distortion HELP

TheEmoTheory

New member
i have a marshall valvestate (i should have invested in a better amp huh?) its great for solid state metal stuff, but now i am doing emo type stuff with much lighter distortion. i try turning the gain down but it still has that solid state sound, and its not the level of clarity i want.. i want to get a nice toned distortion sound , but still a nice level of clarity... for stuff with singing and not screaming ya know?
what should i do? what kind of pedal do i need? if you tell me that i need another amp i know that would be the best thing, but please just mention a pedal that would be the best thing for what i need (just to tide me over!)
 
From what I understand, most metal music uses distortion with highs and lows boosted and mids dropped. Punk/emo/alternative bands simply use pedals that push more of the mid range. I have a DOD Death Metal Distortion petal I can't make sound punkish simply by changing the ratio to enhance mid range. I would suggest any petal as long as it has high, mid, and low controls on them.
 
Get a Pro-co Rat or a Danelectro-Daddy-0. The Danelectro has sweepable mids for a wide variety of sounds.
 
Hey man, I have the same problem, I have a Marshall VSR100. I bought last year when i started playing again and found that it is no where near the sound I needed for recording. It sounds then same injust about every setting.

I know a pedal will help but I bet you end up with a diffrent amp anyway. I'm looking at a Fender Hot Rod Deville.

Also does your guitar have any single coil pickups. Try using a single coil instead of the bridge pickup to get a meaty, less distorted sound.
 
Have you tried the good ol' reliable TS9 or
TS10 Tube Screamer. I know that these days the blues guys have been using them for the
"Stevie" sound, but it should do what you need it to. It's not a distortion pedal so to speak, it's an overdrive. In fact any decent overdrive FX should do the trick. They have a warmer tone and have a round distion instead of a harsh angular metal type distortion. Also try cutting back the highs on your amp and boost mids and roll off the bass just a bit.....Daddy-O
 
Both will do about the same job. Tube Screamers have been around forever and are pretty much standard for overdrive. The Danelectro has a cool name and a cool look.
Another good overdrive to try is the BOSS
overdrive. It's the yellow one I think. They
can sometimes be found in pawn shops for $50
or so. Personaly, I like the tube screamer. I
have a re-issue TS9 and an original from the 70's. The re-issue has a crisper sound and the vintage pedal is a little warmer and mushy.But like I said the Danelectro has a way cool name......
 
Boss DS1 is great altho I'd recommend an EQ pedal in the same chain because it seems like it gets really mid - ey. I don't do metal but I dig a nice thick dist. eh?

I think them Bosses is tough, I've had three in 12 years. And use a battery fer chrissake. Every adaptor I've tried is LOUD.

Ree
 
I've been accused of sounding emo before and i (lower case i's mean i'm emo) use a boss OS-2 overdrive/dist. along with a fender strat, deluxe reverb. I'm having some problems (see my post) but before that, I really liked what i could get from the combo. I've read some people talk about how it mixes overdrive and distortion whatever that means. 4 knobs. Set the level where appropriate, middle two knobs all the way, and the color at about 2 o' clock. The best part is that it sounds pretty natural and you can control the dist. level with your volume pot on your guitar for a wider range of sounds. Works well with songs that have a lot of dynamic movements, not just stomp on pedal=loud, stomp again=soft and clean. I stand by boss pedals because mine has taken some real abuse, not to mention I'm getting a kickback for this post! do you have a site with any mp3's? i'd like to hear. Keep on rockin' and cryin!
 
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