Searching for the right Distortion

  • Thread starter Thread starter killmachine
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yeah, point taken fellas.... I was actually looking at those MIG heads when they were still in production.... I have some more experiments to do which I have access too... I'll report back on my findings... eh...
Thanks
 
UPDATE:::::: The Dime distortion worked great for this amp and my set up. However, with everyone's harping I've also decided to shoot for a 100 watt tube amp.....
 
I don't think you'll really need 100 watts, but whatever.
 
Well I've got 40 wts now and just loosing the other guitar player I'm having trouble cutting through.... like my old 5th grade teacher used to say "it's better to have to much than not enough", besides if it comes down to it I can always numb it down to 50..
 
zacanger said:
I don't think you'll really need 100 watts, but whatever.
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It really depends on the style of music and the rest of the band. Years back I played with a drummer who was restrained enough to allow me to play a 50 watt solid state (heavy distorted guitar). If you go solid state then you start to lose tone quality the closer you get to the max volume because the damn speakers vibrate so much. So for solid state louder is definitly better. If you play metal and want solid state then a 100 watt amp is perfect - I blew my Peavy 65 watt about 10 times because the drummer I played with at the time was a monster who beat the crap out of his monster sized kit.

100 watts tube is way too loud for playing with a band unless you are playing an arena IMO. The prblem with tube is that you have to crank it up to get the best tone BUT if you crank a loud amp up then you will drown out the drummer and blow everyone's eardrums. I get around this with my Triaxis by cranking the Simul-Class tube poweramp to the max and routing it through a PDI-03. So now I can get the burning tube sound and set the volume to what ever level I want (once the cabs can take it). This way I can easily put the drummer back in his cage if he starts getting out of line :-) I know a lot of guys who play 50 watt tube amps and are more than loud enough.
 
Might I suggest the use of eq. to allow your instrument to "cut" through. 45 watts vs. 100 watts approx 3db. Not much difference. :)
 
Superhuman said:
It really depends on the style of music and the rest of the band. Years back I played with a drummer who was restrained enough to allow me to play a 50 watt solid state (heavy distorted guitar). If you go solid state then you start to lose tone quality the closer you get to the max volume because the damn speakers vibrate so much. So for solid state louder is definitly better. If you play metal and want solid state then a 100 watt amp is perfect - I blew my Peavy 65 watt about 10 times because the drummer I played with at the time was a monster who beat the crap out of his monster sized kit.

100 watts tube is way too loud for playing with a band unless you are playing an arena IMO. The prblem with tube is that you have to crank it up to get the best tone BUT if you crank a loud amp up then you will drown out the drummer and blow everyone's eardrums. I get around this with my Triaxis by cranking the Simul-Class tube poweramp to the max and routing it through a PDI-03. So now I can get the burning tube sound and set the volume to what ever level I want (once the cabs can take it). This way I can easily put the drummer back in his cage if he starts getting out of line :-) I know a lot of guys who play 50 watt tube amps and are more than loud enough.
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...I don't know what it is, exactly, but no guitarists on this forum seem to be up to the task of putting a mic on an amp and sending it through the PA.
 
I actually have ended up with a couple of interesting pedals on the opposite end of the spectrum-- both of which I love and both of which offer something intersting.
I have one of the cheap Behringer Tube Screamer copies, which I got for like $30, that sounds suprisingly good-- bright, upper midrangy/treble heavy (but surprisingly not harsh to my ears YMMV) distortion; has gotten really nice user reviews on Harmony-Central, and was definitely worth a $30 flier. I also got a Death by Audio Interstellar Overdrive w/ Master Volume in a trade (new $180), which kind of hits the opposite end of the spectrum frequency wise and which I'm currently digging for bluesier leads/classic rock-y leads and such.
 
zacanger said:
...I don't know what it is, exactly, but no guitarists on this forum seem to be up to the task of putting a mic on an amp and sending it through the PA.
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I can't speak for every environment. I prefer manageable volume and micing the amp as zangocaster stated. But that only works in my sound landscape. I use a pretty brittle tone that can easily compete with cymbals. If you have a mushy distortion sound, you won't cut unless you have a bunch of electrons in your corner.

I think drummers without dynamic control are responsible for most hearing loss in musicians. No guitar player would turn up that loud if it weren't for the goddamned tub thumpers bashing partially open hihats all night long. Do you turn up your shit that loud at home?
 
zacanger said:
...I don't know what it is, exactly, but no guitarists on this forum seem to be up to the task of putting a mic on an amp and sending it through the PA.
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I personaly wouldnt want to mic up to the PA unless there were dedicated speakers for the guitar... running vocals and guitars etc through the same speakers would be tough to manage (for me anyway - I'm no engineer). i did have myself miced and hooked up to a PA before at a club but the guitar sounded terrible because the engineer sucked - the amp sounded cool but the output from the amp was real tinny and ear piercing. I suppose if you own a PA it would be great.
 
