ultimate 80s style distortion-overdrive pedal

[chrisolson]

I had a Spider Valve, and used the "Crunch" channel almost exclusively. I boosted it with a Boss SD-1. 80's tones are about all I look for. It worked out nicely.

[veniculum]

I had a Spider Valve, and used the "Crunch" channel almost exclusively. I boosted it with a Boss SD-1. 80's tones are about all I look for. It worked out nicely.

That's really interesting...I never would think to do that. I hate the 'Crunch' channel by itself...it just sounds week. So I suppose this is where a good overdrive would fit in?...not necessarily on a clean channel

My buddy bought the Metal Zone pedal after hearing it in guitar center. I sold him an old Peavy Bandit amp, and he's running that pedal on the clean channel of that amp...it actually sounds really good...not perfect..but good. That's where I'm at now..not perfect..but good.

Anyway...I checked last night...and my amp does indeed have the send and return on the back...I'm going to put the EQ in there and try that out tonight. Perhaps this will be the answer to my question (or the result that I'm looking for)...I'll keep you all posted.

In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions about obscure distortion/overdrive pedals (real boutique brand stuff especially), I'd love to hear what you think about it.

Thanks again everyone...this has been very helpful

[Hellbat]

I'll just say this....I have my guitar going to a compressor sustainer, then to the EQ, then to a phase 90 (which is switched off most of the time, then to a 'Decimator' noise gate pedal (which is awesome...without it, I'd be squealing like a pig)...and then to the input of the amp.

Try this pedal order...

Guitar -> Decimator -> Compressor -> Phaser -> Amp input -> amp send -> EQ -> Amp return

The decimator actually works really well at the front of the chain. Alternatively you can use it after the compressor but what is going to happen there is the compressor will amplify the noise coming from the guitar so you are going to lose some of that extra sustain as the gate crushes the signal. Also try the phaser in the loop as well. It can give quite different characters when placed in front of or behind the distortion.

[veniculum]

Try this pedal order...

Guitar -> Decimator -> Compressor -> Phaser -> Amp input -> amp send -> EQ -> Amp return

The decimator actually works really well at the front of the chain. Alternatively you can use it after the compressor but what is going to happen there is the compressor will amplify the noise coming from the guitar so you are going to lose some of that extra sustain as the gate crushes the signal. Also try the phaser in the loop as well. It can give quite different characters when placed in front of or behind the distortion.

Thanks for the tip man...I'll definitely give that a shot. I never know what order to put the pedals in either. For some reason, I thought the noise gate was supposed to be at the back of the chain.

I'm going to really play around with the EQ in the loop tonight. Once I nail it (if I nail it ), I may try the phaser in there as well...but like i said..I really don't use it much...so for now, having it sit in front works well when I do need it.
Thanks again buddy...I appreciate it.

[VitaminG]

In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions about obscure distortion/overdrive pedals (real boutique brand stuff especially), I'd love to hear what you think about it.

Love my Crunch Box!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTdoq7FmLhQ

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

An EQ in the loop on a solid state amp is IMO the right place. And you can use it in the loop on a tube amp, too.

But also on a tube amp, it can be fun to put the EQ out front and use it as a boost to overdrive the preamp (and hence overdrive the power amp more when it's cranked up) as well as shape the tone.

[vondran]

Try this pedal order...

Guitar -> Decimator -> Compressor -> Phaser -> Amp input -> amp send -> EQ -> Amp return

The decimator actually works really well at the front of the chain. Alternatively you can use it after the compressor but what is going to happen there is the compressor will amplify the noise coming from the guitar so you are going to lose some of that extra sustain as the gate crushes the signal. Also try the phaser in the loop as well. It can give quite different characters when placed in front of or behind the distortion.

Some thoughts:
1. If you're going to be playing always with some distortion, I would suggest you try it without a compressor in your chain. You'll get natural compression from the amp distortion or a distortion pedal. I find compressors are best when you want to get clean ringing bell tones through a clean channel. In a distortion channel they add noise (fight with the noise gate) and mellow the highs. Removing it may open up the distortion sound from your amp or pedal.
2. With the EQ in front of the amp, try increasing it's output level. This should push the preamp further into distortion/overdrive. Then try increasing the EQ 400 Hz frequency slider to fatten up the midrange. I also like to cut the 3.2k Hz frequency to remove the most harsh overtones. This should give you a nice fat sound out of a tube pre-amp.
3. To clarify overdrive versus distortion, they're both the same but overdrive pedals usually clip in the feedback path of their opamp giving an less dramatic distortion. Distortion pedals have stronger clipping circuits essentially cutting the tops of of the signal waveforms, resulting in a stronger distortion effect. Fuzz is even more dramatic version of a distortion pedal.

[veniculum]

Well...it's 1am, June 9th...my 9th anniversary....and I'm pretty sure I aint getting laid this coming evening...and I'll tell you why (I promise....it's related to the topic).
I started playing around with putting the EQ in the loop a little while ago...or so I thought (and I'm hoping someone can help me out after I explain why I aint getting any tonight)...

