OD Pedal advice for a "65 Twin reissue

[p90jr]

Inquiring to the hive mind of experience here...

I will be playing at a festival in New Orleans in a couple of weeks and for convenience and sanity I will use the backline amp on stage... a Fender "Vintage '65" Twin Reissue.

It is an outdoor thing, on one of the smaller but still big stages, but the act is not typically LOUD so I don't delude myself that I'll be able to turn the Twin up high enough to get the preamp and power amp tubes cooking...

At the moment, my big pedal board has drives that work well with my Supro, Vox and Morgan amps... I know my Crowther Hotcake will be replaced by my Klon KTR as my base mild overdrive... the Hotcakes were designed for Vox amps and need a preamp section that wants to be nudged slightly into breaking up. I figured I'd dig out the Fulltone OCD, too, since I remember that being one that got talked about as sounding good with a Twin...

Do any of you hsve any experience with this particular model of Twin (or any recent ones) and overdrive pedals you found to work well with them?
 

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

Since it sounds like you have more than one OD pedal you probably have plenty of good sounds available now. 

If you don't want to mess with them then my best recommendation would be a Tech 21 Double Drive 3x Mod.

It's been discontinued but you can find them on Reverb or eBay. Advantage is that you can quickly and easily (I've done it on stage, it takes a few seconds) tweak your tones and re-set programs. There are 3 different distortions you can program and you can bypass it as well. Programming is tapping the desired switch quickly, twice. Done. 

If you are adjusting prior to programing , the LEDs blink. The closer you are to your programmed tone, the slower they blink. This can be helpful if you are trying to tweak while other sounds are going on around you, it provides a visual cue for how much you've changed a setting. 

You can dial in both even order and odd order harmonics, ,it has bass-mid-treble controls and it sounds good from subtle grind to all out screaming distortion. 

One 9v battery will more than get you through the gig or it can run on the usual Boss type power supply. 

 

I don't have many pedals, it's a keeper. 

 

And, I don't have a Twin but I often record guitars straight in using the Double Drive so it works well with clean.

[Larryz]

+1 on not trying to turn a Fender Twin up high enough in volume to try for an OD type of breakup as it's an amp that's made to play clean at high volume.  It's hard on the ears and you'll need ear protection if you go into its high-volume settings. I seldom ever ran mine above the 4 setting.  Back in my Fender Twin days, I used an inexpensive Boss Blues Driver for a clean but overdriven vibe...😎 

[Scott Fraser]

1 hour ago, Larryz said:

+1 on not trying to turn a Fender Twin up high enough in volume to try for an OD type of breakup as it's an amp that's made to play clean at high volume.  It's hard on the ears and you'll need ear protection if you go into its high-volume settings. I seldom ever ran mine above the 4 setting. 

Yup. Roy Buchanan was someone who liked to play a Twin cranked to 10. The pics I've seen of his band set up show the Twin stashed behind the Leslie, facing away from everybody. 

[p90jr]

8 minutes ago, Scott Fraser said:

Yup. Roy Buchanan was someone who liked to play a Twin cranked to 10. The pics I've seen of his band set up show the Twin stashed behind the Leslie, facing away from everybody. 

I play in a band with an English guy obsessed with Roy Buchanon... he showed up with two 70s Twins recently, with his Tele... Luckily someone had already shown him that pulling two of the power tubes on those knocks them down to a reasonable level. I don't think I can get away with that with the backline amp... the 70s Twin I used for a while that belonged to a buddy had been "neutered" that same way.

 

[p90jr]

5 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Since it sounds like you have more than one OD pedal you probably have plenty of good sounds available now. 

If you don't want to mess with them then my best recommendation would be a Tech 21 Double Drive 3x Mod.

It's been discontinued but you can find them on Reverb or eBay. Advantage is that you can quickly and easily (I've done it on stage, it takes a few seconds) tweak your tones and re-set programs. There are 3 different distortions you can program and you can bypass it as well. Programming is tapping the desired switch quickly, twice. Done. 

