Amp breakup. (Not a relationship kind of thing).

[ste20man]

Hi all.

I have been running a USA Fender Tele into my Fender Blues Deluxe Re-issue and have gotten what I think is a really decent clean sound for recording. I now want to record some distortion. I am currently using a Boss DS-1 and have found it quite brittle. I've ordered a Proco 'You dirty rat' pedal which arrives tomorrow.

What I am wondering is about how I should treat my amp. I have heard that amps sound their best when they are play really loudly, so that they 'break up'. Is this true? I can't play my amp at full volume as it would have the police knocking at my door within 20 seconds. I get away with the levels that I can. (a quarter way up).

Will this lower level affect the sound / tone that I ultimately get?

If so, is there any way around the problem of only having to have it a quarter way up? Some kind of trade trick?

I'd appreciate your ideas, Ste.

 

[miroslav]

Get an attenuator....you can crank your amp volume to get breakup, and then use the attenuator to turn down the actual loudness.

Try a Weber MiniMass.

 

[ste20man]

Thanks Miroslav.

I'll get onto that right away, do a bit of reading. :0)

 

[stevieb]

Second that. I much prefer the power-tube overdrive tone I get with an attenuator to ANY other distortion sound.

 

[aaronmcoleman]

DS-1 should not be too brittle. It does have a classic rock kinda of OD, so i you want something smooth and more modern, it isn't the ticket. But neither is driving the blues deluxe.

An attenuator will help you get the overdriven blues deluxe sound, but if that's not what you're going for it will still sound a bit brittle. I really like Tube Screamers through clean fender amps to get a more modern OD.