overdrive/distortion pedal volume

[jjsmith1]

Hey all,

I have a quick question regarding the volume on an overdrive or distortion pedal. The Rat II is always on my chain. It is put in front of either a Visual Sound Jeckyll and Hyde overdrive or a Boss SD-1 overdrive. I usaully have the Rat's volume at 12 o'clock. BUt when I play through either of the overdrive pedals the level or volume nob at about 9 o'clock. I try to keep my overdrive volume the same as my clean amp (so the only difference when it is engaged is the dirtiness, not the volume). I notice that plenty of other people have their distortion or overdrive pedal volume pushed past 12 o'clock. It has got me thinking. Does the volume nob on these pedals make a difference in the sound of the pedal? Is the overdrive richer when the volume on the pedal is crancked? With my setup (silverface twin), I play with the volume on the amp at about 4. If I cranck up the pedal volume I am way too loud. Is there a way to deal with this or is the pedal volume just something used to adjust depending on the amp?

[chuckocaster]

which one are you using for dirt? or are you using both for it? i use a tubescreamer for dirt, and a rat afterwards for a volume boost. you are also using a twin, which is clean and doesn't really distort or compress. so what are you looking to do?

[improvisation07]

It depends on the pedal. Some have more power than others. I can tell you that a RAT has a butt load of volume. I have a vintage big box RAT so that might make a difference. Past 12:00ish and it gets really loud really quick. Some MXR and BOSS gain pedals I have you have to crank em to like 3:00ish just to get unity.

Also dont mistake gain for volume. I cant imagine anyone needing any kind of overdrive to use with a RAT. They have plenty of gain by themselves. They were made for metal. I can also say that RAT's dont sound good with the gain knob turned down. They are like Big Muff's, when you push them hard the distortion get fatter and smoothens out. Here is a pic of how David Gilmour has his knobs for his RAT II. Try it.



Now he does have that BOSS GE-7 coneccted to the RAT to fix the bass problem with them, but it is just a bit of a bass boost.

Try those settings. Use the RAT alone and if you need to boost or add just a bit of dirt use a clean boost BEFORE the RAT. The MXR Micro Amp is a nice cheap clean boost.