Rockerverb, AD30 and pedals

[Orangesoda]

I had started a thread asking advice on what amp to get. I think I've narrowed down my choices to the Rockerverb and the AD30. Ultimately I would like the Rockerverb, seems to fit me better. Problem..........

..........I keep hearing that the Rockerverb makes distortion pedals sound like poop. Now I have a TT and I've run my pedals through that and I also have an Orange 412 cab and I've run my TT through the cab with the pedals and they sound even better through the cab.

I had a Marshall DSL100 and I currently have a Blackstar Series One 104EL34 that I'm replacing with an Orange. But the TT makes the pedals sound FAR better than those 2 amps.

So my concern is that the pedals will sound crappy through the Rockerverb which I would hate for that to happen and I don't see why that would be. I play a wide variety of styles with my band so I enjoy having the versatility.

Do distortion pedals really sound THAT bad through a Rockerverb? Do the Rockerverb and TT sounds vary that much? Keep in mind I probably wouldn't use my pedals with the dirty channel just the clean channel and then get dirt from the pedals. With the TT I keep it clean and then engage the pedal. Sounds superb.

One person in the previous thread I made said the AD30 takes pedals better.

Can Rockerverb and AD30 owners chime in?

If you're wondering I'm using for dirt:

Catalinbread Supercharged Overdrive
MI Audio Crunch Box
Wampler Plextortion
Visual Sound Jeckyll & Hyde

Got a Box of Rock on the way.

[irish_admiral]

If you've got a rockerverb at a store near, why not take them down and try it out? Certainly the SCOD and Crunchbox are fairly meaty pedals, so there's a question there to say if you're getting a Rockerverb, you've already got the high gain on tap and you don't need those pedals!

I've always been happy with the way my AD has taken pedals. I don't think i've ever heard anyone say the RV didn't take pedals ok too...

[Orangesoda]

If you've got a rockerverb at a store near, why not take them down and try it out? Certainly the SCOD and Crunchbox are fairly meaty pedals, so there's a question there to say if you're getting a Rockerverb, you've already got the high gain on tap and you don't need those pedals!

I've always been happy with the way my AD has taken pedals. I don't think i've ever heard anyone say the RV didn't take pedals ok too...

Yea I've kinda thought about maybe going in to do that. Would hate to take my whole board. Prolly just take 3 or 4 pedals with me. The SCOD and Crunch box give it a different sound. Cherry and Strawberry might seem like the same flavor. But they're delicious in their own way

[jason41224]

well, i only use pedals with my R30. i preferred its sound over the AD30 run this way. i also really like the sound of a Tiny Terror with pedals, it actually sounds fairly similar to the R30. i know everyone says that the Rockerverb doesn't take pedals well...i'm not sure if i'd agree with that, particularly because everybody says that about the R30 and Tiny Terror too, and i very much disagree with that.

i will say that the feature set of the Rockerverb might be lost on you if you plan on only running drive pedals out front, and you might want to look at a simpler circuit designed at accomplishing what you want. but if it sounds good, it is good!

and not to throw a couple wrenches into the mix, but i hear the OR50 is very pedal friendly as well. you should also give the R30 a fair look. i'm working on a pretty lengthy writeup with my experience with the Rocker 30 and how my use with it has evolved, hopefully i'll be getting around to positing that soon, but it's an underrated amp in regards to how it takes pedals

[klarocca]

Hey OP.

I'd like to offer my advice (personal experience). I've owned a RV50, TV50 and most recently a RV100 mkii. I sold the RV both times and a large part of the reason for that was the fact that they JUST DO NOT LIKE PEDALS. (Again, this is my personal experience, which was extensive..)

IF ANYTHING, the only time they sounded half decent was through the dirty channel. Honestly, forget using any dirt, fuzz or OD etc thorough the clean channel. horrible. I tried so hard to get it to work, it just wouldn't. Clean is clean is clean is clean. Only.

If pedal friendliness is important to you, then I'm confident to advise that the RV is not for you. Great amps, but not with pedals. The TV was better, but not by much..

[Orangesoda]

Hey OP.

I'd like to offer my advice (personal experience). I've owned a RV50, TV50 and most recently a RV100 mkii. I sold the RV both times and a large part of the reason for that was the fact that they JUST DO NOT LIKE PEDALS. (Again, this is my personal experience, which was extensive..)

IF ANYTHING, the only time they sounded half decent was through the dirty channel. Honestly, forget using any dirt, fuzz or OD etc thorough the clean channel. horrible. I tried so hard to get it to work, it just wouldn't. Clean is clean is clean is clean. Only.

If pedal friendliness is important to you, then I'm confident to advise that the RV is not for you. Great amps, but not with pedals. The TV was better, but not by much..

Wow man so many differing opinions. Gonna have to try the Rockerverb at my local GC with my pedals. See how that goes. Maybe we have different ears lol. But if it sux at taking pedals then it sux at taking pedals. If that's the case I will come back and say you were right lol

[Orangesoda]

well, i only use pedals with my R30. i preferred its sound over the AD30 run this way. i also really like the sound of a Tiny Terror with pedals, it actually sounds fairly similar to the R30. i know everyone says that the Rockerverb doesn't take pedals well...i'm not sure if i'd agree with that, particularly because everybody says that about the R30 and Tiny Terror too, and i very much disagree with that.

i will say that the feature set of the Rockerverb might be lost on you if you plan on only running drive pedals out front, and you might want to look at a simpler circuit designed at accomplishing what you want. but if it sounds good, it is good!

and not to throw a couple wrenches into the mix, but i hear the OR50 is very pedal friendly as well. you should also give the R30 a fair look. i'm working on a pretty lengthy writeup with my experience with the Rocker 30 and how my use with it has evolved, hopefully i'll be getting around to positing that soon, but it's an underrated amp in regards to how it takes pedals

I'm not sure how distortion pedals sound bad through the TT. I played around with my pedals again and it sounds great. Even recorded some clips real quick with the TT sound and then 3 different pedals. Might post em if I can figure out how.

