Cheap Pedals & Expensive Amps or Expensive Pedals & Cheap Amps?? Does it Even Matter??
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
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⏰ Timestamps ⏰
» 0:00 An Experiment?
» 0:36 The Amps!
» 1:06 The Pedals!
» 2:00 The Guitars!
» 3:10 EastCoast EC-35GRII
» 10:10 Boss Katana
» 16:35 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe!
» 25:30 Tone King Imperial MKII
» 33:20 Conclusions?
» 34:30 Outro With All Pedals and Amps!
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Here's what I gather. You may or may not care:
Spending twice as much money on a better pedal makes a marginal difference.
Spending twice as much money on a better amp makes a big difference.
Ehhh twice as much for a pedal is.... let's say $150 more. Twice as much for an amp is... $2000 more. 😅
@@emartinezr I understand what you're saying, but that does depend on the starting point with regards to both the pedal and the amp. I don't think it changes my point overall though. Not until the point of diminishing returns, which is an outrageously high figure as far as amps are concerned.
Yes. And you don't have to pay a fortune to get a good pedal. Some of the most basic Boss pedals are just fine. I've also played pedals by Behringer and Donner that were about $30 and sounded great.
@@angusorvid8840 indeed. If we learned anything from the Bad Monkey saga, it is that our biases run out decision making
I learned a long time ago to trust my ears. If it sounds good, it is good, no matter how affordable it is; if it sounds bad, it is bad, no matter how expensive it is. I remember a line of amps that were very hyped up in the late 80s, Kitty Hawk. They got some big endorsers including Reb Beach of Winger. Then word got out how awful they sounded, how unreliable they were, and Reb Beach called them Shitty Hawks. I tried a used one at my local shop and could not believe how bad it sounded. The shop kept discounting it before it finally sold. @@jesperjacobsen2463
I used to use fairly high end gear in my gigging days. Now that I only play at home, I use decent quality less expensive gear, both in amps and pedals. I actually find my tone better now. Part of that I attribute to the fact that I've learned a lot about how to get the best out of a pedal/amp than I knew back then, and part is due to the fact that the tech has improved to the point where less expensive gear is better than it was in the 90's. I'd love to try some higher end stuff, but can't justify the expense now, as a living room player.
Turns out, actually learning what EQ is and what each knob does is what's important. Who would've thought about that lol.
Spend your money on guitars lessons first, appropriate amps for your situation second, pedals last
From my Andertons degree that I got from watching hours of youtube videos… I learned that cheap pedals can compete against expensive pedals but a cheap amp will never compete against an expensive amp.
Having said that, I am still very excited to watch this video and see the outcome.
Would love to see this but with modulation, delay, and reverb pedals. In my experience, you can get away with a less expensive dirt pedal, but cheap mod/delay/verb pedals tend to get nasty. Good content! Great Playing!
This all depends on context. For myself I find most every modern expensive reverb and delay pedals to be just overly clean. They are too perfect. The algorithmic grit you dial in is too perfect. They all lack a disgusting charm that you get from older gear with shitty converters but still an analog dry side.
The only modern company you I've kept gear from that deals in digital has been Oto (who makes really weird stuff) and the maneco line of low res samplers.
cheap autowahs are awful
I agree, I have gone through 5 delay pedals trying to find the right one. Finally ended up with a JHS which was more money than I wanted to spend but I am happy with it. Cheap reverbs are the same. They sound like rubbish.
I find the opposite? I feel like mod is mod, verb is verb, and delay is delay, but with drive pedals paying a bit more usually gets you more eq knobs.
@@fivewaysas far as delay goes that’s because it’s digital, if you want the darker grittier delay go with analog or tape simulation and for reverbs I’m not sure I believe that claim
I’ve always said that the closer it is to the end of your chain, the more important it is to your tone. Amps > pedals > guitar. However, the guitar’s feel will determine how much you want to pick it up and play, so it’s the most important in that respect. Pedals have the smallest delta between good and bad so they can easily be the most overpriced. But at the end of the day, if you don’t love your amp, you won’t love your tone. NOTHING will make up for what your amp lacks, no matter how many Klons and vintage guitars you plug into it.
