Overdrive/Distortion pedal for my Gibson Tal Farlow

[Flat]

I've owned my plastic Danelectro Fab Distortion...

I have one of the first-generation Danelectro Transparent Overdrives that reportedly is a reverse-engineered from a Timmy. It was crazy cheap. I had no idea at the time about the clonage. It sounds great, but I use a Zen OD most of the time instead because I can't condone the implicit IP theft and I feel a little guilty using it. And I do like the Zen a little better. Or so I tell myself...

A Timmy A/B:

[dwparker]

A Zen OD is a copy of a Dumble OD. For better or worse, most pedals today are copies of other pedals, some more blatant than others.

[jzucker]

A Zen OD is a copy of a Dumble OD. For better or worse, most pedals today are copies of other pedals, some more blatant than others.

No, a zendrive is basically a tube screamer with some different values. It cops the sound and tone of the dumble OD special amp but it's not anything like a copy of the dumble circuit.

[jzucker]

No, a zendrive is basically a tube screamer with some different values. It cops the sound and tone of the dumble OD special amp but it's not anything like a copy of the dumble circuit.

but back to the original subject, all the xotic overdrives, the timmy and even the zendrive sound great with my 175 and barney kessel as well as various solid bodies. Even the TS9 can sound great with an archtop.

[SkipBurz]

I mentioned the Euphoria and the Dude. I agree with the others that the Zendrive is also wonderful. All three of these have a "Dumble-like" tone possibility, but can do much more. A couple of years ago, I was the lead guitar player in a performance of Rent, which required a lot of Tubescreamer-like lead; I was the lone guitar player in a performance of Elton John's version of Aida, which required a variety of clean and dirty sounds; and I was playing with a local jazz ensemble where we played everything from arrangements of Radiohead tunes to '30s and '40s big band. I found the Euphoria, with the 3-voice toggle switch, gave me everything I needed. I played a 335 for the two theatrical gigs and my 175 with the ensemble. I've now removed the Euphoria from my board in favor of The Dude.

I would also like to try to the J. Rockett Melody, which is a pedal they designed for Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy. Supposedly it is a Dude pedal, but also includes other voicings.

[jzjazz]

I've finally tested the black secret (RAT clone) vs TubeScreamer vs Hustle Drive (OCD clone). Liked the TS least since it didn't have enough drive. The other effect were both fine and pretty similar to my taste, I felt that the RAT had more drive so I decided to take this one as more versatile. Attached a short sample of our recording session a couple days ago

[jzjazz]

Here's a YT link - easier to use
The pedal part is at the very end, the rest is played without distortion

[VitalSigns]

My setup is basically - Gibson semi into SS head; Les Paul into Ibanez Tubescreamer head,
both into EV cabs. I'm looking to lighten the load for small one-off situations. I could
get a Radial Tonebone TS to use one cab for the two heads, or just get a distortion
pedal - I'm thinking of a Voodoolabs Sparkledrive MOD - and use the SS head. Just
wonder if anybody has any experience with this sort of choice. I'm happy with the
sounds I'm getting, but if I could get a decent O/D sound from a pedal I might ditch
the little tube head altogether.