Create-You-Own Overdrive! - the Lang Amps Overdrive/Boost
Overdrive pedals; you know them, you love them and you probably have A TON of them!
The overdrive pedal is a dime-a-dozen type of effect. From Screamers, to Breakers, to 2-5-0s and Klones EVERY pedal company has dipped their toes into the pool. And it makes sense why: they're relatively easy to build and small changes can make MASSIVE differences to the sound. No better example of this exists in the pedal world than the numerous variants of the Tube Screamer that Ibanez has manufactured over the years!
But in my experience, simply calling a pedal an "overdrive" does not necessarily give you an idea of what you're in for. And that's where Lang Amps enter our story...
ALL of these are overdrive pedals!
Source: guitarpedalx.com
I first became aware of Lang Amps a little over eight years ago. I had been asked by Loni Specter, founder and producer of the LA AMP SHOW, to make video coverage of the 10th Annual event. If you're an LA native and have never been to the AMP SHOW, I highly recommend it! Every amp company participating gets their own hotel room (minus the beds and furniture) and fills it up with their latest and greatest tone offerings. Among all the builders I met at the show was Daniel Lang.
One of the striking things about Daniel's designs is how unassuming his amps are; plain black tolex, a simple logo and ALL ABOUT THE TONE!
There's nothing trying to fool you and you get back what you put into it!
From that point on I was keeping tabs on Lang and wondering where they would go from there. And then I saw this photo...
A pedal was coming! But what was it going to be? Well, I think you can guess by now; it was an overdrive pedal!
But it turned out to be much different than I was expecting...
The Lang Amps Overdrive/Boost is a 2-in-1 combo pedal. Each side can be run independently of the other OR used together. These kinds of pedals are great for consolidating your pedalboard, allowing you to get MORE sounds from less pedals AND downsize your rig if need be.
The Overdrive section comes BEFORE to the Boost, so instead of the Boost increasing the saturation of the overdrive you'll get a volume Boost. This is great for solos or making a particular riff or part cut through a dense mix.
But there's some interesting bits about each section of this pedal...
First, the Boost is indeed a CLEAN Boost. This means that the Boost effect doesn't have it's own "clipping" stage (or, a portion of the circuitry that causes "distortion" of the signal). When run into a clean guitar amp your guitar sound will get louder. It can also drive an already distorted guitar amp into further saturation! But this clean boost isn't like most clean boost. While most clean boost pedals on the market try to stay as transparent as possible, the Lang Boost imparts a specific tonal coloration to the sound. To my ears, this Boost couples a Low End roll off and an added high mid presence. This coloration has several benefits and we'll talk about one in a bit but we really need to get to this overdrive!
When I first clicked on the Lang Overdrive, I was surprised to find not another screamer, breaker or whatever. Instead, it was closer to a GREAT amp-in-the-box distortion! But if that's not the sound you're wanting you don't have to have it, thanks to the robust set of controls for the Overdrive tone. In addition to the normal "LEVEL", "TONE", and "GAIN" controls their are two controls labelled "CLIP". These controls give you complete adjustment over the amount AND type of clipping created by the pedal. This means that the Lang Overdrive can be both an open, woody and fairly BROWN sounding pedal to a super-squished and fuzzy monster! You just have to watch the video to believe it...so go do that now.
The real magic of this pedal comes from using BOTH sides of the pedal together. You can create a big, fat Overdrive tone and use it as your rhythm guitar sound and then kick the Boost on for your solo!
Remember how I said there was a benefit to the Boost having a "tonal coloration"? This is one such instance:
It's generally considered desirable to have a lead guitar tone that is full and CUTS THROUGH a dense mix. One way of doing this, and one of my favorites, is to cut out excessive Low End frequencies. This effect can be achieved in many ways, such as using an EQ or High Pass Filter, but many guitarists often use overdrive and boost pedals to do this job. The Lang Boost does a GREAT job of this as well as making your midrange more present, especially the area of midrange most associated with "cutting".
It's been a while since Daniel and I began talking about demoing one of his Overdrive/Boost pedals. At least a couple of years. But I'm glad it took that time.
In my opinion, the Lang Amps Overdrive/Boost is one of the most well thought out, useful and toneful pedals I've played in the last few years!
You indeed get a lovely amp-in-a-box overdrive that can be as thick or thin as you want! It takes Les Pauls, Stratocasters, Telecasters and more like a champ. And the Boost lends a lovely shimmer to clean tones and can really tighten up your overdrive sound for staccato riffing!
Now, all things being said, Daniel and Lang Amps did pay me for this video. But they aren't paying me to write this blog and don't pay for my opinion.
I feel FULLY CONFIDENT in telling you that if you like what you hear YOU HAVE TO TRY ONE OF THESE! You won't be disappointed.
Happy Stomping! - SPJ