do yall leave your drive pedals always on?

[bourbonsamurai]

i do.  i try to balance the gain between the pedal, and amp volume control.  i like non mv amps, generally, so i use the pedal to get what isnt available from the amp, at a given volume.  i also almost never run my guitar volume at max.  i can run my deluxe reverb at a higher level this way, which saturates the output more.  i find this to be a surprisingly flexible confguration.

[Dinosaur David B]

Usually not, but it depends on the amp, I guess. How much distortion does the amp produce on its own. Mostly I get the distortion from the amp. 

And whether you're talking live or studio. 

[TravisW]

Yeah, I tend to be a "set it and forget it" guy when it comes to what I'm using to push the front end. I've been using the guitar volume control to roll back to "clean" for about 20 years now. Granted, my idea of "clean" is basically 70's live album clean, so there's still a little hair in the tone most of the time. I do something similar with the volume for my overall tone, depending on what I'm playing. If it's a hard rock thing, I'm probably running the guitar volume about 7 and go to 10 for leads. For metal stuff, it's just 10. That's also probably why I've gravitated toward lower output humbuckers in the last few guitars I've picked up - they clean up a little brighter.   

[Stitsel]

Same with DDave, I usually get distortion from the amp...... I mean, my Ground Zero tone is in Marshall territory, so that's where I start. I've never bought a Fender or Vox or whatnot, and then tried to juice it w/pedals; all due respect to players of those types of amps. I mean, those things sound killer in their own right, just I have a base metal tone in my head I'm going after, so I tend to start at the source.....most of my amps don't need drive or distortion pedals, they already scream.Sure, I dig clean tones too but only briefly   . Having said that, of course I have a ton of OD & distortion pedals, but they don't really get used anymore. Maybe a TS type of pedal after the fact, on a high gain amp... but I need high gain to begin with. You can always back it off ya know. 
 
 

[Haffner]

I have to unplug the cords on the DOD 308 because I don't have an adapter and the batteries will die lol

My Metal Zone pedal is always on.

My wife's DOD Overdrive is always on, even when her amp is off.

[Stitsel]

I actually really love the Metal Zone, despite it's constant bad press. You just need to take the time to dial it in. The 2 mid range "middle" & "mid freq" concentric knobs have a ton of range.... you can pretty much dial up anything with just those 2 knobs. Distortion tone-wise I mean...well, I'm sure you know what I mean. I guess it's actually a parametric EQ, which is why it's so sensitive and wide ranging. Of course you need to fiddle with the HI & LO concentric knob, too, but what a nifty pedal. It can make a mediocre amp sound huge. 

[TravisW]

My wife's DOD Overdrive is always on, even when her amp is off.

 

LOL! I do that sometimes. Our one dog sometimes comes in an turns on pedals too - usually chorus. Freakin' New Wave pug. 

[cvansickle]

I don't rely on a drive as an always on, but I do use a compressor for this purpose. For my Marshall rig, I'm running through a JangleBox compressor almost all the time. It's set with the Gain and Attack knobs around 2:00-3:00, Normal switch position. It's not so much of a drive boost as it is a sustain boost, with a tiny bit of extra volume.

On my Fender Super-Sonic, I actually prefer the sound of a drive in the Normal channel for a hard rock sound. I'm using a Greer Amps Black Mountain Drive for this. The gain is punchy and tight. Delay, echo, and tremolo sound great in the Normal channel on clean. I keep the amp's Burn channel drive really kind of low, close to the Fender prescribed Texas Blues setting. This setting works really well for the Blues and Country music I play. Also, a Keeley Compressor Plus is almost always on in this rig. The Keeley has a Blend knob, which I use typically in a low position. If a Tele sound really calls for the squish, I'll turn the Blend up.

[Haffner]

I actually really love the Metal Zone, despite it's constant bad press. You just need to take the time to dial it in. The 2 mid range "middle" & "mid freq" concentric knobs have a ton of range.... you can pretty much dial up anything with just those 2 knobs. Distortion tone-wise I mean...well, I'm sure you know what I mean. I guess it's actually a parametric EQ, which is why it's so sensitive and wide ranging. Of course you need to fiddle with the HI & LO concentric knob, too, but what a nifty pedal. It can make a mediocre amp sound huge. 

 

You said it! Metal Zone takes work to make it work, but you can get some really badass tones out of. I remember in the 90s I used it to find the Testament "New Order" tone and was so happy when I dialed it in, playing along with "Eerie Inhabitants".

Haffner

My wife's DOD Overdrive is always on, even when her amp is off.


 

That's pretty adorable, Travis. 
 

[Dr Nick]

No, I use amp OD most of the time, although I have a relatively gentle gain boost (Xotic BB Preamp) that I kick in occasionally to push the "crunch" setting a bit more. Gives a clearer sound with a decent amount of gain than the high gain channel. I always use 3-4 gain level amps, BTW. 

And I have the clean channel on the edge of breaking up so if I pick more gently it's clean, and dig in for a bit of breakup. The BB works quite well with one of my amps on the clean channel, but not the other.