If you are adjusting prior to programing , the LEDs blink. The closer you are to your programmed tone, the slower they blink. This can be helpful if you are trying to tweak while other sounds are going on around you, it provides a visual cue for how much you've changed a setting. 

You can dial in both even order and odd order harmonics, ,it has bass-mid-treble controls and it sounds good from subtle grind to all out screaming distortion. 

One 9v battery will more than get you through the gig or it can run on the usual Boss type power supply. 

 

I don't have many pedals, it's a keeper. 

 

And, I don't have a Twin but I often record guitars straight in using the Double Drive so it works well with clean.

My fear is just being stuck (like I have been in the past) with an overpowered amp that is turned down below where it sounds like it has any life. And I know from experience that a lot of overdrive pedals sound "fake" through Twins ... like a canned sound being played through a clean amp, if that makes sense.

Thanks for mentioning Sansamp... I do have Tech 21 Blonde and Liverpool pedals, one of which is always in my bag for an emergency... like when I'm forced to play through a spare solid-state bass amp or acoustic amp or go direct if something fails. 

I'm currently falling down the youtube rabbit hole of people going through which pedals do work with this amp and where you should start with settings on them, even, and I have a bunch of them, so I'm not worried.

Thanks guys!
 

 

[Caevan O’Shite]

Xotic SL Drive on 18v, Keeley Super Phat Mod, Keeley Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod, Origin Effects Halcyon Green Overdrive.

[Larryz]

5 hours ago, p90jr said:

I play in a band with an English guy obsessed with Roy Buchanon... he showed up with two 70s Twins recently, with his Tele... Luckily someone had already shown him that pulling two of the power tubes on those knocks them down to a reasonable level. I don't think I can get away with that with the backline amp... the 70s Twin I used for a while that belonged to a buddy had been "neutered" that same way.

 

 

Yeah, the Feder Twin has 4 6L6's and no drive channels.

 

The Fender Hot Rod DeVille and the Hot Rod Deluxe both run on just 2 6L6 power tubes with a drive and a more drive channel.

 

+1 on Roy Buchanon who is one of the greats that liked performing very loud, turned the back of his Twin to the audience LoL! 😎

[KuruPrionz]

7 hours ago, p90jr said:

My fear is just being stuck (like I have been in the past) with an overpowered amp that is turned down below where it sounds like it has any life. And I know from experience that a lot of overdrive pedals sound "fake" through Twins ... like a canned sound being played through a clean amp, if that makes sense.

Thanks for mentioning Sansamp... I do have Tech 21 Blonde and Liverpool pedals, one of which is always in my bag for an emergency... like when I'm forced to play through a spare solid-state bass amp or acoustic amp or go direct if something fails. 

I'm currently falling down the youtube rabbit hole of people going through which pedals do work with this amp and where you should start with settings on them, even, and I have a bunch of them, so I'm not worried.

Thanks guys!
 

 

Try those Sansamp pedals on your Twin, I'll bet you can get some sweet tones and different ones with each pedal. 

[Caevan O’Shite]

So, p90jr- forgive me if I missed it, what sort of an overdrive tone and general type are you wanting here?

[Winston Psmith]

The most 'naturalistic'-sounding OD pedal I've played is the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. Very responsive, don't have the compressed, squishy sound of a TS OD, and they're relatively affordable. Sweetwater & Zzounds have them reduced to $89.99 right now, so it may be that the Waza Craft version has cut into sales of the original?

[Dannyalcatraz]

8 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

The most 'naturalistic'-sounding OD pedal I've played is the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. Very responsive, don't have the compressed, squishy sound of a TS OD, and they're relatively affordable. Sweetwater & Zzounds have them reduced to $89.99 right now, so it may be that the Waza Craft version has cut into sales of the original?

FWIW, I have the Keeley Katana Blues, which was created as a modified version of the BD2.  The KKB was discontinued, but supposedly many of the modifications it heralded found their way into the Waza Craft.

