Unhappy with my distortion

  • Thread starter Thread starter El Barto
  • Start date Start date
E

El Barto

New member
I've treaded long miles and yet I have nothing...I tried mic placement, EQ (both on my porta and on my amp), praying to the guitar gods, but nothing...I am unsatisfied with my distortion. I have a Marshall VS100 combo amp, and for the life of me, all I can get is a "fuzzy" type distortion, when I'm looking for something...hmmm....shaper. Something with more definition, but still hard and grinding at the same time. I'm not into any of this metal or hardcore/rapcore/whatever crap...I'm into good ol' fashion rock and roll. But all I get is fuzzy distortion. Somewhat like the Pixies/Nirvana/Sonic Youth...you know, alt rock with a hint of classic rock. I'm sure a pedal will fix my disgust? I know Kurt Cobain used a Boss DS-2 and I'm really considering getting one, but I've also heard a lot about the Ibanez Tube Screamer. I'll post a WAV of what my distortion sounds like, and one of what I want it to sound like soon. Any suggestions?
 
Actually Barto you might try turning the distortion down. Too much of a fuzzy kind of distortion has, in my experience, rarely transferred well to tape. Seems to tighten up if I lay off it a bit. In fact, I had that problem last night. All of the actual tones were lost in this wall of atonal fuzz, pulled back a little and it came to life. I think I'll call it the jimmy page syndrome. A lot of players think Jimmy had a real heavy sound, but it was mostly an overdriven amp. By the same token, none of the bands you mentioned really have a heavy guitar sound if you listen close. Try it, and we'll see if it works for you. Let me know.
 
What kind of guitar are you using? That is a big deal. I've found that different guitars and amps work or don't work together. But I agree with lazyboy too. Sometimes pulling the gain back and turning up the mids a little will give you more of a classic rock 'honk', again, depending on your guitar.
With the Tube Screamer, if you decide, please test it out with your amp first. IMHO they sound crappy through a solid state amp. I think they were made with the intention of saturating a tube amplifier and in this case I like it (ex. I use it w/ a '59 Bassman reissue) but through a Princeton Chorus I have it sounds like a cheap stomp box.
For solid state, my favorite stomp box I have is my el cheapo Boss DS-1 all knobs turned to 12 'o clock with the les paul. It was like $30 at GC.
 
I'm using a Fender Jag-Stang with Seymour Duncan pickups (JB humbucker at bridge, Hot Rails at neck), and I mainly use the JB. I'm going to test it out with lower gain tommorow. I've tried it before but it's kind of weak, but maybe I just haven't tinkered around with it enough.
 
OK here comes a flurry of suggestions based on my experience.

1-Try recording at a louder volume, but with less gain.
2-If you have a mic with a larger diaphragm, try it, the 57 isn't the be all and end all.
3-What gauge strings? The lighter the strings, the less mid you'll get, I always use 11's to record.
4-Maybe try a change of guitar/pickup, I've always wanted that Pleased to Meet Me era Replacements tone, but couldn't get it until I picked up a P90 for my Les Paul Studio.
5-If you've got some extra money, an Aural Exciter or tube compressor will really help.
Hope this helps,
Jeff
 
Kurt Cobain also used a big muff pedal now and again. Also maybe and Boss eq or something similar. The better the tone coming out of the amp the better it will sound when you record.. Also try recording with less gain and layering many tracks, if you use %100 gain it will muddy up your sound if you do overdubs.
 
I like the tube screamer and think its the perfect rock overdrive. I do however not agree that it does not sound good on combos (I mean anything sounds better through a tube amp) bucause I have been using it for 4 years and its been great.

