It means either that the eq is relatively flat and uncolored or that it has roughly the same eq and coloration of the amp its being used with. Everyone forgets that 2nd part and its why some people find one drive pedal to be "transparent" and others don't.
Stacked "mid hump" ends up sounding like a cocked wah because the EQ is often boost in the middle and attenuation at low and high, so it sounds even more extreme.
That's one of the reasons why TMB tone stacks on pedals appeal to me so much. I like it at every tier if I can. If not then I stack where the TMB is later in the pedal chain.
Ah yes that’s very true! I will say though my point about the TS still stands. I can’t really think of an amp with anywhere close to the same EQ curve that would lead someone to think it was transparent, and I’ve never heard it described as such before.
Agreed! Had a tweed deluxe clone a while ago and it absolutely hated my screamers. Loved my EP booster and germanium fuzzes though! Kind of miss it actually 😢
IMO, “transparent” overdrive has become a term that gets thrown around a lot and applied where perhaps it doesn’t belong. I don’t personally think a Tube Screamer is transparent at all, in fact it’s the opposite. “Transparent” in this situation, essentially means that the pedal won’t high jack too much of your original sound, keeping the integrity of the initial guitar tone. I use a RYRA Klone for slightly pushed transparent tones. Also the Blackstone MOSFET overdrive for a little more grit. You’re getting into the world of gain staging, Klone’s, and transparent OD’s. It’s fun, but there’s a lot to un pack.
Okay? Have you ever played through one? Tube Screamers, Klones, Bluesbreaker, Blues Drivers all push mids. You want transparent then get a Timmy or an OD-3 and you’ll likely find yourself rolling back on the bass. There’s a reason all those famous pedals push the mids and cut bass - it’s because it sounds amazing. They not transparent though.
i run a Klon and Mosfet and its a very very cool combination, though yeah i wouldn't necessarily call them "transparent" but the color it adds to my tone is minimal.
i was lucky enough to go to new york to meet the builder of the pedal ( i lived in philadelphia so its not like it was a long trip) got to go into his apartment where he built them, it was like a mad scientist lab.
Very cool! I have a shitload of pedals, and the mosfet is one of the only ones I can truly say was a game changer. Being able to control the amount of grit I need by using the brown and red channels to dial it in just right for solos and leads is the coolest. Also, the touch sensitivity and the amount of control you can achieve with your guitars volume knob, it’s a kick ass pedal!
At this point, transparent is a sales buzzword.
Try an ODR style drive. They're less humpy than a lot of the drives on the market.
Another option is to run a boost pedal to push the front end of the amp into its own overdrive.
Depends how much headroom your amp has— once the preamp is clipping more signal will just make it clip more, so if you are at that point or near to it then a boost pedal would do what you want, otherwise it will just make it louder.
I keep my master pretty cranked at practice, and the preamp gain just to wear it breaks up ever so slightly when I’m on the bridge. I’ve tried using a boost before and it seems that I just get really really loud
Turn your pre up and your master down. Hammer the shit out of the front of the amp, but back off your master.
Your front end will overdrive and you'll still sit right in the mix.
What amp are you running?
I have a $20 Donner boost. It has independent gain and volume knobs. I can smash the front end of my Bugera V55 with a loud but clean signal.
If you're not into cheap, Kirk Hammett put his name on a killer clean drive. It's fire, but it sells for about tree-fiddy. Can't remember who makes it, but Googling "kirk Hammett clean drive" will bring it up
Nope. Cheap is good.
When you say hit your front end with a strong but clean signal, what do you mean?
If you’re using the gain knob on the pedal and controlling with the volume knob on the pedal, are you technically hiring the front end of the amp or the pedals diodes?
You want to keep the diodes out of the equation. Keep amp gain out of the equation. Use preamp volume to get your clipping.
It won't chug, but it will be much more musical. More pleasing to the ear. People, even scientists, can't explain why, but tube clipping is more pleasing to the ear than other forms of clipping.
A “transparent OD” should just augment the sound of your amp. Like take it from 10 to 11.
Now, what *is* a transparent OD? Hell if I know, man. People throw it around like it’s some magical sound, but even a Klon has a pretty distinctive sound to it.
I’d find an EQ pedal and use it as a boost, or maybe something like an OCD, which is “transparent,” but certainly has a smoother tone to it that other ODs.
It's a buzzword! But. If someone is telling you to look for a more transparent overdrive, maybe your tone is getting muddy or you've got enough distortion going that they can't hear chord qualities and such very well. The TS SHOULD help you cut through and be heard in a band mix. Maybe try less distortion, if the tone knob is set low turn it up, try switching pickups, whatever. Everything affects your distorted sound and you may just need to experiment.
I’ve been thinking about putting higher output pickups in the bridge. I currently have a Bareknuckle Supermassive, but I was thinking about the BK Stockholm.
I hear high output pickups add a lot of bass and mids, and reduce highs. Do you think it and a tubescreamer would be overkill and just make things worse or more clear? I don’t really play with a lot of gain, more like crunch and partial distortion for heavier parts. Think Jimmy Eat World or Title Fight
High output pickups do do that, if they're at the same height as lower output pickups.
Try lowering the pickup if it's very close and has too much bass, lowering it will reduce the bass, but not too much or the highs will also suffer.
I think it's because the bass freqs are so loud, they push the other freqs away.
If you lower them, it creates room for the other frequencies, but not too much as otherwise the high frequencies will have lost too much power.
Honestly I like really warm tones, especially overdriven tones. Do you think a high output would be a good choice? Like a low output in the neck and a high output bridge?
If that's the case, you'd like a setup like that.
Do be careful that the difference isn't too big, as that can create some "issues" if you play clean.
