacher in Europe and at a moments notice I could be shipped off to different city in Spain or a different country so mobility is key. I'm process of moving cities and I'm going to purchase a small PA speaker when I arrive in the city I'll be working in this school year. I'm hoping with the built in cab sim on the Joyo British Sound + the cab IRs, I can keep my core tone between these two pedals and only have to buy a small PA speaker when arriving in a new city, sell it upon leaving, rinse lather repeat until I get a permanent work situation (very difficult as an American in the EU) where I would get a good tube amp. As you can imagine, English teachers aren't paid well, so I'd even consider the Harley Benton 15 watt tube combo that is sold on Thomann. Word on the street is that it isn't known for high headroom, which for most folks as a disadvantage, with me experimenting more with clean crunch/edge of breakup tones, it could be a good buy in the future.
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Yes, I own one. It a great pedal. Originally Posted by Bill C
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Amp OD might be the best. When at it's best. But personally I find the consistency of a pedal in front of a clean platform better. It might only be 90% of the amp overdrive when the amp perform under ideal conditions, but conditions vary too much between rooms, stages, etc for that to happen. Not to mention backline or house amps. The pedal will do its thing every time.
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To my ears, a '57 Fender Deluxe can be easily coaxed into giving just the right flavor of light, unobtrusive, smooth dirt that adds to the musicality of the sound without changing it too much. Supposedly, that amp is what a Joyo American Sound pedal is supposed to emulate, but I don't know how accurate it is.
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i do!
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For jazz, I like for the amp to have a little warmth and sustain, but still be able to sound clean on chords. At the cleaner end of that with my archtop, maybe a little more toward the gritty end with my semi or solids. So not exactly overdrive, but something just short of it. Pedals have never quite achieved that for me. I have a Joyo American sound, and have used it to warm up the sound a bit when playing through a PA or PA-like amp. It's OK, but an amp that actually has the kind of tone it emulates is better IMO.
Given that I play in relatively small places where the volume has to be kept at a reasonable level, that means smaller amps turned up a bit (or amps with an effective master volume). With tube amps, something like a PR (I had one for a long time) or Blues JR (common backline amps), or tweed Deluxe (rarity) is great. Currently, I'm using a Quilter Aviator Cub, and I just started using an ABY switch in order to combine the Tweed and BF inputs. Gain up just short of halfway is the sweet spot. The master volume really works well on this amp. I also have a Fender Champion 20, which is gets a surprisingly good sound in that vein on the the BFDR model.
For blusier/OD tones, I use the Quilter with the gain somewhat higher plus an OD pedal. I've also used without a pedal and the gain turned up more, but I prefer the flexibility of an OD pedal. I have a Zen Drive, a Fulltone OCD, and an EHX Soul Food (Klon clone), for the sake of little variety (though I'd be fine with any of them). I used my P90-equipped Les Paul through the Quilter and the OCD on a blues gig last week; great combination IMO, especially with the tweed and BF inputs combined on the amp.
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Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
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