Best Overdrive pedal for Express

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bridger

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I'm still experimenting with my Express 5:50 , and until I have the tones I want figured out I'm still stomping a Fulltone Fulldrive pedal in the clean channel when switching from clean to overdrive. The Fulltone sounded great with my Fender Princeton but sounds like a transistor radio with the Express.
I tried switching from Channel one clean, to channel two "burn" but I'm unable to get anything shy of metal.

looking for suggestions for either tweaking the amp or drive pedal that sounds good with the Express.

Thank you.
 
Am also still experimenting, what's worked for me...

On the channel 1 clean setting, I get the best results set on 50W. Seems to take out any preamp drive, hair, etc. and lets the pedal do its job. Am finding that a Fulldrive stacked into an OCD sounds fantastic. (On their own, just good.) Have also been running a WFRI ProCo Rat - also fantastic at either lower or higher gain settings. Barber Small Fry is also great.

Watch the treble. Don't set it any higher than gain. So, if your gain is at 11:00, treble no higher than 11:00, mids a little lower, bass a little lower. Work it left to right. That amp can get really, really bright in a hurry.

Running on the 50W clean channel, also seems like any pedal that adds some compression tames the brightness as well (the amp is not going to compress or saturate at 50W). All of the pedals I listed above will do that.

Channel 1 crunch is really nice. Have done the; use channel 2 blues for clean/channel 1 for crunch trick, but channel 1 clean is just so good, I keep going back to it. And you can wind channel 2 blues up to a nice crunch.

I guess the point of all that is continue to tweak the amp - it's all in there - such a great amp.
 
Mullenski said:
Am also still experimenting, what's worked for me...

On the channel 1 clean setting, I get the best results set on 50W. Seems to take out any preamp drive, hair, etc. and lets the pedal do its job. Am finding that a Fulldrive stacked into an OCD sounds fantastic. (On their own, just good.) Have also been running a WFRI ProCo Rat - also fantastic at either lower or higher gain settings. Barber Small Fry is also great.

Watch the treble. Don't set it any higher than gain. So, if your gain is at 11:00, treble no higher than 11:00, mids a little lower, bass a little lower. Work it left to right. That amp can get really, really bright in a hurry.

Running on the 50W clean channel, also seems like any pedal that adds some compression tames the brightness as well (the amp is not going to compress or saturate at 50W). All of the pedals I listed above will do that.

Channel 1 crunch is really nice. Have done the; use channel 2 blues for clean/channel 1 for crunch trick, but channel 1 clean is just so good, I keep going back to it. And you can wind channel 2 blues up to a nice crunch.

Great info! Thanks, I'll try these settings.
I guess the point of all that is continue to tweak the amp - it's all in there - such a great amp.
 
bridger said:
I'm still experimenting with my Express 5:50 , and until I have the tones I want figured out I'm still stomping a Fulltone Fulldrive pedal in the clean channel when switching from clean to overdrive. The Fulltone sounded great with my Fender Princeton but sounds like a transistor radio with the Express.
I tried switching from Channel one clean, to channel two "burn" but I'm unable to get anything shy of metal.

looking for suggestions for either tweaking the amp or drive pedal that sounds good with the Express.

Thank you.

Yes well if you run any OD pedal into the burn channel you're gonna get high gain metallish tones.
I've got a Fulldrive Mosfet 2 and it sounds just great run into a 5:50 clean channel - better than thru any Fender imo.
I got no idea what you're doin to the 5:50 but I've found it impossible to get transister radio tones from it.
It's one of the most pedal friendly amps ever made.
What are your EQ settings on the amp & pedal ??
While I don't agree with Mullenski's views on the treble I always suggest you always keep the bass dial under 11 oclock
 
After years of experimentation with many tube and pedal choices the OD pedals I'm am amazed with is a Custom Twin Dumkudo and a Zendrive 2. I'm using mostly lower gain setting but am able to get a singing tone without the fuzziness to the tone. I would describe it as tight and responsive and yet can play complex chords and hear each and every note. Something I found very difficult to achieve. It's definitely a Dumble type of sound if that's what you're looking for. I'm playing a stereo set up with a Mesa 5+50 plus express and a Fender Deluxe Reverb. All the OD is from the pedals only using the amps in a clean mode. The resultant sound is much better than I was able to get using the Blue or Crunch modes with the Mesa. :D
 
Tried an Xotic RC boost in front of mine and it sounds sweet, but I have just ordered the AC Comp so stay tuned for an update! 8)
 
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