Overdrive experience with 330s with toasters

[rkbsound]

Route 66 pedal compression side gives great tone and crunch, and the overdrive side (tubescreamer circuit) is available if needed. The best pedal for my '66 Rick 335.

[whojamfan]

Just did a gig a few hours ago you all were invited to go to for free but nobody took me up on the Facebook offer I put out there. I'd love to see any of you folks at a gig and hope to see some of you at the next one.

First up, the Monsterpiece STUD, handmade by a guy named Richard in St. Loius witha turnaround time of less than 10 days, custom colr and all. Extremely standup guy and a pleasure to deal with. The STUD is arguably the best Klon clone out there, and I use it first in my chain to buffer my guitar signal from a long cable and work as a master volume for my pedalboard, as well as providing a leveling effect that still allows touch sensativity in a juicier way than a compressor. Works great with the the volume at 9:00, tone all the way off, and drive all the way off. With toasters and Blues, this allows you to get the perfect clean jangle/sparkle out of the amp and pickups without life getting thin/shrill/or lame sounding. You can slowly bring up the tone control to taste with the drive, but a little goes a long way, so leave it completely off until you set your drive tones the way you want them. The drive on the Klon was never it's strong point, and even though the STUDs drive is a little better, anything above noon can be a real mess. Just leave it off untill you set your drive pedals the way you want, and then try slowly adding in to the signal, and you'll see what I mean. A little goes a long way, and none goes further-haha.

The Hotcake is awesome for that just breaking up jangle to a (dare I say?)somewhat Black Sabbathy type drive to a Big Muff type fuzz with some adjustments. These are ballpark approximations, and if you futz around with the knobs like I'm saying you will get the general idea. This pedal really shines for the lower gain jangle without the midrange coloration that so many lower gain drives can impart on toaster pickups through an AC30 with blues. Such a crapshoot as you increase the volume with most other drives becaus you can go to evil shrill land and sound like a 50 dollar chinese strat through a Crate 15 watt amp-not what I guess you dropped 2 grand plus to sound like. The Hotcake really gives the goods when you find it, especially in the lower gain, classic rock setting. Really a crowd pleaser for the player that could care less about doing ACDC to metal type tones. Increasing the drive and adjusting the knobs to taste can give you a great lead tone, or take you into darker territory. But ultimately, it's the classic 60's/70s and janglepop type stuff most Rickenbacker guitarists want to hear from their semi-hollowbody treasures.

Having said that, the gig I just did with my other band-The Bedlam Knive-a more 1977 style Sex Pistols meets X and Clash early Jam etc style group requires the guitar to be a bit more present without feeding back(uncontrollably)and for the leads to cut through without painful treble and or thinness. For this I used my Amptweaker Tightrock pedal. The Tightrock starts out mediumly overdriven/distorted and can go all the way up to any 70 hard rock to 80s metal in the gain structure. Set moderately low on the output volume with a fair amount of gain really delived an articulate, full and present tone with no feedback(unless I went over to the amp and stuck the guitar in front of it) and handled jackhammer palm muting, single chord ringing and sustaining, and Ramone like rhythms like a champ. The Tightrock has a sidechain loop(in addition to the effects loop)built in that alows you to loop a pedal, or group of pedals)to the on/off switch so when you go to stomp the pedal off, you turn it off and simultaneously and seamlessly swicth on whatever you have piped through the loop. In the sidechain, I have another Tickrock with the same settings, only a bit louder to act as my lead boost. it's great having the same tone charateristics without adding the coloration of a boost pedal. In the Tightrocks effects loop, I have a Wampler Faux Tape Echo and a DR. Scientist RRR Reverberator that are already on when I hit the footswicth of the the first Tightrock.

So, I have 1 pedal I step on that turns off my main drive and kicks on the lead drive that already has the delay and reverb on for big fat boosting leads-sublime really-was smiling big everytime I stepped on that sucker last night! Finally, getting all the sounds for a more punky rock and roll sound, as well as all the great classics from the Hotcake. Keep in mind, AC30 set clean with British Celestion Blues and a Rickenbacker 330 with toaster pickups. Those that say it can't be done can kiss the kitty on this one because I'm getting all of these versatile, great tones, and ripping out mad leads on what the naysayers would deem a 1 trick pony. Well, we know better than that, and they know where they can go! haha.

