Stomp boxes that enhance a traditional jazz sound?

**neatomic** · 03-06-2018, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by omphalopsychos

single coil pickup into an octal amp is one of my favorite sounds. I used to have a Valco Supreme/Oahu, but I sold it when I got my vintage 47. Now I don't even take the V47 out because Tavo's pedal just kicks so much ass.

single coil thru octal was original electric guitar tone..charlie christian

jim halls p90 175 thru octal gibby ga50 was different..but equally great

vintage 47 (kudos to founder david barnes!) and nocturne (tavo)- top stuff! for those chasin that tone

cheers

**jads57** · 03-06-2018, 10:44 PM

Luxury Drive/Boost ⋆ T Jauernig Electronics

**DonEsteban** · 03-07-2018, 04:26 AM

Donner Boost Killer - some say it's a Xotic RC boost clone, don't know if that's true, but it's my "not-to-be-missed" pedal.

**marcwhy** · 03-07-2018, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by paulkogut

Funny that this thread came up , I just finished rewiring my little travel board today,. Ideally I'd have everything mounted up together, but with the tube buffer and volume pedal separate, I can fit everything in a little under-the-seat carryon bag. All these pedals are basically an overly complicated 'amp simulator'. I get some tube amp 'interaction', a lead channel and good reverb happening on whatever amps I end up with at the venue. The little grey 'effects loop' also lets me add another pedal or two if the gig needs some special effects . PK Attachment 51400

+1 on the Sarno Earth Drive! I bought a used one recently, and I love it!

**jorgemg1984** · 03-07-2018, 09:31 AM

For cleans I always use eq, compression, and reverb. Delay too, most of the times.

**Alter** · 03-07-2018, 11:18 AM

besides boost and drive pedals, a compressor is worth trying out, especially when going for a big jazz sound with a semi hollow or a solid body guitar. Messing with the attack and decay settings can really make a difference.

**john_a** · 03-07-2018, 12:18 PM

+1 on EQ, specifically parametric

I've got plenty of drive "stuff" to stomp on when I want that with my strat, but for the archtop's sound, I get the tube amp dialed in as best as possible (and that is all I had used for years, great amp tone) but now I'm adding the Empress ParaEQ.

That ParaEQ is great, it is so versatile that the amount of "enhancement" needed is easy to dial in.
First pedal I bought in a long time that immediately was seen as something I'd want to keep playing through.
John

**Papawooly** · 03-07-2018, 02:04 PM

I also have the Echoplex Preamp. Always used it to fatten up my Tele (I play very clean) and
recently obtained custom Kingsley Squire D which has a tube, and gets a warm Dumble (clean) tone.

Very nice!

**dijos** · 03-07-2018, 03:11 PM

I never found out what it was, but Whit Smith had a black box made by Webb in austin that he ran in front of his blonde fender to simulate his gibson GA. I always wondered what it did.

**ptchristopher3** · 03-07-2018, 03:34 PM

The Tech 21 Para Driver DI is the ultimate box in my opinion.

I never use it for actual noticeable “drive” but if you play anywhere where you bring only the guitar and plug into whatever they may have, including direct to PA, it can deal with absolutely anything and give you the sound you want.

**feet** · 03-07-2018, 08:53 PM

long time proponent of boosts and drives in front of cleans, even in front of a solid state amp. naga booster worked, ep booster works and my personal favorite was the em drive, which sounds similar to the ep booster, but with less wool, and it has a gain knob. still adds some lows but the low mid spike is in a different place and not as high as the ep booster. of course, you should always, always run them at 18v if possible. makes a huge difference. to my ear, they work both because they add some girth that is helpful, but also because they juice the amp a little, making it work a little harder and maybe getting the slightest hint of breakup. pick hand control keeps it in check since you aren't really hitting it hard.

and of course, the eq pedal. also mandatory for this sort of thing. the eqd tone job was my go to for a few years. hit the amp with a little signal, roll back some mids, maybe add some lows; that sort of thing. but my latest thing is the fishman platinum pro eq from my acoustic board. it is a very secret weapon-y, one box solution for electric guitar. putting a parametric eq, volume boost, compressor, tuner, effects loop and more in one 9v battery powered box is really a godsend. and it just sounds great. reasonably priced if you can't swing a grace felix. parametric eqs are just the best, especially in the mids. the new tech 21 qstrip would be great for this, too.

i'm also a fan of transformers so i have a di on my pedalboard, but that is a little much. but if you are recording at home or in a studio, try to go into a di or preamp that has one. they add a fun bit of color, girth, grit or whatever, depending on the unit.

