Rick turns into a bobblehead when he likes what he's hearing, lol.

@cmkimbrell67

3 жыл бұрын

True. But I won’t lie, I do it too, lol.

@victorjbarker

3 жыл бұрын

I'll buy ba Beato Bobblehead... Lol

Man Rick has a FRESH fade in this.

=== COMPARISON === 12:00 Marshall 1959X 12:10 Xotic BB Preamp 12:30 DLS Reckless Driver 12:47 Xotic SL Drive 13:03 Origin Revival Drive 13:18 Jetter Helium

Hey rhett, I am very happy that you doing that kind of Vids. This ones are helping a lot. Keep doing this. Greetings from Germany😁

This video is giving me a smile that is appreciated you guys. Thanks 👍🏻

Love a Beato & Shull collab !

@jawnedgaralice8606

3 жыл бұрын

So Agreed

@TheOdieD3

3 жыл бұрын

It’s Obiwan n Luke

@dahliafiend

2 жыл бұрын

Beato, Shull, Nash and Young

"I wonder if these pedals sound good" Rhett: "Better play them through a custom Hiwatt".

@eduardocandeiasfaust

3 жыл бұрын

I don't think a super clean high headroom amp like the Hiwatt is gonna make a shit pedal sound great... It doesn't compress the sound and is not as forgiving as a cheap amp... Expensive doesn't make every part of the gear sound great..

@johnfrenette

3 жыл бұрын

I’d be more curious about these pedals serving as a DI; maybe I’m wrong, but that would be the “in a box” test. Yeah, you’d have to do some IR thing to emulate a cabinet (or not?), but this demo is sort of an “amp in a box” into an amp.

@darwinsaye

3 жыл бұрын

@@eduardocandeiasfaust Except that Hiwatt is not set super clean at all. Listen to the amp itself at 7:16. loads of midrange and a good deal of dirt before they even add the pedals with their midrange and dirt.

@sneifert1968

3 жыл бұрын

@@johnfrenette Exactly. A better comparison would be to run the pedal into the effects return of an EL34 amp similar to a Marshall only utilizing the power tubes into the same speaker cab.

@tomasvmusic

3 жыл бұрын

It would be interesting to hear them plugged into the fx return.

Must be fun playing with all of " Uncle Rick's" cool stuff!

Thank you both for sharing this video, I’ve owned the Xotic BB for years (love it) and also just purchased the Friedman BE-OD also a great pedal!

That firebird never ceases to amaze me. The tones are wonderful every single time you break it out

Awesome video guys, thank you. That firebird is sick!

Great video Rhett! I have a Revival Drive that I keep circling back to. It's not so much that I'm trying to get "that sound" but "my sound". There are a ton of pedals out there that I use to get "that sound" and they are incredible, but I have a sound in my head and it usually ends up being the Rockett Pedals Majestic or the Revival Drive with the Pettyjohn Chime as a supplement. It's a bit of a rabbit hole for sure.

Xotic SL for the win! Thanks for reminding me why I have them on 3 separate boards. BB Preamp was also impressive. One of my favorite pedals of the many I own is a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor

The SL Drive is my go to. It has dip switches inside to emulate different circuits too.

What a great time to be a guitarist with all the cool pedals out there. It can be a distraction but with good videos, like this, it can help. Nice video, Rhett.

Man the BB pedal and SL sounds kick ass!! Ok I'm going shopping later this weekend. Thanks you guys always knowledgeable! 🤟😎🤙

You know it's going to be a great video when it's a Rhett and Rick collab

@MyDadWasALifeguard

3 жыл бұрын

Nah

@madsmadsen2780

3 жыл бұрын

@@MyDadWasALifeguard Are you the one dislike by any chance?

You’re assessment was spot on. The amp had a richness the pedals emulated but didn’t quite recreate.

Love what you do, thanks so much for sharing.

