Amp or pedal for distortion???

[Lee123]

Hey all
I have a quick question.....call it curiosity...

When you all record a distorted guitar, do you use the distortion from your amp or do you use an effects pedal?

The only reason I ask is that I have a Marshall JCM200 dsl, and I hate the distortion it produces....I have a Metal Zone (Boss) pedal that I use for live ( it's sorta ok) but it sucks for recording...

Lee.

[Outlaws]

Originally Posted by Lee123

Hey all
I have a quick question.....call it curiosity...

When you all record a distorted guitar, do you use the distortion from your amp or do you use an effects pedal?

The only reason I ask is that I have a Marshall JCM200 dsl, and I hate the distortion it produces....I have a Metal Zone (Boss) pedal that I use for live ( it's sorta ok) but it sucks for recording...

Lee.

Why did you buy a DSL is you hate the distortion?

When I read the topic I though you were going to say, "I have a shitty $50 crate amp, should I use that or my DS1?"

[Farview]

The marshall is a great sounding amp. What kind of distortion are you looking for?

[Lee123]

ok...heres the weird thing....beleive it if you will....
I moved here from England (the home of Marshall) where I purchased my JCM200. It sounded great. Before I relocated to the states, I had Marshall convert the power supply to accept US power. When I arrived in the US, I plugged in my amp to make sure all was well. That's when I discovered that the dirty channel sounded like pooh. I spoke to Marshall and they said that it's a well know issue with the power supply here in the US. Something to do with the cycles per second. I can't afford to replace the Marshall so here I am with my question.....

I like a distortion somewhere between hard rock and heavey metal but not too thrashy. If anyone has heard of the Black Mollys...that's the sound I like...

[spoonie g]

If you need more distortion, get a clean boost or overdrive; that's gotta sound better than the bucket of bees of the metal zone.

[enferno]

Originally Posted by Lee123

ok...heres the weird thing....beleive it if you will....
I moved here from England (the home of Marshall) where I purchased my JCM200. It sounded great. Before I relocated to the states, I had Marshall convert the power supply to accept US power. When I arrived in the US, I plugged in my amp to make sure all was well. That's when I discovered that the dirty channel sounded like pooh. I spoke to Marshall and they said that it's a well know issue with the power supply here in the US. Something to do with the cycles per second. I can't afford to replace the Marshall so here I am with my question.....

I like a distortion somewhere between hard rock and heavey metal but not too thrashy. If anyone has heard of the Black Mollys...that's the sound I like...

i just recently aquired a digitech metal master . . it has a really really thick distortion, sounds really good live and recorded on my roland cube 60. i got this for free from a client who was a singer, and doesn't play guitar anymore. but i'm sure you can find on ebay for cheap.

just my 2 cents

[cellardweller]

Originally Posted by Lee123

I have a Metal Zone (Boss) pedal that I use for live ( it's sorta ok) but it sucks for recording...

Abandon hope... I did.
It seems to take WAY more work than it should (it would seem) to get a usable tone from the MT-2.

I've found best results by cutting all of the knobs back to 12 o'clock or less. 9 o'clock on the distortion. Still sounds crappy, but slightly improved.

Something I've never tried which just occured to me; Would cutting the volume on the MT-2 to near nothing, and then cranking the amp to drive the tubes be of any benefit?
Sorta a ghetto-wannabe-hotplate?

[Rickson Gracie]

if u want an 80 metal thin sound go with pedals. if u want great warm bluesy hard rock tone u need cranked tube amp. the latter will give u the best recorded results.

IMO

[The Niz]

Lee123, try the Ibanez MS10 Metal Charger, it's a pedal from the 80's which I think you'll like (from what I read).
"Metal" here is not like Metallica, more like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath etc. Works perfectly in combo with a tube amp as booster, or also as distortion pedal.

And they go really cheap on Ebay.

Greetz,
Dominique

[Lee123]

Thanks guys. Thats great input. I do also use a Marshall Breaker so I can crank the amp, but as I'm not using the dirty channel, is this much of a benefit?

Also, has anyone had any dealings with Robert Keeley? I was thinking about getting my Boss Blues Driver and the MT Metal Zone modded by him???
http://www.robertkeeley.com
Worthwhile?

[Gear_Junky]

A lot of people like the Tech 21 SansAmp to record distorted guitar without an actual tube amp. There's several versions of it, the SansAmp GT2 being the cheapest, which lets you "model" the rig by choosing type of amp, type of speaker/drive etc. I liked them when I had them.

Also their amps are great (I had the Trademark 60), but they now have the little Trademark 10, which is like the SansAmp GT2 built into an amp. Works for recording and practice

Not everyone's gonna like 'em, but try it!