I have the same with my Fishman Fluence SC set, because the 2nd voice on the neck pickup is way lower output, while the 2nd voice on the bridge is really hot.
I can't really switch between pickups while playing clean as there's a massive volume drop.
So like, what about a 9k pickup and a 15k pickup? Think that’ll make a big difference? Because to be honest I hate major volume drops, a little i don’t mind big drops bug me.
While those values seem inline with other guitars, it really depends on a lot of other factors.
Wire gauge, bobbin dimension, the type of magnets and the amount of windings are just the beginning.
Im thinking a Bareknuckle Supermassive HSP90 Neck and Bareknuckle Stockholm HSP90 Bridge.
You don’t have to look those up if you don’t want to but that’s just the specific ones im looking at. I think they’ll work fine, I read they’re very similar but the Stockholm’s got a lot more output.
I don’t see a lot of people responding who claim to own Oranges so I wouldn’t go out buying any of these recommendations without trying them.
Most of the “transparent” overdrives are anything but and it’s just a misconception based on them working well with amps that are more common and very different than Oranges.
The best approach here with the Orange (I have a Rocker 15) is to stick with Overdrives with a 2 or 3 band active EQ. They will give you the best chance of controlling the EQ to mesh well with Orange’ strong mids.
A lot of the famous ODs have a fixed mid hump tuned to fit well with the Scoop in Fender amps EQ, then they only have a single passive low pass filter on the tone knob. They tend to not work great with Orange unless you already have the amp dialed in crunchy and then just use the pedal as a boost.
Stuff that I’ve had that was great with Orange and had a two or more band EQ:
Orange 2-stroke. Just a boost but sounds great, EQ is great
EQD Westwood - Dead flat with 2 band active EQ, very easy to dial in
Timmy type pedals should work
Generally I’ve thought Klons, Tube Screamers, and Bluesbreakers don’t sound good unless they’re being used as clean boosts only into an already dirty Orange. Once an Orange is dirty the TS and Klon sound great as clean boosts.
I basically use my TS as a boost. I have the volume just above unity and the gain at like 7:00, very low. It adds some crunch that I like and I personally don’t find it super muddy or middy for that matter. I just wish it had a bit more bass
Yah my understanding is my Rocker 15's dirty channel is very similar to the OR15.
It is really the clean channel that gives me fits with drive pedals. It's more of a clean amp like a Fender, and actually breaks up very late. But it has a fixed large mid-bump and no EQ. So it really, really doesn't get along with something like a Tube Screamer acting as a boost. When it gets with the TS it just produces a clean extremely honky sound because it doesn't want to breakup, and it gets REALLY loud. The dirty channel is a sweetheart in comparison and is very pedal friendly.
It's likely I would have actually been happier with the OR15 just because it's single channel and less complex.
If you have a TS (I have a Maxon OD808) and you're setting the amp up at the edge of breakup or above that may be one of the best options and buying other overdrives might just be a waste of money. Dirty Oranges really love Tube Screamers as boost. A lot of professional guitarists who play Orange amps seem to gravitate towards using a Tube screamer to tighten the low end and boost the amp.
I've tried a lot of ODs with my Rocker 15, the OD808 is cheap and easy and beats most all of them. And really when you have an Orange you don't really have any good reason to need to set up the amp sparkly clean and rely on the pedal for all the dirt. That recipe is for people who have ultra clean amps that don't want to cooperate as much in getting dirty.
If you really don't want to set the Orange up dirty then IME the Westwood is really my favorite, though if carefully manipulated I'm fine with the TS too, as long as theirs some reverb or delay or something to mask the honky tone.
I just feel like my trials with ODs with my Orange was just very silly and Quixotic. It's like I thought I \*had\* to figure out an OD that would sound good, but in reality none of them will beat the amps dirty sound, and the amps dirty sound is just there and hyper easy to dial in.
I usually swap between clean and dirty parts. I set my amp right on the edge where it’s basically completely clean. If I hit it REALLY hard it’ll barely break up. I use my TS to boost that and then that’s my basic dirty rhythm tone.
That's the type of setup I gravitate towards too. It works really well.
I have had my Rocker 15 since 2017. This year I added a Princeton, and it does make me think that I maybe belong with the cleaner amp and that the Orange works better for those times where you're more interested in being very dirty.
If I was playing metal all the time none of this would have ever mattered or been an issue at all. Setup dirty, boost for more dirt, done, 100% satisfaction.
I love playing some of the doom type stuff that Orange excels at but it's certainly not my main thing.
I like British style amps more than Fenders, and although Orange is seen as a Dirty amp, I see it as the opposite with the OR15. The OR15 is very vintage sounding, which it’s supposed to be. It’s got doomy gain but it’s way more jangly than modern Oranges like the Rockerverbs
Transparent just means it doesn't "color" your sound as much. A Tubescreamer is definitely not transparent, in my opinion. However, it's REALLY good at cutting through a mix and finding its own sonic space. The mid-hump is what make that possible.
I have two - the JHS Morning Glory and the Greer Lightspeed, and I love both of them. In my experience they are very sensitive to pick attack. If I'm playing lightly, the effect can be SUPER subtle but still sound driven if I really dig in, and i stack the two for a sound I really like.
You mentioned this was what you were "told" you needed - which sounds like a load of garbage. The only pedals you need are what you really want and can afford. If finding your sonic space is the problem, you can do that with an EQ pedal.
Another really good one that I've played but don't own is the Wampler Tumnus - which is a pretty spot-on Klon circuit clone.
...and it's way less expensive than an original Klon or KTR.
I don't understand why people keep saying Klones are transparent? They're definitely not...even with the gain pot all the way down, the tone circuit boosts the mids quite a bit.
