OK: I've had enough of my journey for the perfect distortion .. help

DiRtyFranK38

ok. so basically i have been through a bunch of different distortion overdrive pedals in my life. however, i'm still searching for that perfect one to give a completely crisp, loud, clear, distortion. trying to emulate an early (or present actually) pearl jam sound would be kind of what i'm aiming for. let me give you all my run down. i have a fender hot rod deluxe for my amp. therefore, i don't really ever use it's drive. for guitars i have a fender nashville telecaster and a michael kelly patriot hot rod. so i got the thinner fender sound, and the fat les paul sound. i want something that works great with both. also, something not super expensive would be excellent. why? well, i spent $200 on the indy guitarist plextortion. finally came in ... honestly, i'm not that happy with it. i mean, it's good but not THAT good. it tends to get pretty fuzzy sounding. i want to plug in and have a beautiful crisp sounding ds/od that can cover grounds of pj type stuff. i have a ds-1, ts9 dx, boss dual overdrive, and now this. i have a digitech grunge for when i play heavier stuff and i LOVE IT! it's honestly the one distortion pedal that s perfect. no hum whatsoever, great volume boost control. lows and highs are controlled wonderfully, and it has a crisp wallop to it. but its for heavier stuff. so what do you guys suggest? keep in mind what i have for an amp and for guitars. i'm kind of shocked about this plextortion.

MichaelMcKevin

DiRtyFranK38 wrote:

ok. so basically i have been through a bunch of different distortion overdrive pedals in my life. however, i'm still searching for that perfect one to give a completely crisp, loud, clear, distortion. trying to emulate an early (or present actually) pearl jam sound would be kind of what i'm aiming for. let me give you all my run down. i have a fender hot rod deluxe for my amp. therefore, i don't really ever use it's drive. for guitars i have a fender nashville telecaster and a michael kelly patriot hot rod. so i got the thinner fender sound, and the fat les paul sound. i want something that works great with both. also, something not super expensive would be excellent. why? well, i spent $200 on the indy guitarist plextortion. finally came in ... honestly, i'm not that happy with it. i mean, it's good but not THAT good. it tends to get pretty fuzzy sounding. i want to plug in and have a beautiful crisp sounding ds/od that can cover grounds of pj type stuff. i have a ds-1, ts9 dx, boss dual overdrive, and now this. i have a digitech grunge for when i play heavier stuff and i LOVE IT! it's honestly the one distortion pedal that s perfect. no hum whatsoever, great volume boost control. lows and highs are controlled wonderfully, and it has a crisp wallop to it. but its for heavier stuff. so what do you guys suggest? keep in mind what i have for an amp and for guitars. i'm kind of shocked about this plextortion.

It's not cheap, but you might like to try a zvex box of rock. It'll give u a Marshall OD type sound that you otherwise won't be able to achieve with your Fender amp.

DiRtyFranK38

you're all going to think i'm nuts. i sat down for about 2 hours straight and just worked with the plextortion, my amp, and my guitars. honestly, it's amazing. i know, such a quick and drastic change of heart. well, after bettering my amp settings and eq and all that it sounds absolutely amazing. honestly. i guess i'm just an impatient person and want instant gratification. oh well. i learned. the only thing thats a little weird, is that it is verrry noisy with my tele. but all dist and od is. i decided i'm definitely going to pic up some scn noiseless.

moster78

Check out the Greedtone.

ianvomsaal

I'm glad to hear that you like the pedal (scared me). The Plextortion is one I've been meaning to get.
On a side note, maybe you can head down to your local dealer and try the Marshall Guv'nor PLUS.
I've heard it online, and it sounds a lot like a Marshall JCM800 (figures since it's made by Marshall).

- Ian

MLC2006

I've gone through several different overdrives and distortions too for the very same reason. I finally got an mxr 10-band EQ to go after what distortion I'm using at the time and that helped a lot. sometimes, you'll find that the problem isn't the pedal itself, but that it doesn't work great with the amp. but the EQ cured a lot of those problems for me.

I've also found on occasion that 2 pedals working at the same time works good. I was messing around and had a Metal Muff and Tubescreamer on at the same time and got a PERFECT "Thunderstruck" (ACDC) intro sound. I've heard people say not to use 2 pedals together, or don't use a distortion with an amp's drive channel, but that's just bull. it does work with some application.

I've also been thinking a noisegate pedal to help with any additional unwanted "fuzziness", but I have no experience with such pedals. anybody else?

end of the day, I wish there was one perfect pedal to cover everything, but there's not. my taste goes from everything between PJ, AIC, Metallica, Zep, Skynyrd, ACDC, Hendrix, etc etc etc. there's really no one pedal. you just have to pick your favorite 2-3 (or however many you can afford) and work with them until you find the sound that's right for YOU>

ianvomsaal

A cure for this Pedal Dilemma.

I think the best thing to do is buy an amp that has the majority of OD tones you want, plus a really good clean channel.
Then you'll just need few pedals for Modulation/Delay/Wah/Etc - and maybe an OD for the clean channel, or as a boost.
If you think about all the $$$ spent on different amps and effects, what amp could you have by now that does "IT".

My pedalboard alone is around $2,500 - And I add and subtract pedals all the time, but I'm never all that happy tone-wise.
I end up switching amps and guitars all the time to fix the jittery feelings I always get (I never sound exactly like I want).

I'll probably end up going back to my original recording setup, because even with all the pedals I'm still ehhh about my sound.
A rackmounted Mesa Boogie Road King (or Bogner Shiva), and a T.C. Electronics G-Major with a MIDI Footcontroller.
Anyone have a Mesa Boogie Road King (Version 2) they want to get rid of

- Ian

lucylespian

ianvomsaal wrote:

A cure for this Pedal Dilemma.