Advancing that logic, the speaker is the single most important tone factor, if your speakers are garbage the rest of your tone is throttled no matter what you use, and manufacturers generally choose speakers for their mass-production amps and cabs based on a price point and not what's best
Agreed. A good amp will make any cheap pedal or guitar sound better. Also the most overlooked part that has a drastic tone is the speaker moving all the sound!
I wanna say the type of pickup matters a lot, tone wise. Mainly single vs dual coil. No matter what I do, I can't make my Humbucker equipped guitar sound not nasally mid forward, even with an EQ pedal (maybe I'm just bad at using the EQ pedal for this purpose), and that impacts everything coming after it. And my single coil equipped guitar will always have that spanky attack that makes dialling a high gain tone a bit more difficult.
@@void_snw Are you using the eq pedal before the amp or in the effects loop?
pick ups make a big difference if you are playing live. For example , I changed my standard strat pick ups to texas specials going into a fender twin. This made a big difference in cutting through the mix. in your bed room playing into a smaller amp is it worth it?I once bought a second hand Vox AC30 off a guy who was a beginner and bedroom guitarist. As Pete was saying its like buying a Porsche 911 to learn to drive in. @@void_snw
Speakers and speaker cab size isn’t spoken about , but , it’s the most important thing , plus some expensive valve amps need to be driven / played loud to get the best out of them , and it’s about the feel too , how do notes appear when you pick softly / hard . All good fun 😊👍
In the studio realm they are all usable sounds. In a live situation at high volumes the cheap amps will show their weaknesses regardless of pedals. Fun experiment. Enjoyed it.
it so true
💯
But in a live situation, barely anyone outside of the player themselves will care. Provided the amps don't break down completely (which can frankly happen even to the most expensive ones).
From my experience playing hundreds of shows, the listening audience does care what your amp sounds like. My point is that cheaper amps show their weaknesses at higher volumes.@@Case_
@@gardenstudio7987 OK.
The leap from Hot Rod to Tone King is genuinely remarkable. It isn't until the Tone King where I hear the Halcyon do that Tube Screamer sound; which I'm not a fan of, but I know the distinct characteristics. And in the Tone King is when the Nux pedals sound like they've run out, that there's nothing more to give. Whereas in the other three amps they kept up; in fact in the solid state amps I thought the Nux sounded better.
I was already shocked at the leap from the Boss to the Fender. Was it just me or did that HotRod DL sound really dull?
And I gotta say that the Nux TS sounded really great. The horseman slightly less than it's counterpart, but for the money? Pretty friggin good stuff.
About the TS sound in general: I really am a big fan, but only with single coils, and on the neck position (or the 4 position as well with a strat). A TS adds these very distinct, chimey (metallic?) overtones that I just love. However, when I hear a TS on a bridge pickup or HB I'm always left kinda 'meh'. Good overdrive, but nothing that sets it apart.
@@bakkels I don't know if anyone would actually choose a Hot Rod Deluxe. It's seemingly always a "make do with" amp.
The Tone King was 10db louder than the Fender so it made it hard to tell for me. What's louder is ALWAYS going to sound "better".
@@tisbonus Louder in the room doesn't equal louder in the video.
@@GitShiddy Literally louder on the video by a lot.
I think in a live/band context, this minute differences in the tones in the pedals would not be noticeable at all
100%
Exactly
I agree. But the amp difference would be noticed! LOL 🙂
@@Straydogger as a live technician in a venue who has all kinds of bands coming in to play, from really really small acts playing very basic equipment to european, australian and US touring bands, I'd say: the difference between a fender deluxe reverb and a old ass shitty fender frontmann or a orange crush combo is totally negligible as soon as the thing is mic'ed up for almost all live applications - given the band knows that they are doing, band sound wise.
Not a single soul in the audience, other than other gear obsessed guitarists, willl hear any difference.
