Unhappy with my distortion

  • Thread starter Thread starter El Barto
  • Start date Start date
I don't use my GT-3 thru the Marshall TSL effects loop at all. I use it exclusively on the clean channel. I've programmed the CTL button on the GT-3 so every user program is bypassed when you step on the button, so I can use the Marshall clean channel by itself. Stomp on the button again and the GT-3 is engaged. Works quite well.
 
What about a Dan Electro Daddy-O?

I've got a Fender Hot Rod Deville and think the Daddy-O is a nice addition to anything I've used. You can never have too many pedals, anyway. And a Daddy-O gives good "tubetone" for about $60 at GC. Just a thought for those not wanting to spend a mint. Love, Stinky
 
If you want the old rock sound you must use heavy strings and a high action - very hard to play but all the great boys learnt how to play with that setup.

Cheers
John :)
 
"...and when there was no crawdad, we ate sand"
"You ate sand?"
"Sand".

-jail scene, Raising Arizona

Sorry, I couldn't resist!
 
is it a tube amp?

hey there, i was wondering if yer amp is tube er solid state?,,,if it's tube, yer jb seymour should be able to get a great tone, i've had 24 amp setups, and i can tell u,,a solid state marshall only sounds good in the store at a low volume, lol...if it's tube, yeah the boss orange distortion pedal is great i usta use it when playing in cover bands 14 years ago, i did everything for me by setting the tone and drive fer each player i was trying to sound like, i could get an oversound by running the amp hot clean, the distortion pedal's drive at about 65%, the tone at about 45% (fer randy roads, the tone went to 65%, drive stayed the same)...remember the amp was running hot clean,,,,,if i really wanted really clean i would just roll off the volume just a little.....also i never ever liked the chainsaw distortion, i always searched fer that smooth violin sound, that eddie/malmsteen/satch sound,,,,,i found that if i wanted a heavier tone like megadeath/metallica, i just kept the tone fer the boss distortion on 45%tone, and let the heavy bass guitar become a huge factor too,,,fer that zztop/robin trower/ frank marino/eric johnston sound, i'd just flip over to the ibineze tube screamer (the green pedal is the only tube screamer to have)still running the amp hot clean, this gave me that whole sound that, real no fuddled over driven sound, i couldn't find another driver that was as clean as that, some liked the rat pedal, i never,,also with both of those pedals in my floor board setup, i'd always use a boss eq pedal to just a little tiny bit boost my solo'd which gave me a clean drive ontop of either mud pedal i was usin',,,,,but yeah as someone said way up there,
line 6's pod is a great little recording unit, also on that, the pod pro is a little bit cleaner because of the 24 bit digital thingy,,,,,also another person up there was talking about a large tube amp (i think mesa boogie) remember that we r custom to that big marshall sound through many years of recording, even though i love that sound!!!, i remember havin a 100watt mesa boogie mark4 that had the sweetest soloing tone, soo powerful, clean with no buzzing, cuttting, heavy, then i remember just a plain old fender driven to the hilt, man it was sooo classic, oh yeah, also the highly pushed hi-watt amp, man the who songs all sounded like the who ssongs lol, and i remember when i used my tele through a little peavey rage ampe, i couldn't get that clean snap sound anywhere lol(mics can capture that and make it sound huge), my suggestion is,,,,,,listen to guitar players and the tone they get, it's gonna take (unfortunately) some more $ers will be spent finding yer tone,,,,rule of thumb, a little more mid fer the randy road stuff,,(and alike),heavy on the bass fer the heavy chunk chunk metal, to eq's fer 2 players, distortion pedal fer van halen/randy/metallica stuff(listen to gilmour in pink floyd for that totally perfect discription of the boss orange distortion pedal),,,tube screamer fer the hendrix (and alike) stuff,,,,,guys like joe satch used dif things like the chandle tube driver, the rockman (tom sholtz of boston), and other little things to have a slightly dif sound that our ears r not instantly ready for, best of luck to u, if u reall want that marshall tone, marshall make a rackmount tube pre-amp called the JMP-1, i used it with a 60watt tube rackmount fender super-sixty head in which i by-passed it's pre-amp section and used the marshall with it's tube power, lol when i wanted that clapton tone i just bypassed the marshall, and whaalaaa,,also rememebr that always quiet yer gear down, that way u can concentrate on dialing that great tone yer searchin for,ex. i always come outta my guitar into a boss floor pedal noise suppressor, into the amp, out into a rack hush2c noise suppressor, into rack effects (which i barely use) then into a power amp,,,,if yer usin one amp, use a noise supressor on the floor then one in the amps efx loop if it has one,,,,,if the noise things r used right, u should be loud enough to rip someone's head off, but only hear a slight slight hum when muting yer guitar, get into the habbit of turnin yer volume down every time yer not playin,,,,ok ok i gotsta go, peace.:o)
 
then you can be like our other guitarist who starts playin... looks around all confused cuz no sounds coming out... kicks a pedal or two or three, checks his amp, THEN remembers to turn his volume up again..:)

xoxo
 
well the Valvestate is half solid state half tube apparently...although it only has one tube. I guess I'll have to try out some pedals to find that sound I want, starting with that Boss DS-1 or DS-2
 
Hahahahahahahahaha.......

