which pedal for c.santana sound

Hi,
This is my first post.
I recently have bought a used mesa boogie mark I reissue.
And i just received my ayan smooth & slim pedal from pedalgeek.com.
With my zvex box of rock pedal i come very close to the santana sound ...
i only miss the fuzzy topend to his sound when he has the volume pot on the
guitar wide open. I do not know if a proco Rat II might be a good match??
WHICH PEDAL WOULD YOU RECOMMEND. :?:
I do not like the sound with the volume 1 high . Plus when i kick the pedall out
i have a thick bluestone ( i also like to play blues)
My settings are:
channel 1 , vol1=2,5 , vol2=7 master 4 and higher.
zvex box of rock; vol= 8 oclock ,tone=2 oclock, gain= maximum.

not meant as a flippant answer..

but santana got his sound with the early boogies by using sheer volume.

the rest, was simply in his hands.

now, if you want to talk about wattage pushing a high watt rated speaker, and controlling the volume and drive with only your volume pot, then we're on.

Yeah he was cranked mesa tone. For a pedal I would look at fuzz pedals. Maybe an Analogman Sunface or Skreddy Screwdriver (OD/Fuzz)

Yep, take a Mark I and crank it up. You might be able to get close with a smoother, warmer sounding stompbox, but you'll be hard pressed to copy the dynamics, sustain, and feel without a cranked amp. Maybe try a tubescreamer with the tone turned down low and back the tone off on your guitar a bit too. A lot of OD pedals tend to be too bright and harsh to get Santana's creamy fat warmth. His tone on Black Magic Woman can almost be spread with a butter knife.

gonzo said:

not meant as a flippant answer..

but santana got his sound with the early boogies by using sheer volume.

the rest, was simply in his hands.

now, if you want to talk about wattage pushing a high watt rated speaker, and controlling the volume and drive with only your volume pot, then we're on.

Click to expand...

1.I know : he puts all 3 volume pots on 7 and most of his sound come
from clipping the powersection.For me that is way too loud and i do
not like attenuators.So with the right pedal i come close enough but
i know nothing beats a cranked amp.
2.that is so true. But when one has a connection with the amp and the
guitar soundwise that give you a big grin on the face ... :mrgreen:
Besides that all guitarists have G.A.S. :wink:
3. That is not completely true. I also have a marshall vintage modern
halfstack and a handwired JTM45 clone, so i am old school and used
to control my sound with the volume pot of the guitar.Even with a pedal
this is possibel because all 3 single channel amps i got have a mastervolume.
vol guitar 1-3=clean
vol guitar 4-6= crunch
vol guitar 7-10= lead
I can do this at any volume...... agreed things sound better with the powertubes
cooking.

I wanna thank everybody for there input!!!

I agree - a fuzz pedal with the tone turned down a bit will do it, or an OD with the tone on the guitar turned down will get close also.

ty

thunda1216 said:

I agree - a fuzz pedal with the tone turned down a bit will do it, or an OD with the tone on the guitar turned down will get close also.

ty

Click to expand...

Thanks,
Many say a fuzz or overdrive .
Would the proco RAT II work? Its more a fuzzy distortion.
When i had a vox ac30cc2 this pedal gave me the santana
sound with that amp.

the rat is too square wave to get to an emulation of the smooth boogie overdrive....

a cheap one to try, might be the Boss/roland DS-1

i personally use a BARBER DDSS, which if i chose to, i could roll off the presence, dial up the low end, dial up the harmonics, roll off the 'bite', and get a really smooth drive that, along with the drive available from the preamp side of the boogie, would get close....

you want to look for overdrive, distortion, or Fuzz, that allows tweaking of the high end (basically, rolling off) to get to that smooth overdrive sustain thing.

a compressor also may do the trick....

i use a WEber Mass Lite attenuator, to drive my Mark2b boogie, it works like a charm.
i'd use that, and a compressor or clean boost, to get closer to the true early santana tone, than a distortion pedal.
YMMV

gonzo said:

the rat is too square wave to get to an emulation of the smooth boogie overdrive....

a cheap one to try, might be the Boss/roland DS-1

i personally use a BARBER DDSS, which if i chose to, i could roll off the presence, dial up the low end, dial up the harmonics, roll off the 'bite', and get a really smooth drive that, along with the drive available from the preamp side of the boogie, would get close....

you want to look for overdrive, distortion, or Fuzz, that allows tweaking of the high end (basically, rolling off) to get to that smooth overdrive sustain thing.

a compressor also may do the trick....

i use a WEber Mass Lite attenuator, to drive my Mark2b boogie, it works like a charm.
i'd use that, and a compressor or clean boost, to get closer to the true early santana tone, than a distortion pedal.
YMMV

Click to expand...

Thanks!!!

here's Santana's Mark I



100-watt reverb; graphic EQ (never used); four Ruby Tube 6L6's; three 12AX7 premp tubes by Ruby Tube and one 12AT7 by Phillips.

If "Santana sound" is really what you want, and you cant afford to crank it that loud, I dont think any fuzz or distortion pedal is gonna get you there......unless you dial out the fuzz/distortion.

I'm just guessing here, but it's a mildly educated guess.....I'd guess you'd get more mileage toward that goal by using a good compressor. Far as I've been able to ascertain, the only substitute for cranked power knobs is the clean sustain you get from a Barber Tone Press, or a modded CS3.

Don't forget the pickups and speakers ingredients in the recipe......

Anybody know where Carlos sets the tone controls? I can't make out what they're set to in the pic...

I really like the Bluesmaster Overdrive myself! It works great with other pedals too, you can stack pedals with it, it acts a lot like an amp! It can get Mesa Boogie Mark I, Fender, Marshall and Dumble tones, it's amazing! My Zendrive is cool too but is somewhat limited in comparison, but works great with the Bluesmaster if I want screaming sustain and overdrive. The Bluesmaster also cleans up better than most pedals I have used. You can get that mild on the cusp breakup for blues etc.