Sure. Basically to me there’s something about an OD pedal out front that just adds a huge amount of sustain and saturation, that I wouldn’t get by just pinning the gain on the amp. The overdrive pedal isn’t at full drive, and the gain on the amp is only about 1 o’clock. To me, that fully saturated sound (like Lynch’s tone on Under Lock and Key, or Paul’s tone on Second Heat) is the pinnacle of rock tones to me, and I also use a Decimator noise gate pedal, dialed back as tight as I can get it without killing sustain, to clean it up. The tighter I can get the gate, I get more clarity and note definition, while keeping that really gorgeous, saturated tone. It’s a fine line between huge tone that has separation and clarity, without that shitty, fizzy kind of sound you get with gain totally pinned on everything.
It seems counterintuitive, like, why not just pin the amp gain and leave out the OD? But it’s just not the same tone. You’ll see that set up with a lot of players, it just works. I don’t know if the amp is foot-switchable, it doesn’t come with one.
I haven’t done any custom patches, but there’s a ton you can do with it.