The ultimate DIY stompbox for Blues .

[Samy]

I know this is subjective but can you point me to the right direction to make one of the best stompboxes for blues available?
How do you compare your choice to others like Tubescreamer, Sparkle Drive, RAT, Hot Cake Blues Berry , ZW44 ...

Thanks for your help.

[MartyMart]

For me , the "Blues" tone is fairly clean and bright, some "grit" but not too much of that,
a lot of guys use something like a "TS" but with drive at minimum and volume high
just pushing a slightly overdriven amp.

Add some reverb and "magic" fingers ... there you go

for DIY Try :
Sparkle Boost
The Crank
Peppermill
TS 9 and all the "clones" !!

MM

[The Tone God]

Stompbox for blues ? Oxymoron ?

Andrew

[Gilles C]

Anything with a tube.

Then, if no tube available, anything with a Fet. The more Fets inside, the wilder the Blues...

Anything with a Mini-Booster in it.

Many designs from ROG would fill the job well, especially the Fenderish pedals.

A Shakah Bradah III,

Gilles

[Torchy]

Sparkledrive clone with Keeley mods.
Peppermill.
MartyMarts Classic35 sim. 

[QSQCaito]

Im using my bluesbreaker, which can be used as a clean boost, has nice range of tone.. cool! awesome for blues if added PT2399 delay(used as reverb, kinda..)or Rebote delay.. which is almsot the same.


bye bye

dac

PS: As a guitar im using a les paul samick.. but its awesome believeme, dont let the brand betray you, its an artist series.. very nice sounding..

bye

[KerryF]

Yea I love my BluesBreaker.  Its really a versitile overdrive.

[R.G.]

As you can see "What's the best X?" questions never get clear answers, only about one preference for every two or three people.

At best the answers are a poll, at worst, they start fistfights.

That's why I always rant about the futility of "What's the best X?" questions. They never help and often hurt.

[d95err]

As you can see "What's the best X?" questions never get clear answers, only about one preference for every two or three people.

At best the answers are a poll, at worst, they start fistfights.

That's why I always rant about the futility of "What's the best X?" questions. They never help and often hurt.

Well, they can be an inspiration sometimes. Like "oh I've never heard of *that* pedal before", or "I had no idea *that* pedal had a bluesy sound". However, you're right that "best" or "ultimate" can be controversial. I suppose a better way to ask the question would be:

"Please give me some tips about stompboxes for blues!", or "What stompboxes do you like to use for a blues sound?"

[Pushtone]

That's why I always rant about the futility of "What's the best X?" questions. They never help and often hurt.

Anyone here remember Fletcher's red hot replies to the seemingly endless "Whats the best microphone" topic
on rec.audio.pro ?

Fletcher has mellowed since the 90's but man, those were some entertaining flame wars.

Nothing like Aron's happy little corner of the net (thank God).

[markm]

Okay,
my 2 pesos;

FAT Boostered (GGG)
ROG Peppermill

Both are great for Blues or Country, or perhaps Country Blues! 

[JHS]

Simple answer: NONE

The ultimate stompbox is the one that match your equipment, playing style and your personel needs.
Take your equipment to a store and test some Stompboxes. If a FX-box suits you, then buy or clone it.

[idlechatterbox]

QUOTE:
"I know this is subjective but can you point me to the right direction to make one of the best stompboxes for blues available?
How do you compare your choice to others like Tubescreamer, Sparkle Drive, RAT, Hot Cake Blues Berry , ZW44 ...

Thanks for your help."

I guess we're pondering the nature of a perfect question now, in addition to the underlying question about a stompbox, so I'll add my two pesos to the pile.

Nothing's wrong with qualitative, value-based questions. Factual questions and factual answers (e.g., what year did gibson introduce the les paul?) have their place, but people go to wikipedia for them. A forum like this is a good place for qualitative questions (e.g., what's the best model of les paul?). I can see where the answers can annoy some, but there's a big difference between

"What is THE best blues pedal?"

and

"Which blues pedal do you like best and why?"

As I re-read the original post, I don't see that the poster really did anything wrong. He asked for "one of the best" (not THE best) and then asked for supporting reasons or comparisons.

