HT CLUB 40 LIMITED EDITION - USING A DISTORTION PEDAL

[rokgod1]

I primarily use the amp's distortion, but for some sonic flexibility, I just added a Boss Blues Driver (BD-2) to my pedalboard. Admittedly, I'm new to the whole pedalboard arena, even though I've been playing for years. Up until now, I always had amps with built in FX.

Half of my pedals (chorus/delay/tremolo) route through the effects loop and sound amazing. However, my issue is with regard to running the other half of my pedals into the guitar input of the amp: Morley Mini Wah/Volume into TC Electronic Polytone 2 tuner into the Blues Driver then out to the guitar input.

I use the Blues Driver when I'm running the clean channel. When I turn on the pedal, the distortion sounds like it's being limited/compressed. Ive run this setup directly into my DAW recording software and it doesn't sound like what I just described. So I'm thinking there might be an issue with how the the amp is handling the Blues Driver.

So two questions come up:
In my current configuration, am I taxing the preamp with the distortion pedal, causing the squashed sound?
Assuming it's ok to do so, should I be routing the Blues Driver through the effects loop instead?

I'm being conservative and asking up front before I do something that may/may not srew up my coveted amp.

[thephantum]

Most likely, the signal is getting slammed into the front end causing it to compress, but that is not going to hurt anything. First thing I would try is lowering the levels on all the pedals and seeing if it sounds different.

Keep in mind that running a pedal (or pedals) direct is always going to sound different because the amp isn't adding it's own "coloring". To be clear on that statement, no guitar amp is transparent...they will all add their own distinctive sound. That's why a Fender sounds different from a Marshall, which sounds different from a Blackstar, etc.

The next thing I would try is just the Blues Driver, so Guitar=>BD-2=>Input. That will tell you if one of the other pedals is booting the signal causing it to compress.

You can also try putting it in the loop, prior to your other effects. It will sound different than it will in front of the amp because of the difference in how the signal is processed....but you might like the way it sounds there.

[rokgod1]

Thanks for the help...problem solved!

[darthchadius]

You will also notice a difference on the clean channel depending on the voice switch setting as well. From my experience with this, there should be less compression in the class A/B setting (In) than the class A setting (Out).