I'm torn between some options I have...

I own the behringer TO800 vintage tube overdrive myself which I picked up for <20 euros and which I believe is also the overdrive Wes was talking about some other thread. It really is great in adding a little bit of grit and tone to my amp (30W solid state), but i haven't achieved the really smooth overdrive you sometimes hear on records (might have more to do with my amp than the unit). Some people on harmony central compare it favorable to the ibanez tubescreamer in that it comes really close to that tone. I'm not so sure about their blues overdrive BO100 though, although it's very hard to feel bad about a 17 dollar misbuy, whereas you would feel bad if the Boss is not to your liking.

You might want to check the behringer EQ also, both get good reviews and one of both might not be in stock near you.

I own the behringer TO800 vintage tube overdrive myself which I picked up for <20 euros and which I believe is also the overdrive Wes was talking about some other thread. It really is great in adding a little bit of grit and tone to my amp (30W solid state), but i haven't achieved the really smooth overdrive you sometimes hear on records (might have more to do with my amp than the unit). Some people on harmony central compare it favorable to the ibanez tubescreamer in that it comes really close to that tone. I'm not so sure about their blues overdrive BO100 though, although it's very hard to feel bad about a 17 dollar misbuy, whereas you would feel bad if the Boss is not to your liking.

You might want to check the behringer EQ also, both get good reviews and one of both might not be in stock near you.
Thanks Steph.

Yea, I did read reviews and a lot of people said (about both pedals) and it doesn't work as well on a solid stae amp (completely understandable) but I'm sure that's the same case for distortion and wah-wah (my other little toys)...and I'm still happy with them atleast, not as much the distortion but I got that for $15ish.

Yes, I was talking about the TO800 Vintage Overdrive. I tell ya, it is my main go-to pedal, always sounds great. But I play through tube amps only.

Here is another believer in this pedal, an Aussie who can really play. He says he sold his Ibanez Tubescreamer, because the Behringer is better.

Listen for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteVdAOsquU

I agree, I find it difficult to get a bad tone out of this pedal.

Edit- Gotta add this, if you go to sites that sell Behringer pedals like Musician's Friend or American Musical Supply, you will notice they do not sell the TO800, although they sell all of Behringer's other pedals.

Hmmm...... wonder why????

I'll tell you my guess. I think Ibanez has put big pressure on these guys not to sell this particular pedal, 'cause if the word got out how great this pedal is, Tubescreamer sells would go down the drain. :wink:

Why else would they exclude this one pedal????

Yes, I was talking about the TO800 Vintage Overdrive. I tell ya, it is my main go-to pedal, always sounds great. But I play through tube amps only.

Here is another believer in this pedal, an Aussie who can really play. He says he sold his Ibanez Tubescreamer, because the Behringer is better.

Listen for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteVdAOsquU

I agree, I find it difficult to get a bad tone out of this pedal.

Edit- Gotta add this, if you go to sites that sell Behringer pedals like Musician's Friend or American Musical Supply, you will notice they do not sell the TO800, although they sell all of Behringer's other pedals.

Hmmm...... wonder why????

I'll tell you my guess. I think Ibanez has put big pressure on these guys not to sell this particular pedal, 'cause if the word got out how great this pedal is, Tubescreamer sells would go down the drain. :wink:

Why else would they exclude this one pedal????
Thanks Wes. And wow yea it does sound great. And good point. I wouldn't be surprised if you were right about it.

And thanks Wes. You have any advice for an EQ?

Ok Wes,
You got me gassing again.....TO-800. I realise this is a TUBE OVERDRIVE pedal but how do you think it would go with a VoxAD30VT ?
I know it is a SS modeling amp but it does have a valve pre-amp. What if I set it to bypass the effects and to play it through a clean channel?
LOL I don't even know why I am asking hell this Vox amp has plenty of settings I JUST CAN"T HELP MYSELF :oops:

Thanks
Keith

Kevin: The BO100/BD2 are very different from the TS/TO800, have you already decided on what type of overdrive you need? Wah and 'distortion' are different from the TS/TO800 kind because they are specifically designed to push amps further. Pushing a solid state is pretty pointless in itself, which is why SS work better with pedals that create the basic sound of themselves instead of 'enhancing' the sound of the amp.

