Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

you know, 'munsoned'... like when you've got everything going for you and you f it all up at the last second?

hehe

ds-1... never really liked em. My fav gtr hero played an 80's jap made one... and he def coaxed some great tones out of it...

With the DS-1 i can go from good heavy distortion to a british punk just a versitile petal.

I dont care what country its made in as long as the quality and sound i want is there.

Boss SD-1 + a decent Marshall amp = fat city.

IF YOU ARE A FULL-ON METAL MONSTER SHREDDER

1. BOSS MT-2 WITH SEMI-PARAMETRIC EQ KNOBS. WATCH THOSE MIDS!
2. BOSS METAL CORE (still gaining in popularity) IS DOWNRIGHT OUT TO DESTROY, OFF THE CHARTS HEAVY AND OVERDOSES OF GAIN. IT HAS NO MIDS KNOB SO IF YOU WANT LEADS TO CUT THROUGH WHEN PLAYING LIVE, USE AMPS' MIDS. BUT YOU SHOULD FIND THE PEDAL CUTS SANS MIDS. ITS SUPPOSED TO SOUND DARK, NATURAL EDGEY FREQ, GREAT FOR CONTROLLED FEEDBACK, JUST PLAIN HEAVY PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
3. IBANEZ DOD 808 OD OR DS. BOTH DELIVER AND ARE IDEAL FOR THOSE WHO LOVE TO USE GUITAR'S VOLUME KNOB TO BACK OFF (MIDDLE BREAKDOWN VAN HALEN'S "AIN'T TALKING 'BOUT LOVE IS FINEST EXAMPLE) AND RETAIN NATURAL TONE.
4. BOSS DS-1. $45-$50 AWESOME VERSATILE CLASSIC. I BELIEVE MOST WOULD AGREE, ITS CAPABLE OF VAN HALEN FULL GAIN OR VH LAID BACK - "LITTLE DREAMER"

GET THREE LIKE I HAVE UNTIL YOU CAN AFFORD A MESA BOOGIE TRIPLE RECTIFIER!

MXR, die cast and heavy metal. Still have my first from 1982. Analog gain controls with a rubber boot to switch to either knob for better foot control. In this case, it is pretty antiquated with other switches that a) come with amps and or b) come with other switches that are multi-functional/channel. I lose control if I have it in line with other switches with distortion built in, but with a modeler it can come in handy as a sidebar if I want to change the effect without changing the modeler channel. Think of the song "Lay It On the Line" by Triumph.

It's mind numbing as to the pedal options out there, I think the recommendations so far are all pretty good. I bought the MT-2, an OD-2, an ST-2, SD-2, and I have a vintage TS9 from 80's with analogman mod.

If you dont have some type of Overdrive I would start there, as others have mentioned the 808,TS9, and clones are popular because they just work for many distortion sounds...I hated it at first, sat in my closet for years, now I reach for it constantly. I think when I start to play I always "hear" the song with more distortion , but in reality the original recordings had a more subtle distortion and more tone. That something I try to work on more of, matching the tone.

The Powerstack (st-2) was my latest purchase and it really does respond like a tube amp, and goes from "rock to metal" very well, but it can be a bit noisy...no problem during gigs and its dirt cheap $50-60 on ebay $99 new. This has been my favorite Marshall on a Fender solution so far on my mostly analog setup.

My favorite flexible distortion solution is stacking overdrives, something I have seen pro's do. I generally have the TS9 on all the time with a moderate setting and use the GTR volume to control...something the TS9 responds well too. I will crank the volume and hit say the OD-2 with a higher distortion setting and the combination of the 2 gives me a wide spread on distortion tone. It also has a more complex sound than just one pedal to my ears. Dunno, maybe ears are burnt out. On stage this works great, I get 3 sounds from 2 pedals...I guess this is kinda common sense, took me awhile to realize "its ok to use 2 pedals at once"...duh

Would love to have everyone bring their pedals to a meet to hear all the crazy boutique / vintage stuff...see what I am missing. The YouTube videos are just too compressed or recorded poorly to hear the sonic details.