I might be nuts but I think that is what the tube screamer was designed for, to emulate a valve overdrive on solid-states. (Please correct me if I am wrong but please don't shoot)
 
The original Tube Screamer, way back when, was made to simulate the tubes in an amp being turned to full volume, being "saturated", thus giving the full warm sound of the overdriven tubes. Back then, there weren't many solid state amps like there are today. These new Tube Screamers are nothing like the old one I got ahold of. I think they are just distortion boxes.
Oh- and a lot of tube amps are combo amps, all of mine but one. It's the solid-state (which comes in head or combo) that I was referring to. :)-H2H
 
I have a Marshall VS100R. The on board distortion sucks. It has scooped mids and try as I might I can't get around it with the amp controls. The amp has an effects loop. I found that a stomp box, I'm using a Boss Heavy Metal that sucks by itself, but if added to the on board sounds decent. This to me kind of defeated the purpose so I don't even use that amp any more. My Peavey Stereo Chorus 212 has a much better distortion. But if you don't have other amps, try different stomp boxes in the effects loop.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions...I gotta try out this Tube Screamer. Oh, and as for the Boss EQ pedal, I think that may help my problem too. I tried one out at Guitar Center and I was sold the second I turned that thing on. It changed the tone very very nicely.
 
You Have the Wrong Amp

The Marshall VS series sucks I'm afraid. You should've jumped to the DSL or TSL line. You need an all-tube amp. I have a TSL100 and it's the best sounding amp I've EVER owned. Of course I use the Marshall 1960a 4x12" bottom with it. The nice thing is that you need ZERO effects or pedals. It's that great.

This amp has NO soild state parts in the signal path, no clipping diodes, and the tubes are not mounted to the printed circuit board.

True tube amps are heaven. I use no effects on the 2 crunch/lead channels. The clean channel is more "Fender" than Fender and I use a Boss GT-3 on that channel some of the time. It warms up that digital sharp, too-clean, tinny sound and I'm VERY happy.
 
That was my next step...an all-tube amp. I tend to like the Fender distortion sound a little more than the Marshall, although I have not tried an all tube Marshall. I played the Hot Rod Deville (I think that was it, the one with 4x10). I was pretty impressed. I heard the Blues Deville (discontinued) was also a great amp.
 
Happy Hour's Had Too Much Bubbly

When you die and the only amp you own will be handed to your son, which one would you rather give? A Marshall, of course.
Fender has nothing that even comes close. But if you want a good Fender, buy a 1958 Princeton.

Does anyone actually use a Fender anymore? Not many. I've owned a Twin, Deluxe, and a Super. I've owned a Vox AC30, Line 6, and a Rocktron. I've owned Boogies and Duncans.

Now if ya got $$, you can go for a boutique amp but you can get an all-tube Marshall for a 3rd of the price. Marshall rocks. There's nothing sweeter than cranking it thru a 4x12" Marshall bottom.
 
Can't believe no one else has suggested this,, A Pod would cure the problem:D
 
Digital Amp Modeling Sounds Like....

Digital amp modeling. You can go for your gadgets, stomp boxes, modelers, digital this and that but face it, a great distortion only happens in all-tube amps.
 
Ok, sorry, anything but a marshall stack sucks. their smaller amps have no tone. the pod is a good idea, running it into your amp and micing it or running it direct both give good results. I record with Pod, I play live with Pod through a peavey 2X12.. no complaints.
 
Mesa Boogie/ POD

For playing out live: Get a Mesa Boogie Dual or Triple Rectifier and Recto cabinet... and all of your distortion problems will be solved. Trust me.

For recording: Get a POD 2.0 and use the Rectifier and Soldano settings. You will be pleased.
 
Happy Hour is Back in the Club

Good. You're right. Either the Marshall stack or no Marshall. UVBrent - Mesa's are great too. You use your POD like I use my GT-3 - through an all tube amp. BTW, just finished a 2 hour practice session - by myself - with my Marshall TSL100 - I'm beat! Where's the couch?????
 
I have a VS100 too. I use with my GT-3 using the 4 casble method:
Guitar->GT-3->amp input->amp efx loop out->GT-3 efx loop in->GT-3 Efx loop out->VS100 efx loop in

I dont think the VS 100 dist is bad at all. It needs tweaking, but with a good equing on the GT-3 it sounds great.
Anyway, when I need a hard rock dist I use the VOX tube tone. This pedal sounds GREAT.
For clean tones I help my sound by adding MXR micro amp, this is great too.
For recornding I make it with a SM58 and the porta eg al 12 o'clock both.
Then I play with equing.
This work to me....
I think you shoulg give the VOX a try (if you can find it)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top