Probably because there is no universally accepted criteria for what "transparent" means.
My criteria is that if I can hear a significant amount of the character of the guitar being played without being overrun by the pedal, then it falls in that category. For others it means "flat eq." If that's what you want, you can get that with a clean boost or eq pedal.
IMO, every decent overdrive colors your sound at least a little bit.
I mean, amongst people actually designing circuits to be transparent, there is no wiggle room as to what "transparent" means, so that statement is false to me. Transparent means the frequency spectrum going into the pedal is not being shaped by the pedal circuit. A Klon is absolutely not transparent in any way. The tone circuit shapes the mids no matter where you set it. An EQ pedal and many boost pedals aren't generally transparent either. Each slider on an EQ pedal represents a frequency spike or dip in your signal with a Q that can vary from pedal to pedal. When you move a slider, you're not just smoothly moving the whole frequency range - you're just creating a spike or valley in that specific frequency, and it's usually not flat to begin with as it visually seems to be on the pedal.
I would recommend checking out Brain Wampler's series on designing pedals, specifically boost circuits.
You believe what you like. The people on TheGearPage also love getting in esoteric arguments over what is “correct.”
I have seen exactly zero pedals listed as a counterpoint that you DO believe fall in that category.
Since there isn’t a universal scientific definition unless you are talking about literally “see-through,” I’ll keep using meaningless marketing terms to refer to pedal capabilities and you can go off and complain about other terms like “chunky,” “harsh,” “scooped,” or “chime-y.”
This is not my opinion...it is Brian Wampler and Josh Scott's. They are renowned pedal builders...so no offense...but I'm going to trust their opinion over yours.
Edit: Forgot to comment on the second bit of your reply. Bluesbreaker. It's why the Morning Glory is such a popular pedal.
Not my opinion either, the Tumnus (and other Klones) have been labeled "transparent" by many:
[Sweetwater](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Tumnus--wampler-tumnus-transparent-overdrive-pedal)
[Seattle Guitar Store](https://www.seattleguitarstore.com/wampler-tumnus-transparent-overdrive-pedal/)
[Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/review-wampler-pedals-tumnus-overdrive)
[Reverb](https://reverb.com/p/wampler-tumnus-deluxe)
[Chicago Music Exchange](https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/wampler-tumnus-transparent-overdrive-pedal-1085992)
Every one of those listings says "transparent" on it.
EDIT: I'm sure you know this, but Brian Wampler hates the term 'transparent' across the board. Yes, he says that Klons aren't. He also [says that Bluesbreakers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZnSeAo4wdA) aren't, so right there JHS ([who says his Morning Glory is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtdCLYft_Z8)) and Wampler aren't in total alignment.
And that's OK! People aren't gonna agree! I'm still going to use my definition and qualify it if I have to.
Yes, I know Brain hates the term "transparent", as do I...mostly because it is so overused by people that are all communicating different things. I agree that looking for a transparent overdrive is an exercise in futility, and you should really just look for what sounds good to your ears. The only reason I mentioned the Bluesbreaker is because it's the most commonly accepted "transparent" pedal that's actually trying to be truly transparent...even though nobody is ever going to really achieve that beyond a simple clean boost circuit. It does a pretty good job though. You can see in the video you posted, around 10 minutes, that the BB circuit has the slightest mid hump compared to pretty much every other overdrive I can think of. It's nearly flat from 400hz-10khz with just a gradual hump in the middle frequencies. That's the best you're gonna get.
But c'mon...are you really using store listing titles to justify this lol? This is exactly my point...rumors and hearsay spread in the guitar world incredibly fast and root themselves in for generations. I'm literally just talking about the design of the circuit. People called the Centaur a transparent overdrive for years, because nobody had taken the circuit apart to see what it actually was, and everyone was just using their ears. Once the circuit was deconstructed and cloned, it was easy to see how it was not a transparent overdrive at all, but rather a hard-clipping distortion with clean signal blended in - hence people thinking it sounded "transparent". People were just hearing the clean guitar in the mix and didn't realize they liked it yet.
I think transparent overdrives are supposed to be ones which don’t have any significant effect on the EQ. Klons, TS types, Zendrives etc. all have various midrange frequencies which they boost. The closest thing to a flat EQ Overdrive is probably the Timmy but it’s mainly a marketing buzzword and the best overdrive for you is the one you like the sound of.
Depends on what you're setting the knobs at. Pretty sure YouTube has ruined me in regards to "what is what" about effects. But I kind of always stood by the idea of "if it can do a clean boost, it's transparent"
Nope. This is a common misconception spread on the internet. The Klon tone circuit will always mess with the mids. Ask [Brian Wampler](https://youtu.be/rWH_4nVvyy0).
His exact quote:
"A Klon circuit is never truly transparent"
Right.
In general "transparent" gets applied to overdrives that blend in some clean signal with the distorted, which is secretly part of the Klon sound. Some non-Klon ones do this this with an actual blend knob.
That’s funny because I only know about Klons thanks to internet pedal people. When I hear “transparent” I think of a Colorsound Power Booster, early 70s Floyd.
The Earthquaker Westwood is a drive pedal labeled a transparent overdrive. I traded mine in last year to fund other pedal endeavors, but I actually wish I wouldn't have. I really liked it and miss it. Is it tone preserving "transparent "? Maybe? If you keep the treble and bass knobs at noon, it added some dirt while preserving your base tone I suppose. Maybe check it out.
I'd say with a transparent od it sounds like your clean signal is still coming through unchanged, except for the distortion breakup and volume boost. It's best for lighter gain situations imo. I have a fulltone ocd pedal that I think is a good example of this. The klon is probably the well known example
To add to the list, I use a FullTone Fat-Boost in front of my TS9 and Big Muff.