I'd say there are several other factors that play a way bigger role in how the guitar will sound over the PA system: is the signal properly buffered? does the guitarist use a proper power-source for pedals or is it one of those cheap power bricks without proper grounding? are the strings fresh or already played for the last three shows? all of these make a much bigger impact than what amp.
So Pete’s got the fourth best tele in his blind test. But yes, the most expensive.
No you didn't lol
I felt for Pete when I watched that video . We all should of learned a lot from that video . Lol
@@brotherhawk3228 I learned that I should delay no longer on ordering that FGN I have been playing in the shop.
@@matthewtyler-jones8317 You think your turning Japanese lol what model are you looking at .
@@brotherhawk3228 😀old enough to get that reference. Yes I’ve been looking for a t-type for about a year£400-£500. But nothing I played had the feel I wanted. Wondered about stretching to a vintera, but I pull the high E off the fretboard at the best of times, and that 7” radius didn’t help. Then I tried the Iliad. Pretty much perfect, But what I really wanted were the Ash bodied J-standard versions. And what I could justify were the Boundary versions, which were right at the top end of my budget. Then two things happened: that video said they Iliad would be pretty much perfect with upgraded pickups, AND I found a little cash of savings I had kind of forgotten about that was pretty my ten quid over what a j-standard costs. So … 🤷♂️
The floating graphics to illustrate what amp and pedal are actively being used is an incredibly helpful touch. Well done!
My takeaway so far (haven't finished the video) is that expensive stuff sounds better but not as good as 10 guitar lessons per pedal to get me closer to Petes level
That said I might spend 10 guitar lessons worth of money on a Halcyon anyway!
Well done, Lee and Pete. I thought this was a terrific way to highlight both how startling the difference between amps is and how subtle differences in the pedals affected tone.
While an audience might not be able to discern the shift in tone, a player is going to have more confidence and a radically different approach when they don’t have to fight the equipment to achieve tone.
And Pete is quite correct - once a player has developed abilities, they are more likely to maximize those subtle differences and wring the most out of the equipment.
Would love to see this video concept but with speakers. Expensive amps with great vs cheap speakers, and cheap amps with great vs cheap speakers. I think people might finally realize that speakers are one of the most important factors in how good your amp sounds.
This.
Excellent video. I agree with your findings, and I like all the tones. I'm not convinced the NUX are less attractive tones, but rather simply different. A few times, I preferred the NUX. What fun!
EXACTLY this. For me there were slight differences (I am using decent earphones for this video) - but I wouldn't say the were better/worse, just different. Except the last, expensive amp. I preferred the Origin Effects pedals. ymmv
Great vid! Appreciate the effort in putting up these videos. 👍
I just love the "not much change out of three grand" line.
That is how you do it.
Interesting experiment. Until you got up to the Tone King Amp, I preferred the less expensive NuX pedals paired with the less expensive Amps. This may indicate that the Pedal Makers have a pretty good idea what type/price Amps their pedals will be used on. Customers should consider that as well to get the best results. Thanks
Why do you prefer less expensive amps. Other than the fact they cost less.
@@stringlocker I think they were saying that on the cheaper amps, they preferred the sound of the cheaper pedals. Not that they prefer cheaper amps.
I have to admit I don't pay very close attention to anderton's videos. They have pretty much run out of new things to say. I just picked up on the cheap amp thing. I used to buy them because I was cheap. I don't buy them anymore they are inferior.
@@stringlockerit’s crazy how much in the video and comment thread flew over you head. I’m bewildered.
@@Spetsnazty I watched zero of the video. I cannot tolerate their videos anymore. I just read the thumbnail and saw cheap amplifier. And I took it from there. It's just the thing that I do.
Lee, that was great. Thank you for your channel.
Great concept, gents! Love to see this on the back end of another great blindfold video as well. Andertons strikes again!
Great video! Fortunately my OCD sounds pretty good through my Katana. The pricey amps are better but out of my price range. Lucky to have what I have.
I have a Roland blues cube hot and a few pedals and I feel lucky to have what I have as well. I definitely get what you’re talking about.
✌🏻
This has been the most informative video ive really seen tbh . I own a 1999 Fender US Stratocaster which ive owned from new , and love . Im looking at amps just now as im currently using a small Orange and was considering getting the Orange Crush 60 or a 50watt Katana . I think ill keep saving as the better amp does sound so much better .
Pedals can definitely change your tone more, as there are infinite options. But I always prioritize the amp, as it’s the basis for all the pedal tones. Plus, with all the amps and pedals available as captures and plug ins now, you have infinite cheap options that sound good now. But I find less issues with pedal captures than with amp captures.
You guys always have the best, informative, and fun videos. Hello from Ohio! 😊
If your amp sounds rubbish, no pedal is gonna make it sound good enough. When I started gigging at 16, I only had an amp, I didn't have any pedals at all. then for years I only used a distortion and a wah. the amp will always be more important than the pedals imo, especially as you can gig with no pedals but you can't gig with no amplification. And a lot of amps come with fx now too.
Nice work guys loved it
I find it expensive amp is the way to go coz it gives more dynamic and there's more head room for the pedal to do its thing even with cheaper(but worth every peny spend) pedals . Thanks so much for this content
Great vid as always! Here at our shop in San Diego Cali we sell the Marshall code 50 @ $299 100 x more than the katana. To be more accurate, we never sell any katana's when we A/B them and let the client choose. Cheers!
Great advice! I’m looking to move up from my starting Nux Mighty Amp 8 BT MKII. Curious if the Libe 6 Catalyst fares better against the Marshall code 50?
The cheap ts sounded better (and quieter!) than the Halcyon in some settings! It'd be interesting to hear them in a mix, too. As for the amps, it's definitely a matter of speakers, too. Fun video!
Fender uses cheap speakers, even the eminence-made ones are lacking compared to a real eminence, I run all my fender amps through ext cabs
I agree! The cheap tube screamer was definitely better sounding to my ears 👍🏾
@@jasondorsey7110I disagree. The speaker on the SuperSonic 22 was good. But good isn't great. I always swap in a Celestion Gold Alnico in Fenders, v30's with Marshalls, and two different speakers with Mesa that I cant divulge due to it's proprietary nature.
Bottom line, the Tone King amp sounds great!
From my experience, a Peavey Bandit on the clean channel with any good $200 plus overdrive or distortion pedal and a good delay sounds quite professional in terms of sound quality.
Just here to say, the way Lee handled Instagram and the recent "controversy" was impeccable.
Bought products from the store this week because of it. You guys are a storefront and the channel supports it. Haters will try to hate. Love the content you guys do!!
The conflict of interest where the law was broken through a lie of omission?
@@notgnar8506 not a law where I live in Canada or the USA. Instead other brands who feel slighted that a store sells their own brands can choose to not distribute with them.
When you have social capital, many companies will choose to allow you to sell their products, even though they may know they don't have equal promotion in the store compared to other in-house brands.
What controversy? Got me curious now
Streisand effect in full force!
@@benjaminthorpe7990
@@NS-tc9kk hahahha. Not much I can do about that :( sometimes we are born into sports teams.
Great experiment that should turn into a very popular series!
Cool comparison. Also this is a good "solid state vs tube" demo. And thanks to Noel, amp settings are important again lol
Very interesting! ALL I have learned from this is that I have to have a Tone King ImperiaL..Crikey that is a great sounding amp!
Of all my years of pedals, guitars and Amps. I've learned: if it sounds good, it's good. Regardless of price.
Definitely worth putting more money into the amp.
Great video chaps. I learned a lot. About what I'm not certain, but it was fun....
Great explanation.... The increments of price are greater than the increments of quality, (specifically sound).
One comparison is missing...How do the pedals sound in front of a captured amp or even modeler... I think nowadays, so many people are using that configuration and it would be amazing to hear how they sound.. I am currently in exactly that situation I am using a toneX and since over a week, I am trying to figure out what pedals I want to buy.. .Looking mainly for a ambient delay, Reverb and a Fuzz without busting the bank.
And more important is the TONEX or any other capture platform or these Amp pedals like UA etc even able to bring out the nuances of the higher quality pedals or are cheaper one enough...
