Donnerbox

The Sound of Americana (Check our artist user list below the Pedalstackers Guide).
Amps in a box. Vintage Fuzztones. Clean Machines
They sound like your favorite amps.
Amp-Like Effects & Stacking Overdrive/Distortion Pedals
Stacking Bearfoot Pedals is the Secret to Tonal Success. These Boosts, Overdrives, Distortions, Compressors & Fuzz Pedals Were DESIGNED to Stack!
Artists
Some folks you may know who use BearFoot FX (in no particular order):


Neal Casal (Circles Around THe Sun, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Hard Working Americans, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals) ~ Honey Beest, Pale Green Comp, Baby Pink Booster, Über Bee, Candy Apple Fuzz, Ever Green Comp, Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Sparkling Yellow OD1, Red Rooster Booster

Adrian Belew (King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa) ~ Candy Apple Fuzz, Pink Purple Fuzz

Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, etc.) ~ Model Hs, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Grahame Lesh (Phil and Friends) ~ Putting Green Comp

Scotty Metzger (JRAD) Silver Lynx, Putting Green Comp

Jay Farrar (Son Volt) Honey Beest

John Lee Shannon (CATS) Honey Beest, Putting Green Comp

Pat Travers (Pat Travers Band) ~ Model H, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Dan Baird (Homemade Sin, Georgia Satellites, Bluefields) ~ Model H, Sparkling Yellow OD2, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Baby Pink Booster, Model G

Reeves Gabrels (The Cure, Bowie/Tin Machine) ~ Model H, Honey Beest, Pale Green Comp, Baby Pink Booster, Sea Blue EQ, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Pink Purple Fuzz,
Ever Green Comp

John Oates (Hall and Oates) ~ Pale Green Comp

Chris Darley (Father John Misty) ~ Pale Green Comp, Honey Bee OD

Shayne Hill (Sawyer Brown, Lee Ann Rimes) ~ Model H, Dyna Red Distortion, Pale Green Comp, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Brian Henneman (Bottle Rockets, Marshall Crenshaw, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco) ~ Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Honey Bee, Pale Green Comp, Sparkling Yellow OD1,
Baby Pink Booster, Sea Blue EQ, Model G, Emerald Green OD

Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense) ~ Honey Bee

Mike Ault (Paul Reed Smith Band) ~ Dyna Red Distortion 4K, Honey Bee, Pink Purple Fuzz, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Clay Sears (NY studio, Jay-Z touring) ~ Honey Bee, Pale Green Comp

Jim James (My Morning Jacket) ~ Mint Green Mini Vibe, Model H, Honey Beest, Pale Green Comp

Johnny Hickman (Cracker) ~ Emerald Green Distortion Machine

Paul Carbonara (Blondie, Mary McBride) ~ Honey Bee, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) ~ Honey Bee

David Torn ~ Ever Green Comp, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Sea Blue EQ, Model H, Candiru Apple Fuzz

Todd Snider ~ Sparkling Yellow OD2, Baby Pink Booster

Chris Robinson (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Black Crowes) ~ Sparkling Yellow OD2, Model H3K

Chuck Prophet ~ Honey Beest, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Doug Pettibone (John Mayer, Lucinda Williams, Lisa Marie Presley, Draco, Studio, Solo) ~ Dyna Red Hot Distortion, Pale Green Comp, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Andy York (John Mellencamp, Ian Hunter, Jason and the Scorchers) ~ Model H, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Sea Blue EQ, Baby Pink Booster

Warner E. Hodges (Jason and the Scorchers, Homemade Sin, Bluefields) ~ Sparkling Yellow OD1, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Sea Blue EQ, Baby Pink Booster, Model G

Mark Spencer (Son Volt, Laura Cantrell, Jay Farrar, Mary McBride, New Multitudes) ~ Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Sea Blue EQ, Baby Pink Booster, Honey Bee,
Honey Beest, Pale Green Comp, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Elwood Francis (Skull Head, B.F. Gibbons’ tech) ~ Model H, Dyna Red Hot Distortion

Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambel (Steve Earle, Joan Jett, Del Lords, Yayhoos, Record Producer) ~ Mint Green Mini Vibe, Pale Green Comp, Sparkling Yellow OD1 and 2,
Dyna Red Distortion 4K, Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Sea Blue EQ, Baby Pink Booster, Model G

Tim Lerch ~ Honey Bee, Sparkling Yellow OD2, Honey Beest

Will Johnson (Centromatic, New Multitudes) ~ Model H, Honey Beest, Pale Green Comp, Sea Blue EQ

Cary Hudson (Blue Mountain) ~ Pale Green Comp

Scott Kempner (Del Lords, Dictators) ~ Pink Purple Fuzz

Bo Ramsey (Solo, Greg Brown, Lucinda Williams) ~ Model G, Honey Bee, Pink Purple Fuzz

Rick Holstrom (Mavis Staples) ~ Honey Bee

Gary Hunt (Son Volt, Jay Farrar, Colonel Ford) ~ Honey Bee, Honey Beest, Pale Green Comp, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Devon Allman (Solo, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Honey Tribe) ~ Sparkling Yellow OD2, Honey Beest, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Model H

John Horton (Bottle Rockets) ~ Honey Beest, Model H, Mint Green Mini Vibe

Joe Blanton (Bluefields, Royal Court of China) ~ Sparkling Yellow OD2, Mint Green Mini Vibe (Slow), Baby Pink Booster

Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood) ~ Candy Apple Fuzz (Silver)

Mark Karan (Bob Weir & RatDog, Furthur, Phil Lesh & Friends, etc.) ~ Honey Bee, Pale Green Comp, HoneyBeest

Matt Pierce (Jimbo Mathus) ~ Honey Bee, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Baby Pink Booster

Anders Parker (New Multitudes, Gob Iron, Varnaline) ~ Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Model H, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Pale Green Comp, Sea Blue EQ,
Baby Pink Booster

Muddy (Chris Robinson Brotherhood) ~ BlueBerry Bass OD

Brett Kingman (James Ryne) ~ Emerald Green Distortion Machine, Dyna Red Distortion, Sparkling Yellow OD2, Dyna Red Distortion 4K

Lera Lynn (Lera Lynn) ~ Honey Beeatch

Bobby Schneck (Brian Howe Band, Slash/Kennedy Band) ~ Honey Bee, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Sparkling Yellow OD2

Ed Pettersen (Artist/Producer/Songwriter) ~ Model G, Pale Green Comp, Sea Blue EQ, Pink Purple Fuzz, Burgundy BossHorn Fuzz, Mint Green Mini Vibe,
Candiru Apple Fuzz, Emerald Green Distortion Machine

Ben Lewis (Lera Lynn) ~ Honey Bee, Baby Pink Booster, Honey Beest, Mint Green Mini Vibe, Pale Green Comp

Reuben De la Cortes (Touring/Studio) ~ Pale Green Comp, Honey Bee

Thollem McDonas (Solo, Nels Cline) ~ Candy Apple Fuzz (Gold), Mint Green Mini Vibe

Mike Hermans (Pop into the Chemist) ~ Candy Apple Fuzz, Sparkling Yellow OD2, Pale Green Comp, Mint Green Mini Vibe
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Pedal Stackers’ Guide to the Universe (Don Rusk 03/2003)
A guide to understanding how amplifiers affect tone and how you can use guitar pedals to recreate most of these effects…like compression, distortion, etc.

Think of guitar pedals as building blocks that recreate something that an amplifier does, but at a controllable level that you can manipulate consistently (and at lower stage/bedroom volumes).

Do you remember the last time you plugged into a really good amp and got to turn it up loud? What a feeling of POWER! The guitar seems to be playing itself. The compression, sustain, treble ’rounding’ and the dynamics turn the guitar and amp into a single responsive tone machine.

Think of an amp you enjoy playing. What sets it apart from the others? Just the right amount of sustain? The EQ? The breakup? The responsiveness? Is it the way the whole circuit responds to your touch? This phenomenon is a wonderful thing!

But, it can be difficult to reproduce this tone and responsiveness at varying volumes, from venue to venue, and as tubes and circuits wear they respond differently. In an instant, that “magic” can be gone just like that.

Recreating Amplifier Gain Stages with Overdrive & Distortion Pedals
One alternative to getting that open/cranked amplifier tone is to run a series of boost, overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals into a clean amp to simulate the various stages that an amp uses to create these wonderful tones. Or, you can run a partially driven amp that will easily slip into overdrive when pushed correctly via a high quality boost or overdrive pedal.

Understanding the Gain Stages of a Guitar Amplifier
An amp usually has four major sections that affect the performance and tone of the output:

Preamp > Poweramp > Transformers > Speaker

Understanding & Recreating the PREAMP Stage
Preamp tubes usually reach saturation first, and as they do, a few things happen. The tube runs out of headroom and the treble is reduced, and limiting and compression/sustain set in. Also, there is a loss of bass as the tube runs out of power (it takes more power to move bass frequencies), so you can end up with a mid hump, treble/bass loss and added compression, sustain and limiting.

Tonal Qualities & Intricacies of the POWER AMP Section
A typical power amplifier can be divided into three basic stages regardless of design:

Input Stage
Voltage Amp
Output Stage/Current Amplifier
All three of these stages become one stage to comprise a power amplifier. This is most often surrounded by a feedback network. Using feedback networks in the power amp section is one approach that reduces distortion in specific stages inside the power amp.

Amplifiers with Feedback Networks
The most common feedback used is a “global feedback network” that comes from the speaker output and mixes with the input signal. This suppresses distortion created in the power amp. While both do essentially the same thing, the “global” approach also reduces distortion in the speaker array, giving a firmer bass response. This is so, because the power amp output becomes “stale” or less robust.

It’s sort of like a kid’s jump rope: one end is the power amp while the other is the speaker. If the power amp end is not swinging the rope, the motion of the rope will be less. The action of both ends needs to be matched and coordinated to get optimum performance.

This means that the speaker’s effect has less effect on the power amp output. The relationship between speaker and amplifier is called “damping” and is expressed as a factor, hence “damping factor”. The less effect being lost through interaction, the higher the efficiency and the connection is “stale”, or less movement is allowed and the amplifier will “dampen” the backlash effect the speaker coil will have. It will resist changes in voltage by producing an equal voltage so as to maintain status quo.

Amplifiers without Feedback Networks
Amplifiers without global feedback usually (and always with tube amplifiers) are affected by the speaker by a larger measure than those with global feedback. For example, Fender amps have global feedback (more so than Marshall amps.) They will be less picky about what speaker is connected. The VOX ACs do not have global feedback and the speaker choice will be much more critical. This effect is the “swampy” feel in some amps.

Some amps have a damping control and it mostly affects the looseness of the bass response. The purpose of this control is to enable settings from VOX ACs to Fender amps, more or less, but usually it’s not even close to either as the relationship between the design topologies is much more complex.

Other Considerations: Bass Amplifiers, Tubes, etc.
In bass amplifiers, the damping is usually high. It has to be, for the bass to sound intelligible. This is often viewed as less important in guitar amps. Feedback reduces the distortion generated by the three stages.

With tubes, an amplifier without feedback can be made and there are quite a few popular amps using this design. A non-feedback amp circuit has narrow bandwidth and the distortion levels can be high, but can sound relatively clean. Such an amplifier will compress and soften overall tone quite early on in the volume dial, and show no drastic increase of distortion, but respond dynamically (yet compressed). This means this amplifier will distort just a little harder with a sudden increase in input level, but below saturation level where it will sing, as opposed to amplifiers that will play relatively cleaner until they hard-clip, giving “bursts” of distortion.

Transformers Tie the Amp Together
The output transformer does many things, but basically it’s an interface. Its job is to “transform” the product of the high-voltage, low-current, high-impedance tube circuit into a low-voltage, high-current, low-impedance product that the speaker can turn to actual sound. Some transformers do this better than others, and this is where losses can occur, especially in smaller trannies. The smaller the transformer, the more loss (bass, treble, compression, etc.).

Most often, the transformer colors the EQ of the amp. The internal feedback network of an amplifier’s power amp tries to correct these losses. The presence control in an amplifier reduces the amount of feedback in the treble frequencies. Upper frequencies are now limited by the output transformer. The treble ceiling is now set by the limits of the transformers.

During light overload the transformer will compress since it’s unable to reproduce transients rapidly. This softens sharp edges, but as overload is lessened, the transformer continues to compress a while. It’s an inductor (a coil) and doesn’t respond to rapid changes but tends to preserve the status quo. It may also distort in other ways, adding overtones.

To summarize, the output transformer compresses and diminishes frequency range and adds some distortion during overload, and is a line driver to the speaker. It is almost pointless to look at the effects of the transformer without looking at the primary source (the power amp section, what comes into the transformer) and the secondary load (the speaker). Both will affect the performance of the transformer.

There are distinct differences between power amp behavior in a solid state amp and tubes near overload. At low levels the differences can be quite small. Imagine that you have a distorted sound and you increase output level of power amp. At a “magic” point the sound is softened. Some of the high treble diminishes and the sound becomes more compact. This is how a transformer acts on the overall sound. You don’t hear this in solid state amps.

Speakers…The End of the Line
A speaker most severely changes frequency response, but also distorts and compresses the signal. By definition, any change from the original signal is “distortion”. Frequency Distortion is EQ change, Amplitude Distortion is compression, etc. So, the choice of speaker and how it matches to the amp can have a drastic effect on the resulting tone.

Stacking Pedals to Imitiate Guitar Amplifiers
So, can the “hot amp” tonal phenomenon be broken into components that could then be imitated? To some extent, YES!!!

Compression, limiting, sustain, distortion, overdrive, fuzz, boost and EQ change are all effects of a tube amp at various stages of operation. Most effect pedals simulate something, whether it’s the compression of a tube nearing saturation (compressors), a trumpet mute (wah), a Leslie cabinet (phasers, flangers…), etc.

Tube Screamers & How Amp Circuits React When Pushed
In a situation where a guitar amplifier distorts (perhaps in a complex way), but does not offer enough depth, there would be a few ways to aid an amplifier’s distortion.

The classic overdrive of a Tube Screamer immediately comes to mind. It is not so much made to emulate a tube, but to add some distortion in the midrange, where the amplifier has lower sensitivity. The purpose of cutting bass in an overdrive is to make the sound clearer. Distortion in the bass gives rise to overtones higher up. This is the nature of distortion. It gives rise to artificial overtones higher up than the original frequency (i.e., harmonics).

For the same reason, treble is cut. You rarely see this kind of ‘Tube Screamer filtering” in real tube amp stages unless they are extreme high gain amplifiers. And this is usually the first stage. During these conditions, the filtering results in clarity and all losses will be made up for by the compression of later stages.

Perhaps the Tube Screamers’ name implies that this pedal will make your tube amp scream. A pedal that would react more like a screaming tube amplifier would be less suited to make a tube amplifier scream. One complex tone into another complex tone can be counter-productive (muddy, too many harmonics). If you have worked with a Master volume amp, you know the difference between turning the preamp up and the Master down (saturated, compressed sound) and turning down the preamp and cranking the Master (loud, clean and dynamic)…or, even putting everything on 11!

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