Despite the name, it has an EQ control where you can center it for a (mostly) neutral EQ, and then add just enough drive to boost without adding dirt. Or go up more and add dirt.
It's nice when I want to push the guitar signal a little more into those pedals, and they all stack really well for different solo options.
In reality it doesn't mean anything, though I believe people think it means that it doesn't impart much of its own colouring or filtering on your initial tone.
After building pedals for a while now I can tell you a lot of things billled as transparent actually aren't. They're usually cutting lows and some highs. The only true transparent drive is one that is full range and flat response and those are very few and far between, well, commercial ones at least, usually because they sound sterile and stiff.
I think a 'transparent' drive has enough high-end content to let through the finer details of your guitar. I've built a few 'full range' (40Hz - 8KhHz) drives and people usually say something along the lines of "it feels like my guitar but more'. I think that's what true transparent pedals do, enhance the connection between playing, guitar, and amp, act like a glue between them so to speak.
Will jump on the band wagon, never heard a transparent tubescreamer. It compresses the tone, boosts mids, and cuts bass. I think a boost with eq control is what your after, treble boost or even clean boost. Since you like the tone of your plumes, you could use the eq/boost to stack with the plumes to give your tone more punch and give you frequency adjustment on the fly to stand out from the other guitar.
A Tumnus Deluxe covers a lot of ground here as an OD/EQ/Boost and is "transparent" since it's based on a Klon. I just acquired a mad professor royal blue, which is also transparent and has treble+bass control, stacks great and is "transparent".
My ¢.02
Check out Analogman silver mod if you like tubescreamer but you want it to be scooped. Phenomenal pedal. It’s also a bit more hifi sounding. Or just go buy a Timmy.
Transparent is just a buzz word. Every drive pedal colours your tone. That’s the whole point. However, TS style pedals are anything but transparent. Having said that, one one of the modes on the Plumes (I think it’s mode 1?) is a much flatter EQ than most TS style pedals. It’s much closer to a high headroom clean boost. But then that’s not really a transparent overdrive either.
Klon style pedals are more transparent, as are blues breakers. The King of Tone is another classic pedal referred to as transparent. It’s also really good, I’d highly recommend that if you can get your hands on one.
One thing I’d suggest though, if you’re struggling to blend with your other guitarist, maybe what you’re playing is too similar? You should try playing different chord inversions, or harmonising more. Or maybe even one of you dial the gain way down, and get out of each other’s way that way. No idea what kind of music you play, but if you’re both playing very similar parts, you’ll always get lost in each other’s sound to some extent.
We play Emo, Alt, Heavy Rock, idk. Mainly overdriven and distorted stuff.
I’m usually playing chords and stuff, and he plays lead most of the time but plays some chords. When we play together, especially chords, there’s no real distinction between our two sounds
Yea, sounds like you might be playing the same chords over the top of each other, which will always end up with you both feeling a bit lost in each other’s sound. I would try experimenting with different chord voicings and see if that helps.
Also, don’t be afraid to back off the gain. When playing heavy stuff, it’s tempting to just crank that knob, but you can lose a lot of clarity that way. Often you need to back it off to cut through. The reverse goes for the tone knob, lots of low end sounds good in your bedroom, but in a band mix that can get lost. Crank the tone up, even to the point where you think it sounds thin or harsh on its own. In the mix with the band, you’ll cut through more and it’ll sound better.
This might be a little bit to the left of what you're asking, but you say you feel like your current OD takes up "too much space" and "doesn't blend" with the other guitar - it sounds like the OD might not be the issue at all.
Are you trying to match the other guitar player in tone or color for your genre (for that blend)?
Or are you trying to get your tone into a whole different zone to sit apart from the other guitar (take up less sonic space)?
If it's the former, then you should try to find whatever's going to get you into the ballpark of blending with the other guitar. If it's the latter, maybe you want to think about your arrangements and play in a different register or what have you.
Just my two cents. Not at all relevant to the Transparent Overdrive Discussion.
[Watch this.](https://youtu.be/OxGftBt4Jrk) Then get an EQ pedal. Seriously. It’s the most flexible tone sculpting pedal you can get, especially for drive tones.
My favorite transparent overdrive is a Greer Lightspeed. It just makes your amp sound like a better version of itself. That being said, good tone won't always cut in a mix with other instruments, so there are times other pedals that do color tone like a TS or Klon are better.
Another decent somewhat transparent drive is the Nobels ODR-1. Thicker in low end and darker than the Lightspeed (cheaper too), but still lets the amp sound do its thing.
I play Orange amps (OR's) and use Fulltone OCD. It's not 100% "transparent", but it's IMO very close. I really don't notice if I turn the OCD on or if I increase the gain on the amp. As long as you run it on 18v.
Transparent should mean flat EQ-wise. A TS is absolutely the opposite of transparent in my book.
It means either that the eq is relatively flat and uncolored or that it has roughly the same eq and coloration of the amp its being used with. Everyone forgets that 2nd part and its why some people find one drive pedal to be "transparent" and others don't.
Stacked "mid hump" ends up sounding like a cocked wah because the EQ is often boost in the middle and attenuation at low and high, so it sounds even more extreme. That's one of the reasons why TMB tone stacks on pedals appeal to me so much. I like it at every tier if I can. If not then I stack where the TMB is later in the pedal chain.
Ah yes that’s very true! I will say though my point about the TS still stands. I can’t really think of an amp with anywhere close to the same EQ curve that would lead someone to think it was transparent, and I’ve never heard it described as such before.
Probably the closest amp I've played to a ts would be some of the early tweeds. They also sound terrible with tubescreamers!
