pedals

So here's the thing, some of you have heard some of my stuff. Pretty much old school style and sound pretty stuck in the late 60's early 70's vibe.Usually pretty clean. Generally I use an American strat, the LP not so much either into a Blues jr at LOW volume, or into my interface. I have about $100.00 Canadian about 65 EU, or $72. US (a gift certificate) and looking for a small update in sound, I find I sound too PLINKY PLINKY (thin). Already have a TS808 clone, and I was never really a pedal guy. My short list: Boss BD2, MXR Badass distortion 78, EHX Eastriver drive, or Crayon , or soul food, Toneprint Flashback mini delay,or I am open to suggestions nothing too high gain or over the top 'cause I'm old. Hope this is ok to ask this here, and hope to get some help.

Thanks
Jeff

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hmm, if you're a single coil kinda guy you may want to try and find one of these
Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster SFX-01
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xIXw9JIqjk

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I play in a '60s 'powerpop' band and our guitarist is meticulous about his tones from that era and gets a very authentic sound. He uses a Boss multi-effects pedal (an ME80, I think) so it might be worth looking into an 'all-in-one' device. With some time and effort on setting up, they certainly produce some great tones.

New they're not in your price range but a quick look on eBay suggests you may be able to get something within your budget? Although I don't use eBay so don't know if you can use your gift certificate on there.

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At that price range you can find some great OD's - If you want something that could layer the TS 808, go with Boss BD2. TS808 has a mid hump to it, so it's not a good idea for me to put another pedal that would be overloaded with mids. BD2 just fits that!

If you want a pedal that could be anything you want it to be in a form of a single stomp box, try the Zoom MS50g. You can set it to be a delay, reverb, chorus, drives, distortion, filters, comps ,etc! And with a right tweaking, it can sound great. And it has a friendly price!

There are lots of great pedals coming from newer companies that were knockoffs from the branded pedals. You can check something from mooer, joyo and biyang. I have a mooer pure boost (Xotic RC booster clone) and it is just perfect for what I need. And with your gift certificate's worth, you can probably get 2 or 3 pedals depending on what is it.

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I use a Vox tonelab ST, it has a lot of effects, amp simulators, built in tube and whatnot. It is actually very good, I hardly ever need to use any effects from the cubase or Audacity. The only disadvantage it has is that for instance when you turn on the Wahwah, it will turn off the Compressor or one of 5 other effects. Frankyguitar also got one of them. Because it has so many knobs and options it was a bit difficult in the beginning to know what to do, but now, after a year of using it, I pretty much know most of the functions and I find it easier now to get the tone and delay etc. that I want. I actually enjoy playing with all these options. The nice thing is that you can up to 50 settings, so when I work on different songs over a period of time I can always find exactly the same tone as I did a month ago. It has got a setting backup function for the computer too.

I paid for mine about 160 Euros about one year ago, I saw it in a shop and bought it without cheking prices first :O , so maybe you can find it cheaper on ebay or amazon.
http://www.voxamps.com/tonelabst

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I have very good experience with VOX Valve-reactor technology (tonelab and others) for amp simulation and overdrive sounds. I prefer them over Line6 or boss. Other makes of overdrive and distorsion effects worth considering are fulltone and TC-electronics.

When it comes to time based effects (modulation, delat and reverb) the choices are broader.

It is also important to consider the use of the effect. In a live situation you need to be able to change the sound quickly, this means either separate effects with footswitches or a programmable unit with means to change sounds instantly. Sadly enough the Zoom MS series cannot be controlled this way but they deliver a lot of bang or the buck if setup time is not an issue.

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Thanks everybody for the replies, I may rent or borrow a couple of things and play around a bit with them. Not too interested in a multi effects type pedal as I have NO patience to figure out how to work one. As I keep changing my mind about what sound I am looking for I am in no hurry.

cheers
jeff

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A couple of things you could try before going the pedal route:

Go up a string gauge or maybe try a 'heavy bottom' set. Of course, you would need to reset the intonation.

Lower the pickup height slightly on the treble side of all 3 pickups. If possible, raise the pickup height on the bass side - but be careful if you have the vintage style Alnico pole-pieces because they exert quite a strong magnetic pull on the strings. If you adjust the pickup too high, the strings can warble and it throws the intonation out.

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hey jeff! check out this video on Tone City Pedals https://youtu.be/XZBVq54u2aM

might be other demos on this link ;)
Regards, Pico :)

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