what pedal to build / use?

[jrem]

okay, so I think I know the answer, but I want to put it to public poll . . .      played a job last night with my tele into a pro reverb.  this amp has always been loud and pumps air, but the guys I'm playing with have some power . . .   so the only way I could make it put out was to hit a preamp (either compressor or distortion unit or both) to drive the amp.  Now what I really like to do is roll off my guitar volume to clean up the sound, but without the compressor or distortion unit,the tone would just go kaput.

So . . .     what pedal should I buy/build that will give me the drive for the amp, let me roll off the guitar volume, and keep good sound?

Thanks, John.


p.s. . . .   who is on road runner in western ohio that hit my server last night?  a gear head?  email me and we'll hang!

[Pushtone]

Some kind of preamp, one designed for clean boost perhaps, and one with a very high input impedance at or above 1meg-Ohm.

Either a buffer or a booster. Or a buffer with a footswitchable booster. Or a buffered effects loop box like the Radial Loopbone.
I have built a AMZ Mini-boost,  a Stratoblaster, and soon a AMZ MosFet clean boost. and
even though I haven't built it yet my money is on the MosFet for your application.
I find when my guitar is plugged into a buffer as the first pedal the guitars vol and tone control work much more linear. I think its the high input impedance doing that.

Pushtone

[Primus]

Well, the pro reverb has a ton of headroom... but if you dime it you are going to get power tube saturation. If you put a huge drive at the front end you are going to get some saturation of the tube preamp. Usually in these situations where a 2x12 just won't cut it it's time to be insisting on lowering the stage volume and micing your setup. My dad used to do sound at the old Agora in Cleveland. He hated it when Ted Nugent would come because all he wanted was to crank the stage volume but the 1,000 watt dedicated house monitors couldn't monitor the lyrics loud enough. Then all through sound check the Nuge would want more more more from the house PA and there was no way it was happening.

Anyway, save your hearing and turn down! What kind of compressor are you using? I like to use my ross for a clean boost into my fender combo.

[petemoore]

  I don't know a Pro...what the output is like...or how loud you guys are playing...
  But it sounds to me like your'e asking for 'clean' @ high volume or volume levels where the amp is distorting...IWCase...'What stompbox' is a 1/2 trick question...if you want clean @ certain high volume and the amp is distorting...
  cut the bass/let boosted treble through might make for more stage sound cut w/less distortion to = cleaner tone @ volume [Rangemaster type circuit?]
  Mic the amp and turn it down some
  OT...
   More speakers .. ..

[calpolyengineer]

It sounds like you could use a little cap across the pot of your guitar to preserve high frequencies at lower volumes. I did it to my Strat and it makes a world of difference. I don't know what values to use though since I don't want to change my strings just to look. I'm sure I found that idea either here or at GEO. And the big bonus with this approach is that it only costs about 10 cents.

-Joe

[runmikeyrun]

where was the old agora?  It wasn't always in the WHK building?

[jrem]

where was the old agora?  It wasn't always in the WHK building?

http://www.clevelandagora.com/info/history.asp  but wtf?