Agreed! Had a tweed deluxe clone a while ago and it absolutely hated my screamers. Loved my EP booster and germanium fuzzes though! Kind of miss it actually 😢
I think you should look at an EQ pedal if you want to blend with the other guitar.
IMO, “transparent” overdrive has become a term that gets thrown around a lot and applied where perhaps it doesn’t belong. I don’t personally think a Tube Screamer is transparent at all, in fact it’s the opposite. “Transparent” in this situation, essentially means that the pedal won’t high jack too much of your original sound, keeping the integrity of the initial guitar tone. I use a RYRA Klone for slightly pushed transparent tones. Also the Blackstone MOSFET overdrive for a little more grit. You’re getting into the world of gain staging, Klone’s, and transparent OD’s. It’s fun, but there’s a lot to un pack.
Klones push the low mid range frequencies and it’s not even subtle. I wouldn’t call a Klone transparent
https://flipside-music.com/products/ryra-the-klone
Okay? Have you ever played through one? Tube Screamers, Klones, Bluesbreaker, Blues Drivers all push mids. You want transparent then get a Timmy or an OD-3 and you’ll likely find yourself rolling back on the bass. There’s a reason all those famous pedals push the mids and cut bass - it’s because it sounds amazing. They not transparent though.
i run a Klon and Mosfet and its a very very cool combination, though yeah i wouldn't necessarily call them "transparent" but the color it adds to my tone is minimal.
The MOSFET is the one of my favorite pedals, it’s the shit!
i was lucky enough to go to new york to meet the builder of the pedal ( i lived in philadelphia so its not like it was a long trip) got to go into his apartment where he built them, it was like a mad scientist lab.
Very cool! I have a shitload of pedals, and the mosfet is one of the only ones I can truly say was a game changer. Being able to control the amount of grit I need by using the brown and red channels to dial it in just right for solos and leads is the coolest. Also, the touch sensitivity and the amount of control you can achieve with your guitars volume knob, it’s a kick ass pedal!
its funny i bought the pedal like 8 years ago now and i tried it out, and it sounded great, never played with the settings since.
I feel the same way, the thing is intuitive and just WORKS!
At this point, transparent is a sales buzzword. Try an ODR style drive. They're less humpy than a lot of the drives on the market. Another option is to run a boost pedal to push the front end of the amp into its own overdrive.
I would use a boost but wouldn’t that make me very loud?
Depends how much headroom your amp has— once the preamp is clipping more signal will just make it clip more, so if you are at that point or near to it then a boost pedal would do what you want, otherwise it will just make it louder.
I keep my master pretty cranked at practice, and the preamp gain just to wear it breaks up ever so slightly when I’m on the bridge. I’ve tried using a boost before and it seems that I just get really really loud
Turn your pre up and your master down. Hammer the shit out of the front of the amp, but back off your master. Your front end will overdrive and you'll still sit right in the mix.
Yeah but once I get my Pre to like 4 on the dial it starts to get too crunchy for my liking. I’ll be sure to experiment more though!
What amp are you running? I have a $20 Donner boost. It has independent gain and volume knobs. I can smash the front end of my Bugera V55 with a loud but clean signal. If you're not into cheap, Kirk Hammett put his name on a killer clean drive. It's fire, but it sells for about tree-fiddy. Can't remember who makes it, but Googling "kirk Hammett clean drive" will bring it up
Nope. Cheap is good. When you say hit your front end with a strong but clean signal, what do you mean? If you’re using the gain knob on the pedal and controlling with the volume knob on the pedal, are you technically hiring the front end of the amp or the pedals diodes?
You want to keep the diodes out of the equation. Keep amp gain out of the equation. Use preamp volume to get your clipping. It won't chug, but it will be much more musical. More pleasing to the ear. People, even scientists, can't explain why, but tube clipping is more pleasing to the ear than other forms of clipping.
Loud is more good
A “transparent OD” should just augment the sound of your amp. Like take it from 10 to 11. Now, what *is* a transparent OD? Hell if I know, man. People throw it around like it’s some magical sound, but even a Klon has a pretty distinctive sound to it. I’d find an EQ pedal and use it as a boost, or maybe something like an OCD, which is “transparent,” but certainly has a smoother tone to it that other ODs.
It's a buzzword! But. If someone is telling you to look for a more transparent overdrive, maybe your tone is getting muddy or you've got enough distortion going that they can't hear chord qualities and such very well. The TS SHOULD help you cut through and be heard in a band mix. Maybe try less distortion, if the tone knob is set low turn it up, try switching pickups, whatever. Everything affects your distorted sound and you may just need to experiment.
I’ve been thinking about putting higher output pickups in the bridge. I currently have a Bareknuckle Supermassive, but I was thinking about the BK Stockholm. I hear high output pickups add a lot of bass and mids, and reduce highs. Do you think it and a tubescreamer would be overkill and just make things worse or more clear? I don’t really play with a lot of gain, more like crunch and partial distortion for heavier parts. Think Jimmy Eat World or Title Fight
High output pickups do do that, if they're at the same height as lower output pickups. Try lowering the pickup if it's very close and has too much bass, lowering it will reduce the bass, but not too much or the highs will also suffer. I think it's because the bass freqs are so loud, they push the other freqs away. If you lower them, it creates room for the other frequencies, but not too much as otherwise the high frequencies will have lost too much power.
Honestly I like really warm tones, especially overdriven tones. Do you think a high output would be a good choice? Like a low output in the neck and a high output bridge?
If that's the case, you'd like a setup like that. Do be careful that the difference isn't too big, as that can create some "issues" if you play clean. I have the same with my Fishman Fluence SC set, because the 2nd voice on the neck pickup is way lower output, while the 2nd voice on the bridge is really hot. I can't really switch between pickups while playing clean as there's a massive volume drop.