 

Any of those are great pedals, but it’s hard to beat the original, especially at the new, lower prices, and on short notice.  It’s an industry icon for a reason.  Boss nailed it with that pedal.

[Caevan O’Shite]

10 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

The most 'naturalistic'-sounding OD pedal I've played is the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. Very responsive, don't have the compressed, squishy sound of a TS OD, and they're relatively affordable. Sweetwater & Zzounds have them reduced to $89.99 right now, so it may be that the Waza Craft version has cut into sales of the original?

And the Keeley Super Phat Mod improves on the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver considerably; it is a modified, upgraded Blues Driver. The name Super Phat Mod comes from the most popular mods that Robert Keeley used to perform on Boss Blues Driver pedals for customers; he then made his own pedal combining those. It's warmer, clearer, lower-noise, more dynamic, better defined- and also much, MUCH FATTER when the Phat Mod switch is engaged. Highly recommended!

I have and really enjoy its stablemate, the Keeley Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod, which is gainier, more aggressive, and more fuzzy-edged than the Super Phat Mod. While its Phat Mod Mode increases the lows and mids, it doesn't seem muddy- in fact, almost paradoxically and counterintuitively, it somehow manages to remind me of the feel and dynamics of a germanium Rangemaster Treble Booster type in a way that's hard for me to describe and explain!


I recently purchased an Origin Effects Halcyon Green Overdrive, which brings unprecedented new tricks, upgrades and improvements to the venerable TS-808 template; it is quite possibly the very best TS type to date. I'll tell everyone here more about it after I spend some quality time with it this weekend...

[Dannyalcatraz]

I had forgotten the Super Phat Mod was another Keeley BD-2 inspired pedal.  Good shout out!

[Caevan O’Shite]

14 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

I had forgotten the Super Phat Mod was another Keeley BD-2 inspired pedal.  Good shout out!

Oh, yeah. The Super Phat Mod was THE Keeley BD-2 based pedal, the OG of the line, if you will, not counting actual Boss BD-2's modified by Keeley; then the Germanium Super Phat Mod; then, after that, the Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod (yeesch! I know, I know, what a LO0O0O0NG and convoluted nomenclature!  )

The Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod is the one that I have, and my favorite of the Keeley Super Phat Mod trio. Its Drive knob is instead labeled "Nitro" in large outlined fonts, and for good reason! Keeley says, "It’s a fuzz, it’s a drive, and it’s a cranked amp all in one!" Rocket ships, ray guns and giant robots were a great and fitting theme there!

Next best of the three in my opinion is the original Super Phat Mod, and I just might hold out for one from the limited run he did with a blue and yellow colorway referencing the colors of the Boss BD-2, just 'cause it's a fun little nod to it and it looks sharp. The original Super Phat Mod is a supremely smooth, warm, naturalistic (thanks, @Winston Psmith! ) overdrive, its Phat Mod Mode the fatty icing on the corpulent cake.

I'm not as wild for the middle child there, the Germanium Super Phat Mod. The SPM is great, and the RSGPM is excellently more aggressive; the GSPM just doesn't speak to me as well as the other two, it just seems to have less of what I like about either of them.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Please forgive my second consecutive post here; I wanted to give you all an update on an overdrive pedal that I mentioned above...

I am pleased to report that in initial trials, the Origin Effects Halcyon Green Overdrive DE-LIVERS AS PROMISED... !

To those who may not know, the OE HGOD is initially based on the venerable Ibanez Tube Screamer, and the TS-808 in particular. The input impedance, buffering, and general quality have all been greatly improved, but better still, some special, even unique features such as Adaptive dynamic-response have been added. I believe that between this and one other TS type pedal that I have, I will never, ever look for another.

I am using it with my Les Paul, which has exceptionally hot passive, ceramic-magnet humbuckers. For now, fed into a Strymon Iridium Modeler/IR unit, and a pair of full-sized AKG headphones.

