Great!!! Thanks for all the suggestions.

I actually have a Boss CS-2. It is the only pedal I kept from the very old days.

Danny, I am actually looking to color the sound. I was taking your advice from my other thread about adding a mid boost.

Guitarhacker, I have a Carvin V3. I was enjoying it with my open back 1x12 but am having some issue adjusting to my new 4x12 cab. I could just go back to my 1x12 but I love the low end punch of the 4x12. I really like the V3 for its high gain, mid-scooped sound. That is my channel 1. Channel 2 I have set up as low gain. I love it for its clear (tight?) bass sound. I am having a hard time getting a thick, sweet lead tone out of it though.

I was hoping by adding a pedal, I could get there. Then I would have all the sounds I like in this one amp.

The TS pedals get brought up a lot. One of these days, very soon, I am going to have to actually try one. :-)

I am also going to check out all other suggestions in this thread.

Thanks again for taking the time to post!

I had a couple of Carvin amps. 

The first was the 50w combo with 2 channels and a 12" 70w speaker. The 2 channels were switchable and there was a 3rd input which sent the signal to BOTH channels so you could actually blend the clean and distortion together.... very nice feature.  Most 2 channel amps are either one or two but not both.... 

That amp really kicked a$$ ...  It blew the factory speaker at least 2 times.... (free reconing from Carvin both times) and it also had the nasty habit of blowing one of the chips in the front end section. I ended up carrying some spare chips in my gig bag.  That was a sweet little amp. I bought it as a replacement to an Ampeg 100w combo, with 2 12's that was unbelievably heavy.....and the Carvin, which was much lighter, blew that Ampeg away in volume and tone. Sold the Ampeg... good riddence. 

The second Carvin I got was the Carvin  answer to the Mesa Boogie..... self contained, 100w into a 12" EV custom speaker. 2 channels switchable but not blendable.... and a switch to go half power.  Talk about LOUD..... that thing would part your hair.... I ended up selling it because it had entirely too much power for the bands I was playing in. It sounded good cranked but it was definitely over kill for the gig's we  were playing.

That's when I looked into the Mesa Boogie 22w studio.  It's a very loud 22w amp that drips with tone at a much lower volume on a stage in a country band. With it's direct out, I ran that to a Carvin DCA-800 power amp and into 2 4x12 cabs, and used the attenuators on the DCA to set the volume to the levels needed on stage. The Boogie was on one of the 4x12 cabs with a 15" Jensen extension speaker on the floor to let me hear myself clearly and not have to play so freaking loud..... the 2 cabs really made for a fat full sound without dominating the stage. 

Guitarhacker, in reference to your comment: "... a decent tube amp should give you what you need without having to add pedals to the signal chain......". 


I am still learning how to use my Carvin V3. There are so many controls and each one affects the other. I have now dialed up a tone that is really good. ...and without pedals. 

Of course, that won't stop me from using pedals but at least the amp can sound good all by itself.

i use this as a boost....







works great on an amp that is 'almost' dialed in.






but when i want serious drive, i use this:




my Katrina-relief Barber Direct Drive Super Sport


awesome, gives a marshall edge to my smooth boogie sound.....


and he has a NEW Small footprint version of this pedal:


highly recommended, for a DRIVE pedal.