Distortion Pedals
Question:
Could somebody please tell me why, if we spend a lot of money on good amps with good sounds why do we still need to buy distortion pedals? Isn’t one of the reasons we bought the amp in the first place was because of sound? Leon Droby
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> Could somebody please tell me why, if we spend a lot of money on good > amps with good sounds why do we still need to buy distortion pedals? > Isn’t one of the reasons we bought the amp in the first place was > because of sound? > Leon Droby
Am I imagining things, or has this exact question been asked/answered in just the past couple days? Try searching for answer via www.dejanews.com. Ethan
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>Could somebody please tell me why, if we spend a lot of money on good >amps with good sounds why do we still need to buy distortion pedals? >Leon Droby
‘Cause new toys are cool. Brad F.
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Leon Droby asks: >Could somebody please tell me why, if we spend a lot of money on good amps
with good sounds why do we still need to buy distortion pedals? Because, in addition to the good sounds our amps (and pickups and guitar woods and hardware and cables) provide, we dig the sounds the pedals give us. Who ever said we had to limit the number of different ways to sound good? Tim Armstrong (brewer of beer for thirsty Americans) Taphouse Brewery and Grill, Virginia Beach, VA (the opinions expressed above are mine, naturally!)
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Variety and versatility. Can you imagine the complexity and cost of an amp that could truly cover all the bases? It would have mulitple 12AX7 preamp tubes plus a germanium transistor pre-amp, and at least two op-amp preamps with various clipping diode configurations. And please don’t mention "digital simulation". It ain’t here yet. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Could somebody please tell me why, if we spend a lot of money on good > amps with good sounds why do we still need to buy distortion pedals? > Isn’t one of the reasons we bought the amp in the first place was > because of sound? > Leon Droby
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>Could somebody please tell me why, if we spend a lot of money on good >amps with good sounds why do we still need to buy distortion pedals? >Isn’t one of the reasons we bought the amp in the first place was >because of sound? >Leon Droby
Variety in available sounds. One of the basic things that makes being an electric guitarist cool.
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Another reason is because pedals give you a very wide variety of sounds, and better control over the tone. I’d rather use pedals and other devices to control my tone, and let the amp just amplify the final product. If you aren’t into different sounds, and if your amp does all you want, don’t waste your money on pedals. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Could somebody please tell me why, if we spend a lot of money on good > amps with good sounds why do we still need to buy distortion pedals? > Isn’t one of the reasons we bought the amp in the first place was > because of sound? > Leon Droby
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One of the best sounds I have found is my 73 model Big Muff thru my Fender Blues Deluxe tweed reissue…..
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I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from overdrive to full-on metal. thanks SHuRE
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>I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it >sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 >cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any >other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from >overdrive to full-on metal.
I’m not aware of too many pedals that have that wide of performance and do it all well. You might try the BOSS Turbo Overdrive. I’d had pretty good luck with it several years ago when I had an amp and cabinet like you describe, but I wasn’t into really brutal metal stuff though. It is basically a Super Overdrive with a switchable turbo function. The best setup I ever had was a BOSS 8-band EQ in front of the amp, but I don’t think that will give you the metal gain you are looking for. g. http://www.mindspring.com/~goldtop/goldtop.html
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danelecro fabtone pedal!! you can get a bluesey overdrive to a thunderous metal sound! you will have to adjust the treble and bass settings on the pedal in conjuction to the settings on the amp. if you set it just right, you can get a nice warm vintage tone to a bluesey overdrive to a metal tone. if you set it wrong or kinda of funky it will sound harsh and paper thin which i dont like so the sound you get is really on how you set the amp in relation to the pedal! the pedal is a HI OUTPUT pedal. i only turn the vol. knob on the pedal at 9:00 and it balances out fine with the clean channel. I also set the fab knob(distortion knob) at 11:00 and that is enough distortion for a punk sound. I never put it past 12:00 or it becomes really harsh , probably good for metal. Even with the distortion all the way down, it has enough to have a very overdriven sound that you get with an overdrive pedal which is perfect for blues. Get this pedal! you wont regret it . unless you set the settings wrong then it sounds like crap – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it >sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 >cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any >other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from >overdrive to full-on metal. >thanks >SHuRE
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it >sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 >cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any >other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from >overdrive to full-on metal. > I’m not aware of too many pedals that have that wide of performance > and do it all well. You might try the BOSS Turbo Overdrive. I’d had > pretty good luck with it several years ago when I had an amp and > cabinet like you describe, but I wasn’t into really brutal metal stuff > though. It is basically a Super Overdrive with a switchable turbo > function. The best setup I ever had was a BOSS 8-band EQ in front of > the amp, but I don’t think that will give you the metal gain you are > looking for.
The Turbo is a pretty cool pedal, does okay, but the Rat is an even better sounding pedal, IMO. BEst for your purposes might be a Big Muff. I can’t vouch for the new ones, but mine old one kicks unlimited amounts of ass. A very clear fuzz sound that, while being totally fuzzed, let’s you hear each note as distinctly as possible. Very nice. Mark
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> I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it > sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 > cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any > other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from > overdrive to full-on metal. > thanks > SHuRE
ahhh the more distortion pedals the better currently i favor a fuzz face clone and the traditional boss super overdrive there are many great flavors ts 9 is a favorite ds 1 boss pedal in orange voodoo labs bosstone voodoo labs proctavia expandora (overrated) secret weapon VOODOO LABS PROCTAIVIA scour the pawnshops and used pedal counters there are thousands of great flavours of raunch try them all and use the cruder rawer ones to pound your amp instead of processing a sound of course a great amp in an absolute nescessity to get good tone out of a "pedal" pat
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> I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it > sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 > cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any > other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from > overdrive to full-on metal. > thanks > SHuRE
I bought a Rat about 8 years ago. It has a great range of distortion. I often use it with the treble up and the distortion on 1, for a "clean with an edge sound". With the treble down and the distortion on 10, you can play the guitar with one hand. The case is made of thick steel. It is BOMB PROOF. It is great for bass too. marc s.