SL Drive is certainly my favorite , a lot will depend on your guitar and pickups but honestly with an EQ pedal you can pretty much get as close to the Marshsll amp tone as desired. Fun video, good one

That was fun. I'm partial to the BB. Been my main drive pedal for a few years, pretty much always on. Turn down the guitar volume and she cleans up nice, push her with a TS and she's sublime for leads. Good stuff, Rhett.

Was just rewatching your HX Stomp Vs Plexi video when this showed up, love this amp

What I love about your videos Rick & Rhett. You guys show the truth of things without any botheration for whether it sounds good or bad. Helps dispel a lot of myths that forums have propagated

I honestly liked the SL Drive better than the actual Marshall. 🤷‍♂️🤘

@ramsesespinosa5057

Жыл бұрын

If with better you mean more compressed and tight yes

@terrylocke1808

10 ай бұрын

I just got a red sl drive. It has blown me away. An aside. Dude, you’re not playing whole lotta love correctly! 😂

BB preamp is a boss. Even after all these years!

@andybradshaw5971

3 жыл бұрын

I agree, I thought it sounded best of all the pedals.

@jasonbarnett9521

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. I run one into the front of a Friedman smallbox 50 and it sounds killer.

I like when you two team up for a video collaboration....always entertaining

Different sounds, but both very usable for sure! Love your guys videos together

as usual! great video Rhett! I own a bb preamp and its great. I missed the JHS charlie brown, its an awesome marshall sounding amp in a box. cool video man. Thanks

I love these type of videos. Although, speaking for myself, when I'm looking to buy a pedal to replicate a $3,000 amp head, I am using my sub $1,000 low watt combo. So running these through the Hiwatt makes it a moot point other than the enjoyment of hearing the comparisons. Heck, I'm even using the Joyo version of the BB, but it is nice to dream!

Great demo! I love my Xotic Effects BB Preamp pedal. The EQ knobs are very dynamic and I can get a versatile array of gain tones from it. It's my go-to pedal and is my main low-gain to hi-gain pedal and everything in between. But I heard in another youtube video that the BB stands for Blues Breaker which is based on the Marshall Blues Breaker pedal.

Love how Rick lives with the notes Rhet plays and nods in agreement :) Wonderful tones.

Thanks guys. Trying to get a Marshall sound from a non-Marshall amp is a need for me and this was really helpful. I do wish the Wampler and JHS pedals were part of it though. ❤🎉👏🏻

I was literally looking for this video yesterday. This is the answer to my prayers. What are the odds

3k vs 200$, I’ll take my chances...

Stopped playing guitar almost 10 years ago (nearly...). Instead I am buying one Marshall in a Box pedal after the others (GAS) and spend my time dialing in great plexi tones. Kind of fun too 😏🎉😂 And thanks Rhett and Rick - great video. As always 👍🏼🍻

Love the video. Would have assumed the Friedman BE-100 would have been in the mix.

Every time I buy another overdrive pedal I realize that I could have obtained a similar tone with the (too many) pedals I already own. To my ears (which are admittedly beat up), when the bass and the drums kick in the nuances get lost in the mix. Most people I play to are listening to my music, not my pedals. Thank you, Rick and Rhett, for another authoritative video that helps us make up our own minds.

Cool video! The BB is sick! I'd love to see you compare modeling combo amps to the real thing.

I loved the xotic pedals and the revival drive. More so than the amp even. I just love nice pedals into a great clean channel.

That Helium did sound pretty darn amazing!

Great comparison. I have two BB Preamps (Andy Timmons). I have tried them over and over through my Mesa Lonestar, a Landry LS 50 G3, and my Friedman Small Box 50. Mine are much smoother and have less gain by comparison. I like the BB more for a bluesy neck pick up tone or to boost an overdriven amp. Sounds much more like a Marshall here. -- *Edit* -- You inspired me to go and try the BB again through the Plexi channel on my Small Box dialed in for an edge of break up base tone. I was able to get closer to the tone in this video but not quite as aggressive sounding. Thanks again for the video!

