distorted guitar sound! help!!

[sonarstar]

i have a usa fender strat and a zoom hyperlead distortion pedal and a roland ua-30 audio interface. i can't get a good sound when recording. i have tried to go through my carvin 3 channel amp but it just won't work. people have recommeded that i buy a line 6 pod and go directly into that from my guitar and then put the pod into the interface. any help would be much appreciated. thanks.

[64Firebird]

LOts of good info on this site. Click Here.

[Justin.Irish]

Try checking out the Behringer Vamp-2. I bought one and I use it to record and I must say it sounds amazing! It only runs about $129 (half of what the POD costs). The effects are 24 bit and sound really full, like a BOSS pedal sounds like. It also comes with a footswitch, case and power supply. You can use the headphone jack on it for those late night jam sessions and it also has an aux. jack so you can plug in a drum machine and jam to. One of the best recording tools I have ever purchased. I will be recording some new songs at the end of the month, and rather than miking my 5150 II half stack, I will be using the Vamp to get the sound I like. You can get more info on it at:
http://www.behringer.com/02_products...-AMP2&lang=eng

[hongteck]

If you sound good thru the amp, then just mike the amp with a good ol' SM57. That's probably the most consistent way of capturing your sound. However if you want to go direct and get the flexibility of a range of sound, then a modern day amp simulators will keep you busy for a while. The POD, V-amp and many more will do the job. I personally use a DG-Stomp.

[Leeking]

Originally posted by hongteck
If you sound good thru the amp, then just mike the amp with a good ol' SM57. That's probably the most consistent way of capturing your sound. However if you want to go direct and get the flexibility of a range of sound, then a modern day amp simulators will keep you busy for a while. The POD, V-amp and many more will do the job. I personally use a DG-Stomp.

hi hongteck,

I didn;t know you hv the DG Stomp as well.... how do u like it?

(I'll PM you on other stuffs... )

[King Elvis]

I would can the Zoom, they suck

[powderfinger]

mic the amp........it's the easiest and best way

[LocusLarsen]

I have a zoom 1010...coolest thing in the world...when I was a beginner.

I still use it once in a while with a SnarlingDog Moldspore, but thats it.

...Back to the subject-

You have a Carvin, I have only played on one Carvin but I liked it, it was all tube I think, YOU SHOULD MIC THE HELL OUTTA THAT THING. Don't use any effects. Buy some outboard gear for after you have laid the tracks. If you are recording into a computer then you have got it made because all that stuff seems to be inexpensive compared to crap I need to start buying.

[LocusLarsen]

Thats right you said you are using a Hyperlead, so you are probably trying to get that Doom & Gloom sound? Get a POD or something else like a Soldano tube pedal. I don't think you have the right amp for that kind of Aerials gut-rentching low grind ala System of a Down. I don't know if even a soldano would do that but without buying a new amp I would check it out. It is a very nice pedal.

[jake-owa]

One simple thing that helps me recording distorted guitars is to turn the ditsortion down.
I know this seems like a bad idea but the recording always seems way fuzzy compared to the sound in the room especially with digital recording.
Seriously, try turning the gain on the pedal or dirty channel gain down until you hear the guitar start to clean up, then turn it up just a hair.
Try turning it up several times recording each time and monitoring on decent speakers.
For me this gets the growl of distortion without the hashy fuzz to rip your ears out.
Also using a sweepable high shelf EQ you can cut around 12k (purely a starting point) give or take to de-fuzz the guitar further.

This is not the law just some ideas that have helped me.

[jimistone]

i agree with jake. i hear alot of guitar players using too much distortion. too much distortion sounds like shit to me.

the shitty sound is alot more obvious when you're listening to the recording playback than when you're playing the part

most of these artificial distortion boxes have that "gazoo'fuzzy" kind of sound on the top strings....i hate it.

listen to SRV's distortion sound on "voodo chile (slight return)" ...no fuzziness on the top strings...but alot of distortion. its almost impossible to get that without tubes.

like jake said "turn the distortion down"...also, alot of the sound of the distortion comes from how you attack the strings. you can clean up the guitar sound and the strings that you hammer the hell out of will still distort.