Great amp shows the value of great pedals.......

[MartyMart]

I went mad this week and treated myself to a "Matamp" C7 hand built valve head and cab, which got a cracking review of 5 stars in "Guitarist"
This is a gorgeous creamy sounding amp and although only 7 watts is very loud indeed !  perfect for small gigs and studio recording without deafening the neighbours.
After some time spent playing with the amps controls, which includes an "attack" control to change the feedback to the speaker, and changes the tone and drive totaly with the smallest of tweaks, it was time to hook up some "stompers".
Generally speaking, most of my "commercial" pedals like Boss/Ibanez etc did not sound good at all, there was very noticable signal and tone loss with them in circuit ! something that cheaper amps and my JMP1 had not made so obvious....... shock horror
All of my "modded" pedals sounded great, as did my BSIAB II ( though i lost some bottom end) tube reamer, sonic distortion and orange fuzz
My TS9, which has had some serious work done to it sounded awful !
way too much bass and "mud" seemed to be going on !.
I'll have to reduce a couple of caps in there...
So the lesson here i think is, the better the amp, the more obvious the failings of "cheap" and badly designed pedals become.
Please excuse if this is "teaching your granny to suck eggs", but its been a revelation  to me the past 48hrs.
Hurray for hand built and "boutique" pedals, fellow stompers  !
comments and opinions very welcome.

www.matamp.co.uk

Marty

[petemoore]

BIG differences in different amps. I'm an opinionated tube head guy.
 These differences get multiplied when effects are added.
   My MkII 50w 'shows' glaringly necessary tweeks that the little RCA Victor doens't even notice...and is much  'pickier' about it's likes/dislikes.

[Paul Marossy]

Are you sure you aren't a little biased? (all the ones you built yourself sound great, but the commercial ones suck?!)   :wink:

I have noticed that some amps just don't sound good with certain pedals, and others sound great with anything you give them. I think that it depends a lot on the design of the amp - I think in your case, especially. Sounds like some impedance mismatch is happening with your amp's input and those commercial pedals, accounting for the "loss of tone".

[the_badcliff]

Matamp is/was an offshoot of Orange amps, right?

I'd love to get one of the old Orange stacks.  Not that I know anything about how they sound, but boy do they look cool  :wink:

I have the same reason for loving Rickenbacker guitars.  Totally out of my price range, but man do they 'look' gnarly.

(I'm sure they sound nice too, but you see where my priorities are)

[Doug_H]

;lkj

[joshwatson]

jsut for curiositys sake, if you can afford such a nice tube amp why would you even own any boss pedals? i agree that they suck, and i feel like there are very few pedals that any of the large manufacturers make (besides digital) that you cant find a boutique or DIY pedal that does the same effect only better.  a few examples of small manufacturers that "do it better"

envelope - frostwave, lovetone, mutron
overdrive - j everman, lovetone, budda, banzai, zvex, effector13
chorus - analogman, jacques,
ring mod - lovetone, frostwave, jeverman, death by audio
phaser - moog, redwtich, pigtronix

i could go on but i think you get my drift,  most of these pedals, besides the lovetone,  can be had from the used market for 100-150 more than the boss counterparts.

[smashinator]

jsut for curiositys sake, if you can afford such a nice tube amp why would you even own any boss pedals?

He's probably like me, and can't bear to part with any musical equipment.    I mean, if I'd been building effects back when I was 15, I probably wouldn't have any boss effects....  But I've got 'em now and I'm not getting rid of 'em.

[MartyMart]

Thats right, there have been many times when i had NO money, so i have lots of "cheap" pedals/gear !  I collect them too so.....
This is one of the most expensive things i've bought, after a large mackie mixer of course  !!

Marty

:wink:

[puretube]

TAFKAP used a whole bunch of B*ss pedals (1999) thru 2 or 3 booteek power amps - and still sounded "youneek"....

[Doug_H]

;lkj

[Paul Marossy]

The few Boss pedals that I own sound just fine to me...

[GuitarLord5000]

Quote: "So the lesson here i think is, the better the amp, the more obvious the failings of "cheap" and badly designed pedals become."


I dont think it's necessarily a "better" amp versus "cheap" or badly designed pedals.  I have personally owned 4 different amps, and have played many many more.  From Peavey, to Fender, to Crate, to Marshall to some cheaper Ibanez, Vox and even Rogue amps.  Each one of them has a sound all its own (for better or worse), and each one of them responds differently to stompbox effects.  My Peavey Classic responds wonderfully to my MXR Dist Plus clone, wheras my Fender and my buddies Marshall dont like it at all.  However, my buddies Boss delay pedal sounds great with his Marshall and Rogue amps, but my Peavey absolutely HATES it.  Every amp will respond differently to the effects you throw at it.  Regardless of price range or build quality.

[Peter Snowberg]

I only have one, and for doing the thing that it does, it does it very well.

With a dozen additional switches and knobs it turns from a one trick pony into something much more flexable and capable.

[Gilles C]

I have a few Boss pedals that sound great, better than some of the things I have built...

It depends on what you like and to what you connect them. And also on what kind of music you play, or how you play.

It's a very personal thing, just like cars or women...

Gilles