The answers

This is a great question, Harry, and you may be unsurprised to learn that the whole thing is one massive grey area of subtly different textures. Let’s see if we can shine some light on it…

If you have a master volume amp with a clean and dirty sound, you can try this at home with pretty much any dirt pedal. Start in the clean channel of the amp, gain set low and the master volume set high. Set the pedal gain/drive high and the output level/volume low. Play. Now increase the pedal master/ output gradually and what you should hear is roughly the same sound getting quite a bit louder, quite quickly (depending on the power of the amp).

Now flick to the dirt channel of the amp. Run the amp gain high and master volume low so that amp is distorting to its maximum amount in terms of the preamp. Set the pedal with the drive very low and the output up high (nine and three o’clock are good low and high settings, respectively, for most pedals!). What you should hear now is that – depending on the amp – there is a slight volume boost, but it probably isn’t as dramatic as when using the clean channel, and that the overdrive simply gets thicker and more squashy, maybe with a noticeable EQ change depending on the pedal used. If you now bring the drive up on the pedal, things will get very gainy and maybe a little out of control. You will lose playing dynamics and clarity, usually.

To answer your question, you should experiment with the myriad possibilities and find the kind of combinations that suit you best, to whit…

Absolutely! This is a great idea, given that some pedals seem happier driving clean channels, while others work better into a more overdriven sound, not just for the gain characteristics but also because OD channels tend to be EQ’d differently as well. For example, you might like a very gainy ‘ampin-a-box’ type pedal into the clean channel, whereas a treble booster or fuzz might work better into the more overdriven channel. Clearly, there are endless combinations.

The key seems to be in finding the optimum combination and interaction of pedal and pushed amp. Think about classic tones – Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Clapton, SRV, David Gilmour: the amps are usually driving a little bit; it’s very much an interaction of amp and pedal. Some players go the whole digital route so the power section is simply pure and clean with all the sounds created in the ‘preamp’. There’s no ‘right’ way – experiment to find your own particular happy place.