Love my SL Drive; it's tons more versatile than a two-knob mini pedal has any right to be. Some of that's due to the internal dip switches, which can take you from early plexi to modded brown sound with stops in between. The Origin has even more range, but for the price, it had danged well better. I would love to have seen some examples from Wampler, Mad Professor and Catalinbread; you could easily do an hour's worth of plexi-style pedals.

The star of the video is that firebird... wow!!! What a beautiful example.

Great Video!!

Man, I love the sound of that BB with the clean amp. I could be deaf but I prefer it over the plexi. The SL sounds amazing too.

@sirbaronvoncount4147

3 жыл бұрын

I agree

@Toolleeow

3 жыл бұрын

BB > plexi

@lucasgoncalvesdefaria7121

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, that BB sounded better

@Otis-Isom

3 жыл бұрын

The BB is higher gain. Personally I prefer the Marshall but it’s all very subjective.

@someguynamedrob581

3 жыл бұрын

@@Otis-Isom I agree that both have very useable tones, but I'd prefer the Marshall.

The Marshall and mini humbuckers are a great combination. To my ears, the Jetter and Reckless Driver sounded great. I bet those two mixed together would sound nice in a mix. Still, an amp with some brilliance and harmonics would be needed with those two pickups to get really close to the Marshall. I love Hiwatts but I didn't like it in this scenario. A Fender VibroKing mixed with the two pedals I mentioned would probably be a good approximation. Loved the sounds in this one. Always appreciate the effort involved in putting these videos together!

hard to pick between the SL and the BB - both sounded awesome. Gotta agree with Rhett though - there's no OD like an Amp's OD. Especially when you put a boost or light gain OD pedal in front of the amp's pre-amp to give it a bit of a nudge. As usual, great vid and love seeing Rhett and Rick together!

That BB Preamp sounds great, I have passed them by for years, maybe I need to take a look at them.

Loved hearing the Jetter Helium. I’ve got Brad’s Jetdrive and more recently his re-released SSS... and really like them both but for different reasons. Really a great pedal designer/builder.

I really like low gain plexi sounds. Love my Dirty Little Secret mk3 for that. And my Lumpy’s tone shop SLPre 👌🏻 dig the videos guys, keep this stuff coming

@CorbCorbin

3 жыл бұрын

I use a DLS Mk3 too. It keeps the low end in both modes, but it’s nearly always on for me. It stacks well with nearly anything. I originally bought it because when I tried it at the shop it made my solid state Fender Stage 100 sound like a Marshall. I’ve since used it with various tube amps to do the same thing.

@darwinsaye

3 жыл бұрын

Me too. And this is where I'd say most Marshall in a box pedals fail, even the ones specifically claiming to be *Plexi* in a box pedals. It seems it's pretty easy to mimic the high gain Marshall tone, because a ton of pedals do that well. The low gain, Hendrix type of tone is a different matter altogether. Even Marshall fails on that note with their solid state amps. The high gain tones sound Marshall-sh, but their cleanish tones just sound like any generic solid state clean amp.

@HomoChomsky

3 жыл бұрын

@@darwinsaye spot on.

Yup the Marshall was the favorite to my ears but all the pedals were great. One of my bucket list dreams is to actually record at Rick's studio. He's the king. Thanks Rhett

Very cool vid. I really liked the BB the most. I might need to get one.

Love that Firebird! I think no matter what the outcome of your comparison, the original amplifiers are always going to be better than the simulators....

@CaptainCraigKWMRZ

3 жыл бұрын

They are doing this comparison for recording purposes so, of course the head sounds better. But you are absolutely right, that 'Bird is awesome!

Awesome video Rhett.

I like my drive tones to be a tube amp at the edge of breakup, then pushed over the edge with a low gain Bluesbreaker Style OD (Pantheon, KOT, POT.....), using it more as a boost. Your volume knob can still clean up your sound, and I actually don't mind a little bit of the bass reduction that the BB Style OD does.

