Question about pedal platform amps

For me, “Pedal Platform” means a very good base tone to build from, be it a mid-scooped blackface Fender or a more aggressive Tweed/Marshall hairy clean.

From there comes the hunt for OD and dirt pedals that best complement that base sound.
 
Frodebro said:
For me, “Pedal Platform” means a very good base tone to build from, be it a mid-scooped blackface Fender or a more aggressive Tweed/Marshall hairy clean.

From there comes the hunt for OD and dirt pedals that best complement that base sound.
Click to expand...
To add to this, if you get a Dirt pedal with a sweepable mid or even better yet a tilt EQ, you can use more amps and put things in the “sweet spot.”

This little puppy plays great across all my amps. Even if this pedal is not for you, you can learn a lot by taking a look at how it was engineered. A tilt EQ which you can use to suit the amp and a 3 band tone stack plus presence and adjustable low end via the variable “tight” function to suit your taste. Built in noise gate, compressor and speaker emulation.

IMG_0241.jpeg
 
DrewJD82 said:
I consider “playing well with an amp” to mean I can just throw the pedal in front of the amp, not adjust the amp to accommodate the pedal and I’m good to go. I actually preferred the Hot Rod Deluxe over the DRRI exactly for this reason, the DRRI can be spikey in the treble and getting dirt pedals to play nice without dialing the treble back, sacrificing the clean tone, wasn’t as easy as it was with the HRD for me.
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Absolutely my experience. And as far as the "lackluster" cleans of the HRD go (which I never found to be that lackluster), an RC Boost (or clone) will pretty nicely sort you out. But here you're into "now I need a loop switcher for painless operation" territory already. Which is why I can't live without loop switchers anymore...
 
I have done the “pedal platform” thing so much over the years with so many different amps and I’ve only ever experienced one amp that just didn’t seem to work with pedals (a Dr Z Jaz 20/40)

In general any amp works great with pedals.

What you have to do is decide what flavor of base tone you want. That’s the foundation you build on
 
I think an HRD is more than good enough for an affordable pedal platform. I would go that route well before a katana :idk spend a lil more on a DRRI or a PRRI even better.



Another recommendation is the Mesa Express series. There’s a few different types all easily available under $1k. I thought my 5:50+ was one of the best sounding pedal takers on the clean channel I’ve had
 
Best pedal platform amp I ever used was my sort of "degraded" MkIV. Went from 4CM and channel switching to using the clean channel only. I even went as far as checking loads of V1 tubes to find one that would give me the best compression/dirt-free headroom.
Was running it through either a half-slanted 2x12 (top open back, Thiele-Small at the bottom, self-cloned Boogie cab) equipped with a Peavey Sheffield and a V30, both extremely well worn in, or through a 1x12 open back equipped with a G12-H100.

IMO speakers make all of a difference for a pedal platform amp (for absolutely obvious reasons). Which I guess is part of the reasons why they changed the speakers in the HRD amps.

The same Sheffield/V30 combination also turned my red-knob 90s Fender "The Twin" into a pedal platform pretty much on par with the Boogie (factory speakers are the worst I have ever played through, no idea what Fender thought back then...), I only didn't keep using it because the weight is really horrible.
 
Frodebro said:
For me, “Pedal Platform” means a very good base tone to build from, be it a mid-scooped blackface Fender or a more aggressive Tweed/Marshall hairy clean.

From there comes the hunt for OD and dirt pedals that best complement that base sound.
Click to expand...
That hunt for me is mostly done now with the SL Drive and the Nano Metal Muff. There are no financial funds for anything else at the moment (when it comes to pedals). Next moneys will go into speaker.
Sascha Franck said:
IMO speakers make all of a difference for a pedal platform amp (for absolutely obvious reasons). Which I guess is part of the reasons why they changed the speakers in the HRD amps.
Click to expand...
That's what I am thinking: Everyone's saying a Fender will work superb and it will probably work superb for cleans or edge-of-breakup, but will it work (especially the speakers) for higher gain? Doesn't have to mimic the 4x12 V30 craze (if I wanted that I'd buy that), but can it do some mid to high gain marshall tones? As I said: I have no experience with Fenders and that's why I startedt the thread: To get some info.
 
BahamaDada said:
That's what I am thinking: Everyone's saying a Fender will work superb and it will probably work superb for cleans or edge-of-breakup, but will it work (especially the speakers) for higher gain? Doesn't have to mimic the 4x12 V30 craze (if I wanted that I'd buy that), but can it do some mid to high gain marshall tones? As I said: I have no experience with Fenders and that's why I startedt the thread: To get some info.
Click to expand...

