high gain pedal recommendations?

[bluesbear]

My son plays in 2 bands. The plexi w/hot switch is perfect for the Zeppelin/ SRV/Allman Bros/Hendrix type band. He also plays lead in an '80's heavy metal band and the hot switch just doesn't quite get him there. Does anyone have a recommendation for a pedal of some sort he can use for this? I'd love to build a tube pedal. I've built Doug's high gain pedal as a preamp in a SF Bassman. Sweet! Would it work as a pedal on the input? This seems like there would be way too much gain but has anyone tried it? Except for that, I have zero experience with anything related to high gain so I'm stumped.
Thanks!
Dave

[FYL]

A Shredmaster or similar works very nicely with a Plexi for '80-style metal.
Check for instance http://buildyourownclone.com/shredderinstructions.pdf

[thermion]

For build, a mesa v-twin would probably work: http://tubefreak.com/v-twinp.gif. There are other schematics out there for cascading high gain tube circuits - Doug's pedal would be a good standalone circuit.
For purchase, zvex box of metal, electroharmonix metal muff, fulltone stuff (solid state). Not tried it but the seymour duncan twin tube mayhem gets pretty good reviews. 

[tubesornothing]

Just to screw up your works:  I have 10 dirt pedals.  All of them produce a variety of tones. No real winner. Drives me insane.

Barber direct drive
Fulltone OCD
Keeley modded blues driver
Keeley modded metal zone
Keeley Katana (clean boost with a dirt option)
Ibanez tube king
Mosferatu
Hot Cake
BYOC Mouse (Rat Clone)
BYOC Overdrive 2
Cool Cat Transparent overdrive (timmy clone)


I had a box of rock, but returned it.  It was too messy and would get cluttered in a band situation pretty fast.  My favorites for hard rock are the Barber DirectDrive, OCD and the two BYOC pedals.  I suggest you purchase a few of them from a store that has an easy return policy, bring em home, - definetely try them in a band.  I cannot say how important this is. A pedal might sound just fantastic by itself, but turn to mud once you toss in a bass, drums and maybe another guitar.

The amp has a lot to do with it too.  You can use the pedal to push the front end of the amp, which might be good or might be bad - depends on the amp.  Some amps take pedals well, others it just makes a mess.  I had a Dr Z Maz 18, that would take pedals really well.  Fender DR, Vibro and supers take pedals well.  Carr ramblers too.

[imaradiostar]

You can't beat the SIB Varidrive for a crunchy pedal without getting lost in a mix like a super scooped mid tone. I bought a "king of the britons" pedal for my brother- it does the high gain JCM800 thing really well. I built a Box of Rock but added a "presence" control (similar to a mesa dual rect presence) and modded the tone control to have a "scooped" mode for crunchier sounds. It still cleans up nicely and I love it. The presence control replaces one of the two 6dB/oct filters at the output of the pedal.

I haven't built Doug's design or built it into an amp- but I have built the varidrive circuit into an amp and really liked it.

How heavy a metal are we talking about? I think master volume marshall sounds are great for metal stuff- when you've got 3 triodes of gain and a cathode follower at the end it's a good combo- not too crunchy but still agressive. If you want crunchy rock or swedish or death metal you need an extra triode and something in the Soldano SLO/ mesa dual rect school of thought. Not that a master volume marshall wouldn't do well...I just have friends I've built things for and there is something about that extra triode and cold cathode that makes all the difference for them.

You may wanna stop by the SLO clone forum- they have lots of info on higher gain stuff.

jamie

[bluesbear]

I saw them play yesterday. It's death metal, alright! He's using his Line 6 for this band and it sounds okay but it even though it's PLENTY loud, the leads really get lost in the mix. I found something called Damage Controls Heavy Metal that seems okay. I guess the "try 'em all out" idea is best.
The sad part is that he really doesn't like this stuff much, though he's really, really good at it. His other band is modern rock. He told me last week all he really wants to do is quit both and play Allmann Bros, ZZ Top, Hendrix, early Charlie Daniels, etc, but he can't find people his own age (29) to do it with. His sister sings in a country band and decided yesterday we should do a "family band". Nice idea if we didn't all live an hour apart in each direction!
Thanks!
Dave

[Heinz]

Dave,

I'm no expert when it comes to pedals, but I just built a "Double D" by runoffgroove.com and I like it very much. It uses a CMOS logic chip and sounds pretty heavy to my ears. The build is simple and the parts are cheap, so why not give it a try. There are some sound samples on that page so you can check if this is for you.

Here's the link: http://www.runoffgroove.com/doubled.html

[jerryjg]

Mission Audio Crunchbox
Way Huge Pork Loin
I would say Fulltone OCD, but i rather think thats a overdrive boost
Any Zvex Distortion
Box of Rock- I can't recall manufacturer
Fulltone Fulldrive II
Lovepedal-any distortion they make
Boss Bd-2


Those should do it, although they really arent "High Gain"; for high gain you'd want a Rocktron Silverdragon, Boss Metalzone, Vox Cooltron Distortions

[Rev D]

I saw them play yesterday. It's death metal, alright! He's using his Line 6 for this band and it sounds okay but it even though it's PLENTY loud, the leads really get lost in the mix. I found something called Damage Controls Heavy Metal that seems okay. I guess the "try 'em all out" idea is best.
The sad part is that he really doesn't like this stuff much, though he's really, really good at it. His other band is modern rock. He told me last week all he really wants to do is quit both and play Allmann Bros, ZZ Top, Hendrix, early Charlie Daniels, etc, but he can't find people his own age (29) to do it with. His sister sings in a country band and decided yesterday we should do a "family band". Nice idea if we didn't all live an hour apart in each direction!
Thanks!
Dave

 Sounds like you raised a good kid with good taste! My compliments, not many kids that age want to play that, my Stepson does, but he has 4 kids now (2 of his 20 months and 3 months, 2 older from her) and wants to learn to play but never has time to sit down and REALLY let me show him very much. He's about the same age as your boy. Wish I had a boy to play the guitar with, oh well maybe theres hope for the 20 mo old Grand kid, he loves music. 

Regards,

D.

[SLW]

My experience in the 80's(I was a teenager - 20's) was a Rat.  We all wanted to be EVH and all played in hair metal bands.  The pedal I saw most was a Rat.  It is still one of my favorites.

[Rev D]

 +1, I had packed my RAT II when I moved here after my divorce. Couldn't find it anywhere... Seems the Ex packed it in a box I had a old Turbocharger in (which is why I never found it till I sold the turbo cause I needed the cash). Its a great old pedal, with the center tone knob you can go from bright to dark and I think the glo in the dark logo, well that just makes it cooler. I was playing it recently on my 18 watt TMB and it sounded really sweet, I forgot how much I liked that pedal.

D.