Brian May - like distortion pedal for 5/50 Express ?

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

donnyb

Active member
Joined
Apr 30, 2012
Messages
28
Reaction score
0
Hi Expressers, I am looking for a pedal that will give me a sweet sounding distortion, preferably via the Blues mode in Channel 2. Brian May and David Gilmour/Comfortably Numb solo come to mind.

I have a BB Plus, and pretty happy with it generally, but the sound is still not quite right. Also run an Alexs Attenuator, and that has been a big help being able to drive the power tubes more. I have an amp that has nice growl now for rhythm, but not right (for me) for solos.

Also tried a Big Muff this morning, but while it sure gives sustain, its waaaay too fuzzy for me.

I have been told a Maxon tube screamer may do it ??

If anyone can post me a pedal recommendation based on the Comfortably Numb sound description ( because terms like creamy, chewy, gritty, even growly etc are so subjective) Id much appreciate it . BTW- here's my tube mix if that helps :

V1: Tungsol 12AX7
V2: JJECC83S
V3: JJECC83S high gain
V4: Sovtek LPS balanced 12AX7
V5: Sovtek LPS 12AX7

Power tubes are 2 x 6L6 Winged Cs.

Thanks again, Don
 
ah Brian May and Dave Gilmour sound very different.
Can't help you on Brian - you'd probly need one of his own guitars (he built them himself).
Gilmours CN tone is legendary and this is the best place to go chasing it imo

http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=273

you'll need a combo of his guitars, PUPs, fuzz & delay settings - good luck :)
 
Hi Again Newysurfer,

Yes, I know you are right. Funny, I saw a post somewhere that said that the best thing about an Express amp is that they mate well with pedals. And this came from a Mesa fan.

I have fought against this, thinking I could get what I sought from tube changes, as you know. I think I am reluctantly coming around to that person's summing up.

Today, I dragged out my EVH delay, the BB Plus and spent more time than I ever have before on using these with the clean channel of the Express, playing with tone settings on the BB Plus. I hate to say it, but I found a sound that sounded good, but I wish I could just use the Dirty Channel of the amp, and no more than the Mesa's footswitch.

Sigh.
 
donnyb said:
Hi Again Newysurfer,

Yes, I know you are right. Funny, I saw a post somewhere that said that the best thing about an Express amp is that they mate well with pedals. And this came from a Mesa fan.

I have fought against this, thinking I could get what I sought from tube changes, as you know. I think I am reluctantly coming around to that person's summing up.

Today, I dragged out my EVH delay, the BB Plus and spent more time than I ever have before on using these with the clean channel of the Express, playing with tone settings on the BB Plus. I hate to say it, but I found a sound that sounded good, but I wish I could just use the Dirty Channel of the amp, and no more than the Mesa's footswitch.

Sigh.

Hey Donnyb - I've got an Express 5:25+, and have ended up using both a Mesa Flux Drive and Zendrive in front of BOTH channels. So I have now 2 great Rhythm channels, and 4 lead channels (2 each). I get compliments on my tone on various songs a lot. No shame in putting extra drive in front of a Boogie.....

My 2 cents....

Al
 
Thanks Al. I will look into these 2 x pedals or equivalents.

Which pedal goes first in the chain and what settings do you use on the amp's dirty channel, particularly on the Gain settings?

Don
 
donnyb said:
Thanks Al. I will look into these 2 x pedals or equivalents.

Which pedal goes first in the chain and what settings do you use on the amp's dirty channel, particularly on the Gain settings?

Don

The Zendrive is first, then the Flux Drive.



The amp....



Masters set to the venue's needs.

Al
 
Looks neat Al. I like it.

I see you are not driving the dirty channel on the gain. I assume you get that via the pedals ?

Do you use the burn mode much with your set up ?

Also you have a fair bit of bass dialed in on that channel. Would you do that without the pedals ?

And ,,what does taking out either the zen drive and a flux drive do to your solo distortion and sustain ?

Cheers,

Don
 
donnyb said:
Looks neat Al. I like it.

I see you are not driving the dirty channel on the gain. I assume you get that via the pedals ?

Do you use the burn mode much with your set up ?

Also you have a fair bit of bass dialed in on that channel. Would you do that without the pedals ?

