Liquid Blues, Small Fry, Fulltone Fulldrive

[indianrock]

I run direct and need a better OD pedal for rhythm. One of my favorite Christian guitarist bloggers posted this overdrive shootout: http://guitarforworship.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/fulldrive-vs-tim-vs-liquid-blues/ and personally recommended the Liquid Blues for me. It's even on sale for $100 now but I can't get past it's size. Not sure my PS-45 pedal board case lid will even fit over it. The Tim is too much money. He does mention the Liquid blues and Tim are aimed at overdriving an amp, whereas the Fulltone produces it's own. Another one I am very seriously considering is the Barber Small Fry Burn Unit. $150 is about all I'm going to spend.

I run direct, usually using the Carvin and signal chain layout below. I have almost no use for a lead tone ( playing rhythm 98% of the time) but would like a nice smooth overdrive for the 2nd signal path below. The OD-3 and Liverpool both produce dirt, but not great in my situation.

Guitars: Carvin AE185, Ibanez Acoustic/Electric, 74 Fender Strat
Pedal Board
Boss CS-2>RCBooster>ABY pedal>
Signal chain A: Korg AX1500x multi effect running
chorus and hall reverb>Aphex Acoustic Exciter DI>PA channel 1
Signal Chain B: Boss OD-3>Tech21 Liverpool>Boss DD7>PA channel 2

[MadHatter]

have you tried out the digitech badmonkey???
only 25 bucks and has a direct out jack

don't let the low price fool you into thinking this is a cheap sounding pedal... this is the best bang for your buck. It's my main sunday morning overdrive, and shares my board with a blues driver and a tonebone classic.
it's worth trying out...

[indianrock]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've heard good things about the "monkey" At that price might as well give it a shot. I don't need the direct out. Might be that the OD-3 and Monkey together yield something interesting. If not, I'm still open to buying something like a Fulltone or Small Fry.

[super mario]

The "bad monkey" is a good pedal for the money. It's my back up to my Signa Drive, a boutique type OD pedal. The monkey can be used as a clean boost too - have done it in conjunction with a couple of the Marshall pedals I have (ShredMaster and DriveMaster). Right now I'm trying out the DOD reissue of their 250 OD pedal - bad points: no LED on/off indicator, no true bypass and no "boss" type wall wart connection, no tone control, can get "buzzy"; good points: full range of OD tone, for me the sweetest is from the 11 - 1 o'clock positions on both the gain and level knobs.

Right now the Bad Monkey is a better value than the DOD 250.

[refin]

Indianrock,that was an informative website---thanks!
The Tim pedal sounded best to me.

[indianrock]

I ordered the Barber Small Fry Burn Unit today. I think the Tim is considerably more money. Still might try a bad monkey some day since they're so cheap.

Randy