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DrSpankenstein

New member
Ok I didn'tknow what to title this thread, and when in doubt I blurt out rude things!

I was hoping somebody could help find a cool distortion. I want...um...I can't descibe what I want. The Cult Electric. That is the sound I want. Or the Donnas Turn 21 cd, or maybe The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bullocks. That kind of full bodied sound.

I have used some different pedals like the rat, metal zone, digitech rp1. I can get close but not good. I mostly want it for recording. I have considered building a one watt tube amp and getting a new pedal. I have a lab series L5 and the above mentioned pedals, a strat and a danelectro. maybe I need humbuckers.

One last thing. How about some input on these pedal I am looking at:
Marshall drive master
Ibanez tube king
J-station (I will prolly get this anyway)
Tube works real tube (I've been told not much more than subtle overdrive)
Tech 21 stuff

I hope this run on rambling makes some sense.
Life is to short for crappy tone.

thanks,
dave
 
There are two simple steps to get mind blowing distortion.

Humbuckers into a kick ass tube amp.

Accept no substitutes.
 
I agree with roadkill, you want humbuckers or better,

50w tube amp, 4x12 cab with classic celestion speakers

and that will get you that sound of tonal distortion,

its clear enough to hear the strings but will raise the hair on your legs with sweet feedback.
 
reel buzzer said:
I agree with roadkill, you want humbuckers or better,

50w tube amp, 4x12 cab with classic celestion speakers

and that will get you that sound of tonal distortion,

its clear enough to hear the strings but will raise the hair on your legs with sweet feedback.
Click to expand...

Bingo....and I can guarantee that's what you're hearing on the Electric album from the Cult (one of the best rock albums ever IMHO.) Also, never underestimate the value of a good producer. In this case, Rick Rubin. I've heard bootleg versions of some of the Electric cuts before Rubin came into the picture....and they're really bad......they sound like took the feel of the Love album and took it to cartoonish extremes.

Anyway, Rubin came into the picture and probably flushed Billy Duffy's chorus pedals down the toilet and made him plug his Gretsch hollow-body straight into a Marshall. The rest is just the room and the mic placement. Everything that is really beautiful is usually also really simple.......
 
Yeah I agree about the simple aproach. I also understand about the kick ass tube amp. I am on a limited budget right now and am trying to get as close as possible with a pedal. I have been checking out the marshall pedals. I think I am going to grab the gov'ner plus for now and mess around with that. I might be getting a new job soon, if that works out maybe I can grab a real marshal :cool:

The thing with humbuckers is the clean sound is boring. I switch back-n-forth in most of my music, you know clean then heavy then clean... that old chestnut. When recording it would work out to use diferent guitars for the diferent parts. I allways forget about the producer. Man I am lacking in that department.

Thanks for the replies. I was drinking lots lastnight and am glad you understood :p

dave
 
You don't have to have a full marshall stack to get a killer sound. I've gotten some great tunes with a Tube Screamer and a small Fender Blues Jr. There are a lot of cool little tube amps for around $200 used.

If you don't like humbuckers for clean you can always get switchable pups or a guitar with both.
 
I would agree that a half-stack is not necessary. In fact, I think most guitarists would agree with me that tube amps (and even solid state ones, arguably) sound much better with everything turned up. I think it's because--and somebody correct me if I'm wrong--potentiometers on an amp do nothing more than CUT power. You aren't turning an amp up, you are decreasing the amount of "turning down" going on in the circuit. I think with all of the pots full open you get a stronger signal and thus a truer and fuller tone.

Whether I'm right about the circuitry stuff or not, I think you'd be better off buying a smaller amp (like a 30- or 50-watt combo) and running it harder. If you wish, go ahead and plug in a speaker cab; but I think a good sound can be most easily forged, pedal-less, with a cranked amp.
 
A low wattage (50 or less) tube amp cranked makes a big fat sound. A 50W JCM800 into a 4x12 is "the sound"

I LOVE the Boss Blues Driver. I used it on the clean channel of a Fender Roc-Pro 1000 half stack. It was great. My other guitarist still uses the pedal.

I big part of a BIG distorted sound is not so much distortion. Once you back off that gain knob a little you'll hear a bigger sound. It seems counter intuitive but it works... Fuzz isn't big.
 
Get rid of the pedals! Put a Hot Rail Humbucker in the bridge position of your Stratocaster and you've got the best of both worlds. I recomend an all tube amp. I have a Fender 212 Deville and I never use effects. it has a great clean sound with my Tele, and an awesome dirty sound with the Les Paul.
 
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