And ,,what does taking out either the zen drive and a flux drive do to your solo distortion and sustain ?

Cheers,

Don

Maybe we should chat on the phone? :lol:

First - the two channels are for rhythm only; Clean is for, well, clean, and Blues has just a bit of hair around it for slightly dirty rhythm. Think Born to be Wild. To date I have not used the burn mode. I like it, but the Flux Drive is really close.

I do have a fair amount of bass dialed in, but it stays tight and full, which I like. Cabinet is a forte' 3D loaded with an MC90, so no flub here. EQ stays on all the time.

Flux Drive is my main OD into both channels. I use it for solo's about 50% of the time. I also use the Blues channel with the solo punched in for things like BB King solos, where I want to stay somewhat clean. That's about 25% of the time. The rest of the time is the Zendrive. The Zendrive into the Blues channel gives me the Santana thing. Great sustain, and very smooth.

My band (http://www.tarnishedrose.com) is a classic rock/blues band so having this amount of flexibility works for me. Essentially, I have 2 rhythm channels, and six lead channels, when you include the solo function. I use the master volume to control output based on what we need and where we are playing.

I have pretty much the same set-up for my DC2, but without the solo function. So in the big picture I'm pretty comfortable with both amps and set-ups. I hope this helps.

Al
 
I have a different pedal concept to Amrose.
I only use pedals for tones my amps can't do.
I use the amp tones as much as possible and then add on pedals for different tones.
Here's a board pic from 18 months ago - been a few changes since then.
Every pedal on it adds to the tonal pallete and boosting options :)

 
Al, Thanks for the detailed reply - I am a bit pedantic (I'm told) ! And what you have said is interesting and helpful.

The Zen drive comments re Santana you made - how does the sound compare to a Big Muff, which I just tried out and did not like ?

Thanks, Don.
 
donnyb said:
Al, Thanks for the detailed reply - I am a bit pedantic (I'm told) ! And what you have said is interesting and helpful.

The Zen drive comments re Santana you made - how does the sound compare to a Big Muff, which I just tried out and did not like ?

Thanks, Don.

I have never tried a big muff, so I don't know. Sorry. I do know that my pedal gas has been quelled (for now) with the Flux Drive and the Zendrive. Both have such an array of tones and options. Some evenings I just noodle around with the pedals to see what other interesting sounds I can get. I've also got a Hot Buttered Scotch (another great pedal), an OCD, a Red Ruby, a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Blues, and some others, and the FD/ZD combo is the best by far.

Al
 
I've been chasing the distortion sound I like for years and finally found the pedal that does. A Custom Twin Dumkudo pedal hand made by Mr Tanabe in Japan. I've always loved to Dumble type distortion that can be clear and smooth and the same time. I don't know how he did it but he did. It is expensive but worth every penny with it's sound and versatility. A great person to work with great communication and built and delivered the pedal to me in 10 days. Check out the reviews online as well as the sound samples on the Dumkudo site. :eek: Sounds great with my Mesa Express 5 50+ and my Fender Deluxe Reverb.
 
donnyb said:
Al, Thanks for the detailed reply - I am a bit pedantic (I'm told) ! And what you have said is interesting and helpful.

The Zen drive comments re Santana you made - how does the sound compare to a Big Muff, which I just tried out and did not like ?

Thanks, Don.

not similar at all.
big muff is a famous fuzz pedal.
Carlos S - particularly his older CDs from 70's, 80's were nearly all recorded with a mesa Mark 1 and then a Mark IIc and IV later on I think. Same with his live gear.
Good idea if you start testing this gear yourself :)
 
A pedal that is supposed to get closed to that classic Mark 1 tone is the Asonix Nite Owl. I bought one used on Ebay a while back but it had a faulty switch and I had to return it to the seller. With tbe limited time I had with it, I thought it had a nice smooth feel and a vocal midrange.

Depending on which elements of Brian May's sound you are looking for, you may also want to experiement with keeping an open wah for certain leads.
 
I'm going to say you want an a highly driven AC30 tone for Brian May; I'm going to say you want to check out the Menatone Top Boost In a Can (TBIAC).
 
I don't own this pedal but this seems to sound pretty close to Brian May:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9vfokzfmUY

He plays some Queen in the demo.
 
Back
Top