Michael Soldano INTERVIEW....have fun

[guitarman967]

The whole to boost or not gets old after awhile. I love a using an od not for more saturation, even though it does that a bit with the gain backed all the way off, but I use it for the feel. It stiffens things up in a good way for me. So an overdrive set as a "clean" boost is more about feel than saturation or gain. To each his own.

I must be really picky when it comes to this topic.
I don't even consider what you've described a "clean boost". To me, a "clean boost" means that the signal is boosted but the actual frequencies are not altered and are transparent making the boost "clean".
Usually, this is hard if not impossible to achieve with a regular OD.

 

[gbsmusic]

 

[steve_k]

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with #8 too...I wouldn't know a boost,overdrive or distortion pedal if I stepped on it....get it....

 

[Mr. Willy]

The whole to boost or not gets old after awhile. I love a using an od not for more saturation, even though it does that a bit with the gain backed all the way off, but I use it for the feel. It stiffens things up in a good way for me. So an overdrive set as a "clean" boost is more about feel than saturation or gain. To each his own.

I must be really picky when it comes to this topic.
I don't even consider what you've described a "clean boost". To me, a "clean boost" means that the signal is boosted but the actual frequencies are not altered and are transparent making the boost "clean".
Usually, this is hard if not impossible to achieve with a regular OD.

That's exactly why I put clean in quotation marks.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I agree with #8.

Most of what "boosted" players are picking up on is the narrow frequency range that tube screamer type circuits impart onto the guitar's signal. We all know those circuits have a mid hump and shave off some of the highs and lows, which make an overly scooped or bottom heavy pickup work better in high gain. I have two OCD pedals on my board that I use with my clean channel to give me my light crunch tones, but I use my gain channel for the high gain stuff. I keep the gain slightly dialed back for a clean and tight rhythm sound, and then clean boost it for my solo work with my Timmy pedal. Same as if I had rolled the guitar's volume back for the rhythm stuff and wide open for solos.

For a clean boost, you could just put a foot switchable EQ between your guitar and amp and get the same results with more control.

 

[tripstan]

Could not agree more with Point No.8

Awesome read, thanks for posting

Mo

I always felt that way also.

+1 on that. I used pedals for years. I even bought the G.T.O. superchager (which is 9 yrs old now and my oldest piece of gear that I will NEVER sell) and many tubescreamer style boutique pedals and. . . . . . After buying a Diezel Einstein I will never go back to a pedal overdrive set up. I played a Fender Blues jr. w/ the GTO for a few years then got a Hot Rod 50 w/the GTO which was awesome gain tone but I still couldn't get a good basic clean tone out of the Hot Rod 50, which is a nice amp but still didn't do it for me (this was my pour mans SLO rig at the time). Then a Dr Z 6545 w/pedals again, then a Boogie MKIII w/ pedals again. And then a year or so ago I settled on a 100 watt Eineiny w/ no gain/OD pedals and just a Barber Tone Press in the loop to 'boost' and 'tighten' when needed. And I it, But after reading this I'm jonesn' for a SLO again! Either way I will not being using OD pedals in my main performance rig again.

Side Note: The GTO pedal is the only OD pedal I've come across that really shines with ANY amp.

 

[Schaf]

I don't own any loose amps that need any stiffening.

I use to feel this way about this topic. But I feel that no matter how much gain you have on tap an OD or boost pedal can gice you some variety in your tones in a live situation.

 

[Ventura]

Not boosting the Vh4's channel 3 is totally missing out on the beast as far as I'm concerned.

I think where I need to state my case here is that I am not against using a true "clean" boost with my dirty/gainy amps' channels, I'm just not in need of using an overdrive or dirt stomp on these channels. Sure, sure - I've used my BB, my OCD, my BMP, an 808 a TS9, I've tried ALL of these with my fave gain channels, and have done so at low, medium and higher volumes - but I like 'em better without these dirty/overdriving pedals. I do like 'em with a clean boost at times, but a true clean boost is greatly different than a dirt/od pedal set on "zero tone/drive - high volume".

