hey all. I was wondering what y'all are using for distortion and or overdrive on your lap steels and slide guitars. there are quite aa few pedals out there. and there are quite a few tones I hear.
I use a modified Tubescreamer for my guitar and lap steels. the pedal was modified by analogman.com. it now has a looser, fatter overdrive. sounds like a vintage tube amp from the 50s being overdriven.
I am not 100% satisfied with the overdrive on the lap steel. sometimes I feel it is topo garbled. I lobve the tighter overdrive I hear when David Lindley plays lap steel.
I know guitar type and skill must be considered.
I want to know what you use. and why.
thanks
I love the Cmatmods SignaDrive for lap steel (and guitar as well), it's extremely dynamic and sensitive to pick attack and can go from "clean to scream" simply by digging in a bit harder with your attack. It's got three different 'modes', two of them are variations of the Tube Screamer while the third is a more modern distortion (never use it...).
I also have Cmatmod's BlackPlague on my pedalboard, it's more of a RAT inspired distortion but can also be extremely sensitive to your touch. Mostly use it when I need a full 'wall to wall' modern drive on my guitar, not so much for lap steel.
This video gives a pretty good idea of the dynamics of the SignaDrive, it's on all the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1NjvOXGbeE
Here's my current pedalboard, as you can see I've bridged the SignaDrive and BlackPlague so I can switch from one to the other with one step..
thanks for the reply and video link. the tone of your steel is a perfect example of what I appreciate of a good pedal working with a guitar, enhancing the guitar and the one playing it. I refer to the responsiveness of the pedal. my tube amp does that to a degree.
there is a nice clarity with your pedal, yet a pleasant sounding drive.
my modded tubescreamer is perfect for my strat and tele. I have all that I want. however, my lap steel doesn't have the subtle qualities using the same pedal. my lap steel simply screams. sometimes that is perfect. but not all the time.
when I opened the mailbox yesterday there was a box inside. the box contained the Signadrive I ordered. I will be spending today and the weekend working the knobs. last night I plugged in because, you know how that goes, and was surprised when the roof blew off my house. this pedal has higher output than my modded turbo tubescreamer. I will spend the next few days working the knobs.
thanks, Steinar, on the heads up to Cmatmods. Chris is a nice guy to deal with.
Keep in mind that the three positions of the mini switch has different outputs,- when it is pointing "down" (towards you) the output is fairly normal, when using the two other outputs the volume is much louder. My favorite is when the switch is pointing "up" (away from you), that's the most musical setting to me.. 8)