I can set the Halcyon Green OD up for fat rounded lead-tones and overdriven riff 'n rhythm chunk, taking deliberate advantage of that classic and oft ill-reputed TS "mid-hump"; and then get very satisfying clean-tones with any pickup selection just by rolling back my guitar's volume-knobs and adjusting my "touch", with nary a stomp or a twiddle.

Roll-back to clean-up and a little pleasant brightness and thunk reappears, responding nicely to my fingerstyle picking. Switching from my bridge-humbucker at full blast and bite to the 'middle' position with both pickups rolled-back for a clean chirpy tone is a pure pleasure.

Switching from 808 Mode to Mod Mode raises the middle of the "mid-hump" further toward upper-mids, which sounds great with humbuckers for more aggressive, biting overdrive for riffs; still, I'll likely leave it set to 808 Mode most of the time.

I find that I like it best paired with the Iridium's "Punch"/Marshall "plexi" Mode. Its "Chime"/Vox AC30 Mode works well with the OE HGOD, too. If I spent some time tweaking the Iridium's settings with its "Round"/Fender Deluxe Amp Mode and speaker/cab IR's, I expect that I would probably find some great results, as well.

This really is the closest to an "always on" drive/dirt pedal for me that I've ever come across! Well worth the price (*though I did manage $50 off) and a keeper, for sure. I am certain that it will always have a place on any 'guitar to amp/modeler' pedalboard that I'll ever put together.

It'll be great to start fiddling around with fuzzes, octave-fuzzes, and boosts and my wah in front of the HGOD, and my BumbleBee for swells. And later, I'll haul out my old Carvin Vintage 33 1x12 combo-amp and give it whirl with THAT.

*(I ordered a fully warranted open-box demo specimen that was reduced by $30.00, and then took advantage of a PayPal offer for another $20.00 off.)

[surfergirl]

24 minutes ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

 I believe that between this and one other TS type pedal that I have, I will never, ever look for another.

Sure.🙂

[Caevan O’Shite]

11 minutes ago, surfergirl said:

Sure.🙂

Haahh! 😄 

I didn't mean never another pedal in general- just never another Tube Screamer TS-808/TS-9 type again. As it was, I was never that crazy about those, anyway, despite how very well they served the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan; they just didn't suit me.

This one DOES.

All around, pedals that I don't have, that I could genuinely, frequently put to good use, are small in number- I have quite a few, each very particularly chosen for very specific reasons. I might get a few more- there are two, very special pedals that would dovetail very nicely with the OE HGOD and my other favorites, and my approach and techniques and style and sound. And maybe some others eventually, not many, though they're NOT a priority at all.

[Caevan O’Shite]

So, @p90jr - forgive me if I missed it, what sort of an overdrive tone and general type are you wanting here? What guitars and types of pickups will you be using the most on this gig with the Twin?

[Larryz]

The only pedal that ever failed me was the on/off switch on the Tube Screamer.  I replaced it with the Boss Blues Driver.  Both pedals worked fine with the Twin, But I preferred the Boss Blues Driver and I felt it was less obnoxious LoL! If you like your ears, the main thing to try and steer clear of, is driving a Twin sans pedals into O/D IMHO...😎

[p90jr]

1 hour ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

Xotic SL Drive on 18v, Keeley Super Phat Mod, Keeley Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod, Origin Effects Halcyon Green Overdrive.

Well I don't have those...

I have a Klon KTR and just got a Harby Centauri (the most accurate Klone?), and probably a couple of dozen other dirt boxes... 

