Best pedal for driving the front end?

[Bigsmudger]

I've read a few posts about boosting the front of the amp and various methods of doing it.
If you already do this with great results, what pedals do you find best?

Now, I'm completely happy with my sound but feel the need to experiment just to see if I'm missing something
that could make an improvement. I guess reading about the outbreaks of Tinkeritis has led me to somehow
catch it - you lot are a bad influence

I've tried the Boss DS1, SD1 and the HT Boost and spend all day yesterday tweaking but couldn't dial in anything that
to me sounded conclusively better than running straight into the amp. My problem is I'd sooner be playing than tweaking

I'd like to hear about any experiences you guys have had, what pedals work best, any problems encountered, noise etc.
In particular anything relating to the S1 combo or the Studio 20, tips / tricks will be appreciated.

Rock on Dudes

[majikmojo]

i always seem to fall back to my OCD smudge....transparent,2 modes,stage worthy - gives quite a different tone
up front on the clean side - i'm sure there are scores of others though..lol

[IM4Tone]

I really like the FDR-1 on the front end w/ the clean channel. I dial in a bluesy OD and use the amps's (HT20Head) "drive" channel by itself for a higher level of gain. Then I use a clean boost in-the-loop for solos. Today it's the MXR m-133, but sometimes a Boss GE-7 EQ.

There are countless options and with my terminal case of tinkeritis, perhaps I'll get to trying most.

[Sonofarich]

I use a Xotic Effects AC Plus and a MXR Custom Badass Modified Overdrive. Work great on my HT20. OCD is pretty nice also.

[cayle]

Barber Direct Drive. Awesome pedal in front of the HT20. I've got a Maxon OD9 coming in a few weeks. I'll get back to you on this.

[smokin]

I use a Shiba Drive overdrive pedal in front of a ht-50 head into a 2x12 loaded with Eminence Governors,awesome overdrive pedal on a clean amp.

[Bigsmudger]

Thanks for your input guys - much appreciated

I don't tend to use clean much as most of our set is face - melting rock

The sort of thing I'm after is a pedal to use in front the OD stage to tighten and add a bit more gain.
Kinda like Sambora's intro on Raise your hands.
Now the amp will do that on it's own, but the rest of the song just turns to mud,
so I just need to kick on the pedal for a bit more when needed but knock it off again for the main part of the song.

I'm pretty sure my HT Boost will do it once I've found a setting I'm happy with, but I'm a fussy sod.
Find a good sound at home, find out it turns to sh*te at gig volume, then back to the old drawing board we go.
I also don't want to lose any of my main sound so it needs to add to that

I'm looking at the OCD (expensive here), Tubescreamers (TS9/TS7 tonelok) or the cheaper option MXR micro amp, or
anything else worth considering that'll do the job.

Tone, that FDR-1. Is that the Flame drive? Had to look it up - got the same code as the Fender deluxe reverb
£285!! Have to sell an amp to fund that

[majikmojo]

i'm still voting for the OCD - with 2 different gains stages on it i beleive it will do what you want plus it doesnt alter
tone ( the main reason i like it so much)

[IM4Tone]

Tone, that FDR-1. Is that the Flame drive? Had to look it up - got the same code as the Fender deluxe reverb
£285!! Have to sell an amp to fund that

The FDR-1 is a Boss pedal and stands for Fender Deluxe Reverb. It does a great job of sounding very much like the Fender amp of the same name, but probably won't give what you want, now knowing that you play mostly "face-melting rock". I doubt that the TS-9 will do it either. I'm surprised that the DS-1 doesn't give you what you want. You might give the Boss FBM-1 (Fender Bassman) a try if there's a store where you can demo it w/ your amp. It has more gain than either the FDR-1 or TS-9, but tends to be "bassy".

I just have had no luck finding an OD/Distortion pedal that I like in combination w/ the B*'s drive channel. I use a MXR m-133 in-the-loop to boost the drive channel on solos, but used this way, the gain seems to lessen rather than increase.

Only other suggestion I'd have to try out would be one of the tube OD/Distortion pedals such as Seymour Duncan's Twin Tube. Not cheap @ $220 USD, but a tube based pedal may be able to add drive rather than compress so much.

Sorry not to be of more help

[RCB-CA-USA]

but a tube based pedal may be able to add drive rather than compress so much.

Yup! What's working best for me on an HT 5RH is a Zoom G9.2tt (tube based multi-effects) through the guitar input and an Xotic EP booster in the fx loop. I use the clean channel to add grit and moderate munch and the overdrive channel w/ very low gain so the tubes don't get over-saturated when I add big big munch from the zoom.

I couldn't get the big big munch and chug I was looking for until adding the Xotic booster and then rolling back the gain on the HT overdrive channel letting the zoom do it's job. The net effect of the booster is a much bigger and better sound but with a lot less gain noise from the HT and Zoom. I guess the booster makes the signal highly efficient.

Also, on some settings, I use an Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger to defeat gain noise to get a real clean and loud and powerful munch that sounds icky without the hum debugger.

I'd try the booster and hum debugger first to see what flies.