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The Rat is a great pedal, I love mine. Check out the reviews at Harmony Central. JJR
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You won’t regret to have a Rat. It’s a classic piece of gear that have his own personality, like all great stompboxes. -jeanmi- – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it > sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 > cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any > other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from > overdrive to full-on metal. > thanks > SHuRE
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> The Rat is a great pedal, I love mine. Check out the reviews > at Harmony Central. > JJR
I can also vouch for the Rat. I have one of the older ones in the smaller case without LED. Fairly naturaly sounding cruch through my little Gretch tube amp (which will break up on its own as well). The filter knob makes it quite versatile. Greg
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> I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it > sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 > cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any > other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from > overdrive to full-on metal. > thanks > SHuRE
My two favorite pedals have been the Mesa V-Twin and the Fulltone Fulldrive 2. The Mesa is probably the best choice to get "overdrive to full-on metal". The Hi-gain channel is absolutely thunderous. I used it with, of all things, a Tweed Deluxe, and got one of the most crushing distortions I’ve heard in 20 years of playing. It’s fun to try it with different preamp tubes for different overdrive textures. The Fulldrive 2 doesn’t quite go to full-on metal. The most radical it gets is "modded Marshall". Its tones are the best I’ve ever heard in a pedal. It purpose it to get the greatest variety of overdrive sounds, with maximum tone. It does that in spades. Hope this helps. The Fulldrive is spendy. You should be able to find a used V-Twin if you’re patient. -Wretch
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i reccomend an electro harmonix big muff. while they are hard to find and pricey when you do find them, they have a really powerful boost to them, and a wide range of distortion types as well.
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>I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it >sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 >cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any >other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from >overdrive to full-on metal. >thanks >SHuRE
Hey there, Any of the flavors of RAT pedal are worth having. I’ve got a Turbo RAT (LEDs used for clipping) and a plain old RAT (diodes for clipping, 1N914’s I think, but don’t quote me). Personally I prefer the plain RAT – it seems a little more "focused", but either one is useful. They’ve made a ton of these so you should easily be able to pick one up (used) for about $50. Give it a try! Cheers, – Punkerdubh
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->I presently own a BOSS Metal-Zone MT-2 effects pedal. And well in short it >sucks. I push it through a JMP 50 watt head and vintage basket woven 4×12 >cab. Anyone have any opinions on the Pro Co RAT and the Expandora or any >other pedals they have had succuss with? I desire a versatile pedal from >overdrive to full-on metal. >thanks >SHuRE >Hey there, > Any of the flavors of RAT pedal are worth having. I’ve got a Turbo RAT >(LEDs used for clipping) and a plain old RAT (diodes for clipping, 1N914’s >I think, but don’t quote me). Personally I prefer the plain RAT – it seems >a little more "focused", but either one is useful. They’ve made a ton of >these so you should easily be able to pick one up (used) for about $50. >Give it a try! >Cheers, >- Punkerdubh >I must agree. I either own or recently owned most distortion pedals, including
most of the "botique" pedals, except the Centaur. I keep coming back to my Rats. I also enjoy the Expandora. The Ibanez TS9 is nice but won’t supply the required grind for metal. Go with a Rat, I’m sure you’ll be happy. Cordially, thirey – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –
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Bar none, the best distortion pedal out there today is the TC Electronics Booster/Distortion. These are no longer being made but when they were available new, you could have purchased them for about $299.00. Made in Denmark, these units were ultra clean and downright incredible and with a built in noise gate. Nothing comes close. Ask anyone who has ever tried one, nothing is like a TC Electronics. Nothing. I’m sure you could find one available between $200 and $300, although I have seen some go for about $400. Good luck and happy hunting. MSCJRB
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>danelecro fabtone pedal!! >you can get a bluesey overdrive to a thunderous metal sound!
One word of warning with the fabtone is that there is always a certain midrange freq. present that doesn’t sit right with me. Make sure you test one first. Those people who tell you not to take chances, they are all missing out on what life’s about, you only live once so take hold of the chance, don’t end up like others the same song and dance.– Jaymz Hetfield
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>i reccomend an electro harmonix big muff. while they are hard to find and >pricey when you do find them, they have a really powerful boost to them, and >a >wide range of distortion types as well.
Pricey? I take it you are talking about a vintage one, the modern ones can be had for 60$ or less. Those people who tell you not to take chances, they are all missing out on what life’s about, you only live once so take hold of the chance, don’t end up like others the same song and dance.– Jaymz Hetfield
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What’s the best distortion pedal for giving a good bluesy tube amp more of a modern high gain sound?
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I use a Real Tube Tube Driver for high gain stuff. My amp is an Ampeg V4, which I love clean. I use the Real Tube "Real Tube 901" for bluesy tone and the Tube Driver 908 for the high gain stuff. I also like that they have their own plugs, so I don’t go through batteries. O yeah. And they actually have tubes in them. 12AX7. So you don’t sacrifice tube amps to digital pedals. Just my opinion. Brian>What’s the best distortion pedal for giving a good bluesy tube amp more of a – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->modern high gain sound?
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