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Which Distorsion Pedal


Bloodhound

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hi im not sure if this is in the right place to ask but im looking for a new distorsion pedal.

I need a good quality yet not to expensive one. Around the region of £50-£70 (srry im english :D) and i want it to give out good powerful sounds. Im aiming for a kind of "The Darkness" distorsion sound. I think that would sound perfect.

Ive had a look around and ive been interested in the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone and the Danelectro Paisley Black Liquid Metal.

By the way id like to point out here thaT im NOT a metal freak. I play all types of music from classical (mainly on my piano :D), to blues, to new age. I just need a modern distorsion sound like the sounds of the darkness or muse etc...

Also im playin on a US Tele through a marshall 100W amp.

Thanks for your help and if this is in the wrong place feel free to swear at me and delete it.

B)

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i have a marshall jackhammer and the overdrive setting on it is unspeakablly good tho in retrospect that may be a bit to metal for your liking.

if you want a good overdrive distortion sound then you could go with a Guvnor or a Blues Breaker

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hi im not sure if this is in the right place to ask but im looking for a new distorsion pedal.

I need a good quality yet not to expensive one. Around the region of £50-£70 (srry im english :D) and i want it to give out good powerful sounds. Im aiming for a kind of "The Darkness" distorsion sound. I think that would sound perfect.

Ive had a look around and ive been interested in the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone and the Danelectro Paisley Black Liquid Metal.

By the way id like to point out here thaT im NOT a metal freak. I play all types of music from classical (mainly on my piano :D), to blues, to new age. I just need a modern distorsion sound like the sounds of the darkness or muse etc...

Also im playin on a US Tele through a marshall 100W amp.

Thanks for your help and if this is in the wrong place feel free to swear at me and delete it.

B)

danelectro black paisly distortion, it has a added octaver

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hi im not sure if this is in the right place to ask but im looking for a new distorsion pedal.

I need a good quality yet not to expensive one.  Around the region of £50-£70 (srry im english :D) and i want it to give out good powerful sounds.  Im aiming for a kind of "The Darkness" distorsion sound.  I think that would sound perfect.

Ive had a look around and ive been interested in the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone and the Danelectro Paisley Black Liquid Metal.

By the way id like to point out here thaT im NOT a metal freak.  I play all types of music from classical (mainly on my piano :D), to blues, to new age.  I just need a modern distorsion sound like the sounds of the darkness or muse etc...

Also im playin on a US Tele through a marshall 100W amp.

Thanks for your help and if this is in the wrong place feel free to swear at me and delete it.

B)

have you read the review in total guitar

IMO i would o for the danelectro black paisly distortionlike you said youd thought of, it has a added octaver done by switch and would be the way to go to get thick sounds like the darkness or with the octave for muse stuff

the other option would be a valve pedal,unless you have a valve amp already

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I tried just about every distortion pedal available. I had a very specific type of sound that I wanted but couldn't even come close with any of the pedals I tried. The one that came closest was the MT-2 but it still sounded a bit off to me.

The thing that really made a huge difference for me was going with EMG active pickups (81/85). Once I plugged in with these babies, my original rig was just fine - no new pedal needed.

This may not work for you though since you are playing a Tele but I just wanted to suggest an alternative route (changing pickups) if you are interested.

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why not pop into a guitar shop and try out a bunch of pedals using a similar guitar and amp to the ones that you use?

give the danelectro black coffee metal distortion pedal a go...i don't play metal *shrug* , it has no gain control, but if you want less gain -turn the goddamn guitar down :D

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Thanks for all the replys.

I do actually have a Guv'Nor peddal but it just don't cut it. My tutor has a jackhammer so ill ask him to bring it in so i can have a bash on it.

Yeh i like the sound of the added octave pedal.. that would be useful too. I havnt read that review no but in the buyer's guide in what guitar? it has 9 for performance and 10 for value, the liquid that is, the mt2 has a 7 - 7.

Daveq could you describe that sound of yours to me in detail, the 1 which the MT-2 came closest too? thanks.

Also about the humbucks in the tele... i wouldnt mess with perfection B). My baby is 4 months old lol (replaced my stratocaster cos i prefer teles :D).

Thanks for the very quick replys!

