Punk/Emo Distortion Sound

  • Thread starter Thread starter scottn5388
  • Start date Start date
I don't know if I'd do it. Is it an American Strat? If it is a cheap Japanese or Mexican strat than maybe I would replace the pickups with humbuckers, but I don't know. I wouldn't mod my USA strat though...I would sell it and buy a humbucking pick-up guitar if I wanted that sound.

You'll get ALL sorts of opinions on this, and it is very subjective, but to me replacing types of pick-ups on a guitar as 'signature' tone as a strat is fighting an uphill battle. The sound you want is Gibson SG or Les Paul, the extra weight and design of the guitars give then the sustain and sound that you are looking for. You might be better off with a cheap copy (Ibanez?), than a modded Strat.
Keep your strat for the bell-like warm sound it is famous for, get another guitar for the 'chunk'. If you can't afford 2 guitars, sell the one and get what you want, or save up your cash and buy it later. Any money spent modding the strat would IMHO be better used as a starting point to save for a better guitar.
 
Don't change your pickups.....but I fear the single coils are the problem.

Look into a el cheapo Epiphone SG or Les Paul on Ebay, they can be had for 200....

Which'll leave you enough for a J-Station
 
another little known, but phenominal pedal is the boss hyper-fuzz (fz-2 i believe)... it's no longer in production, but if you can find a used one... it's well worth the investment.... many tones to be had.... just as with the electro-harmonix big-muff.... both are exellent pedals with myriad uses (including bass and vocal effects).... check them out.
 
sorry to double-post....
from my experience... some of the widest range of wonderful tones can be had in a epiphone les paul elite (semi-hollow body) the build quality is usually excellent for the price and you'll get very good sustain. as far as the pickup situation....
i have a strat myself and i plan on doing this...

making a new fully setup pickguard (with pickups) for any application.

1 with p-90 single coils
1 with dual humbuckers
etc.....

with all the appropriate swithches and knobs.

then adding quick connections to the output jack of the guitar for easy changeover. all that needs to be done is loosing the strings, replacing a few screws.... and voila.... a new sound. cheaper than new guitars....

i whole-heartedly support this for you.... but don't ignore the sounds of other guitars...

the SG is a very emo-friendly guitar sound. as can be the les paul and many fenders. also look into some of the hollow body gibsons or epiphones(especially for a budget) as they are also very common.

also becoming emo/punk prominenet are the gibson/epiphone firebird and explorer, as well as the fender jazzmaster and jaguar. check these out, but watch prices. some are really pricy.

as for an emo sound... look at orange amplifiers... huge in the emo market... try to at least copy some of their nuance....

other good distortions are the mxr distortion + (excellent), the metal zone, the arbiter (now dunlop) fuzzface, the boss fz-1, the ibanez tube-screamer, also check out the danelectro pedals (daddy-o, etc).....

it really depends on the exact sound you want, but these are some leads to chase down. please choose your brands wisely... some produce consistently good stuff (electro-harmonix, boss, mxr, etc) and some are hit and miss.

lemme know if i can answer any other questions.
 
Thanks for your feedback....I think I'll keep my strat the way it is and look around for maybe a used humbuckin' guitar.

Thanks again,
Scott
 
I have to post this....sorry......

How many emo kids does it take to change a light bulb?
 
LocusLarsen said:
Just get the humbucker..........maybe even a SD Hot Rail.
Click to expand...

Yup, I would second this suggestion. I had an older Kramer with one of these pickups, and it had that nice thick tone you're looking for! Best of all, you (most likely) won't have to do *any* cutting or type of modification to the guitar itself (except wiring) to get it installed.

See the image below for a look see...

Hope this helps!

-mr. moon

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/mrmoonmusic.htm
 

Attachments

  • shr-1b.webp
    shr-1b.webp
    2.7 KB · Views: 68
So if I put that SD Hot Rails pickup in the bridge position, would I have to solder it in just like the existing single coil pickup or will the wiring be different?

-Scott
 
LocusLarsen said:
I have to post this....sorry......

How many emo kids does it take to change a light bulb?
Click to expand...

None. Let 'em cry in the dark.
 
don't get a new guitar!!!

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

ok i have to voice my opinion.. it's just hard seeing all these extreme options you've all proposed for this guy.

as you may know from my earlier post, i am a big emo/punk person; i play it and i listen to the genre. your first step to achieving a more popular sound should NOT be going out and getting new pickups and/or a guitar. i'm not exactly what emo/punk artists you like and would like to sound like, but if you told us, i'm sure at least i could point you in a better direction.

now i'm not saying that all these other people telling you to get new pickups or a guitar are wrong, it's just that there are quite a few emo/punk artists that play with single coils and you may not know that. i think that the first thing you should do is

**take your current guitar to a local store and try out all their distortion pedals on an amp that most closely resembles yours**

also keep in mind that your guitar sound alone is not directly comparable to their entire band on their cd's.. they have a bassist too. obviously you knew that, but i'm just saying that you should try out a different distortion pedal first, and try to get your desired sound out of it. maybe it's even the amp.

you could also think about another long term option---selling your current amp and picking up a Marshall AVT20 or AVT50. those certainly will give you a great Marshall tone and versatile distortion.

name a few artists you are interested in and it'll help. :)

*arjun
 
Hey, thanks arjun....

I do like that approach much better. I was planning on getting a new pedel and i guess I'm just gonna go try out a bunch of 'em and see if I like the sound through the single coil pickups.

Thanks!

-Scott
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top