Low gain drive with sustain

[CheapSuitG]

Ahoy!

I'm on the hunt for a lower-gain, cleaner overdrive that still has a nice bit of sustain. A lot of the low-gain drives I've tried seem to fall flat in the sustain department, which has been a bit of a letdown. I've heard that "Dumble" style amps and pedals are great for this kind of thing, and from what I've seen in YouTube demos, the British Pedal Co pedals seem to capture some of that.

I’d love to hear thoughts and recommendations!

Thanks!

 

[BuddytheReow]

Muffs are pretty good when you roll your guitar's volume knob back

 

[CheapSuitG]

Muffs are pretty good when you roll your guitar's volume knob back

I love the sound of a fuzz face rolled back as well, have a couple of those. Also, the Kewpie does a cool cleaned up sound as well.

That said, I can't be trusted to roll volume on the fly, I am not coordinated enough to do that accurately. I have a hard enough time stepping on pedals while playing.

 

[Erik S]

Compressors can be nice for some clean sustain.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

I love the sound of a fuzz face rolled back as well, have a couple of those. Also, the Kewpie does a cool cleaned up sound as well.

That said, I can't be trusted to roll volume on the fly, I am not coordinated enough to do that accurately. I have a hard enough time stepping on pedals while playing.

Add an Input level control to a muff.

 

[CheapSuitG]

Lots of great suggestions!

So I am off on the "dumble" thought process, yeah?

 

[Erik S]

Lots of great suggestions!

So I am off on the "dumble" thought process, yeah?

Nah, definitely get one of those too!

Dumble Overdrive Special OD-100W Guitar Amp Head Owned by Carlos Santana #54883 . Techno Empire

www.technoempire.com

 

[CheapSuitG]

Nah, definitely get one of those too!

Dumble Overdrive Special OD-100W Guitar Amp Head Owned by Carlos Santana #54883 . Techno Empire

www.technoempire.com

Maybe should get 2 of those amps, one as a spare!

Or maybe a new guitar?

 

[Brett]

It goes without saying, but you can't trust that a pedal shown in a demo video online is going to sound exactly the same in your rig. I'll second what @Erik S says about using a compressor for sustain. Play around with putting a compressor before and after your overdrive pedals. If you're stacking dirt pedals, you might try placing the compressor after your most touch sensitive overdrive pedal but before any that are primarily for tone shaping.

About the whole Dumble thing...
I am as guilty as the next guy in building or buying pedals that are marketed as Dumble style pedals. From my experience, a lot of the qualities that draw people to Dumble amps isn't just the sound, but it's also how the amp makes your guitar "feel" when you're playing it. There's a certain level of immediacy and smoothness to the pick attack that I haven't heard in any of the Dumble style pedals I've built or played through. It wasn't until I ordered an Dumble style amplifier that I better understood this. I haven't played or built all the pedals claiming to be Dumble style (there's a ton of them), nor does my experience extend to genuine Dumble amplifiers, but I'd stick to the simpler methods to achieve sustain (like a compressor/sustainer) before going too deep into a rabbit hole.

I hope you eventually find what you're looking for!

 

[CheapSuitG]

I have a 401k in the cart I had planned for some bass use, will try it on guitar. Also added the crystal lettuce because.....well.....why not? I always find an excuse to buy a new pedal to build!

Also - may pick up another muff and mod it.

Thanks for the great suggestions!

 

[Flying]

Unfortunately PedalPCB doesn’t currently do it, but I’ve been playing around with the Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive on my breadboard, and I wonder if it might hit the spot. I’m predominantly playing a tele, I have the gain at about 10 o’clock, focus at about 11 o’clock. I don’t know if it the nature of being both hard and soft clipping but it seems to sustain the note in a nice way.