[8mileshigher]

Just did a gig a few hours ago you all were invited to go to for free but nobody took me up on the Facebook offer I put out there. I'd love to see any of you folks at a gig and hope to see some of you at the next one.

First up, the Monsterpiece STUD, handmade by a guy named Richard in St. Loius witha turnaround time of less than 10 days, custom colr and all. Extremely standup guy and a pleasure to deal with. The STUD is arguably the best Klon clone out there, and I use it first in my chain to buffer my guitar signal from a long cable and work as a master volume for my pedalboard, as well as providing a leveling effect that still allows touch sensativity in a juicier way than a compressor. Works great with the the volume at 9:00, tone all the way off, and drive all the way off. With toasters and Blues, this allows you to get the perfect clean jangle/sparkle out of the amp and pickups without life getting thin/shrill/or lame sounding. You can slowly bring up the tone control to taste with the drive, but a little goes a long way, so leave it completely off until you set your drive tones the way you want them. The drive on the Klon was never it's strong point, and even though the STUDs drive is a little better, anything above noon can be a real mess. Just leave it off untill you set your drive pedals the way you want, and then try slowly adding in to the signal, and you'll see what I mean. A little goes a long way, and none goes further-haha.

The Hotcake is awesome for that just breaking up jangle to a (dare I say?)somewhat Black Sabbathy type drive to a Big Muff type fuzz with some adjustments. These are ballpark approximations, and if you futz around with the knobs like I'm saying you will get the general idea. This pedal really shines for the lower gain jangle without the midrange coloration that so many lower gain drives can impart on toaster pickups through an AC30 with blues. Such a crapshoot as you increase the volume with most other drives becaus you can go to evil shrill land and sound like a 50 dollar chinese strat through a Crate 15 watt amp-not what I guess you dropped 2 grand plus to sound like. The Hotcake really gives the goods when you find it, especially in the lower gain, classic rock setting. Really a crowd pleaser for the player that could care less about doing ACDC to metal type tones. Increasing the drive and adjusting the knobs to taste can give you a great lead tone, or take you into darker territory. But ultimately, it's the classic 60's/70s and janglepop type stuff most Rickenbacker guitarists want to hear from their semi-hollowbody treasures.

Having said that, the gig I just did with my other band-The Bedlam Knive-a more 1977 style Sex Pistols meets X and Clash early Jam etc style group requires the guitar to be a bit more present without feeding back(uncontrollably)and for the leads to cut through without painful treble and or thinness. For this I used my Amptweaker Tightrock pedal. The Tightrock starts out mediumly overdriven/distorted and can go all the way up to any 70 hard rock to 80s metal in the gain structure. Set moderately low on the output volume with a fair amount of gain really delived an articulate, full and present tone with no feedback(unless I went over to the amp and stuck the guitar in front of it) and handled jackhammer palm muting, single chord ringing and sustaining, and Ramone like rhythms like a champ. The Tightrock has a sidechain loop(in addition to the effects loop)built in that alows you to loop a pedal, or group of pedals)to the on/off switch so when you go to stomp the pedal off, you turn it off and simultaneously and seamlessly swicth on whatever you have piped through the loop. In the sidechain, I have another Tickrock with the same settings, only a bit louder to act as my lead boost. it's great having the same tone charateristics without adding the coloration of a boost pedal. In the Tightrocks effects loop, I have a Wampler Faux Tape Echo and a DR. Scientist RRR Reverberator that are already on when I hit the footswicth of the the first Tightrock.

So, I have 1 pedal I step on that turns off my main drive and kicks on the lead drive that already has the delay and reverb on for big fat boosting leads-sublime really-was smiling big everytime I stepped on that sucker last night! Finally, getting all the sounds for a more punky rock and roll sound, as well as all the great classics from the Hotcake. Keep in mind, AC30 set clean with British Celestion Blues and a Rickenbacker 330 with toaster pickups. Those that say it can't be done can kiss the kitty on this one because I'm getting all of these versatile, great tones, and ripping out mad leads on what the naysayers would deem a 1 trick pony. Well, we know better than that, and they know where they can go! haha.