In an earlier post, I was told to take the EQ pedal, connect the input (of the pedal) to the send and the output to the return. Unfortunately, on the back of my amp, it doesn't say send or return....it says "power amp in", and "preamp out". So not knowing, I plugged the input of the EQ to the power amp in, and the output to the preamp out. First of all, I don't know if this is right...but what I can say is, my master volume was cut down to almost nothing...whereas usually, I just touch the master, and the volume jumps up exponentially. Late at night (with a wife and kid sleeping) I have to be very careful...and very sensitive with that master. So anyway, I don't think this setup was right, because I had almost no volume, and when I adjusted the sliders on the EQ, nothing was happening (including the level). So I pulled the wires from the EQ, and I noticed that my volume wasn't going back to normal. (I hope this is making sense so far)...at this point, I decided to pull the wires out of the two jacks in the back (preamp out/power amp in)...when I pulled the wire out of the power amp in, BOOM...my master was turned way the f**K up, and the actual volume went back to normal...unfortunately, the volume on my guitar was turned all the way up too. Needless to say, I woke everyone up from a deep sleep. I'm definitely in the dog house now.

Anyway...you guys will have to help out this retard...can someone translate send/return vs. power amp in/preamp out....and was I wrong plugging the input of the pedal to the power amp in and the output to the preamp out? If it is right, why is my master volume down to almost nothing?...just a lot of amp hum. Finally, I noticed on the back of the amp next to the two jacks mentioned, there's a little slider button that says gnd/lift. Right now it's set to gnd...should I be concerned with that button?

I appreciate your help here. I'm a little nervous about plugging things in when I'm not sure where they go, as I don't want to muck up this amp.
I hope you guys can steer me in the right direction here.

Thanks for listening to the hell that was my night.

[Hellbat]

Preamp out -> EQ in - EQ Out -> Power amp in. Please don't connect and disconnect stuff to the loop with the amp on and not in standby, you are asking to not get laid with that behaviour. The loop circuit will turn itself off and bypass if there are no cables plugged in. If it has cables plugged in with an open connection you will get no signal because it is what called a "series" or "Serial" effects loop. There is a stickied post at the top of this forum that explains the whole rundown on loops. It's worth a read if it seems like arcane wizardry to you.

Also make sure your volume/gain on the eq are at flat when you connect it the correct way, because if they are still cranked you could get in more shit lol.

The ground/lift switch is for if you get a strong 60Hz ground loop hum on the amp, switching it to lift will typically eliminate that effect.

[veniculum]

Preamp out -> EQ in - EQ Out -> Power amp in. Please don't connect and disconnect stuff to the loop with the amp on and not in standby, you are asking to not get laid with that behaviour.

The ground/lift switch is for if you get a strong 60Hz ground loop hum on the amp, switching it to lift will typically eliminate that effect.

Thanks man....so I guess I had it backwards...and why in hell i didn't use the standby switch...I should be smacked in the face.
I appreciate your help...I'll let you know how it works out tonight.

[Spivonious]

Just some further info on the ground/lift switch.

If you have multiple devices on the same circuit, it is possible to get a "ground loop". Basically it means that you'll get a nice 60-cycle hum. By sliding the switch to "Lift", you tell the amp to cut out the ground wire in the power cable, essentially making your amp the ground instead of your house's ground wire. It will eliminate the hum, but it increases the risk of electric shock.

[veniculum]

Well..I got everything right tonight. But I have to admit...no matter how much i played with that EQ, I couldn't get it to sound anywhere near as good as the amp's distortion/tone by itself. So I threw the EQ back out front, and it sounds better there. Can't really explain it other than...it just does. And believe me...I played with the EQ in the loop for over an hour. No matter what I did, it almost made it sound more "solid state"...if that makes any sense.

Anyway...I'm not sure where I'm going to go from here. A few months ago, a guy on a Line 6 forum mentioned something called an 'SVPre' from a company called Strymon. Fortunately, I picked one up when I could, because according to their website now, they're discontinued. Supposedly, these things really make a difference in the amp's tone...for the better. A number of guys on that board swore by them. Only reason I held off from having it installed was because it does void my amp's warranty. Here's a link to their site:

http://www.strymon.net/products/svpre/

At this point, because I'm not getting what I want, I think I'll just void the warranty and hope for the best. It's only a year warranty anyway...so I'm half way there at this point.
Was wondering...has anyone heard of this product...or better yet, installed one. I'd sure love to hear your opinions of it.

Thanks again for the replies...like I said..they've been very helpful.

[Hellbat]

If you have a relationship with a local dealer see if they'd be willing to let you try a BBE sonic maximizer of some type.

I'm not really familiar with that amp but if you can get a midi setup for it that allows you to set up patches like gearbox for the pods then explore that because you can move stuff around in the signal chain with the software. I'm not sure if this amp supports that or not.

Another thing to try, if you want to get more of the tube character and again if the amp supports it, is crank the master volume and run the channel volume low. That way you will be getting more tube breakup in the sound because the power amp section will be running hot. Again though I'm not sure if that amp has a post gain volume or not so don't experiment with this method at 1AM.

[K.Dee]

Dont get me wrong but its very easy to make an '80s classic metal sound with todays technology..

Back then you needed a lot of money,a lot of help from people who had exp etc today all you need is to google a bit and to listen some clips at the Utube,times have changed..

Good luck bro.

[vondran]

To be truthful, it sounds like you're just not liking this amp. The basic rule is you got to love the sound of the guitar straight into the amp first. Pedals and aftermarket mods tweak it from there.