**chenko** · 03-07-2018, 10:32 PM

I use an EHX Soulfood (klon centaur clone) as clean boost and I love it.
I have a Joyo American Sound that works very well with my acoustic amp, and also with the soulfood.
I have an Atomic Amplifire, I use compressor, eq, delay, reverbs and IRs from it and of course, the EHX Soulfood pushing the input.

Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk Pro

**cosmic gumbo** · 03-08-2018, 02:14 AM

Years ago, I had Tex over at Neptune Vacuum Cleaner and Guitar Amp Repair Lab build me a custom pedal called the "Wet Blanket". I plugged my telecaster into it and it gave me the tone Pat Martino got on The Visit.

**p1p** · 03-08-2018, 05:34 AM

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

Years ago, I had Tex over at Neptune Vacuum Cleaner and Guitar Amp Repair Lab build me a custom pedal called the "Wet Blanket". I plugged my telecaster into it and it gave me the tone Pat Martino got on The Visit.

Don't take that one through the airport..

**john_a** · 03-08-2018, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

OK, so that's what hard wire bypass looks like, I guess some solid bare 14 awg copper gets it done !

If you wrap it all the way around, it then creates a ground loop ?

**DonEsteban** · 03-08-2018, 02:16 PM

OK, so that's what hard wire bypass looks like, I guess some solid bare 14 awg copper gets it done !

If you wrap it all the way around, it then creates a ground loop ?

Hahaha.. eventually someone enlightens me... thanks for that!

On a more serious side: I bought a Boss GT-1 last year for a particular weekly gig where I had to play through the house PA (because of town hall's noise regulations, they use limiters there - awful).

Turns out this thing is very usefull as FX unit as well as preamp, at least for the clean tones, though the drives and are not too bad either.

Even runs on 4 AA batteries if you don't want to use/don't have a power supply.

Bought it used for some 120€ and can fully recommend it, very neat and good sounding unit.

**sgosnell** · 03-08-2018, 10:50 PM

If I have to go direct to the PA, I just use my Line 6 G10, which has an XLR out. Works great, and I don't have to carry a cable. Everything fits in the guitar case.

**oldane** · 03-09-2018, 04:45 AM

Originally Posted by ptchristopher3

The Tech 21 Para Driver DI is the ultimate box in my opinion.

I never use it for actual noticeable “drive” but if you play anywhere where you bring only the guitar and plug into whatever they may have, including direct to PA, it can deal with absolutely anything and give you the sound you want.

Same here. I have had mine for more than five years and it is a keeper. Sort of a musical swiss knife. It can be Phantom powered if it's available. It may take some trial and error to get the hang of it - at least it did for me. Because of the extremely wide tonal palette it offers, it's pretty temperamental and and it's easy to set some ugly tones before one gets the pretty ones dialed in. Apparently some lose their patience before they get that far. But IMHO the patience will pay off. The parametric midrange control is great for shaping the sound. It's one of the most versatile preamp pedals out there.

**christianm77** · 03-09-2018, 08:32 AM

For Traditonal jazz you could try the EHX Banjo 9

**christianm77** · 03-09-2018, 08:34 AM

I like the Joyo American sound for my Gibson. Good through a flat hi fi style amp, or a pa.

**fep** · 03-09-2018, 10:51 AM

Hollow Body Eastman to Tone City Sweet Cream to Quilter MicroPro. This is really responsive to dynamics giving a little bit of grit when I dig in. Having a bit of drive before the Quilter really made me like the amp much more. (The Tone City Sweet Cream is a Mad Professor Sweet Honey clone.)

**wzpgsr** · 03-09-2018, 02:49 PM

I’ve got a Digitech Polara reverb pedal that uses several lexicon reverbs. The spring setting is pretty natural and is a good fit for my tweed Princeton clone.

**christianm77** · 03-09-2018, 02:58 PM

Be careful what you say about lexicon reverbs - lexicon reverb purists are terrifying.

I will check out that pedal - has a lot of rave reviews. Apparently the thing to get though is the old unit Ben Monder uses which I believe is modded by a guy in LA. Anyone?

**jorgemg1984** · 03-09-2018, 08:32 PM

No way, that's just forum talk. I have one of those Lexicon units (a gracious gfit by a forum member) and while it's a cool unit and it has a signature sound typical of non transparent old rack stuff, it's in no way comparable to any current reverb pedal. Digitech started using Lexicon reverbs with the DL-8 (they are owned by the same company since 10 yars ago, or something like that), and the sound is much better than the LXP-1.

The LA mods were mainly using better op amps (OPA2134), I believe.

But if you're a sucker for early Monder or Rosenwinel sounds, it's the way to go I guess, maybe paired with a DL4?