[TESLA_EL34]

i never liked any od/fuzz or distortion pedals through the r30. there were some which sounded okay through the natural channel but not through the dirty channel. and i wanted it so hard too.

i always said a good clean channel that takes pedals like a bomb and r30/r50 dirty channel in one amp would be killer. of course you could get the modulation stuff in the loop...

[jason41224]

I'm not sure how distortion pedals sound bad through the TT. I played around with my pedals again and it sounds great. Even recorded some clips real quick with the TT sound and then 3 different pedals. Might post em if I can figure out how.

try uploading it to websites like soundcloud and posting the links here. but yeah, i know. but hang around places like the Gear Page long enough and you'll have doubts. i love the Tiny Terror with pedals.

[Orangesoda]

I'm not sure how distortion pedals sound bad through the TT. I played around with my pedals again and it sounds great. Even recorded some clips real quick with the TT sound and then 3 different pedals. Might post em if I can figure out how.

try uploading it to websites like soundcloud and posting the links here. but yeah, i know. but hang around places like the Gear Page long enough and you'll have doubts. i love the Tiny Terror with pedals.

I have no doubts. The TT sounds stupid awesome with distortion pedals. Must have been the pedals they were using. Cuz if they are supposed to sound bad through the TT then how TERRIBLE do they sound when I run em through the blackstar or the marshall that i had before when I consider the pedals to sound the best through the TT out of those 3 amps?! Yea I'll get em uploaded and post em. Let me know what you think. And actually I'm not gonna say which clip is which. One of em sounds much different but the other 2 pedals could pass for a TT sound.

[klarocca]

Hey OP.

I'd like to offer my advice (personal experience). I've owned a RV50, TV50 and most recently a RV100 mkii. I sold the RV both times and a large part of the reason for that was the fact that they JUST DO NOT LIKE PEDALS. (Again, this is my personal experience, which was extensive..)

IF ANYTHING, the only time they sounded half decent was through the dirty channel. Honestly, forget using any dirt, fuzz or OD etc thorough the clean channel. horrible. I tried so hard to get it to work, it just wouldn't. Clean is clean is clean is clean. Only.

If pedal friendliness is important to you, then I'm confident to advise that the RV is not for you. Great amps, but not with pedals. The TV was better, but not by much..

Wow man so many differing opinions. Gonna have to try the Rockerverb at my local GC with my pedals. See how that goes. Maybe we have different ears lol. But if it sux at taking pedals then it sux at taking pedals. If that's the case I will come back and say you were right lol

Haha, yes! Welcome to the age of internet- it's both a welcome and unwelcome side effect. Deffs try it out for yourself, I wouldn't condone buying exclusively riding on forum opinions, but yah.. pedals and an RV- nope. I get the whole 'different ears' and 'taste in tone' thing, but sometimes it's just a matter of it does or doesn't.

With a whole lot of mucking around, i got some dirt/OD/fuzz to sound borderline decent with a whole lot of tweaking. That led me to see the slightest gliimer of hope. HOWEVER, as soon as i hooked up my board to another amp, I realised how bad they sounded through the RV. Not different, just bad.

Let me know how you go though!

P.s: On reading this, it kinda looks like I'm slamming Orange amps! Not at all.. I love them to death, this is purely regarding the RV series and pedals

[irish_admiral]

Sounds like the answer is to take your stuff & guitar down to the store to try it out!

Cut through the opinions and work out if you like it then...

[Woodsie]

I agree with the RV and pedals thing, to a degree. If I push the clean channel with my TS808 for a little slight breakup, blues tone, it sounds great. My Rat also sounds pretty good. Otherwise, all those boutique dirt and fuzz pedals don't really get their fair shake through the RV. other than my TS, I run no other dirt pedals at all. I get it from the RVs dirty channel and I love it.

[jamison162]

My RV50 has always been "picky" when it comes to pedals. The clean channel has so much headroom, it's very hi-fi sounding, can be somewhat steril if you are not careful with tube/speaker selection. It is just VERY revealing....i.e. garbage in, garbage out. It makes pedals, well....sound like pedals. Separates the men from the boys.

Something like the AD30, tube rectified, less headroom would probably "take" pedals better. In fact, I just got an AD30 and will be testing this out myself. I've owned my RV50 for 6 yrs, bought it new in '07.

[Orangesoda]

Sound clips below. My TT combo with an LP copy, bridge pickup (a burstbucker 3). Recorded it with my phone just real quick. Didn't mess with the pedal settings just stomped on em and played whatever settings I had previously and just tried to make the volume even. Excuse the crappy playing.

So the 4 clips are:

TT gain at 3 o'clock, vol about 9 o'clock
For the 3 pedals I cranked the volume and put the gain in between 8 and 9 o'clock and just even out the sound about what the TT alone sounded like. Pedals:

Wampler Plextortion
Jekyll and Hyde
Crunch Box

https://soundcloud.com/orangesoda-2/sets/tt-clips

Won't say which clip is which, I'll just do that later. If anyone wants to take a stab at it I encourage you to. But does anyone think it sounds bad? Serious question not gonna trash anyone I know it's a matter of opinion lol. To me this sounds like the TT takes pedals fairly well. So the Rockerverb would not sound anything like this? If it sounds anything like this then the RV is the amp for me. But yes to seal the deal I'll be going down to GC to try out the RV with these 3 pedals. Maybe one more.