Would be so amazing if u could do a comparison...bet there are soooooo many people out there think the same!
As always ...amazing content ❤
Thumbs up everyone who also likes to see it
Good amp wins all day
Truth. I basically knew the answer coming into this video. Now there were some surprises within this though. Which is great. Also, Pete can make a broken dishwasher sound great. 😂 the guy is phenomenal.
I've got a katana 50 and a mix of different priced pedals. Sounds great!
Supposedly you get the most out of the Katana if you plug it into the PC or MAC and access the software and patch banks, etc. You might try that at some point.
15:42 pete definitely likes to play with himself
The more expensive amps just have such better dynamic range, which highlights the pedals capabilities. Having said that if you weren't doing a side by side comparision I'm not sure you'd even notice. Thanks as always guys.
What not to like about a telecaster paired with a hot rod , is just a perfect combo that any pedal would just sound great . In my opinion the Fender Hot Rod / blues / Deville are the best investment one can go for
In addition to the cool comparison, thank you for the cool guitar philosophy 🔥🤘
Very smooth pass and catch of the guitar lead 👌
I changed the taper of my HRD volume. Brilliant.
I get what Captain is saying, listening perspective is a real thing, sometimes we don't hear how ice picky we can sound because the amp is behind us, but in front of the audience. You only catch glimpses of your true sound when you turn to hear it more direct on.
I have some more expensive amps, but at gigs, I always take my Line 6 Catalyst and Pod Go (using it as a pedalboard). I get compliments on my tone regularly - you don't need an expensive amp or expensive pedals, IMO.
Nice comparison. But i see that the eastcoast and imperial were set louder than the others, as seen from petes outro at the end. Volume on the amp greatly affects tone overall
Very Cool, Thankyou. Very informative, Interesting and Entertaining. Have a couple of NUX Pedals being the NUX Boost Core and The NUX "Steel Singer" and they both ROCK. So awesome, and so much fun and both lift my Amps to such amazing places, Tube or Solid State. And I admit to being a very 'average' player. All the Best. Cheers
Hated my Steel String, had a mid range frequency that just wasn’t for me. Just so honky.
Interesting to hear the differences, they start subtle but get more distinct as you go up.
However, with the Halcyon green, I noticed through the Fender there's a bit more "clean" signal coming through than the others, which i personally don't like.
Concluded that the NUX pedals are awesome and great value for money.. 👍🇦🇺
I believe that your mind and experience matter most. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder.
I would love to see Pete or Rabea do a Winner Stays On episode for Univibe pedals. There’s so many good ones!
8:15, amazing catch Captain!
This kind of proves the point of the people who always ask for you to use cheap amps though. Because if people hear a great pedal, and then buy it and find out it doesn't really sound much different on their affordable amp at home they're going to be massively disappointed. They _want_ to know that it wouldn't be worth it for them. I think that's their point. They think "Man that pedal sounds awesome, I should get one! But would it sound awesome on my cheaper setup too...?". So maybe do the full demos as normal, then have a short bit showing it on a cheap amp as well?
It would be interesting to see the same kind of thing with other FX like reverb and delay and chorus etc, to see if you hear the smaller details that set different pedals apart on different amps. Also maybe the Halcyon pedals for the expensive was a "bad" choice? Since part of their appeal and price is all the extra features, rather than just how they sound when they're both trying to do the same thing.
Great video as always! 💙
The speaker the amplifier is going into is what matters the most.
My very first "rig" (if you can call it that) was a tiny practice amp and a Digitech RP200 multi effects pedal.
My dog left the room when you played the Tone King - maybe there are some extra high frequencies in that amp that I could not hear - he definitely reacted to it.
Lee doesnt want to hear "all you need is cheap gear" lol.
Whenever its implied even a little, the mood changes.
The last thing an owner is going to do is push a beginner to buy less expensive gear.
Thanks for your honesty Pete!