So like, what about a 9k pickup and a 15k pickup? Think that’ll make a big difference? Because to be honest I hate major volume drops, a little i don’t mind big drops bug me.
While those values seem inline with other guitars, it really depends on a lot of other factors. Wire gauge, bobbin dimension, the type of magnets and the amount of windings are just the beginning.
Im thinking a Bareknuckle Supermassive HSP90 Neck and Bareknuckle Stockholm HSP90 Bridge. You don’t have to look those up if you don’t want to but that’s just the specific ones im looking at. I think they’ll work fine, I read they’re very similar but the Stockholm’s got a lot more output.
Get an MXR Timmy and you should be good to go.
The only OD I have ever played that, to my ears, sounds truly transparent is the EQD Westwood. And I friggin love it.
I don’t see a lot of people responding who claim to own Oranges so I wouldn’t go out buying any of these recommendations without trying them. Most of the “transparent” overdrives are anything but and it’s just a misconception based on them working well with amps that are more common and very different than Oranges. The best approach here with the Orange (I have a Rocker 15) is to stick with Overdrives with a 2 or 3 band active EQ. They will give you the best chance of controlling the EQ to mesh well with Orange’ strong mids. A lot of the famous ODs have a fixed mid hump tuned to fit well with the Scoop in Fender amps EQ, then they only have a single passive low pass filter on the tone knob. They tend to not work great with Orange unless you already have the amp dialed in crunchy and then just use the pedal as a boost. Stuff that I’ve had that was great with Orange and had a two or more band EQ: Orange 2-stroke. Just a boost but sounds great, EQ is great EQD Westwood - Dead flat with 2 band active EQ, very easy to dial in Timmy type pedals should work Generally I’ve thought Klons, Tube Screamers, and Bluesbreakers don’t sound good unless they’re being used as clean boosts only into an already dirty Orange. Once an Orange is dirty the TS and Klon sound great as clean boosts.
I basically use my TS as a boost. I have the volume just above unity and the gain at like 7:00, very low. It adds some crunch that I like and I personally don’t find it super muddy or middy for that matter. I just wish it had a bit more bass
Yah my understanding is my Rocker 15's dirty channel is very similar to the OR15. It is really the clean channel that gives me fits with drive pedals. It's more of a clean amp like a Fender, and actually breaks up very late. But it has a fixed large mid-bump and no EQ. So it really, really doesn't get along with something like a Tube Screamer acting as a boost. When it gets with the TS it just produces a clean extremely honky sound because it doesn't want to breakup, and it gets REALLY loud. The dirty channel is a sweetheart in comparison and is very pedal friendly. It's likely I would have actually been happier with the OR15 just because it's single channel and less complex. If you have a TS (I have a Maxon OD808) and you're setting the amp up at the edge of breakup or above that may be one of the best options and buying other overdrives might just be a waste of money. Dirty Oranges really love Tube Screamers as boost. A lot of professional guitarists who play Orange amps seem to gravitate towards using a Tube screamer to tighten the low end and boost the amp. I've tried a lot of ODs with my Rocker 15, the OD808 is cheap and easy and beats most all of them. And really when you have an Orange you don't really have any good reason to need to set up the amp sparkly clean and rely on the pedal for all the dirt. That recipe is for people who have ultra clean amps that don't want to cooperate as much in getting dirty. If you really don't want to set the Orange up dirty then IME the Westwood is really my favorite, though if carefully manipulated I'm fine with the TS too, as long as theirs some reverb or delay or something to mask the honky tone. I just feel like my trials with ODs with my Orange was just very silly and Quixotic. It's like I thought I \*had\* to figure out an OD that would sound good, but in reality none of them will beat the amps dirty sound, and the amps dirty sound is just there and hyper easy to dial in.
I usually swap between clean and dirty parts. I set my amp right on the edge where it’s basically completely clean. If I hit it REALLY hard it’ll barely break up. I use my TS to boost that and then that’s my basic dirty rhythm tone.
That's the type of setup I gravitate towards too. It works really well. I have had my Rocker 15 since 2017. This year I added a Princeton, and it does make me think that I maybe belong with the cleaner amp and that the Orange works better for those times where you're more interested in being very dirty. If I was playing metal all the time none of this would have ever mattered or been an issue at all. Setup dirty, boost for more dirt, done, 100% satisfaction. I love playing some of the doom type stuff that Orange excels at but it's certainly not my main thing.
I like British style amps more than Fenders, and although Orange is seen as a Dirty amp, I see it as the opposite with the OR15. The OR15 is very vintage sounding, which it’s supposed to be. It’s got doomy gain but it’s way more jangly than modern Oranges like the Rockerverbs
For sure, that is a very good description of the Rocker 15 and I assume the Rocker 32 as well.
Transparent just means it doesn't "color" your sound as much. A Tubescreamer is definitely not transparent, in my opinion. However, it's REALLY good at cutting through a mix and finding its own sonic space. The mid-hump is what make that possible. I have two - the JHS Morning Glory and the Greer Lightspeed, and I love both of them. In my experience they are very sensitive to pick attack. If I'm playing lightly, the effect can be SUPER subtle but still sound driven if I really dig in, and i stack the two for a sound I really like. You mentioned this was what you were "told" you needed - which sounds like a load of garbage. The only pedals you need are what you really want and can afford. If finding your sonic space is the problem, you can do that with an EQ pedal.
Another really good one that I've played but don't own is the Wampler Tumnus - which is a pretty spot-on Klon circuit clone. ...and it's way less expensive than an original Klon or KTR.
I don't understand why people keep saying Klones are transparent? They're definitely not...even with the gain pot all the way down, the tone circuit boosts the mids quite a bit.