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which guvnor pedal is it. the old or new. the old one just needs a few tweaks. and its ready to fly. the guvnor 2 wel i dont' like any of hte new marshall pedals

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If it was me, I'd get a used Tube Screamer (cheap, any flavor, even that Soundtank beast), and get somebody to tart it up - Keely does it, or maybe Ansil could do it for you. The mods aren't really complicated, any competent electronics guy wouldn't have a problem doing them. Check out diystompboxes.com for mod ideas. Basically, just replace the lousy components with better ones (poly caps instead of ceramics, etc.), re-voice the circuit to suit you, and you've got a high-dollar "boo-teak" box. Ansil can probably point you to specific mods - my latest distortion toy uses a pair of EL84s. :D

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itts the gv-2 i have.. im not really impressed with it.

about the humbuckers thing... ive had this guitar 4 months and i love it... so i dont really wanna go around slapping humbuckers on it B)... i know you guys probably would but im not experienced in that kinda thing (im only 14 :o).. thansk anyways

the hell with it my mate is bying my guv'nor off me so thats £40 so ill probably just go for the danelectro pedal. Jeez i hate the look of those things :D

thanks again

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Im aiming for a kind of "The Darkness" distorsion sound.

In my opinion, the only way to get that sound is to use the following

  • a Les Paul
  • a Marshall.

You've got one of the two, good. To compensate for your lack of a Les Paul, an eq might be a good option. Is your Marshall a master-volume amp? If so, I'd go for an eq instead of a distortion.

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Daveq could you describe that sound of yours to me in detail, the 1 which the MT-2 came closest too? thanks

That's the hardest thing - trying to describe the sound that I was looking for. I think I was looking for a different distortion than you were - I wanted a good lead sound (rythm would fall out from that). I wanted something with plenty of gain, ability to get great artificial harmonics, thick, sustaining, .... I used to use a Rockman unit back in college and it did a great job in those areas. I have a rack mount Rockman that I don't use now due to the noise it produces.

So, for me, the pickups (EMG's) made the difference. Once I had them installed, everything sounded great. No changes other than that. If I had to keep my old pickups (RG550 stock), I would have probably gone with the MT-2.

I also learned that it is fairly common to use more than one distortion/overdrive in series. When I played with this in college all I got was noise and feedback. This was due to the fact that I always had the gain max'd. For example, some players will use a tube screamer and then run it into a BOSS DS-1 (with the gains turned down). I wasn't able to try it myself since my DS-1 has crapped out. Give it a try if you're able to.

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Is your Marshall a master-volume amp? If so, I'd go for an eq instead of a distortion.

I totally agree. Placing an EQ between the guitar and the source of distortion is so under-rated. People spend a fortune on searching for the right combination of pickups and distortion. The biggest factor that determines a pickup's sound besides output level is the frequency response curve. And the "voicing" of a distortion pedal or guitar pre-amp usually depends on how the raw signal is filtered or EQ'd by the input circuitry to shape its frequency response curve before going through clipping. Often, a good EQ between the guitar and the distortion is all you need to get the voicing you're looking for.

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If it was me, I'd get a used Tube Screamer (cheap, any flavor, even that Soundtank beast), and get somebody to tart it up - Keely does it, or maybe Ansil could do it for you. The mods aren't really complicated, any competent electronics guy wouldn't have a problem doing them. Check out diystompboxes.com for mod ideas. Basically, just replace the lousy components with better ones (poly caps instead of ceramics, etc.), re-voice the circuit to suit you, and you've got a high-dollar "boo-teak" box. Ansil can probably point you to specific mods - my latest distortion toy uses a pair of EL84s.  :D

thought i woudl chime in since i saw my name.

i do the keeley mods and am reasonable but personally i have made more money by gutting tubescreamers and building my own ts circuit into their shell. it uses the same freq rolloffs. and sound quite nice uses one opamp and no transistors. still has the same three knobs onit same functions. but it has twice the gain.. and about 10 times the output power.

on another note though:

there is a very simple and musical distotrion you can use to create mucho gain and get that sound fairly simple. but as with anything its how you play and your fingers that will determine the biggest things..

you can get an insane sounding pedal out of a

lm386 two leds two caps two pots two jacks a nine volt batterie. a guitar and an amp.

you can run this clean and just spank your amp with it.. or use it to add some dirt and spank yoru amp. or full out clipping it and drive your amp into the stratosphere.. its up to ya.

anyone interested in the basic 386 thing let me know i got the basic schematic and layout drawn on the pc..

the original sound clip of it.

www.geocities.com/cemaynard1134/sound.htm

track titled sledgehammer

as far as eq goes i have to say that its a great gain booster. i like the same freq response that the emg spc produces. gives a nice lead boost in the midrange section. which basically is the craiganderton eq booster. if anyone wants the scheme i can email it also.

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