Superhuman said:
I personaly wouldnt want to mic up to the PA unless there were dedicated speakers for the guitar... running vocals and guitars etc through the same speakers would be tough to manage
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That's the god damn dumbest thing I've ever heard.
 
Why? I prefer having hands on without anyone else going through my set up. I manage my own levels, the vocalist does his etc., fucking vocalist always wants to be too loud and if we're all going through the same speakers then that spells shit for practice and live. I'm not an engineer, neither is anyone else I play with, pricking around with a PA is the last thing I want to do when I have the tone and volume I already want. I know bands use PA's for live setups and unless they already own one and have good experience setting it up it sounds a lot better if the inhouse engineer fiddles with the knobs. I'm happy practicing and recording through amps in a good room without a PA. That's just my preference, I like to be 100% in control of my gear and sound plus my gear is loud enough not to have to use a PA anyway. Honestly if that's the dumbest thing you ever heard then you're spending too much time watching the Discovery Channel :p
 
Superhuman said:
Why? I prefer having hands on without anyone else going through my set up. I manage my own levels, the vocalist does his etc., fucking vocalist always wants to be too loud and if we're all going through the same speakers then that spells shit for practice and live. I'm not an engineer, neither is anyone else I play with, pricking around with a PA is the last thing I want to do when I have the tone and volume I already want. I know bands use PA's for live setups and unless they already own one and have good experience setting it up it sounds a lot better if the inhouse engineer fiddles with the knobs. I'm happy practicing and recording through amps in a good room without a PA. That's just my preference, I like to be 100% in control of my gear and sound plus my gear is loud enough not to have to use a PA anyway. Honestly if that's the dumbest thing you ever heard then you're spending too much time watching the Discovery Channel :p
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Because you're a band. If I'm listening to a recording of your band, I'm hearing it through a single set of speakers. Getting everything to sound good together is much more important that how cool your guitar tone sounds by itself. Whether you're running through the PA or not, if the combined sounds of the band don't blend well together, it will sound bad.
 
That's exactly what I mean, it's just the way we do things not the rule of thumb for bands in general. We don't do the PA thing unless an engineer at a club is in control otherwise everything falls apart. I like to manage my tone, the vocalist likes to manage his sound etc, it just gets messy when we are routing through a further set of hardware. Anyway, no insluts were intended to anyone, just making the point that as a non engineer type who doesnt play arenas or big venues a straight amp setup is easiest for me/us. Over and out, back to the whole distortion thing which was the root of the post!
 
Most all bands I played with; the amps were run through the PA. The trick is the EQ. Sometimes, we would set-up the PA at practice, leave the settings alone. Get to the gig, and adjust the presence and volume for the size of the building and the size of the audience. Might have to do a little tweaking because the acoustics were always different. Most jobs, we would run the bass {Me} and the drums through the PA. Oh yeah; as far as distortion....crank it up!
 
zacanger said:
...I don't know what it is, exactly, but no guitarists on this forum seem to be up to the task of putting a mic on an amp and sending it through the PA.
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That's a sweeping generalization. Lots of us use small amps mic'ed at performances. Me, for example; my main amp is a '64 BFDR @ 22 watts.
 
Superhuman said:
... running vocals and guitars etc through the same speakers would be tough to manage ...
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Why? You do that with your stereo all the time.
 
Superhuman said:
Why? I prefer having hands on without anyone else going through my set up. I manage my own levels, the vocalist does his etc., fucking vocalist always wants to be too loud and if we're all going through the same speakers then that spells shit for practice and live. I'm not an engineer, neither is anyone else I play with, pricking around with a PA is the last thing I want to do when I have the tone and volume I already want. I know bands use PA's for live setups and unless they already own one and have good experience setting it up it sounds a lot better if the inhouse engineer fiddles with the knobs. I'm happy practicing and recording through amps in a good room without a PA. That's just my preference, I like to be 100% in control of my gear and sound plus my gear is loud enough not to have to use a PA anyway. Honestly if that's the dumbest thing you ever heard then you're spending too much time watching the Discovery Channel :p
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What the hell are we talking about anyway? I don't think we are on the same page here.
 
If there is a mic in front of your guitar cab you are still in complete control of your tone. ;)

Ever tried moving the mic around in front of the speaker?
4" of movement takes you from dark and tubby to bright and cutting. You don't have to be a professional sound engineer to figure out some basics of live sound.

In all but the smallest of venues, you shouldn't be against mic'ing up the amps. I always prefered to mic up my guitar, it ensures that my sound will be spread out more evenly, and that I can hear myself in the monitors rather than just straining to hear my amp alone.
 
metalhead28 said:
I always prefered to mic up my guitar, it ensures that my sound will be spread out more evenly, and that I can hear myself in the monitors rather than just straining to hear my amp alone.
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Good point, monitors do help a lot when playing live. The whole point of my post was not that I was against playing through a PA though, just that without someone who knows how to balance everything out it can sound like a wall of noise with instruments competing against each other for headroom. I do like micing up too, for recording I do both, I mic my Marshall and DI my Mesa rig, it's all good, different sounds for different situations.
 
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