I agree with Coldfront (nice user name!). In my early playing days I wanted to just be the most overdriven GP out there. As I matured, (and developed skills), I learned to back off the drive and certainly the gain. A beautiful balance is Oh, Leah. I can't think of the artist and I an't find my CD. The acoustics of the area your playing needs consideration. Bigger space, maybe more drive. Feedback is a controller. Think of drive as a voice, you don't want it to crack or get out of control. Jimmy did it but he's dead, God rest his soul. If you have the amps to push a venue like Woodstock- Crank it and record it.

Boss Metal Zone Mt2 is great. It has a 3 band EQ too.. ABout $90 new or $40 used

don't forget the mid frequency control... can't live without that one


I use an Mt2 for metal, and a visual sound V2 route 66 for classic rock.

No one would ever know since you have no music.

I'm working on it. I can't get anything to record the way I want it to. Have some patience, it's coming.


sometime.

You must be like me stuck with ancient Analog technology. I posted music on my Myspace, some one sampled it, I called them on it and got some money out of it. I'd advise you copyright your music before you put it on the web

I have a digital modeler (RP-70) I use as a primary, but instead of stepping out on two switches to get a relative sound withou goin 20 channels away, I have an analog delay as a sidebar. One click I'm there, one click back to original intro sound.

I decided to go all digital; I use Guitar Rig Pro 4.2 with an FCB1010 controller and UNO chip. So I have 19 banks of 5 presets on bottom, and 5 "stompboxes" on top...it's so flexible. It is all running on a netbook that is velcro'd to a pedal board. I still have a TS-9 in the signal change for backup and last minute solo bursts. I still have a complete analog pedal board with about 9 pedals, but mainly for backup and leaving at the practice location. I am in a cover band and I need versatility, I couldnt own enough of them to do what GR4 does.

A beautiful balance is Oh, Leah. I can't think of the artist and I an't find my CD

Donnie Iris.

I use a Marshall Bluesbreaker overdrive and an ancient Ibanez SD-9 distortion pedal. Both excellent, I did a lot of work trying to get the Ibanez to work again when it quit, but it's rocking again.

Have the Boss DS-1, didn't like it and modified it to work as an overdrive or distortion if I need a backup. It's not great at either, but does the trick if I'm in a bind.

Yeah, Donnie Iris. Thanks. All I could think of was Chris Isacs, I knew that was wrong. Thanks again!

Good guitar + good amp = perfection.

George - My favorite onstage is the normal channel of the Super Reverb with everything cranked to 10. Ditto for the Champ at home. But the super on 10 only works if it's a loud band...

Played a gig a couple of weeks ago, had trouble getting the normal channel to sound decent. I've been using the reverb channel set for good tone, and normal channel for a different tone so I get two distinct sounds from one amp with an A/B switch. Having a rough night anyway, had to turn both volumes to 10 since it was outside and a loud band, never got a good sound from the normal channel while the reverb channel was sounding great. Got frustrated and finally in the 3rd set turned bass & treble to 10 too. No mids on the normal channel. I usually set it differently. First time I hit the A/B switch to do a lead, no effects boxes just the normal channel, keyboard player looked at me and grinned, said OH YEAH and we were off and rolling. Bass player was grinning at me too. It sounded great. Never used a pedal the rest of the night except for rhythm parts that needed the Ibanez SD-9 for distortion. ZZ Top songs etc. Same as my Fender Champ cranked to 10, it sounded fantastic, no need for any pedals, the lead sound I was after was right there. I could have made it with nothing but guitar and cable if I didn't need the SD-9 for specific things...No straight amp I know of will get the heavy distortion sound of a pedal. My MX will, but it's not a straight amp, it's a 2 channel with solid state preamp with some very good distortion and saturation, but onstage it's very hard to control. Touch the knob a tiny bit and it's too loud...sounds great at home for practice, even at bedroom volume, but for onstage use, either amp will do and the overdrive and SD-9 have to be there...I normally only use the clean channel of the MX onstage, pedals for distortion or overdrive.

I understand where your coming from.
My application is a bit different.
The only pedal I use is a Cry Baby ... and I use it more as a boost than a wah.
I set my amp volume for tone and use the PA to boost volume to meet stage or venue needs.
I'll vary the soak and volumes less than 1 to 1.5 above the normal setting at 3.
The rest is the volume pot on my guitar and varied attack, at which I am getting better and more consistent.

Then ... we play our own music and a very few covers our way.
So I don't need a lot of versatility ... just enough.

I'd like to have the CV3.
But I really like my Nomad ... she fits me like a well worn glove.