Module with the most clean headroom?

[buriedorburned]

Is there such a thing as a clean module with the most headroom, or does it more come from the amp itself?

I have an RM50, and I'm currently running pedals with it into a Tweed module, namely a Proco Rat and Blackout Musket fuzz.
It's good, but I'm wondering what would (maybe) make a better pedal platform?

 

[bryantabuteau]

I much prefer running things like the musket and rat into my Randall Clean. It seems to work better for pedals for me than my other clean (Blackface).

 

[Mattfig]

KH-1 might be the answer....Or the stock Clean as mentioned...

 

[audiomidijace]

JF Super Clean is a good choice and Mike P just posted one for sale. :wink:

 

[JKD]

JF Super Clean is a good choice and Mike P just posted one for sale. :wink:

+1 ... or if you can score a Stock Clean.

 

[The Rossness]

kh1, super v

 

[eyeball987]

I have had the Deluxe, Blackface, a couple KH1's, and the Super Clean.

Super Clean would be my first choice for a pedal platform only because of tweak factor. The extra switches allow for tailoring of the sound.

The KH1 is great. You can feed it a pretty hot signal with minimal breakup.

I really like the Deluxe and Blackface but not as much for a pedal platform.

I have a stock clean on the way at the moment so we shall see how that one plays out.

 

[Capt_Tippy]

Just curious... cause people and the things they do are very perplexing to me LoL.

If you're running pedals, why use MTS at all? To me an MTS module IS a pedal. If you don't like the MTS "pedals", why wouldn't you put your pedal board in front of a Fender? (for example)

To my thinking... putting a Rat or a Fuzz pedal in front of an MTS amp, is like putting a Line6 in front of a Kemper LoL

 

[bryantabuteau]

There aren't any MTS mods that sound like a fuzzface, or a big muff or a superfuzz etc. Some of my most favourite tones come from a big muff into a JCM800, or a fuzzface into a plexi. You chuck a big muff into a twin or a JC120 it sounds completely different. It's about the combination of things.

I'm also into MTS because of the flexibility. Sometimes i need a raw marshall or mesa sound, sometimes I need pure pedal tones, sometimes I need those pedals into a characterful amp sound.

I don't use pedals as amp simulations.

 

[Capt_Tippy]

OK, but (for instance) putting an MXR Distortion+ in front of a Fender Twin (which I like the tone of that), is not like putting an MXR in front of a Salvation Twinface. I've never done that, but I bet it sounds like total garbage. (Turns out it doesn't sound like garbage, but that doesn't change my point)

 

[bryantabuteau]

Not sure why it would sound garbage, if the preamps are based on the same circuits. Pedals in front of my MTS mods sound perfectly fine.

 

[Capt_Tippy]

Well I don't know... like I said I've never tried it. I'll try it tomorrow and get back to ya LoL. Seems silly to me to do it though.

The Twinface has the pushed mode and pretty much that sounds like it has the MXR in front. That's kind of why I went to MTS because it sounded better than my pedals... Anyways Ill try it tomorrow. Who knows maybe Ill like it. Doubt it, but we'll see.

I mean I guess my point is... for "me" the Twinface (for example) in pushed mode sounds very similar to the Fender w an MXR in front. That's why I use MTS. I don't really play with that sound anymore, and I've moved on to more modern tones, but that's why I liked the MTS in the beginning. If the MTS didn't sound as good as my pedals, I wouldn't have spent all this money on MTS. I dunno.... Ill get back to ya.

 

[buriedorburned]

I'm doing this because I have an RM50 combo that I use fuzz, distortion and OD pedals with. The tones I get from these pedals, I don't get from mts modules. None of the pedals are amp sims. They're very different sounds than the mts preamps.

 

[VitaminG]

I've never considered pedals & MTS modules interchangeable. Is anyone using pedals straight into the FX return of their amp?

I use pedals into MTS as I would any tube amp. Pedals just add more colours to the palette of an already versatile 3 channel amp. It's neat being able to use a Clean as a pure pedal platform for AIAB-type pedals, and then at the touch of a footswitch, flick over to a just-breaking-up Marshall JMP module and hit it with a fuzz. Or goose an SLO100 channel with a TS-type pedal.

 

[Capt_Tippy]

Well, not to get into a big debate but... pedals are just pcb's w diodes that are meant to simulate tubes. I have a few old diodes laying around that I like the sound of, but for the most part "meh" when compared to a real tube. Real tube pre's sound way better than any pedal. All the way from just basic breakup to crunch to metal and beyond. I have a lot of pedals that I love but... I guess for "me", if I was satisfied with pedal tones I could have saved a LOT of cash HaHa. So that's why I compared it to putting a Line6 in front of a Kemper. I have a bigass bookshelf full of pedals (so don't misunderstand), but I never use them. I even designed and built my own pedal. Maybe if I was making some crazy million $$ album and I just couldn't find that "right sound" for this one particular part of a song... but I have so many modules and effects I can't imagine it getting so bad I pulled out the pedal's.