I think the best thing to do is buy an amp that has the majority of OD tones you want, plus a really good clean channel.
Then you'll just need few pedals for Modulation/Delay/Wah/Etc - and maybe an OD for the clean channel, or as a boost.
If you think about all the $$$ spent on different amps and effects, what amp could you have by now that does "IT".

My pedalboard alone is around $2,500 - And I add and subtract pedals all the time, but I'm never all that happy tone-wise.
I end up switching amps and guitars all the time to fix the jittery feelings I always get (I never sound exactly like I want).

I'll probably end up going back to my original recording setup, because even with all the pedals I'm still ehhh about my sound.
A rackmounted Mesa Boogie Road King (or Bogner Shiva), and a T.C. Electronics G-Major with a MIDI Footcontroller.
Anyone have a Mesa Boogie Road King (Version 2) they want to get rid of

- Ian

Don't be tight, buy one new, they are only $2600 there, vs $8K here.

My solution is to have 5 amps, two of which are multi-channel monsters, the Triamp and the Rectifier. Nevere a lack of crunch around my place.

ianvomsaal

lucylespian wrote:

Don't be tight, buy one new, they are only $2600 there, vs $8K here.

My solution is to have 5 amps, two of which are multi-channel monsters, the Triamp and the Rectifier. Nevere a lack of crunch around my place.

I have 8-amps, but I can't take them all to gigs, or bring them all to the studio at once, or take them all on tour (especially when I fly).
I use to run two amps at a time with a Whirlwind ABY (worked well), but it's just to much hassle most of the time.
I wish I never sold my Road King - And now they're even better with the LoneStar clean.
Hell, I guess I can sell my Pedalboard and almost have enough to get one again.

- Ian

Novawind

My Fulltone OCD covers a lot of overdrive ground. It ranges from light overdrive to rampaging-ball-crusher distortion, depending on how you hit it with your guitar volume and its drive knob. Again, it's a personal taste thing. I'm probably good with overdrive for that but I'll need a fuzz pedal eventually. I was thinking about picking up a Skreddy, but they're f#*%^ng $200. That's definitely on the pedal high-end for me.

lucylespian

ianvomsaal wrote:

I have 8-amps, but I can't take them all to gigs, or bring them all to the studio at once, or take them all on tour (especially when I fly).
I use to run two amps at a time with a Whirlwind ABY (worked well), but it's just to much hassle most of the time.
I wish I never sold my Road King - And now they're even better with the LoneStar clean.
Hell, I guess I can sell my Pedalboard and almost have enough to get one again.

- Ian

Hence my motto, never sell anything.

IDgotI

The sans amp PSA 1 or 1.1 will give you a massive number of distortion tones. It's an amp simulator, so an approach similar to the one Lucy recommends, but less cost and more floor space. Granted having several amps is a better way to go, but if space or cost are an issue, the Sans Amp rack units are worth a listen.

BinFrog

What I use to achieve my ultimate overdrive tone:

Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive - http://www.mindspring.com/~j.blackstone/

Phenomenal sound (and I own a good 5-6 other distortion pedals to compare it too), and when I combine it with the overdrive on my amp head, I get sustain that is to die for.

An underrated gem that has a HORRIBLE name but is also pretty sweet:

Akai Shred-O-Matic - http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/Akai/D1+Shred-O-Matic/10/4

Pacomc79

Patience is a virtue. Congrats. It often takes a little while to get things felt out with new stuff.

As for "rules" as to what you should or shouldn't do with equipment... that's bullcrap. They are guidelines, somethings just sound awful but you won't know why until you try.

Tone is science and it's not an exact science. There are hundreds of ways to get the sound you are looking for at all price points.

Personally with your amp, I would think hard at getting the omega mods done if you still aren't quite there because they do tend to make a nice difference in the useability of the drive channels.

You could also get a more warm british sounding speaker like a greenback or something like that to if you want. That will change the character a bit, but it will also break up a little more in the clean stuff so you have to be a little careful.

Another thing you might try, is if you have a cab out on that amp (not sure if it has one sorry) is to see if an external cabinet with more speakers/sealed back etc give you more of that sound you are looking for.

Marshall really nailed it back when they started building those cabinets for Pete T. 4 12 inch speakers in a closed back sound a lot different than 1 12 in an open back.

lucylespian

Pacomc79 wrote:

Patience is a virtue. Congrats. It often takes a little while to get things felt out with new stuff.

As for "rules" as to what you should or shouldn't do with equipment... that's bullcrap. They are guidelines, somethings just sound awful but you won't know why until you try.

Tone is science and it's not an exact science. There are hundreds of ways to get the sound you are looking for at all price points.

Personally with your amp, I would think hard at getting the omega mods done if you still aren't quite there because they do tend to make a nice difference in the useability of the drive channels.

You could also get a more warm british sounding speaker like a greenback or something like that to if you want. That will change the character a bit, but it will also break up a little more in the clean stuff so you have to be a little careful.

Another thing you might try, is if you have a cab out on that amp (not sure if it has one sorry) is to see if an external cabinet with more speakers/sealed back etc give you more of that sound you are looking for.

Marshall really nailed it back when they started building those cabinets for Pete T. 4 12 inch speakers in a closed back sound a lot different than 1 12 in an open back.

Ah yeah, my tasty 412 with Greenbacks is a big part of getting great overdriven and distorted tones. Closed back makes a big diffference too. Slant is nice cos you can hear yourself better.

Pacomc79

lucylespian wrote:

Ah yeah, my tasty 412 with Greenbacks is a big part of getting great overdriven and distorted tones. Closed back makes a big diffference too. Slant is nice cos you can hear yourself better.

The Marshall 1960TV slant cab has been on my wish list for years now. Oh how I love it's sound. I can't wait until I have room for it.