Keith: It doesn't have a valve pre-amp but a pre-amp tube simulating a tube poweramp. It also has nothing to do with using effects or not. You could use pedals, I did, and it works in a sense, but I think for most things just the AD should suffice.

I am a bit confused over statements that says that the TS/TO800 is just used to push a tube pre-amp into overdrive, and don´t have a sound of itself.
If you check the technology of a tube screamer http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/TStech/tsxtech.htm , you find that it has several tone shaping parts.
The first tone shaping part is the Clipping Amp adding more or less distorsion depending of the drive knob setting.
N.B. It is the design of this part that distinguish the TS from other overdrive/distorsion pedals.
The second tone shaping part is the tone control that can reduce treble tone depending on the tone knob setting.
The volume knob just increase/decrease the output volume from the pedal.
But, this volume can overdrive the input stage of tube amp and therefore change the sound from the amp.
With drive at min and tone at 3 o´clock you could use the TS volume knob to drive a tube pre-amp more or less in overdrive distorsion without adding to much tone shaping of itself.
But when you increase the drive knob and activate the clipping circuitry, then the TS starts to give more and more of its typical overdrive/distorsion sound.
The heavenly guitar sound comes when you combine the TS overdrive/distorsion sound with the overdriven tube pre-amp sound.
/Kalle (electronic engineer)

Kevin: The BO100/BD2 are very different from the TS/TO800, have you already decided on what type of overdrive you need? Wah and 'distortion' are different from the TS/TO800 kind because they are specifically designed to push amps further. Pushing a solid state is pretty pointless in itself, which is why SS work better with pedals that create the basic sound of themselves instead of 'enhancing' the sound of the amp.
Yea I know Wah/distortion is very different. And yea they do seem a tad different from each other. I actually do prefer the sound of the TO800.

So you think using pedals on a SS is pointless? I disagree because, I have a Hot Head Distortion pedal and honestly I hate the Distortion on my Roland 15W Cube. I think it sounds gross wheras the pedal does sound pretty good (and I'm sure it'd sound better on a tube).

So you think using pedals on a SS is pointless? I disagree because,

Kevin,

I'm just beginning to play with pedals too and one thing that I've learned about "distortion" pedals is that there are two basic types - overdrive and distortion. The overdrive pedals seem to take the signal from the guitar and make it hotter (bigger electrical signal) and maybe not evenly - some like the Rangemaster boost the treble more. This hotter signal then drives the amp into distortion. Driving a tube amp into distortion is a pleasing sound while on an solid state amp it may not be (the amp may have distortion settings but it involves more circuitry than just overdriving the amp).

A distortion pedal mimics the effects of an overdriven tube amp (how well determines how nice the pedal sounds) so it will do stuff like compressing the signal particularly at the peaks of the signal and maybe some clipping of the peaks.
I have a Hot Head Distortion pedal and honestly I hate the Distortion on my Roland 15W Cube. I think it sounds gross wheras the pedal does sound pretty good (and I'm sure it'd sound better on a tube).

I'm not sure what the Cube 15 has as far as amp models but I've got a Cube 30 and I've found the "Black Panel", "Tweed" and "Brit Combo" models to sound pretty good even into distortion. Now, I'm playing blues and old rock with those (the jazzier stuff I run through the clean side which I think models a Jazz Chorus) so I don't know what the distortion with the Cube sounds like for black metal or stuff like that (but I think you're a classic rock fan anyways). Is the Cube 15 that much worse than the Cube 30? Hmm, in a quick search of the web it appears that maybe it is and that the Cube 30 is now discontinued - maybe you could pick one up cheap?

So you think using pedals on a SS is pointless? I disagree because, I have a Hot Head Distortion pedal and honestly I hate the Distortion on my Roland 15W Cube. I think it sounds gross wheras the pedal does sound pretty good (and I'm sure it'd sound better on a tube).

Pushing a solid state is pretty pointless in itself, which is why SS work better with pedals that create the basic sound of themselves instead of 'enhancing' the sound of the amp.

A HHD pedal would be the kind that creates the basic sound.

So you think using pedals on a SS is pointless? I disagree because, I have a Hot Head Distortion pedal and honestly I hate the Distortion on my Roland 15W Cube. I think it sounds gross wheras the pedal does sound pretty good (and I'm sure it'd sound better on a tube).

