High quality distortion...

N

neon glow

New member
I want to get a decently sounding distorted guitar sound. I have a bass guitar, acoustic guitar with steel strings with an internal sound pick-up , and acoustic guitar with nylon strings with a stick-on sound pick-up. And I have piano/midi controller/synth. What effects, or software synth should I use with one of those sources in order to get a decently sounding distorted guitar? Simple 'steel strings + amplitube' doesn't sound good enough i think. Any suggestiongs?
 
Buy an electric guitar and a Line6 POD.

You cannot remotely expect to get an electric guitar tone without using humbucker or single coiled pick ups.
 
Yep, I agree with Cloneboy Studio. You're definitely going to have to get your hands on an electric guitar and a POD (or some other similar device). That's the only way that you're going to get a decent distorted sound.

I know it sucks finding out that you have to purchase more gear but you also have to be realistic in your expectations.
 
The sound of a distorted guitar really comes from a real electric guitar, it does not even need to be a super expensive one. Find a little tube amp and a distortion pedal and have fun. I am going to suugest against the Pod recomendations. They are no where near as good as the real thing, and my life as a mixer will be much better when people finally ditch direct recording of guitars for good.
 
I personally am a fan of the PODxt, although I am not bringing that conversation up again. Lol. I agree with everyone else, the only way to get a really good guitar sound is through a real guitar. If you use someone else's samples or banks you are not really getting the exact sound you want for your stuff anyway.

I know this is probably not the answer you are looking for, but I have been a guitar player for many, many, years and I haven't heard anything in the electronic world that sound like a good, distorted, electric guitar. The closest thing you might try is a harsh synth, in a mix it might sound like a distored guitar with some fuzz on it. Kind of a Nine Inch Nails type of vibe. If it is off on its own, it is still going to sound like a synth.
 
Piezos CAN give a very interesting distorted guitar sound (more for the ska reggae distortion sound) if you have a nice modeler. It'll not work with an amp cause of feedback. You might try a in-soundhole-pickup. They can sound nice, too

aXel
 
boss GT-6 fan here....and i record direct also...with a few tweaks here and there i made it sound like my half stack on recordings. oh yeah and as for the super duper expensive guitar that i have......its a fender squire affinity strat....$150.
 
Vienna Symphonic Library (The guys who make the worlds biggest and finest collection of single note and performance element samples (over 230 gigs worth) for use in TASCAM GigaStudio or the EXS24 have a product out on the horizon series called Overdrive. If you want a cheaper alternative (£130) recorded with the best amps, best guitars and best mics (of course, what is 'best'?) Then atleast take the time to listen to some of their demo's, you'll be suprised!

http://www.vsl.co.at/deutsch/Seiten/PRODUCTS_&_SHOP/Horizon_Series/OVERDRIVE.htm - Overdrive page, click on Instruments & demo's for ... demos

http://www.vsl.co.at - VSL homepage
 
jeez really, you can get a perfectly decent electric guitar for $100-$200. i mean, not great, but something that will give you a workable tone or two.
for example: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33043&item=3735023919&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=3733937074&rd=1


also you can get a perfectly decent amp for $100 (vox pathfinder for example).

and there are workable distortion/OD/fuzz pedals for $50

anyway, PODs are cool, no doubt about that. cool for drums, cool for vocals, cool for keyboards. but the LAST thing, the very very very LAST thing in the world you want to put thru one is an electric guitar.
 
Thank you very much for all the suggestions. Guess it's up to me now, to choose a solution. Farewell, colleagues. :)
 
eeldip said:
but the LAST thing, the very very very LAST thing in the world you want to put thru one is an electric guitar.
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What a crock of shit. I've heard some really great guitar tracks using PODs.
 
Klif said:
What a crock of shit. I've heard some really great guitar tracks using PODs.
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I would not call Elldip's comments a crock of shit at all. The Pod really is one of the worst things to happen to recording in a very long time. we may just have different tastes, but as a guy that has mixed thousands of guitar oriented tracks, I would say almost all Pod sounds (for distortion or overdrive) are among the worst I have ever heard. I put pods in the same category as a cheapo 15 watt crate or peavey amp. You can get them to sound interesting on their own, but they do not work in a mix.

Some of the guys that do industrial stuff like them for good reason, because really harsh and abrasive sounds work well in the kind of music. People who know my rant are probably bored of it, but as a proffesional mixer, I have got to say that Pods just fuck up records and the world would be a better place if all the Pods and their equivelent never ended up on another record..
 
ronan makes a good point- a POD is good for guitar tones that you want to sound really abrasive, really direct, really straight in. artifically sounding stuff, nuMETAAAL stuff like that. or like those early devo demos where they plugged their guitars directly into the board and distorted the input channel. RIGHT to your brain. cool tone.

i guess what i should have said is that you shouldnt use a POD to try to sound like an electric guitar thru a regular amp in a regular room.

you use a POD to sound like a crazy space guitar plugged directly into the MATRIX heard thru those electrodes that attach to your head.
 
eeldip said:
ronan makes a good point- a POD is good for guitar tones that you want to sound really abrasive, really direct, really straight in. artifically sounding stuff, nuMETAAAL stuff like that.
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i wouldn't even use it for that. I would say get one if you're doing some kind of electro-thrash/industrial type thing. It will sound nice & harsh and synthetic. But for the love of drugs don't use a pod if you want anything that sounds close to a realistic guitar...it never will

pod will give you a synthetic sound, with a bag full of generic over processed sounds...

but hey...OMG, i'm not the master of the universe yet, so that's just my opinion
 
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