I mean, I actually bitched at the guy that turned me onto MTS for this exact reason. I told him I was perfectly happy with my pedals and now I gotta spend all this money.

I just can't imagine a day that it would come into my mind to plug my $100 diode driven pedal into my $400 tube driven module. ...and I guess that's the point.

..but for the **** of it I'm gonna try it tomorrow. Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about lmao

I'll go one further. I used to own an SG Criminal. The reason I don't still own that module is that Scott used a diode on the pcb to get the tone. He used the same diode that's in the Tube Screamer pedal. (I never confirmed that w him, but I could hear it, and he did confirm the module does have a diode on the board, but we never discussed exactly which diode he used) I don't like the TS diode because it has a very machine like symmetrical tone to it. Every oscillation of each note has the exact same duration as every other oscillation. It sounds very boring and machine like. It has no organics or randomness to the tone. It has a very specific shape to the wave too. That's why I prefer the MXR to the Tube Screamer. It's a different diode. I really liked the concept and design of that Module, but because I don't like the tone in that diode I never used it. It had days of gain though. Soooo I kept thinking one day I'd swap the diode out on that module (just like you'd swap out a tube for one w a better tone), but I never did and I sold it. ..and basically I guess my point of that was/is that the SG Criminal was (it seemed to me) to be designed to simulate a TS pedal in front of an amp.

Another example is the TwinFace that (in pushed mode) sounds just like my MXR in front of my SuperSonic Fender amp.

Anyways.... it just seems weird to me, but tomorrow I'm gonna plug a pedal or two in front of my MTS rig and see what happens

..and btw I have a module that sounds just like a big muff if its dialed in for that tone, but I'm not going to tell you what it is because its not on Anthony's website. Point I mention it is... yes you can get that tone (or any other tone) from a module.

 

[Capt_Tippy]

OK so I tried it, and I was surprised how good it sounded, but I'm going to stick to what I said. It's like putting a Line6 in front of a Kemper.

If you're going to use a buncha OD/Fuzz pedals in front of an MTS rig, I'm not sure why you're using MTS.

That being said... The LoneClean sounded pretty good with a pedal in front of it buriedorburned.

 

[Mattfig]

The mods and RM whatever are meant to be like the amps, not pedals IMHO....I use pedals (mainly boosts) all the time with RM amps and love the Loneclean, The Cleaner, T-Watt and Motor City Clean as platforms for pedals....Oh yeah, the JF Chiefton takes boosts wonderfully.

To each their own but if you use pedals with other amps, you can use them with MTS just fine in most cases....Some cleans have a tone of their own sound like Twinface and don't do pedals well to my ear....Of course it's just that I don't like anything touching that mod as it's perfect already....

 

[Capt_Tippy]

The mods and RM whatever are meant to be like the amps, not pedals IMHO....I use pedals (mainly boosts) all the time with RM amps and love the Loneclean, The Cleaner, T-Watt and Motor City Clean as platforms for pedals....Oh yeah, the JF Chiefton takes boosts wonderfully.

To each their own but if you use pedals with other amps, you can use them with MTS just fine in most cases....Some cleans have a tone of their own sound like Twinface and don't do pedals well to my ear....Of course it's just that I don't like anything touching that mod as it's perfect already....

I use pedals Matt. I'm just talking about OD's and Fuzz's. I can see a boost or a compressor or all kinds of other pedals/effects. I'm just saying if the tone you like comes from a pedal, why spend the money for MTS and run your pedal through a clean MTS module?

I personally think for every pedal I have, I have a module that will do that same/similar tone and usually it'll do it better.

...and that's why I have $1000's tied up in MTS gear. Before I had MTS I had a $900 Fender amp and a $100 MXR pedal. I was completely happy.

"Yo dude check out my MTS amp that I turned all the features off on and get all my tone out of my $75 pedal!" LoL Silly...

 

[trimix]

Did an overdub session on Sunday where the player just brought his guitar and used the studio MTS rig. Rolled through about 7 different modules and 4 different pedal flavors across the tracks. The stock clean works if you want to hear exactly what the pedal puts out, we dug the Twox the most for combining with OD/distortion/fuzz well.

 

[buriedorburned]

Did an overdub session on Sunday where the player just brought his guitar and used the studio MTS rig. Rolled through about 7 different modules and 4 different pedal flavors across the tracks. The stock clean works if you want to hear exactly what the pedal puts out, we dug the Twox the most for combining with OD/distortion/fuzz well.
]

Stock clean seems to be the ticket for now. Cheers!