Excellent video.

Man , I'm watching this at 6 am and I gotta go to work in a bit lol , can't wait to come back home and jam cause that plexi tone got me pumped.

Hey Rhett... the star of the video for me was the Firebird !!!! Such a killer sounding guitar !!!

A thousand apologies, I didn't see that you had already addressed the subject. Great work.

You got the best guitar channel in the world!

Is that Rick breathing at 9:11 ? Great video(as always!! ❤️), but listening on monitors at night made me look behind for a sec haha.

Just bought a Friedman Smallbox pedal yesterday. ;) READY TO ROCK! I heard that Xotic BB stands for BluesBreaker.

@zelkovabright7723

3 жыл бұрын

I remember hearing a while ago, not sure where, that the BB stands for big British which makes more sense as it doesn’t really sound like any other bluesbreaker pedal.

Thank u both for doing this great tone test. @Rhett your opinion regarding amp having better mids and overtones being push with a Boost or Od than using a clean amp with Od is the same opinion I've develop over years of testing my own gear. Best regards to you both.

Man that Firebird Sounds badass! For me the Xotic Bb sounded the best, wasn’t the closest sound. Just a great pedal.

@i.m.22

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, the firebird was the real Star here!

@frankgreco

Жыл бұрын

Front end one BB into another BB... both low gain. Yikes it sounds good.

That SL Drive sounds killer!

You guys rock!

Great tones and shootout. I would have like to have seen some other Plexi style drives tested against the actual plexi. Wampler's Plexi Drive Deluxe, Shin's Music MK 2 Plexi Overdrive, Flattley Silver Range Plexstar, JHS AT+... Thanks for the demo and great sounds.

@paulfc9290

10 ай бұрын

wampler Prexi drive it`s glorious

I’d heard that ‘BB’ was named after Bluesbreaker. I have to say that amp sounds killer. I felt the same, all sound in the Marshall ballpark but none really nailed it 100%. Based on this I’d probably go for the BB or Xotic. Great vid. Thanks.

@strappingyoungmike

3 жыл бұрын

BB is by Xotic as well...

@spideymarino

3 жыл бұрын

@@strappingyoungmike ahh yes. I meant BB and SL by Xotic.

@ferdinoh3704

2 жыл бұрын

BB is for Big British

@JulienMENARD

2 жыл бұрын

I think you're right, cause i remember a video by Xotic effect back in the day with Ross Bolton (RIP, great guy, guitar player, teacher) and he ask, what is " BB " the answer was " Blues Breaker "

@ferdinoh3704

2 жыл бұрын

@@JulienMENARD no. BB is for big british.

Rhett, I agree. The amp sounds the best. The pedals are trying to emulate the sound with completely different hardware. But I have to say, I'd be happy with any of those tones. I really appreciate the comparison. I don't have a lot of pedals and have no room for an iso-booth. So it's interesting to hear the difference. I do have a Stomp and a few other pedals and being a hobbiest, that's plenty. Thanks for the great video!

SL drive was my pick. Love the simple layout.

I am lucky to view and hear the brainstorming of Rhett and Rick!

Suggestion, have a ABY box with both running...although, they all sounded great and would be near indistinguishable in a blind test.

The last one sounds terrific! Beautiful clean and uncompressed vintage distortion.

The Helium and the BB were both great. Different uses for each I think but still very rock n' roll

Holy Moly... that SL Drive! What a beast!

Great shootout, and so many pedals not tried - may need to do a 2nd version with some others - Dirty Little Secret, Friedman BE-OD (dial back the internal gain trimpot first), Barber Direct Drive (original and new V4 as I think the V4 doesn't sound as good as the wide box silver sharpie original). Great playing and lots of options if you can't afford a Plexi or can't mic one at the right volume...

To my ear, the Origin Effects pedal got closest to the gut-punch transient of the Marshall by itself. The other pedals could get some of the drive EQ characteristics but were missing the compression bite.