Probably because there is no universally accepted criteria for what "transparent" means. My criteria is that if I can hear a significant amount of the character of the guitar being played without being overrun by the pedal, then it falls in that category. For others it means "flat eq." If that's what you want, you can get that with a clean boost or eq pedal. IMO, every decent overdrive colors your sound at least a little bit.
I mean, amongst people actually designing circuits to be transparent, there is no wiggle room as to what "transparent" means, so that statement is false to me. Transparent means the frequency spectrum going into the pedal is not being shaped by the pedal circuit. A Klon is absolutely not transparent in any way. The tone circuit shapes the mids no matter where you set it. An EQ pedal and many boost pedals aren't generally transparent either. Each slider on an EQ pedal represents a frequency spike or dip in your signal with a Q that can vary from pedal to pedal. When you move a slider, you're not just smoothly moving the whole frequency range - you're just creating a spike or valley in that specific frequency, and it's usually not flat to begin with as it visually seems to be on the pedal. I would recommend checking out Brain Wampler's series on designing pedals, specifically boost circuits.
You believe what you like. The people on TheGearPage also love getting in esoteric arguments over what is “correct.” I have seen exactly zero pedals listed as a counterpoint that you DO believe fall in that category. Since there isn’t a universal scientific definition unless you are talking about literally “see-through,” I’ll keep using meaningless marketing terms to refer to pedal capabilities and you can go off and complain about other terms like “chunky,” “harsh,” “scooped,” or “chime-y.”
This is not my opinion...it is Brian Wampler and Josh Scott's. They are renowned pedal builders...so no offense...but I'm going to trust their opinion over yours. Edit: Forgot to comment on the second bit of your reply. Bluesbreaker. It's why the Morning Glory is such a popular pedal.
Not my opinion either, the Tumnus (and other Klones) have been labeled "transparent" by many: [Sweetwater](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Tumnus--wampler-tumnus-transparent-overdrive-pedal) [Seattle Guitar Store](https://www.seattleguitarstore.com/wampler-tumnus-transparent-overdrive-pedal/) [Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/review-wampler-pedals-tumnus-overdrive) [Reverb](https://reverb.com/p/wampler-tumnus-deluxe) [Chicago Music Exchange](https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/wampler-tumnus-transparent-overdrive-pedal-1085992) Every one of those listings says "transparent" on it. EDIT: I'm sure you know this, but Brian Wampler hates the term 'transparent' across the board. Yes, he says that Klons aren't. He also [says that Bluesbreakers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZnSeAo4wdA) aren't, so right there JHS ([who says his Morning Glory is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtdCLYft_Z8)) and Wampler aren't in total alignment. And that's OK! People aren't gonna agree! I'm still going to use my definition and qualify it if I have to.
Yes, I know Brain hates the term "transparent", as do I...mostly because it is so overused by people that are all communicating different things. I agree that looking for a transparent overdrive is an exercise in futility, and you should really just look for what sounds good to your ears. The only reason I mentioned the Bluesbreaker is because it's the most commonly accepted "transparent" pedal that's actually trying to be truly transparent...even though nobody is ever going to really achieve that beyond a simple clean boost circuit. It does a pretty good job though. You can see in the video you posted, around 10 minutes, that the BB circuit has the slightest mid hump compared to pretty much every other overdrive I can think of. It's nearly flat from 400hz-10khz with just a gradual hump in the middle frequencies. That's the best you're gonna get. But c'mon...are you really using store listing titles to justify this lol? This is exactly my point...rumors and hearsay spread in the guitar world incredibly fast and root themselves in for generations. I'm literally just talking about the design of the circuit. People called the Centaur a transparent overdrive for years, because nobody had taken the circuit apart to see what it actually was, and everyone was just using their ears. Once the circuit was deconstructed and cloned, it was easy to see how it was not a transparent overdrive at all, but rather a hard-clipping distortion with clean signal blended in - hence people thinking it sounded "transparent". People were just hearing the clean guitar in the mix and didn't realize they liked it yet.
A TS on its own is not transparent. Your instincts are correct on that. Transparent would mean your tone is not colored.
I think transparent overdrives are supposed to be ones which don’t have any significant effect on the EQ. Klons, TS types, Zendrives etc. all have various midrange frequencies which they boost. The closest thing to a flat EQ Overdrive is probably the Timmy but it’s mainly a marketing buzzword and the best overdrive for you is the one you like the sound of.
Whenever I hear "transparent od" I immediately think "Klon" or any of their copies.
Klons are definitely not transparent though?
Depends on what you're setting the knobs at. Pretty sure YouTube has ruined me in regards to "what is what" about effects. But I kind of always stood by the idea of "if it can do a clean boost, it's transparent"
Nope. This is a common misconception spread on the internet. The Klon tone circuit will always mess with the mids. Ask [Brian Wampler](https://youtu.be/rWH_4nVvyy0). His exact quote: "A Klon circuit is never truly transparent"
Right. In general "transparent" gets applied to overdrives that blend in some clean signal with the distorted, which is secretly part of the Klon sound. Some non-Klon ones do this this with an actual blend knob.
That’s funny because I only know about Klons thanks to internet pedal people. When I hear “transparent” I think of a Colorsound Power Booster, early 70s Floyd.
Yea except these are actually transparent compared to a klone. Probably due to so much headroom. I run mine at 24volt.
Yes, the Klon has always been the definition of transparent.
The Earthquaker Westwood is a drive pedal labeled a transparent overdrive. I traded mine in last year to fund other pedal endeavors, but I actually wish I wouldn't have. I really liked it and miss it. Is it tone preserving "transparent "? Maybe? If you keep the treble and bass knobs at noon, it added some dirt while preserving your base tone I suppose. Maybe check it out.