Snowman ---- your write-ups on pedal sequencing and settings and the tone derived is really fantastic Very informative and you really share some great insights on how to get the desired tones - such as your example with the AC-30 with Celestion Blues for both clean/jangle on the one hand and punching "punky rock and roll" on the other.

Looking forward to catching one of your gigs soon .... couldn't this last weekend here, as was dealing with getting my wife's elderly mother transferred from one hospital to a care facility.

I hope you are on the mend from that nasty spider bite from your tour last week through the SouthWest.

[sloop_john_b]

The Hotcake is awesome for that just breaking up jangle to a (dare I say?)somewhat Black Sabbathy type drive to a Big Muff type fuzz with some adjustments. These are ballpark approximations, and if you futz around with the knobs like I'm saying you will get the general idea. This pedal really shines for the lower gain jangle without the midrange coloration that so many lower gain drives can impart on toaster pickups through an AC30 with blues. Such a crapshoot as you increase the volume with most other drives becaus you can go to evil shrill land and sound like a 50 dollar chinese strat through a Crate 15 watt amp-not what I guess you dropped 2 grand plus to sound like. The Hotcake really gives the goods when you find it, especially in the lower gain, classic rock setting. Really a crowd pleaser for the player that could care less about doing ACDC to metal type tones. Increasing the drive and adjusting the knobs to taste can give you a great lead tone, or take you into darker territory. But ultimately, it's the classic 60's/70s and janglepop type stuff most Rickenbacker guitarists want to hear from their semi-hollowbody treasures.

Right on. The Hotcake is a really special pedal. It took me a while to warm up to it but I have found a few very different, very pleasing sounds. It's staying put for sure.

[jps]

Just did a gig a few hours ago you all were invited to go to for free but nobody took me up on the Facebook offer I put out there. I'd love to see any of you folks at a gig and hope to see some of you at the next one.

Let me know when you come to Cleveland. Oh, and I don't do FB.

[whojamfan]

Thanks for the kind words Rich-hope it all works out well with the family. John, I totally understand what you mean about the Hotcake, I've tried to sell it 3 times until I just said to myself "forget what you know, sit with this thing and must really figure out how it works". I'm glad I did, as now I have 4 unique drive settings that cover it all and that clean AC30 Rick Toaster thing as my clean base. Happy guy, can't wait for the next jam to show you guys.

[JakeK]

Happy guy, can't wait for the next jam to show you guys.

I can't wait to play it! Say, Mike, how do you think the Hotcake would work with a blackface Fender amp? I'm sure it would work fine with a tweed, but your thorough writeup has got me thinking

[whojamfan]

I couldn't tell ya Jake, but I do know the Hotcake was specifically designed for an AC30. Go try a Wampler 65 if you want a seriously sick tone through a blackface. Awesome in the lower to medium gain range and juicier than a gator hit by a semi!

[sloop_john_b]

I can't wait to play it! Say, Mike, how do you think the Hotcake would work with a blackface Fender amp? I'm sure it would work fine with a tweed, but your thorough writeup has got me thinking

Mine works very well with my '64 Princeton but it really took a while for me to find the sweet spots.

[sloop_john_b]

John, I totally understand what you mean about the Hotcake, I've tried to sell it 3 times until I just said to myself "forget what you know, sit with this thing and must really figure out how it works".

Yeah, totally - I was used to a Tubescreamer and this is just completely different. I also had to set aside all conventional wisdom.

[whojamfan]

I bet the double Hotcake would be really killer to have as just a one drive with boost for solos setup, maybe one day when I get a big hit I'll pony up for one. Right now though, it's all eyes on the Amptweaker Swirlpool, the sweetest Tremolo and/or vibrato all analog pedal. Was completely knocked out by the musicality of this thing at NAMM when I was Demoing the line. Certainly worth checking out all the features on the website and trying one out in person. Really impressive!