You "Marshall vs. Fender " guys remind me of the old Ford vs. Chevy dudes.........or worse yet,Godzilla vs. Megatron (LOL).Let's face it........both amps are great,IF YOU GET A GOOD ONE.I have had poopy examples of both.Right now,in this very room,I have my wife's Mesa Boogie next to my '59 Bassman........a nice sorta way to end a looooooooooong day.....
 
Damn you Tweedville!

Lousy people with their Mesa's and there Bassmans.... argh!!
 
How are the Bassmans compared to the Hot Rod Devilles? Are the Bassman reissues good?
 
Bassmans

I have a 64 bassman (blond 50W) and I thought the reissues sounded ok. The new ones have the advantage of a master volume. So, you can get a good crunch without rattling grandma's teeth out of her head.
 
Jim Marshall was trying to copy the '59 Bassman because Fender didn't have a good overseas distribution network then.Fenders were there,and well liked.But they just weren't widely available.
So Marshall basically copied the Bassman amp design.He couldn't get American 6L6s and 12AX7s so he used EL34s and EL84s instead,which gave a softer,more melodic distortion.
Pete Townsend bought one of the first heads and convinced Jim Marshall to make his first 4X12" cabinet.The rest is history.
I am using a 100 tube amp built from a twin with channel one the '59 Bassman circuit and channel two the '69 Plexi circuit.If you can't buy a vintage amp,any decent tech can manufacture one from mil. spec. components and the schematics for cheaper.My project amp ran about $500.
Tom
 
Hmmm....

I'll take a look at the Bassman. Or maybe look into someone building something similar for me.
 
One approach I've taken is to mix multiple amps. I've got a Marshall 8040 Valvestate that by itself tends to be boomy and fuzzy, and a 13 year old KMD 60 watt tube combo that mostly sounds good, but can be a little thin at times. The KMD has a 12" Celestion speaker, and the Marshall whatever 12" they use. I run my guitar (typically either an American Standard Strat with DiMarzio HS-3 pickups or a mid-80s Washburn superstrat style with a H-S-S pickup config) into a DigiTech RP-1 and send the left output to one amp and the right output to the other.

As far as miking them goes, I'm still trying to decide on what works best for me. One approach is to stick my SM-57 in front of one amp and my CAD Equitek E-100 in front of the other amp and blend the two at the mixer (Mackie 1202-VLZ). Another approach is to stick the E-100 at a point between the two amps, moving it around to get the tone I want. I lean towards one mic for the simplicity though, and not having to deal with phasing problems.

I'd agree though that the softer jangly type of distortion the original poster is talking about is going to be difficult at best to get from a Marshall Valvestate. I'll defer to the others on what amps those bands use to get their sounds though.

<--Will-->
 
Kurt Cobain did use the Boss Super Distortion, btu mainly he played through a Sansamp. For all his lvie stuff he was Sansamp. I believe it was Steve Albini that turned him on to it.
I love Marshall stacks, don't get me wrong, but Fender amps are also good, and so are Mesas, and so are any other amp almost. They all have their place and time. My dream setup (That i wish I had the cash for, and have used) is a Marshall TSL, and a '59 Bassman reissue(nonmaster volume is a pain). I ran the Bassman at an almost overdriven tone and it just thickened up the Marshall incredibly. It sounded awesome.
One of my favorite guitarists and one of the ones I think has great tone is Adam Jones from Tool. He plays a Mesa Triple rectifier and an ancient non-master volume bass amp. This gives him such a huge and awesome sound.
A lot of bands play through combo setups of amps. One amp for clean, and one for drive. The only way to do that inexpesively is to go for a modeling amp. I have a Felxtone Duo (line6) and I couldn't be happier with it. It isn't a tube amp, but it sounds damn good. I just wish it had an external speaker jack (It has 2 10"s, I want at least 2 12"s to thicken up my tone) I'm For clean I don't think anyone can beat a Vox.
Jake
 
Im not very experienced with micing guitars and i dont know alot about guitars and amps. But the best way i have found to mic a guitar amp, is to pump the volume to full on the amp, put a 57 to the side of the speaker cone (not in the middle). Angle the 57 to a 45 degree angle (as if going parallel down to the center of the cone) and let it face the center of the cone. Try this out, and if yah want it thick just do the same technique on the other side of the cone.

Placing the mic in the middle of the cone right up to the grill, i have found, always gets too much fuzz.

Try it out and tell me what happens. I would really like to know if it suites you the best also.
 
Back
Top