The aforementioned friend/collaborator actually has a new '65 Twin reissue (which made him go get '70s Twins, which he prefers) and he let me borrow it to work all of this out and get in the final band rehearsal with it before the show. I have to say I've never appreciated the Klon circuit this much before, it truly sounds like the Twin is "naturally" breaking up like it is cranked, not that there is an artificial overdrive being played through it, if you know what I mean... the Harby Centauri sounds identical to my Klon KTR (Harby has a stash of the germanium diodes used in the original Klon Centaurs and pre-2020 KTRs)... I pulled out the $20 Wish fake Klon I bought as a joke and the Mosky Golden Horse, and while I never found them (or the Soul Food, if I'm honest) to sound that much like the Klon, through a Twin it's not even remotely close... people are usually comparing them usually though amps that are breaking up and using them as pretty much clean boosts. On a clean Twin they do not do the same thing. I haven't found a setting on the Crowther HotCake - which works on Vox and other lower headroom preamps by exciting the peramp tubes - that I really like on the Twin but it's not horrible... the Vertex (and NUX copy) Steel String pedals make the Twin more touch respoinsive (as you'd expect for Dumble-amp simulating pedals) but I'm searching for the right EQ settings on the amp that sound good with what those pedals add EQ-wise when engaged. My standard Twin setting from when I lugged one around in the late 00s a bit was bass-5, mid-7 and treble-5, bright switch off if I was going to use any pedals. I think the Steel Strings bring the mid-range with them so scooping the mids on the amp might be what's needed. The Vertex Ultraphonix (based on the Dumble Overdrive Special) is fun through the Twin... putting you in volume knob and responsive picking dynamic land and sounding very natural, but for this particular band - indie rock/power pop/Americana, where I jangle along, play lots of electric 12 string with a Janglebox compressor and even reverb/tremoleo'ed out Baritone on one song, and the solos are brief bursts of joy - I'm not sure that will be used. My old Timmy pedal sounds great through the Twin... so does my Nobels ODR-mini...and my Komet K.O.D.A., and the OCD if you keep it on the Low Power setting (though the light on mine is always on now, even when it is turned off...)...

and now I have too many choices... huh.. well, I think I've decided...

Coming off of the board I use for this act (who the last time we played shows prior to last week, pre-COVID, was doing a set of songs more on the Cheap Trick side of things, through my Supro Supremes) will be a Greer Ghetto Stomp, Lovepedal JTM, Lovepedal Eternity Burst and a Crowther Hotcake.

taking their place will be an Xotic EP Booster (mostly to beef up the pickups on the weaker output guitars, the Baúm and Surfcaster 12), Nobels ODR-mini, Komet K.O.D.A., and the Harby Centauri (which has a better footprint/layout than the Klon KTR... sorry Mr. Finnegan). The Vertex Steel String will probably be on all the time just to add some clean sparkle and punch.

I know it seems like I'm worrying too much, but given the nature of changeovers in festivals with backline gear, I might have 5 minutes to set up, plug in and get my tones and then the set starts. I'd rather get up there with a firm idea of where to start, at least.

I've also enjoyed playing through this Twin reissue, even on Volume 1.5... I would not want to lug it around all the time, though, but I'd forgotten how nice they can sound. The Deluxe Reverb or Princeton or Blues Junior is a more sensible choice for most...

The reason I like this message board and others like it is benefitting from everybody talking about their experiences and tricks and trials and tribulations. Good stuff to file away for when something comes up and you need it.

[p90jr]

On 4/21/2023 at 12:04 AM, KuruPrionz said:

Try those Sansamp pedals on your Twin, I'll bet you can get some sweet tones and different ones with each pedal. 

When I gigged with a Twin back in 2008-10 or so I did use the Tech 21 Blonde and Liverpool a lot when it was needed for the room. And yeah, I love those things... 

I lent the Blonde to the guy who lent me the Twin the other day, he dropped it off as he was on his way to a restaurant gig where he backs up an acoustic playing singer and he just plugs his pedal board into that guy's Bose L1 thing... I asked how that sounded and he said "kind of bad, really... plinky and fake..." so I dug out the Blonde and told him it puts out a speaker simulated signal, so just treat that as the amp and plug into the Bose, and most of his pedals should even sound good going into the Blonde. He said it sounded really good and he was much happier.

Everybody should have one of those character series pedals as an emergency backup... you can just plug into the PA and get through the gig. I once had a preamp tube die on my Blues Deville onstage at a street festival thing and I just plugged the Liverpool into the power amp input and used it as a preamp and the show went on just fine!

[p90jr]

23 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

So, @p90jr - forgive me if I missed it, what sort of an overdrive tone and general type are you wanting here? What guitars and types of pickups will you be using the most on this gig with the Twin?

It kind of spans from R.E.M.-ish jangle and Beatles/Byrds chimey 12-string (again, no overdrive) to some classic Who/Kinks/Beatles/Badfinger/Big Star/Dwight Twilley Band warm overdrive/light crunch... 

Most of the set is ending up being played on my 3-P90 non-Reverse Firebird, which is basically a Strat on steroids (it has coil taps that thin out the winding for a more Fendery sound from the P90s, too) and the Charvel Surfmaster 12 with lipstick pickups... a couple of songs need to be capo'ed so the Baúm Conquer (with it's smaller frets) is easier for that, and one song is on my Sqiuer Baritone Jazzmaster where I do a tremolo'ed solo kind of like "Witchita Lineman." THe Firebird and Bari JM are higher output than the Baüm and Surfmaster, so I want to do the FOH guy a solid and have that compensated for and equal coming out of the amp... there's a guy playing keyboards on half the set and bass on the other, and another guy playing bass and then guitar, and I bought a Radial Bassbone (2 bass switcher, which I need for another band where I switch between a Pbass and a Bass VI that wildly different in output) and - since they each use their own bass, a Fender Starcaster and an old Gibson Ripper - told them to get the output the same and the EQ roughly in the same ballpark before it hits the bass amp/DI for the sound man's benefit. The last thing you want to to do at these things, IME, is piss off a guy 100 yards away or whatever, because they stop bothering to mix you well.

[p90jr]

20 hours ago, Larryz said:

The only pedal that ever failed me was the on/off switch on the Tube Screamer.  I replaced it with the Boss Blues Driver.  Both pedals worked fine with the Twin, But I preferred the Boss Blues Driver and I felt it was less obnoxious LoL! If you like your ears, the main thing to try and steer clear of, is driving a Twin sans pedals into O/D IMHO...😎

I have never gotten into Tube Screamers... I always preferred the Boss Super Overdrive (I still have one or two somewhere that I was going to big out for this if needed, because I did use them with a Twin and Pro reverb back in the late 80s when dirt pedals were few offerings). The Nobels is kind of a refined Tube Screamer, I guess... and that made the cut for me... just edging out the Cochrane Timmy by a hair becuase the TImmy sounded a bit more "boxy," which it doesn't usually on other amps.

I'm sure if I just cranked the Twin to OD, even on an outdoor stage, the stage manager would come bludgeon me to death.

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, p90jr said:

When I gigged with a Twin back in 2008-10 or so I did use the Tech 21 Blonde and Liverpool a lot when it was needed for the room. And yeah, I love those things... 

I lent the Blonde to the guy who lent me the Twin the other day, he dropped it off as he was on his way to a restaurant gig where he backs up an acoustic playing singer and he just plugs his pedal board into that guy's Bose L1 thing... I asked how that sounded and he said "kind of bad, really... plinky and fake..." so I dug out the Blonde and told him it puts out a speaker simulated signal, so just treat that as the amp and plug into the Bose, and most of his pedals should even sound good going into the Blonde. He said it sounded really good and he was much happier.

Everybody should have one of those character series pedals as an emergency backup... you can just plug into the PA and get through the gig. I once had a preamp tube die on my Blues Deville onstage at a street festival thing and I just plugged the Liverpool into the power amp input and used it as a preamp and the show went on just fine!

Yep, it's good stuff. I've got the Tech 21 Para Driver DI which has  a 3 band EQ with quasi parametric midrange, a Sansamp and a Blend knob, plus it will run on Phantom power. There's a foot switch so you can go from clean to dirty, switchable Rumble filter and Air button, a parallel output, it's the whole shebang in one tiny box. It's always in my guitar bag pouch. If I need it, I have it - possibly my all-time favorite live pedal ever. I could gig with just that. I don't but I could. 