I use my bassbreaker 15w combo when I'm running a lot of pedals, and it handles them EXTREMELY well. I don't have crazy expensive pedals, but they aren't the cheap ones either; in my experience though, price of the pedal isn't a big factor. In fairness, the bass breaker doesn't have the "magic" on it's own that my Princeton '68, or even my AC15 has played straight in, but it's a much more versatile amp for me. I'll still keep the Princeton and Vox because they're so good at what they do!
that OE Gold is good....
My amp responds well to a Klon (I've got the Horseman)or a Bluesbreaker (of which I have an original.... from new..... I was right all along 😁)
Off the back of also running a Cali76 I'm pretty tempted.... They are a quality build.
I'm sure people have already said this, but with the Katana comes a range of Boss pedal emulations. There are Clean Boost, Treble Boost, Mid Boost, Crunch OD, Blues Drive, Overdrive, Natural Overdrive, Warm Overdrive, Turbo Overdrive, Tube Scream, Distortion, Fat Distortion, Dist +, Guv DS, RAT, Metal Zone, Metal DS, 60s Fuzz, Muff Fuzz and Oct Fuzz settings, and of course that's just in the distortion and overdrive, there's equally great options for dynamics and modulation and delays. So maybe instead of getting pedals, get a Katana and buy the foot controller for it, so you have a wide range of immediate switching options. If you have the budget and want a bigger sound, get a bigger Katana. I purchased the Katana Artist Head with foot controller and a secondhand Marshall 4x12 cabinet. I really do not find much use for my valve amps or most of my boutique pedals now.
great show chaps. a very good ad for budget pedals, and a reminder that the amp is so important - don't buy boutique pedals - save that money up for a tube amp.
The real question is amp vs speakers. Is it better to have a good amp with a cheap cab and poorly suited speakers? Or a mediocre amp with the right size cab and the right speakers? I theorize that guitars are to amps as amps are to speakers. In other words cabs and speakers are the most important thing in the rig in terms of sound. You lock in the right size enclosure with the right speakers and any amp is going to shine. Electric guitar is an acoustic instrument after all, it's just that the acoustic part is at the speaker not the guitar itself.
I own a Tube King Imperial II, and it is without a doubt on every level, the best amp I’ve ever owned/played through.
They are genuinely a well made musical instrument…after all, an amp is the vocal chords of an electric guitar.
Having said the above, we are living in the golden age of guitar, and amps and pedals at just about every price point are AMAZING these days.
That tone king is huge, I'd never even looked twice at one. Sounds huge!
@@Xenious the price of entry is pretty high, but the pay off is huge.
Tone king Imperial is the best amp in my opinion as I own one!! Strymon pedals sound fantastic through it!!
The tone king definitely sounded the best in my opinion, but it should. I really liked the Halcyon gold pedal quite a bit more than any of the others. The cheaper pedals did sound surprisingly good for such a huge difference in price. The affordable pedals did much better than I thought they would.
I think this is a tough experiment to do because having gone down this rabbit hole myself recently, the amp itself does make a lot of difference to how the pedals sound so even if you were going between two different expensive amps the pedals might sound better or worse depending on the amp's voicing. Realistically, for my money, putting decent sounding pedals regardless of price through a nice sounding amp will get you what you want and then from there it's all about how far you want to go with the minor tweaks to get those few extra percentiles of difference to your sound.
Fantastic. Mick and Dave do you recommend pairing my Fender Stratocaster SSS usa model, AC30 with blue speakers into an ODR1?
I learned a long time ago that a great amp can solve most problems with tone. I play several Squiers and they ring out well with a nice amp. I use a variety of pedals some expensive and some budget. You have to know what you want out of your guitar adventures. Most of my budget pedals will do a great job any day of the week.
There's nothing like a boutique (ish) amp and, thankfully, I own one. But with all things valve, it needs to go into the shop right now. So I end up using my Katana and have no issues whatsoever other than it's just more fun and 'creative' to play the quality amp. I own several pedals, some expensive, some less so. Depending on the tone I want, there are times the inexpensive pedal is actually better than the expensive one. Where I find differences between pedals, actually, is in unwanted noise (hum or hiss). In general, if I find a pedal to be noisy, I won't buy it regardless of price. But it's worth noting that one of my favorite dirt pedals, currently, is a pretty low cost one. There is some noise, but nothing that comes out when playing.
