Pedal Overdrive/Distortion versus Amp Distortion

  • Thread starter Deleted member 79338
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 79338

Guest
Hey all

I have always been an overdrive from amp type of guy and the most extreme I tend to go is a boost in front to tighten things up and drive the front end. I have taken this practice into the Axe with great results.

I am feeling a little sterile in finding tones that I like that are not the tones I have always used (JCM/Mesa etc) and I want to explore a new way of doing things to expand my tones. At this juncture I use 2 amps in the Axe, zero effects outside of a small amount of delay/reverb and I feel the unit deserves a better owner lol.

When I have tried pedals into clean amps it has always sounded uninspiring and I KNOW this is down to my lack of experience. A good example of this is I love the sound of a good Fuzz pedal, owned a few but always sent them back as I just can not dial them in.

I woke up yesterday and found @yek fantastic post on distortion pedals and this was just too good a timing to pass up on.

I am a rock/hard rock kind of player, I love the JCM800 as it’s a classic sound that just rings right for me and pairing that with a Mesa for the oomph just sounds fantastic. I do like that stoner fuzz sound too for those single note riffs but have never been able to achieve it.

So I have a few questions for you Overdrive/Pedal users:

What amp would make a good clean platform for taking pedals? I hear the AC20/30 are great pedal platform amps but is that true of any amp?

What pedals would be a good starting point to get you into this range of sound?

How do you go about dialling in the amp? Is the best way to dial in a nice clean sound or is it better to get an edge of break up so you have more variation?

When you look at compression, it is usually better to use a few compressors subtly than 1 compressor heavily. Does this principle apply to distortion pedals?

I know there will possibly be some replies that say “stay with amp distortion if it works” and I do absolutely get that, and to be fair I may just end up back there anyway. I just feel I am missing out on a lot of tones and I am interested in making something mine.

Cheers all in advance

Mike
 
Twin, band commander, plexi/jtm, jcm800, hiwatt. Pick your IR. As for amp eq just dial in your clean tone - it’s your clean channel so you should like it lol.

Pi fuzz or rat (which I maintain is the fat rat with the name swapped as fat rat sounds thinner) is the start for stoner fuzz type sounds. Wont need to stray off the main tab much - dial the gain you want and sweep the eq (usually one tone knob) til you hear the sound you like. I do mix 100% and level to taste.

I dont run a compressor on guitar presets, ymmv.
 
Wired said:
Deluxe Reverb is another suggestion for lower gain overdrive stuff. Try it with the Jam Ray, Timothy 2, and Tone of Kings.
Click to expand...

Good shout, but he is after hard rock and fuzz sounds.

That said, dime a DR and hit it with a box of rock and you may end up in the same ballpark (try a 212 and 412 IR blend).

OP try factory preset “fuzz tweed” it is a blast.
 
Personally for that kind of sound I wouldn't go with a pedal into a clean amp, I'd use something already a little overdriven and then use the pedal to push it over the top. In my experience most stoner guys aren't running their pedals into pristine amps, there's usually some dirt going on even when they don't have the big muff turned on.
 
Evening all

Having read through it seems I have a lot to play with. I will give Leon’s video a go, then I may create a few presets based on the recommendations here and start from there. @2112 i did download your Fuzz preeet and it sounded huge, a little too big but I have not tried it in a mix yet but that’s the type of fuzz effect I am after. I suck at creating fuzz and pitch effects (another thing I want to get better at).

I may look to create a ores et tonight and maybe post it to see if anyone can say where I am going wrong.

I will also find a pinched fuzz sound I like and post a link to see how that sound can be achieved.

Time to watch some YouTube videos

Mike
 
I'm a big fan of drives into Plexi's, fuzzes or OD's. I generally dial the Plexi in so if I hit the strings hard enough, it's getting some dirt in there, but it's not too present when picking lighter, just the peaks of notes. My cover band does a couple RHCP songs and I'm mostly using the Normal/Jumped Plexi's for those. Actually, the tone in "Under The Bridge" is pretty much how I get the amps sounding without any pedals, it's hard to get a bad sound out of any drive pedal starting with that as a platform. With an OD you can get into the 80's territory just fine and with fuzzes you can get that out of control thing going on.
 
Watched a few fuzz videos and the Big Muff seems the type of fuzz I like. Listening to fuzz for an hour straight on YouTube is an ear killer though.

@RevDrucifer I like the Plexi dialled in from the Austin Buddy Gold pack so I may start with that clean as it’s such a special sound the Plexi.

Too many possibilities with the Axe lol
 
Yeah the various plexis are my go to amps for fucking around and experimenting, even though 95% of the stuff I play is ultra high gain. That sound is just a great starting point.
 
Plexi/800 and the Pi Fuzz will get you in that early Smashing Pumpkins territory. The Big Muff/Pi
can be a little lacking in the mids so pairing with a mid-forward amp such as a Marshall can work
wonders.

I also dig Fuzz on Bass, if we are talking about pushing tones and songwriting together at the
same time.
 
Well had a little fun, even if only for 30 minutes.

Clean/edge of breakup JCM800 with an Archeon amp with power amp switched off for a modern distortion going into the amp, this was mixed in parallel with the Pi Fuzz. The Pu Fuzz mixed in just to add some real grit. Really nice sound, very responsive and exaggerated.

Didn’t have time to test a Plexi but I imagine that would be better as the Clean on the JCM is a little dull.

Back to it later
 
While a lot of OD and distortion pedals were created to emulate different amps, running them through amps with different power sections can produce some different tones and gain structures. Stacking ODs is where I had a lot of fun when using pedals with a cleanish amp. With the Axe III, I don't tend to experiment as much, I just dial in the tone I'm "in the mood for" and go from there.
 
Budda said:
Cant say I used the low input on my real one haha.
Click to expand...

What???!!!!!!!!!!

I have a few vintage Fender amps and the 800's Lo Input has clean tones that rival those. It's just a
padded down input so you don't hit the preamp section as hard. Can still roll up the Master and get
those power tubes singing. :)
 
@Budda @la noise

Same as Buddha I never used the Lo Input on my 800 but a good shout.

@JoKeR III agreed and that’s how generally get my tone, but it would be great to have a few other none amp sounds.

I am trying to just learn a few other things and break my habit. For example I don’t know how people get a real nice tight distortion sound so that’s my next mission
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom