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Gain Stacking Boosts

4K views 31 replies 24 participants last post by  schreckmusic 
#1 ·
So, as a happy accident a while ago I ran my ts808 (as a boost) into a centaur klon clone pedal I built (with some gain, a small level boost and tone to taste) and found it did really nice things to the amp tone. The klon just added a bit of sparkle to ti and it just worked.

Then last night ran the ts808 into a metalzone (with eq pretty neutral) also as a boost (no gain, all the levelz) and got a great result as well

I'd previously never really thought of it, but I guess it's kind of changing the boost eq curve.

Who else has experimented with this a bit, and any good combos to recommend?
 
#7 ·
You are about to enter a TGP rabbit hole. Soon you will be running $1500 worth of distortion pedals into a Fender combo.

EDIT: Actually, more like a $5,000 clean "pedal platform" amp.
 
#10 ·
I tend to find that this works best when you run a tone-shaping overdrive (e.g. TS, SD-1, Rat, treble booster, fuzz etc.) into a full range "amp-like" overdrive (e.g. Blues Driver, OCD, Klon, or Amp-In-A-Box types like Box of Rock or Dirty Little Secret).

The effect is as you described: you shape the input gain and EQ shape coming to your "primary" drive (the full range style) with the "secondary" drive (the tone-shaper type). That means whatever signature characteristics the primary drive has will be either accentuated, mitigated, or in some way altered.

A simple but illustrative example is TS808-->AIAB type pedal. It pretty much has the exact same effect as hitting a Marshall (etc) with a TS in front - reduces input bass frequencies which allows more crunch from the preamp and a more compressed sound. Tone shaping and midrange grit to taste with the fiddly knobs.

You'll see this basic formula repeated in a lot of side-by-side overdrive pedals. There's usually a dirty tone-shaping side and a fat big-boost side, and you typically can run them separately or together. They're voiced in such a manner that you get the above mentioned effect easily when desired.

The only major exception to this basic formula in my experience is just slamming any overdrive pedal you want with a clean boost in front of it (like TC Electronic Spark), which just makes your primary drive "MOAR LOUD." That pretty much always sounds awesome. :lol:
 
#14 ·
Sometimes when my EHX SoulFood (Klone) is on, I'll click on the Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver (fuzzy boost) in front of it. The result is nothing short of a noisy mess, but for some leads here and there it's so cool :lol:

Basically, the opposite of what Soop is suggesting, I think :lol:
 
#22 ·
Oh damn, I thought topic wrote "Gain Stacking Boots".. :ugh:

Anyways, I used to run a Behringer tube pre pedal in front of my rig, set to juuust have an adge on the attack, with the -20dB pad selected.
For solo boosts, I used a hughes & kettner warp pedal, set to just a bit more gain and pre-distortion.
 
#24 ·
The boys from Killswitch sometimes daisychain two 808's.

Also this was kind of Dime's philosophy with two EQ's (using them as boosts).

It's all just gain-staging innit. I quite like the idea of using an EQ as a boost. Might try that. Sometimes OD's can be a bit cold and sterile.
 
#30 ·
I thought Dime had the six-band EQ out front as a boost, and the ten-band in the loop for overall sculpting?

Actually, I should do the same, as I've never tried my EQ pedal out front...

EDIT: Scratch that! According to interviews various, you are indeed correct...
 
#28 ·
I love stacking/cascading drive pedals. Probably due to all the random gigs/jams/sessions where I either have to plug into a 1 channel amp, or channels 2/3 on my 5153 are overkill.

I'm usually having a Klon/Klone type drive that I have always on, just to give more shimmer on the clean but breaks when I hit a little harder. Then either any kind of drive/dist afterwards. One of my pedalboards has 3 drives for this reason: a J Rockett Archer Ikon > Free The Tone SOV custom > Fulltone Secret Freq. None are really super high gain and the first 2 aren't really set to high levels either, but put them all on and it's the land of blissful solo and sustain territory.
 
#31 ·
Actually, Morbid Angel do this as well...

Rat pedal as a boost, into an EQ as a second boost, then into a Marshall.
 
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