Beginners aren't going to be arsed with dealing with a huge tube amp that needs servicing all the time. I would have quit guitar years ago if I'd had to deal with all that.
@NolanVoid-dr1ch I know a few pro. or semi pro musicians who scoff at any digital processors, etc. or solid state amps. I just don't care because I'm just a home player. For my purposes a few good processors pedals, and smaller modeling amps work great. I did buy a Vox VX50 GTV amp, though, so I've got "nuTube" tech. and 50 watts of actual tube power, basically. The amp is small but powerful as hell. I would love to own a good Fender Blues tube amp though someday, a Blues Jr. or a Peavey Classic or whatever.
Another way of looking at the pedals is the lower cost pedal may be grittier versus the expensive that maybe too smooth. I like the grit.
I remember hearing from Rebea on the 1000 BP rig video that he chose the "expensive" Earthquake Devices Dispatch Master because he's able to get the result he wants totally quicker than with cheaper gear, so there's that. Your facilitation of the equipment is almost more important than what you spend on gear. You do have to know know how to play your instrument, to a certain extent, to get what you're after.
Honestly, I think the Nux pedals sounded better in my ears in all cases, it was easy to hear the difference. I was especially fond of the tubescreamer clone. But it is VERY different experience in the room, I totally get why they would say there's less of a difference with the cheaper amps. And the experience of playing a Halcyon might very well be better than the experience of playing the Nux pedal.
My favorite pedals of all time are the original ProCo Rat (although there are some great knockoffs), Ibanez Tube Screamer, MXR Distortion +, Boss Overdrive, Boss Super Overdrive, Boss Distortion, and Boss Blues Driver, the latter of which is my main pedal these days besides a Boss Delay, Boss EQ, Boss Chorus, and MXR Phase 90 which I use sparingly.
Its gonna be more interesting if you included a Blackstar Studio 10, very very dynamic and will respond to each of those pedal beautifully. Very affordable as well
Can you guys do a video on how you mic your amps? Or how you capture these tones? They always sound so good compared to what I get when I'm recording at home. A lot more clear, less muddy/bassy.
If they've already done this, can someone link it to me?
Are you doing stuff in post? Eq is your friend. Also a good tone in a mix doesn't necessarily sound the best stand alone - this is why teles are great for recording
What speakers are in each of these? Would be interested to hear them compared with the same speaker swapped into each.
Some of the best pedals i got are cheap ones. And some play nicely with my SV20, some dont, mainly because that huuuge bright cap makes things a bit difficult to set up in the beginning.
It really just depends on style of circuit for both. I'll personally never like a TS pedal type tone for myself, and a full on clean amp is gonna struggle more with fuzzes than one with a bit of gain, for example.
17:15 just add a compressor or a volume pedal into the loop. I heard it on TPS and tried it. It’s absolutely perfect now, sounds great at probably -15db
good advice, I do, works a treat.
Or get a Liontamer in the loop 🙂 Changed my HRDiii for the better 4 or 5 years ago. Those TPS vids were excellent. I love my liontamed HRD, even though its not my no.1 these days (Victory V40 took that spot 2 years ago)
I have a Tone King, but if I had an ordinary amp, I’d probably buy some decent pedals, like the Wampler level. You’ll get a great sound with a a Wampler Euphoria and a Pinnacle using a cheap amp. The Euphoria sounds awful through my Tone King, so I use an 808 with some amp gain. I don’t need my giant pedalboard with the Tone King. I had 12 pedals including tuner, but now I use a tuner and a Tubescreamer. I bought my Tone King used for $1,500AUD ($1,300 US) and all of my pedals, power supply, pedalboard and guitars were also used. I was using J Rockett and Origin Effects Pedals. The most expensive was $180AUD. I tried NuX pedals and I thought they’d be good, but I thought they were awful. They have cheap jacks and switches, and they were very noisy. I’d rather have 1 good amp and 1 good pedal than a ton of gear.
