The New Tone Thread

I think TubeScreamers on their own (sim or real) sound like a bag of dicks. Really harsh and buzzy. Can sound great into a crunched amp though.
 
JDOD said:
I think TubeScreamers on their own (sim or real) sound like a bag of dicks. Really harsh and buzzy. .
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depends on how much gain you set .... they don't have a nice distortion but when I use a TS I tend to set the gain on zero ...... set like that it's almost like it isn't even there ..... just a tiny bit 'o' push to the front end.
 
Lt. Bob said:
depends on how much gain you set .... they don't have a nice distortion but when I use a TS I tend to set the gain on zero ...... set like that it's almost like it isn't even there ..... just a tiny bit 'o' push to the front end.
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This ^^^^^^^^^^^

I set mine with zero gain, usually max output, or close to max. It just drives the amp harder. The mid hump alone makes them worthwhile for leads. I never leave it on though. Just kick it in for a lead push.
 
minerman said:
Been wondering where you've been the past day or so Greg, hope everything's going good for ya...I'm still hangin' in there, things are a little different for me now, but it'll all work out eventually....:D.
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Good, I'm glad you're plugging away. I've been around. Been fixing my monitors. The power switch crapped out on one of them. And now it's a holiday week and the family is slumming around off work and out of school, so my noise making ability has been reduced.
 
A Tonal Treat good enough to Eat.


Here's a mastered version of a song I finished recently.
Supercreep is responsible for all vocals & melody.
I did the hokey solo on the intro as well as bass and the underlying guitars.
Our own tonal terror, Greg, plays the main guitars.
They are more clearly featured about 1/2 way through.
All axes were recorded using valve/tubey things that required rather a lot of volume to give of their best.
 
Greg_L said:
This ^^^^^^^^^^^

I set mine with zero gain, usually max output, or close to max. It just drives the amp harder. The mid hump alone makes them worthwhile for leads. I never leave it on though. Just kick it in for a lead push.
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I agree with that, but I'd still only do it into a crunched amp not a clean amp! I would use a lot of level and a slight bit of gain though to turn a hard rock sound into something a bit more metal! In fact, that's exactly what a current tone I am using needs.

DS1 still has its uses. I haven't recorded it in months (when I was recording pedals into a sim before I got my amp) but I sometimes like that style of distortion and I found it handy live recently when I needed an extra drive pedal for some heavily distorted leads that needed to come over quiet in the background during a verse.

Shan, a mate of mine had one of them! I thought it was amazing at the time as I only had an HM2
 
rayc said:

Here's a mastered version of a song I finished recently.
Supercreep is responsible for all vocals & melody.
I did the hokey solo on the intro as well as bass and the underlying guitars.
Our own tonal terror, Greg, plays the main guitars.
They are more clearly featured about 1/2 way through.
All axes were recorded using valve/tubey things that required rather a lot of volume to give of their best.
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That sounds cool. I'd just like the bit at the end where the unison bends come in to be a bit longer before the song ended.
 
JDOD said:
I agree with that, but I'd still only do it into a crunched amp not a clean amp! I would use a lot of level and a slight bit of gain though to turn a hard rock sound into something a bit more metal! In fact, that's exactly what a current tone I am using needs.

DS1 still has its uses. I haven't recorded it in months (when I was recording pedals into a sim before I got my amp) but I sometimes like that style of distortion and I found it handy live recently when I needed an extra drive pedal for some heavily distorted leads that needed to come over quiet in the background during a verse.

Shan, a mate of mine had one of them! I thought it was amazing at the time as I only had an HM2
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Here's the only two drive pedals I use and how I keep them set:


The green one is obviously a Tube Screamer. It's an original 80s hair metal model. It gets used for lead bumps only, and only sometimes. I generally prefer an Angus Young style lead sound most of the time as opposed to some shredding hair dorkery. But it is certainly very good for hair metal dorkery.

The yellow one is a Boss Super Overdrive, and to me, it's the better of the two for general use. It's more transparent. It doesn't have the mid hump of the Tube Screamer. It CAN just be left on to constantly push an amp into overdrive.

These are not "distortion pedals". They're overdrive pedals. They push the front end of an already roaring tube amp, and can add a bit of hair if need be. They're not an amp-in-a-box to be used as your fundamental tone palette in front of a clean amp. IMO.
 
I've used a HotTone Blues Drive for a similar purpose and with the level boost on the Mooer compressor you can get a similar effect although not as useful.

I was thinking of buying a HotTone Blues Driver 'cos they're quite cheap! There's also a mini-TubeScreamer available now but that's not quite so cheap.
 
That Super Overdrive I use can be found used dirt cheap. They're everywhere, and they're awesome. Hell, brand new they're only like 50 bucks U.S. American quids. And it's buffered, so it's good for long cable runs. Check one out.
 
Greg_L said:
That Super Overdrive I use can be found used dirt cheap. They're everywhere, and they're awesome. Hell, brand new they're only like 50 bucks U.S. American quids. And it's buffered, so it's good for long cable runs. Check one out.
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I remember a mate of mine having one when I was really young, like 14 or 15, but I didn't know what it was for at the time. We were just plugging them into whatever cheap SS amp we had and trying to get "distortion". I thought it was shit at the time. I didn't realise that it could be used like a TubeScreamer. I'll see what they're going for on eBay.

I have used the Jackhammer for a bit of boose/drive but its a bit too tricky to use as it has way too many variables.

With a decent boost/drive pedal I should have all the crunch tones I need:
Clean channel with OCD
Clean channel with DS1
Normal gain channel
Boosted gain channel.

The OCD is a fucking great sounding pedal but I was hoping it would be able to set it up to use as a boost - it doesn't seem to work with a crunched amp at all well though - you get a weird phasey effect. Its great as an "amp in a box" type alternative sound though and has a massive amount of volume available!
 
JDOD said:
The OCD is a fucking great sounding pedal but I was hoping it would be able to set it up to use as a boost - it doesn't seem to work with a crunched amp at all well though - you get a weird phasey effect. Its great as an "amp in a box" type alternative sound though and has a massive amount of volume available!
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Right. The OCD is a better amp-in-a-box in front of a clean amp rather than an overdrive pedal. As an overdrive it just makes a mess. It's terrific in front of a clean amp.
 
Greg_L said:
Right. The OCD is a better amp-in-a-box in front of a clean amp rather than an overdrive pedal. As an overdrive it just makes a mess. It's terrific in front of a clean amp.
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Yeah, I tend to use it either for slightly crunched bluesey types of tones, if the gain channel on my amp is set to a heavy tone. Or, if my amp is set for lightly crunched bluesey stuff (the band I've been playing in) I have it set for buckets of gain for really sustained lead tones. It doesn't do a metal chug - it mushes out badly.

Just looked up SD1s on eBay. usually 20 - 30 quid.
 
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