[CEB]

I don't have a reissue but I've played a 65 blackface  for years.  In the 80s I got a Rat after doing a double bill with the Drifters who's guitarist played a Strat into a Rat into a Twin.  It worked well on the less hairy settings.   As far as drives and amps goes ... pretty much any decent drive is usable on any tube amp  if you run a graphic EQ after the drive section.  I like clean blend drives like the Route 66 v3.  It's basically a Reverend Drive Train with a clean blend.  But a graphic EQ should fix any EQ peculiarities you have with a drive pedal.   

 

With a post drive graphic a pedal can cover tons of ground. Just plug your favorite drives into the Twin and zero them in with the EQ.

[Shamanzarek]

I recently came across an interview with a famous guitarist (whose name escapes me at the moment) who uses a RAT as more of a boost pedal. If I read it right he keeps the distortion setting all the way down and adjusts the level and tone. I will try this with my early 80s RAT next time I have need to get my electric out. I also have a 65 Twin RI which I have been using for keys but will try it with the RAT.

[p90jr]

9 minutes ago, CEB said:

I don't have a reissue but I've played a 65 blackface  for years.  In the 80s I got a Rat after doing a double bill with the Drifters who's guitarist played a Strat into a Rat into a Twin.  It worked well on the less hairy settings.   As far as drives and amps goes ... pretty much any decent drive is usable on any tube amp  if you run a graphic EQ after the drive section.  I like clean blend drives like the Route 66 v3.  It's basically a Reverend Drive Train with a clean blend.  But a graphic EQ should fix any EQ peculiarities you have with a drive pedal.   

 

With a post drive graphic a pedal can cover tons of ground. Just plug your favorite drives into the Twin and zero them in with the EQ.

I used a Boss EQ pedal as a clean boost all by itself for years, getting overdrive from amps... no other dirt pedals. It's around here somewhere... it came in handy before and after my old Big Muff a lot, too. One of those programmable Source Audio EQ pedals is on my watch list...

I didn't find any pedals that sounded "horrible" through the Twin when trying them out, just some kind of sound like a pedal being played through the amp as opposed to just sounding like the amp is being overdriven, if that makes sense. Almost the same feeling as playing an old POD... but I know it's not actually the same thing (latency, in that case)... it just sounds a bit artificial with some pedals... but you're right, EQ could probably get rid of the weird spikes or whatever is causing that...

[Caevan O’Shite]

On 4/20/2023 at 6:21 PM, Caevan O’Shite said:

Xotic SL Drive on 18v, Keeley Super Phat Mod, Keeley Retro Super Germanium Phat Mod, Origin Effects Halcyon Green Overdrive.

 

7 hours ago, p90jr said:

Well I don't have those...

Oh, I was just rattling off suggestions of pedals that I have (except for the Keeley Super Phat Mod) that I thought might serve you well, depending on the tone you're looking for there...

[CEB]

16 hours ago, p90jr said:

I used a Boss EQ pedal as a clean boost all by itself for years, getting overdrive from amps... no other dirt pedals. It's around here somewhere... it came in handy before and after my old Big Muff a lot, too. One of those programmable Source Audio EQ pedals is on my watch list...

I didn't find any pedals that sounded "horrible" through the Twin when trying them out, just some kind of sound like a pedal being played through the amp as opposed to just sounding like the amp is being overdriven, if that makes sense. Almost the same feeling as playing an old POD... but I know it's not actually the same thing (latency, in that case)... it just sounds a bit artificial with some pedals... but you're right, EQ could probably get rid of the weird spikes or whatever is causing that...

What you feel might be the way pedals compress. Dirt boxes are basically compressors.  Part of the reason I like clean blend overdrives is that you dial back in some of the initial attack that you lose from getting your signal squished by a dirt box.  
 

Tube amps compress also but it’s more subtle.  Klons use a dual gang pot to produce clean blend but in a set ratio. I prefer the blend to have its own separate control.   But that is just me. I’m just some crazy guy on the internet.