In my experience a bad amp is impossible to fix, but a decent one will sound amazing with high end guitars and pedals. In my case it’s pointless to get a fancy amp since I live in an apartment and can’t really make it scream.
The amp is everything..and i literally said the nux sounded fizzy with the fender just before he did
this could've been even better (still great though!) if it'd have been a blind guess test. I've got a lot of pedals some expensive and some cheap, and for a long time now i've come to the conclusion that cheap OD pedals sound just as good as their more expensive or originals. For example a lot of cheap TS pedals sound just as good as a real TS....some say "the switches pack up on the cheap ones.." well maybe true, but for me so far all my cheap pedals still going strong. To this day one of my favourite cheap pedals is my old mk I Dano Transparent Overdrive - which I read is a Timmy clone....going strong after many years and sounds awesome.
Would be interesting to hear how the difference would be with the pedals and amps through the same Eminence custom speaker sitting in that ToneKing.
The pedals do make a difference upon response in what you hear from what your hands do, same with the amps and pickups, but quite some of the frequency difference is from what the speaker can deliver, assumed that the amps are set to sound close to each other.
There is also a difference going between fully analog and having a digital preamp in between.
Just got a Blackstar Dept. 10 Dual Drive which I use with LPB-1 in front and a Orange Pedal Baby as Power Amp, 2 x 16 ohm cabs, 2x12 vertical and 1x12 with V-Type Neo speakers.
When I use a Nux Amp Academy instead of the Dual Drive there is close to no difference between humbuckers within the same output range, with the Dual Drive there is a major difference, especially in how loose the lowend sounds, but also in mids and treble when playing rythm and even more when playing solos.
I do like the sound of both regardless, it’s just like the digital preamp is more forgiving with tone difference between pickups that all as example have a high output, sustain, feedback and attack also feels and sounds pretty even at the same gain levels.
So if I start to use the Dual Drive on stage I will need to have the same pickup in my backup guitar for it to sound the same and also react the same way.
Just like how easy it is to play fast legato style with the difference found between drive circuits, I think that has more todo with how clear note definition/seperation comes through though.
Another great video! Question: I’ve always heard the brand NUX pronounced New X, not Nucks. Is this just a Brit vs USA pronunciation thing?
I’m a relatively new player (been trying to consistently learn for the past 40 years, but just now really concerting myself). I found this channel and am so glad. I have an early 80’s Ibanez destroyer I got when I was 18 and my old charvel bass I’ve been toting around since I was 16. In the last year I’ve picked up a champion 50XL with the Celestion speaker and the Valeton GP-200LT, and I am very pleased. A tone king, though beautiful, is a fantasy!!
I love this channel!❤
I own two Tone King’s. The Imperial 2 and the Gremlin. They are far and away the best for practice (Gremlin) and gigging (Imperial) amps I’ve every owned. I enjoy my Blackstars and Marshall, but none come near the Tone King’s for ability to get any sound you want.
Final comment, non metaphorical too.. I have a cheap nux type screamer and it broke quite quickly. Build quality and reliability has to come into it
The difference in the two peddals is in the compression, I think the cheaper ones would sound better then the more expensive ones once they are both connected to a compression peddal.
As per Danish Pete's driver analogy, please grab a willing beginner guitarist from the shop floor and do a beginner / pro gear use comparison. To hear the difference with sounds from different gear!
Might have made sense to use the same guitar for everything, but it was a fun video
I was just thinking a video like this should be done. A bit freaked out that Lee said my name though haha
You have to go pretty high up the amp value chain before the pedal price matters.
So if you’re going to stop at a Fender amp one day don’t sweat buying the good sounding pedal for your Katana too much no matter the pedal price or reputed quality but if you’re going up to a Tone King the cheaper pedal you choose likely won’t be sticking around.
I really feel that you don't have to spend an arm and a leg any more to have good gear. A Fender player series or a Sire with a hotrod deluxe or even the new JTM20 combo isn't outrageous in price.
I have both a Digitech Deathmetal and a TC Electronic Fangs, I have to dig way more at the TC Electronic for the same sound