In my view, the trouble only starts when people act like value-judgments can be proven better than others, as factual claims can be. Keep the two separate, and everyone's happy 

[markm]

Here's something that I'm sure has never quite crossed our minds when these questions are asked here;
Perhaps this gent respects the opinions of the people on this board enough to ask this question in the hopes that we may steer him
in the direction of a circuit that would meet his needs.
Perhaps he will then go with our opinions and make a choice or several choices for himself.
I think these are just innocent questions asked by less knowledgeable fellas than we, and would like to get the opinions of the
regulars here.
I'll go a step further, this guy may have been lurking here, read the responses to one of the many "what is the BEST Compressor" threads,
built the overwhelming favorite of the board, and liked it! Now he wants a drive for blues and figures our panel of regulars didn't steer
him wrong on the comp, and will build whatever is the most favorite of the members here.
Just food for thought guys.

[wampcat1]

I gotta throw in my cents here! 
As a country/blues rock player myself, there are many many different pedals, amps, guitars, and effects needed to get different tones.

At least, that's how I justify it. 

bw

[markm]

Meeee tooooo 

[petemoore]

The ultimate
This treads on thin ice already.
  "Ultimate" is a term which implies all others of discussion are "Lesser'
  What "Ultimate" is varyies widely and is largely personal opinion based.
  People who have personal and financial investment in the circuits discussed may see their 'worthy of an opinion of 'ultimate' get seriously [if inadvertantly] "dissed" into a "Lesser than the Ultimate" categories.
  DIY stompbox for Blues .
  1 stompbox for blues...hmmm
  What kinda blues...
  Delta?
  Mississipi?
  Chicago?
  Here's what I equate to blues...
  anything from accoustic guitar w/glass slide to OctaFuzz/Reverb/Echo.
  As you can see I have no trouble troubling you with the title.
  I do have trouble forming a useful answer...this could be helped by:
  Stating what kind of sound you want less vaguely.
  Stating what kind of sound you are getting that is close [or that you've had before, or seen others use, or suspect could be of circuit definition even by naming a song with a characteristic tone which represents what it is your'e going for].
  Stating what kind of equipment "X" stompbox will be expected to perform with.
  IIUC many blues players, JLHooker, Muddy Waters, BBKing...don't even use stompboxes much. Just a guitar with lots of 'character' and some kinda tube amp.

[Mark Hammer]

Bingo!

You've got the pristine SC tone of Robert Cray and Buddy Guy, the wigged out fuse-is-gonna-blow tone of Hounddog Taylor, the fat sound of of a gazillion guys using 335s and ES175s, the ice-pick-thru-the-forehead 335 tone of Johnny Guitar Watson or T-Bone Walker, the British blues tone, the LP-thru-a-Twin tone of Mike Bloomfield.  What exactly is "blues tone"?

Lest this sound like a reprimand or smack upside the head, the real issue is defining what you mean by blues tone more precisely.  There may well be a specific sort of pedal that is useful to the blues styles you are personally familiar with, but it's a VERY big kind of music, so asking your question without particulars or reference points starts to sound a bit like "What kind of pedal should I use for rock?".

Narrow/sharpen focus and we'll be a lot more helpful.

All of that being said, what people tend to associate with blues is the sound of small amps pushed too hard.  So, boosters that add some coloration tend to be popular for mimicking that.  I know that the very best Rangemaster I ever made sounded to me like instant Clapton from the Mayall/Bluesbreakers period.  Of course that is but one style of blues.

[The Tone God]

The vast majority of blues players that I have played with and respect don't use any effects in fact they are kind of snicker at others who do. Any player, of any type of music, worth their salt should be able to come up with a good tone without the aid of any specific equipment. This is not out of a need to feel elitist but of a habit of survival as many players are hired for various gigs with variable conditions many of which don't allow them the luxury of having their personal rig hence they have to be able to adapt in order to get paid and survive.

With blues music I think you are fair better off learning to use your fingers then playing with effects.

Just my opinion.

Andrew

[Ge_Whiz]

ROG Peppermill.

There, that's four votes for the Peppermill.