Recording Distortion staight from Head

B

bradly

New member
Hey guys I was wondering if you could give me a little advice...

I just picked up an electric drum set and me and my buddies were excited because we thought since the all of our instument are now electric, we could play at any hour just by running everything through headphones.

Problem is when the guitarist switches from clean to distortion, the sound really sounds bad. i mean it's like playing through my 15watt Frontman all over again!

We are using the line out on a 100watt solid state Marshall head. Any way to get decent sound without it coming through the speakers? Would running the clean channel through an overdrive pedal sound decent? We aren't after any great tone, just something playable. Thanks

-bradly
 
that sound isnt meant to play thru headphones. Usually the headphone out and or line out suck on heads/amps. Pick up something like a Behringer v-amp or Line 6 POD or Johnson J Station. You will be able to get some remotley good results using one of these, becasue that is what they are designed for. STAY AWAY FROM DIGITECH!!!
 
Line6 amps have pretty good direct out/headphones, as far as that kind of thing goes. In a way, they kinda design for direct outs. They're inexpensive, too.
 
I second the Line 6 suggestion. I use a Line 6 Spider II 30 watt amp in my studio for guitar direct recording and it sounds great. And it has a built in noise gate on the output stage. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
 
notbradsohner said:
that sound isnt meant to play thru headphones. Usually the headphone out and or line out suck on heads/amps. Pick up something like a Behringer v-amp or Line 6 POD or Johnson J Station. You will be able to get some remotley good results using one of these, becasue that is what they are designed for. STAY AWAY FROM DIGITECH!!!
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What's so bad about digitech? I don't own any of there stuff but I hear they are not so bad. Help me understand. :confused:
 
GOODLAND said:
What's so bad about digitech? I don't own any of there stuff but I hear they are not so bad. Help me understand. :confused:
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I own a Digitech RP3 and i think that thing is a pile of crap. It's the only digitech thing I have ever used, but it really sucks.

-bradly
 
Oh, Ok, I still wan't to what it is about the effects themselfs that are so bad. I'm not saying digitech is good, I just wan't a good description of WHY it's so bad.
 
OK, I lied, :rolleyes: I have a GNX1, it works great and I love it. All I wanted to know is why the others on this thread don't like Digitech pedals. No one will give me a good response!! :mad:
 
I used to have a Digitech RP3 and here's why I hated that hunk of shit: When you try to switch between patches, there is a noticeable delay which makes it absolutely worthless for live use. I don't know if they've gotten better about this or not and I don't care--Boss GT-6 for me.
 
I'm not saying Digitech is good or bad!!!! All I wan't to know are some reasons why some people don't like digitech. Personaly I think their pedals are pretty good.
 
I'll try to give you a constructive story for you.

I was helping a band out in the recording studio. I was producing their demo and helping with the bands overall sound. The main guitar player was pretty decent, and had a nice amp setup. As the band was practicing I noticed his tone was really thin sounding compared to the other guitar player. It had a hollow sound and he had to really turn up the master volume on his amp to be heard...then the highs were really shrill then. He couldn't figure out why his guitar didn't sit well with the rest of their music.

I went into the main room and took a look at his setup, and lo and behold he had one of thise Digitech multi effects between his guitar and amp. I unplugged it, and made him plug straight into his amp. Immediately he could turn the volume way back and have a much fuller sound. It blended with the rest of the band, and it sounded very good. Made him sound like a much better guitar player.

At the end of the night he took that Digitech pedal out into the parking lot and threw it as high as he could and let it come shashing back to the ground. And he thanked me every time he saw me for helping him be a better sounding guitar player.

H2H
 
I'm not saying Digitech is good or bad!!!! All I wan't to know are some reasons why some people don't like digitech. Personaly I think their pedals are pretty good.
 
Purge said:
I used to have a Digitech RP3 and here's why I hated that hunk of shit: When you try to switch between patches, there is a noticeable delay which makes it absolutely worthless for live use. I don't know if they've gotten better about this or not and I don't care--Boss GT-6 for me.
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Yep I have the same delay between patches which makes unusable. Also I like knobs. It may be personal preference, but knobs, like what are on Boss's ME-50, are a lot easier for me to use than a bunch buttons.

-bradly
 
Digitech makes cheap garbage that makes everything sound shrill, hollow and over-hyped. Even if you use it for delay or chorus (things that are really hard to screw up) just running your guitar through it degrades the signal.
The easiest way to having the worst guitar sound in the county is to use the distortion in one of these things.
 
I think there may be a big difference between the the Digitech RP series and the GNX series. Like I said, I own a GNX1, as far as I can tell this pedal has a much more full sound than going direct into my amp. My amp is a Peavey Special 212 with 230 watts of power. This pedal sounds great if know how to use it and know what sound you are looking for.
 
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