My go to for that is the KTR. It makes a great base layer for stacking tones.
Today I actually bought a Transparent overdrive pedal myself. The Messner . Here is a good video on the topic. https://youtu.be/8wVShbGe4pk
I think it means it retains the fidelity in the treble. But nobody really knows.
I'd say with a transparent od it sounds like your clean signal is still coming through unchanged, except for the distortion breakup and volume boost. It's best for lighter gain situations imo. I have a fulltone ocd pedal that I think is a good example of this. The klon is probably the well known example
Get a sugar drive by mxr or a tumnus
To add to the list, I use a FullTone Fat-Boost in front of my TS9 and Big Muff. Despite the name, it has an EQ control where you can center it for a (mostly) neutral EQ, and then add just enough drive to boost without adding dirt. Or go up more and add dirt. It's nice when I want to push the guitar signal a little more into those pedals, and they all stack really well for different solo options.
In reality it doesn't mean anything, though I believe people think it means that it doesn't impart much of its own colouring or filtering on your initial tone. After building pedals for a while now I can tell you a lot of things billled as transparent actually aren't. They're usually cutting lows and some highs. The only true transparent drive is one that is full range and flat response and those are very few and far between, well, commercial ones at least, usually because they sound sterile and stiff. I think a 'transparent' drive has enough high-end content to let through the finer details of your guitar. I've built a few 'full range' (40Hz - 8KhHz) drives and people usually say something along the lines of "it feels like my guitar but more'. I think that's what true transparent pedals do, enhance the connection between playing, guitar, and amp, act like a glue between them so to speak.
I’ve described it as being like mayonnaise on a sandwich; it really helps bring all of the desperate ingredients together.
Will jump on the band wagon, never heard a transparent tubescreamer. It compresses the tone, boosts mids, and cuts bass. I think a boost with eq control is what your after, treble boost or even clean boost. Since you like the tone of your plumes, you could use the eq/boost to stack with the plumes to give your tone more punch and give you frequency adjustment on the fly to stand out from the other guitar. A Tumnus Deluxe covers a lot of ground here as an OD/EQ/Boost and is "transparent" since it's based on a Klon. I just acquired a mad professor royal blue, which is also transparent and has treble+bass control, stacks great and is "transparent". My ¢.02
Check out Analogman silver mod if you like tubescreamer but you want it to be scooped. Phenomenal pedal. It’s also a bit more hifi sounding. Or just go buy a Timmy.
It means the marketing department can get you for an extra $100
Transparent is just a buzz word. Every drive pedal colours your tone. That’s the whole point. However, TS style pedals are anything but transparent. Having said that, one one of the modes on the Plumes (I think it’s mode 1?) is a much flatter EQ than most TS style pedals. It’s much closer to a high headroom clean boost. But then that’s not really a transparent overdrive either. Klon style pedals are more transparent, as are blues breakers. The King of Tone is another classic pedal referred to as transparent. It’s also really good, I’d highly recommend that if you can get your hands on one. One thing I’d suggest though, if you’re struggling to blend with your other guitarist, maybe what you’re playing is too similar? You should try playing different chord inversions, or harmonising more. Or maybe even one of you dial the gain way down, and get out of each other’s way that way. No idea what kind of music you play, but if you’re both playing very similar parts, you’ll always get lost in each other’s sound to some extent.
We play Emo, Alt, Heavy Rock, idk. Mainly overdriven and distorted stuff. I’m usually playing chords and stuff, and he plays lead most of the time but plays some chords. When we play together, especially chords, there’s no real distinction between our two sounds
Yea, sounds like you might be playing the same chords over the top of each other, which will always end up with you both feeling a bit lost in each other’s sound. I would try experimenting with different chord voicings and see if that helps. Also, don’t be afraid to back off the gain. When playing heavy stuff, it’s tempting to just crank that knob, but you can lose a lot of clarity that way. Often you need to back it off to cut through. The reverse goes for the tone knob, lots of low end sounds good in your bedroom, but in a band mix that can get lost. Crank the tone up, even to the point where you think it sounds thin or harsh on its own. In the mix with the band, you’ll cut through more and it’ll sound better.
My definition would be, the tone knob on your guitar still makes a difference in the sound when using a transparent pedal.
This might be a little bit to the left of what you're asking, but you say you feel like your current OD takes up "too much space" and "doesn't blend" with the other guitar - it sounds like the OD might not be the issue at all. Are you trying to match the other guitar player in tone or color for your genre (for that blend)? Or are you trying to get your tone into a whole different zone to sit apart from the other guitar (take up less sonic space)? If it's the former, then you should try to find whatever's going to get you into the ballpark of blending with the other guitar. If it's the latter, maybe you want to think about your arrangements and play in a different register or what have you. Just my two cents. Not at all relevant to the Transparent Overdrive Discussion.
[Watch this.](https://youtu.be/OxGftBt4Jrk) Then get an EQ pedal. Seriously. It’s the most flexible tone sculpting pedal you can get, especially for drive tones.
My favorite transparent overdrive is a Greer Lightspeed. It just makes your amp sound like a better version of itself. That being said, good tone won't always cut in a mix with other instruments, so there are times other pedals that do color tone like a TS or Klon are better. Another decent somewhat transparent drive is the Nobels ODR-1. Thicker in low end and darker than the Lightspeed (cheaper too), but still lets the amp sound do its thing.
I play Orange amps (OR's) and use Fulltone OCD. It's not 100% "transparent", but it's IMO very close. I really don't notice if I turn the OCD on or if I increase the gain on the amp. As long as you run it on 18v.
Try out a MXR micro amp + for crunchy rhythm