From my personal experience, it's easier to get a nice clean tone out of an amp using speakers more aimed at overdriven sounds than the other way around.
Now, that is a pretty broad statement, but just as an (even broader) example: Try to coax a great overdriven sound out of a Jazz Chorus with its standard speakers. You will pretty likely fail. And now try to coax a decent clean sound out of, say, a JCM 800 combo and you'll likely succeed easily, especially in case you can afford dedicating a separate EQ for the clean sound (see my previous comment about loop switchers...).

I used that very combo for quite a while and I also used quite some other amps mainly aiming at overdriven sounds - getting decent (or even great) cleans out of them has never been an issue in case the amp offers enough headroom. Grab a GE-7, slap it in front of the clean channel, adjust to taste and there's your nice clean tone.
As said, this typically won't work the other way around - which is why I personally never liked Fenders too much, with the exception of the HRD and my "The Twin" with it's speakers replaced.
 
i use one of these, its just a 50 el34 NMV with reverb, stays clean and chimey till about 10 oclock on the volume that is great for pedals, then it turns into a beautiful plexi kind of break up after that. dont know what they go for these days but they were $3-400 bucks for years

iu
 
RaceU4her said:
i use one of these, its just a 50 el34 NMV with reverb, stays clean and chimey till about 10 oclock on the volume that is great for pedals, then it turns into a beautiful plexi kind of break up after that. dont know what they go for these days but they were $3-400 bucks for years

iu
Click to expand...
I saw your reply and thought you were going to rep the VH140C :grin :satan :rofl
 
BahamaDada said:
That hunt for me is mostly done now with the SL Drive and the Nano Metal Muff. There are no financial funds for anything else at the moment (when it comes to pedals). Next moneys will go into speaker.

That's what I am thinking: Everyone's saying a Fender will work superb and it will probably work superb for cleans or edge-of-breakup, but will it work (especially the speakers) for higher gain? Doesn't have to mimic the 4x12 V30 craze (if I wanted that I'd buy that), but can it do some mid to high gain marshall tones? As I said: I have no experience with Fenders and that's why I startedt the thread: To get some info.
Click to expand...

The trouble with high gain tones in pedal platforms (in my opinion), is usually related to the fact that usually an open back combo is being used as a pedal platform, and that typically falls short for tight high gain sounds. That said, it may not be a problem if just playing at home. I've always found that an open back clean amp with a high gain pedal can sound good at lower volumes, but it gets worse the louder you go and always has kind of fallen short once at volumes to compete with a drummer. YMMV
 
norminal said:
No trying to sound like a dick, but you can hook pedals to any amp. Not sure what makes an amp a “pedal platform,” but in my 35+ years of playing guitar, I’ve yet to come across an amp that won’t “take pedals.”

Hell, my buddy uses pedals with his $99 BlackStar ID: Core amp.
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Yeah. There is the wrong pedal for a particular amp running at a particular volume. And this is where I see OP running into some challenge. If you dial in a pedal/amp setup for living room playing, its not at all going to translate to jamming with a drummer. And not just like "oh, I need to tweak some EQ things", but as in "ugh, this sounds super mushy and gross and its going to take me 5-10 minutes of making noise annoying the people I'm supposed to be jamming with to figure it out. Maybe digital DOES make sense."
 
Boudoir Guitar said:
If you dial in a pedal/amp setup for living room playing, its not at all going to translate to jamming with a drummer.
Click to expand...

But the same could be said of any amplifier. Digital, SS, or Tube.
What works in the living room/bedroom never translates once you start cranking up to drummer levels.

And anyone who's gonna take 5-10 minutes making those adjustments needs to sell off all of their gear
and take up painting by numbers or some similar type of hobby, since they are fucking useless as a band member.

IMO.
 
Achilles said:
But the same could be said of any amplifier. Digital, SS, or Tube.
What works in the living room/bedroom never translates once you start cranking up to drummer levels.

And anyone who's gonna take 5-10 minutes making those adjustments needs to sell off all of their gear
and take up painting by numbers or some similar type of hobby, since they are fucking useless as a band member.

IMO.
Click to expand...
Nah. Unless you are running a 120 watt tube amp in your living room, and you've found a 120 watt tube amp that sounds great in your living room, you're going to see significant changes in headroom going from living room to drummer volumes.

Unless you're using an idiotically spec'ed power amp (not abnormal) with a digital/solid state setup, you should still be well within headroom limits so aside from some feltcher/munson EQ tweaks, you're good to go.
 
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