Those xotic pedals sound incredible!!!

Run the xotic SL at 18v and move around some of the dip switches inside. Fantastic pedal.

Vert interesting and helpful.

Paired with a great high headroom clean amp, absolutely. My Friedman BE-OD Deluxe sounds amazing when paired with my Morgan SW50.

@alonsoarias9699

3 жыл бұрын

Be-od is first class

@bojangles6444

2 жыл бұрын

Better than small box? That one could have been better. Pedal not the amp.

That Helium is wicked! None really captured the Plexi-ness on my speakers, but Jetter sounded so sensitive and squawky, loved that! lol, wrote the above before I heard Rhett's conclusion...

Now, this was interesting: I actually prefered the sound of some of the pedals over the "real thing". Especially in terms of 'bite' and 'clarity' the Exotic BB and the Helium really did an amazing job. I also really like that "honky" (Rhett himself) midrange of the Revival Drive. Kinda beefs the sound up in a very specific way. But when it comes to dynamics, I can't think of any pedal that could match a real Plexi head.

Have you ever tried the Positive Grid Spark amp? I really enjoy your honest take on products and would enjoy seeing you review one. I had just ordered one to replace a V-Amp I had on my desk, time to start the learning process on guitar for me. Keep up the great work.

The SL sounds crazy good

@traceyoungs1637

3 жыл бұрын

Agree!

Great shootout! Aaaaaand a few more pedals on my GAS list, thanks Rhett! My Revival Drive compact gets much closer to a Plexi than Rick’s tho 😀

Jetter Gear! I'm a huge fan. I've been using the Red2 (Helium and Red Shift) for quite awhile and recently purchased the Vibe and Don't Take Me Alive pedals...mojo, serious mojo, especially the DTMA ...magic.

I like “amp in a box” units like the Orange Stamp, which include preamp tubes. It really enhances the solid state clean tones you get and also adds preamp tube gain, which always wins in my book as opposed to drive pedals. Their Achilles Heel is the cab sim out, which generally stinks. I’m still trying to find a good, dedicated cab sim/IR pedal to use in conjunction with my Stamp.

Loved the BB preamp

I find the SL drive is helped by running it 18v. Really opens up and feels even more amp-like. I also find that it tames a little of the hair, and makes it feel more plexi.

@Superjet113

2 жыл бұрын

It doesn't hurt it running at that voltage? TY

@mike-rink

2 жыл бұрын

@@Superjet113 no, it doesn't hurt it. It's built to handle up to 18v. Xotic actually sells a voltage doubler to take a 9v power supply and output it at 18v. If you have a power supply that puts out 18v, you can run it that way just fine. Fair warning, it still sounds more like a hot-rodded 70's-80's super lead than a vintage plexi. I was never happy trying to get Hendrix, Clapton, or Page tones.

@Superjet113

2 жыл бұрын

@@mike-rink Wow, thank you so much! I do have 18 volt power supplies.

that was fun!

Great video, though, I thought you were going test actual pedal amps such as the orange terror stamp. I get some are for pedals only so would need to be combined with one of these but still would make an interesting video. Thanks guys

Firebird in to a Marshall is a hard to beat combo, and extremely versatile.

@BigTyronie

Жыл бұрын

Les paul->es335->firebird->sg->explorer

I think the BB is the winner here. Maybe it wasn’t the most accurate, but man that thing had some bite and attitude! Also it didn’t ruin the experience or anything, but it’s a shame there was some dust or something on the lens for a lot of this. But great vid man!

I agree with you about the final conclusion.

If an amp pedal in a box sounds good and not necessarily totally accurate its still good though. Ive never heard a plexi in person and maybe never will. You guys have awesome gear. Good video

...nice to see the imac in the corner ;)

This man does not miss

8:07 that section of riffs was killer! Was that spontaneous or is that from a song? I got to hear more of that!

I’m partial to the SL Drive. I have two of them! Don’t ask me why, I have no idea. All the pedals sounded great.