Hot rails and two tube screamers walk into a bar

A guitarist I met plays a Strat with a Hot Rails in the bridge, runs it through two Ibanez Tube Screamers, and into a Deluxe. He gets a most beautiful, thick, sound that still cuts through.

Is it beneficial to connect two Tube Screamers?

I've never had much luck stacking 2 Tubescreamers. I already have a mid heavy tone, so turning on 2?!!? YIKES! Some dudes, blues guys especially, seem to have really good results with that setup. But they're usually playing a RW board Strat, the 2 TS9's, and a BF/SF Super Reverb, Twin, or something like that.

You can stack any OD/Dist/fuzz. I've been playing a DOD FX10 BiFet boost, ZenDrive, RAT, ZVex SHO. I know that sounds like a lot of overdrive, but I have it set up to where everything stacks nicely. Caveat: I have single channel amps, I don't touch my volume knob, and I vary my volume with my technique/pickup selection/pedals.

Here's how I do it: straight in is my "clean tone", ZenDrive is set for the same volume as my clean sound but with a little bit more distortion. The RAT is set to about a medium gain level and is louder than the ZenDrive. I then have my two boosts, and this is where it can be tricky, but it really isn't. The SHO is after my OD's, so it's set for an actual volume boost. Yes, it's going to add more distortion as I'm hitting the front end of the amp harder. But I use this so that I can take a solo or lead line and I will be louder. I also have the option of using the BiFet, and that will add more distortion to my sound (whichever OD I'm using) but it won't add as much volume as the SHO does.

So I have clean, light OD (ZenDrive or BiFet) RAT or BiFet pushing ZenDrive, RAT and SHO. It might seem confusing but it's really just different shades of OD. The real trick is to think of it as basic tones. Yes, four different boosters is a lot, but it works for me. Really, I could probably get by with just an overdrive, but I HATE fiddling with my volume knob!! I have better luck with varying my technique and pup selection. It's amazing what a tonal change can do for perceived volume. But that's a whole other discussion for a different day!

Check this out, Reverb usually has good info about gear


https://reverb.com/news/a-beginners-...g-drive-pedals

that's WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too compressed for me, personally. but if you like that, it will do it.

two gain boxes stacked into each other can be great but I want both to be fairly low compression as you seem to get 2+2=5 on that front. or you can kick a slightly more compressed box with a truly clean boost. of course that is horses for courses; I HATE added compression from pedals. it's also worth noting you can get a compressor (my recs: Cali-76, Diamond) to run after and you can be a lot more in control. not a ton of pedal compressors can handle that but the Origin stuff has the headroom (especially run @18v).

I prefer single drive pedals almost every time, personally. on that front, thick to me says lower mids. the more compressed "Dumble style" pedals can do that, The Dude being the most thunderous of the lot. I find they tend to cut less well than some other types of pedals, but maybe the same as tubescreamers. they also have immense sustain. in fact one of those pedals (the Ethos overdrive) has a neat trick where even though it wasn't THAT compressed it could still give you instant feedback at hilariously low volumes if you wanted it to. I ultimately sold all of mine, though, except for the Xotic Soul Driven. I just prefer a bit more of the raspy, open sounding pedals.

I'm in chucko's camp but - I have a Strat HotRails on the neck of my Tele. It's a juicy 'bucker and paired with a 250K pot it's a bit on the woofy side. Should have a 500k to brighten it up but then the bridge would be piercing. When I use it I always have my OD on to give it a bit of snarl, and I have cascaded into my RAT with acceptable results. The Rangemaster-esque qualities of the OD and RAT add treble boost and it cuts OK. But yeah, I'd sure as heck never hit the compressor in that situation. In reality, if I need that much creamy OD I'm not going to reach for a Fender. That's the Gibson zone.