Drive

I'm not in heavy metal mood in the mean time. My set up very much reflects the current flavour; a thick drive, very much in the veins of jazz-rock rather than outright aggression. Have been listening to Depeche Mode & Brett Garsed lately...

The Ibanez BB9... well, I deem it as a Red Bull pedal, adding that kick in an already potent setting. In addition to the bottom end injection, the BB9 also adds gain to the chain (hey, it rhymes!) so whatever aggression you have going, it's gonna bring it up but not excessively.

Fuchs' Cream pedal is a member of the PLUSH series of effects, it's not as celebrated as any other drive because in general, in a drive conversation, the proverbial Tubescreamer is the talk. The Cream is actually a processed Tubescreamer which ended up sounding quite far off from its originator. To me it's a saturated drive with lots of clarity in the output, not just a midrange focus. It's a more outgoing drive, you can say that, not just a slight addition. 

Putting these two pedals together, I get a very sensitive & boosted drive, if there is a heavy metal version of an overdrive, this would be it (no, BOSS's SD-1 isn't quite 'Super' to me). This is important because I'm a light picker, I need to get immediate results with minimum efforts, the slacker's working formula, he he... The setback to this sensitivity is of course extraneous noise; all sliding, knocking, scratching & tripping noises resulting from my picking technicalities get magnified. This is a good thing for me (yes, it is) as it teaches me to control my hands. Sometimes we forget this fundamental rule of not making others hear the noise- just the music, it's an art, really.