Don't make me talk about my notoriously famous pedal here folks

Mo

 

[steve_k]

I don't own any loose amps that need any stiffening.

I use to feel this way about this topic. But I feel that no matter how much gain you have on tap an OD or boost pedal can gice you some variety in your tones in a live situation.

True. I usually find they get noisy though and drive the front end into oblivion. I prefer amps with a solo boost or if it has a switchable loop with a return, use it if I need a notch or two. Running through the front end though, I just up the mix on the Tone Factor since I would have a patch on it selected for lead anyway, so, it usually gives enough extra volume to do what i need to do.

 

[guitarman967]

I don't own any loose amps that need any stiffening.

I use to feel this way about this topic. But I feel that no matter how much gain you have on tap an OD or boost pedal can gice you some variety in your tones in a live situation.

True. I usually find they get noisy though and drive the front end into oblivion. I prefer amps with a solo boost or if it has a switchable loop with a return, use it if I need a notch or two. Running through the front end though, I just up the mix on the Tone Factor since I would have a patch on it selected for lead anyway, so, it usually gives enough extra volume to do what i need to do.

I wish I could get tones straight in that I was really happy about. Very few amps have done that for me if I want to achieve the right feel and attack. Of course, it depends the style..
I have to say tho, don't find a solo boost even remotely close to an input boost however in it's effectiveness. But of course they're different things.

Once again, to each their own. We all have different sounds in our heads and different signal paths to achieve them. My M.O. has always been to be open to any possibilities and I usually end up using everything at my disposal.

Sometimes it's irritating to hear someone as smart as Mr. Soldano say his amps are designed to not need OD and the like.
That's drawing more than a few conclusions if you ask me.
His sales would be cut it half if the people that want to hear that boosted sound were told they don't need one and could get it straight out of the amp. Thanks, but no thanks..

 

[steve_k]

I don't own any loose amps that need any stiffening.

I use to feel this way about this topic. But I feel that no matter how much gain you have on tap an OD or boost pedal can gice you some variety in your tones in a live situation.

True. I usually find they get noisy though and drive the front end into oblivion. I prefer amps with a solo boost or if it has a switchable loop with a return, use it if I need a notch or two. Running through the front end though, I just up the mix on the Tone Factor since I would have a patch on it selected for lead anyway, so, it usually gives enough extra volume to do what i need to do.

I wish I could get tones straight in that I was really happy about. Very few amps have done that for me if I want to achieve the right feel and attack. Of course, it depends the style..
I have to say tho, don't find a solo boost even remotely close to an input boost however in it's effectiveness. But of course they're different things.

Once again, to each their own. We all have different sounds in our heads and different signal paths to achieve them. My M.O. has always been to be open to any possibilities and I usually end up using everything at my disposal.

Sometimes it's irritating to hear someone as smart as Mr. Soldano say his amps are designed to not need OD and the like.
That's drawing more than a few conclusions if you ask me.
His sales would be cut it half if the people that want to hear that boosted sound were told they don't need one and could get it straight out of the amp. Thanks, but no thanks..

Like I was saying, I think the crux of the message in #8 was he doesn't think you need to "rely" totally on a pedal for the gain, not so much tone sculpting a solo or to satisfy the sonic palette so to speak. The SLO is one of those amps that is fairly loose at bedroom volume with the gain say at 12-1:00 on the OD channel. But, it is also an amp that tightens up tremendously, the louder it gets. At gig volumes, 10-11:00 on the OD channel gain is plenty enough gain and tight enough for what you need to do. Hitting the front of an SLO with a clean boost will certainly do the trick. What Mike likes to promote is to run a volume box in the loop, crank the master a bit higher for solo volume. Engage the volume cut for rhythm tones. Anyway, different strokes.....

Steve

 

[IntenseJim]

 

[Ventura]

Well played...

But I still agree with No.8

Mo