Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: acheld on April 27, 2021, 02:52:11 pm
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What makes an amp "good with pedals?"
I know this is a very basic question . . .
Maybe a good way to answer this is: What amps are great with pedals? What amps are poor with pedals?
I've mostly stayed with with Fender DR derivatives over the years, and they seem to be fine with my rig, but now I'm curious why . . .
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What kind of pedal? Do you mean distortion, fuzz or overdrive? OR delay, reverb, chorus, tremolo?
Sometimes people say " amp takes pedals well" & sometimes that means distortion, fuzz or overdrive pedals & sometimes they are referring to amps that are more mid-scooped and/or have a clean tone? An example of mid-scooped with a clean tone might be a Fender Super Reverb for example.
Way too many factors to definitely answer. Does the amp have an FX loop? What speaker is it using? Single coil or humbuckers? etc........ \
with respect, Tubenit
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A small bright cap across the volume/gain pot can sometimes be a problem with fuzz/dist pedals. The bright cap may accentuate the high frequency overtones of the pedal, making it harsh and causing the amp to feel less ”pedal-friendly”.
This should be most apparent when the amp is set very clean, with the intention to get all distortion from pedals.
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A cleanish simple preamp into a long-tail pair inverter driving a fixed bias push-pull output stage makes a good pedal platform. A 57-60 tweed Tremolux is particularly good in this regard. YMMV
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Expanding on the concept of "pedal friendly", I think there are different interpretations, depending on how you use pedals.
One approach to pedals is to run the amp clean, providing a "clean sheet" which you can shape with pedals.
Another approach is to run the amp at egdge of breakup or mild overdrive and then use pedals to shape and accentuate the natural tone and overdrive of the amp.
These two approaches may have completely different interpretations of what makes the amp pedal friendly.
One common denominator though is that when we say "pedal friendly" we're talking about pedals used infront of the amp. When discussing use of an effect loop, we just say that it has a good/bad loop.
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Many thanks.
I know the question was as vague as the term "pedal friendly."
Appreciate the thought and ideas expressed! It is helpful.
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Also some pedal makers make pedals with certain style of amp in mind… other pedals are more generic or amp in a box style of pedal.
That said the idea of a “pedal platform” makes me think your going to put the pedals on top of your amp.
So with that logic in mind a Marshall full stack would not be a good “pedal platform” as you would not be able to reach the pedals, let alone step on them unless you were very tall! 😂
(When did this good with pedals / pedal platform idea start ?… don’t think it would have been around before the mid 90’s at earliest maybe in the 80s with the rack gear … does anyone know?)
Guess it makes us guitar players all trainspotters..
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More nfb, in whichever gainstage(s), is also sometimes considered good for pedal-friendliness because of its ability to flatten out the freq response curve.