Today’s Semi-Random Signal Path

It’s a been a while since I’ve posted but today I fell into a rather obvious discovery. Since I have a self depreciating sense of humor I don’t mind sharing.

So heres the big news. Turns out that if you put a great sounding pedal next to another great sounding pedal, they tend to sound pretty good. With that breaking news out of the way, I give you Today’s Semi-Random Signal Path; Malekko Comp, JHS Double Barrel, and Xotic’s EP Booster.

Today, I’m primarily using my SG reclamation project but I’ve been switching back and forth to the Tele and running them into a Fender Blues Jr loaded with a Celestion speaker. Starting with the Malekko Comp first in the chain to serve 2 purposes. First, even out the signal and secondly to drive the Double Barrel a little bit. I’m only using the right side of the DB but because I’m a curious fellow, I tried the right side too (still sounds great). Then from the DB to Xotic’s EP Booster.

Malekko: killer comp for a hundo. 2 knobs to keep it simple for simple people. I don’t like a ton of squeeze in my comp and there are certainly better compressor pedals out there but you won’t find a better stomp comp for a Benjamin.

Double Barrel: There’s a reason this pedal is on the board of Drew Shirley of Switchfoot fame. It’s a dual pedal housing two of JHS’s circuits, Morning Glory on the right and TS808 on the left. I posted about the MG before so let’s just cover the features specific to the Double Barrel. The MG stacks very well with the Tube Screamer side plus, JHS was kind enough to include a toggle switch that allows you to change the stacking order.

Xotic EP Booster: I’ve written about the EP before but I wanted to give you a little more info. You already know that the EP is a wee little guy (not unlike the Malekko comp) but what happens inside is magical. The idea is that this pedal is designed to model the preamp section of the classic Echo Plex. I was going to post a gut shot but when I opened it up, there was the most intense warm light glowing (kinda like when they opened the briefcase in Pulp Fiction*) that made a photo impossible.

Using the SG, I was able to coax some exceptional slightly overdriven tones of the Blues jr. Something special about the Porter pups and the Morning Glory really work well together. The jr tends to sound boxy but with this chain, it really opened up.

With the Tele, I ratcheted up the gain a bit as well as the level on the comp to get a little more dirt going on. Rock tones were plentiful and rolling back the volume on the guitar cleaned up the signal really well.

The Morning Glory is a very responsive mid/low gain pedal and works equally well with either guitar. Adding the Comp and the EP just sweeten the whole deal.

*you know that was Marcelis’ soul, right? Get the director’s cut with commentary.

Good morning, Glory!

It’s too fuzzy, too wooly, too gainy, too Dinosaur Jr…. C’mon man!
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about overdrive, distortion, and fuzz. Which is which? Where does one stop and the other stop on the spectrum of gain? I cant pretend to answer all that in a single blog post (due largely to possessing the attention span of ferret) but maybe, just maybe I can articulate my thoughts on the matter.

We’ll start with a great sounding OD pedal from JHS Pedals

Overdrive is at the low end of the spectrum on gain. Think of a “clean” tube amp just at the point of breaking up. Sidenote: This is a sound people claim to love but few have ever actually heard it in the last several years most of the time it is being replicated by a pedal. I use BB King, John Mayer as a point of reference along with SRV. When people ask me for something in that range, I’m happy to suggest the JHS Morning Glory from the shop.

It’s a very transparent overdrive that can range from almost no grit to just a little bit. I suspect that Brad Paisley would be right at home with this little baby. This pedal falls into what I call an “always on” category. It is perfect in that you only really notice it when it you turn it off. Morning Glory is not going to color your sound or thin it out. It just adds a little “sumpthin” to the basic clean tone. It’s just not practical to crank up an 80 watt amp for most situations but the Morning Glory does the trick without angering parents, neighbors, and overly sensitive engineers.

Next time we will tackle distortion…or fuzz…or something else

-Charlie