Pushing a solid state is pretty pointless in itself, which is why SS work better with pedals that create the basic sound of themselves instead of 'enhancing' the sound of the amp.

A HHD pedal would be the kind that creates the basic sound.
What do you mean exactly?

So you think using pedals on a SS is pointless? I disagree because,

Kevin,

I'm just beginning to play with pedals too and one thing that I've learned about "distortion" pedals is that there are two basic types - overdrive and distortion. The overdrive pedals seem to take the signal from the guitar and make it hotter (bigger electrical signal) and maybe not evenly - some like the Rangemaster boost the treble more. This hotter signal then drives the amp into distortion. Driving a tube amp into distortion is a pleasing sound while on an solid state amp it may not be (the amp may have distortion settings but it involves more circuitry than just overdriving the amp).

A distortion pedal mimics the effects of an overdriven tube amp (how well determines how nice the pedal sounds) so it will do stuff like compressing the signal particularly at the peaks of the signal and maybe some clipping of the peaks.
I have a Hot Head Distortion pedal and honestly I hate the Distortion on my Roland 15W Cube. I think it sounds gross wheras the pedal does sound pretty good (and I'm sure it'd sound better on a tube).

Using drive into a Cube 30 does work to some extent. I didn't think it would, but noticed a tonal improvement when the output gain of my looper pedal was cranked a bit -- not into heavy overdrive, but enough to thicken the Cube's tone -- esp with single coil pups. That led me to buy a good overdrive pedal. Glad I did.

I too find the Cube 30 is a pretty darn good amp, and use it for gigging in smaller places. I also recommend the Blues Junior, another amp I own and use a lot. The BJ is not as flexible as the Cube 30, but had a very nice distinctive clean to crunchy to saturated characteristics. I find the Cube 30 is best on its cleaner models: esp Clean (Jazz Chorus), Blackface, British Combo and Tweed (same as mentioned in above posts I now see). If I want crunch for any of those, I use an overdrive pedal the also offers some self-contained clipping (as Kalle correctly describes), as well as tone shaping and clean/dirty mixing. I happen to like it more than a TS, as it's more flexible for light to heavy distortion + overdrive.

No opinion on the Behringer pedal unless that was what Wes was using last couple of times we met (Wes?).

Greg

Yes, I was using the Behringer TO800 you heard very briefly before my Marshall amp quit. Man, I love Marshalls, but you can never trust them. When I go home I pulled the head out and resoldered the bridge rectifier, seems to be good again, but I am going to install a fan. But I always knew this amp had an issue with overheating, shouldn't have brought it out on a 90+ degree day without a cooling fan. Great amp when it's working correctly.

As far as the TO800 sounding good with solid state amps, I really don't know as I don't own any solid state amps. :D

And I can't promise that everyone will love this pedal. I think it sounds awesome, the longer I own it the more I play it and like it even better. But I like a thick Blues type tone, others may not. You are not gonna get any kind of heavy distortion from this pedal. It is great for Blues type mild breakup and great lead guitar tone that is very smooth, has excellent sustain and harmonics. But it is not a distortion pedal in anyway at all.

Here is a good video that will show what this pedal does with a tube amp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZnUtmfw5Ys

Here is another, this is about as heavy a tone as this pedal gets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62WWki3gIE

But listen carefully and you can hear how smooth this pedal always sounds. :twisted:

And about an EQ Kevin, I would recommend the Danelectro Fish and Chips EQ to anyone. It works great and costs 1/3 the price of other brands. It is very durable as well.

Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ

Excellent EQ pedal.

Greg

Yes, I was using the Behringer TO800 you heard very briefly before my Marshall amp quit. Man, I love Marshalls, but you can never trust them. When I go home I pulled the head out and resoldered the bridge rectifier, seems to be good again, but I am going to install a fan. But I always knew this amp had an issue with overheating, shouldn't have brought it out on a 90+ degree day without a cooling fan. Great amp when it's working correctly.

As far as the TO800 sounding good with solid state amps, I really don't know as I don't own any solid state amps. :D

Well, I was using a tube amp that day too -- Peavey Classic 50 410. People like to trash Peavey's, but it's a tough one ... even in the kitchen.