STOMPIN' THE BLUSE!
AS MUCH AS we love the sound of a vintage guitar going direct into a hand-wired tube amp, there’s something magical about placing an overdrive pedal in the middle of that chain for a bit of extra push. The good news is the selection of available stompboxes has never been greater than it is at this moment — each with its own unique twist on how it can spice up your riffs and leads.
The most popular circuit of them all would be that of the soft-clipping Tube Screamer, which has been copied and cloned countless times, and — despite being deeply rooted in the blues — has also been adopted by players from pretty much every genre, including higher-gain metal maniacs. When it comes to blues, however, less is more — and you’ll probably notice that an overwhelming majority of players actually have very little gain dialed in on their pedals, instead using them more as a low-gain boost to help those leads jump out and cut through. Some overdrives will reshape your EQ in order to facilitate this, often tightening the lows and boosting the higher
