Tube amp distortion vs. pedal distortion... and player choise

[jgcable]

It depends on the amp, the pedal and the tone you are looking for.
I use a Carvin Legacy on the distortion channel with the gain on 6 with a YJM308 pushing it a little on the front end.

[jgcable]

Check out these two distortion pedals. With pedals like these, who needs the amp's distortion? J/K

http://www.proguitarshop.com/product.php?ProductID=410&CategoryID=11

http://www.proguitarshop.com/product...&CategoryID=11

Based on that video I would guess they aren't selling too many of those pedals to the heavy metal crowd.

[horns666]

Hey guys, I found this a pretty insightful read..check it out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_sound

an excerpt of the article..

"Tube versus solid state rectification

Some high end tube amplifier designs also include vacuum tube rectifier circuits instead of modern silicon diode or bridge rectifier circuits. A cheap solid state rectifier does introduce audible noise into the circuit.[6] Audibility of the effects is disputed by many. In unregulated power supplies the switching noise from silicon diodes can affect the amplifier's performance by introducing noise into the high voltage circuit. In guitar amplifiers, tube rectification is used in order to intentionally cause the high voltage supply to sag in order to add distortion and compress the output signal.
The practical advantage to tube rectification is that the relatively inexpensive rectifier tubes require some time to warm up before they begin to conduct. This gives the time for the heaters in the output tubes to warm up as well and therefore extend their lifespan. If the high voltage supply is brought up too quickly, the cathodes might be damaged. Some high end manufacturers, such as Welborne Labs in their premium kits, feature ultrafast soft-recovery silicon diodes bridged by snubber networks on the basis that the cost and power required to operate a vacuum tube rectifier does not yield any measurable improvement in the sound."

[Newc]

It seems to me that an amp's distortion channel circuitry (diodes and whatnot) is basically cut out of the amp and stuffed into a box for you to step on, since these aren't the "good old days" where the only way to get distortion was to pretty much blow half the amp's brains out by running it on 10 all the time or jabbing holes in the speakers with a pencil.

Given that, doesn't it make sense that when you run a pedal into the front, you're effectively replacing the amp's distortion circuit with another one?
As Inazone said, you've still got the tubes in the amp to give that "tube tone", but you're just injecting a different distortion setup in front of those tubes.

[yabba]

you guys using metalzones, are those stock or modded? (I've been thinking about picking one up lately)

[Partial @ Marshall]

you guys using metalzones, are those stock or modded? (I've been thinking about picking one up lately)

I have both...Stock and Keeley...The Keeley kills the stock, hands down.

[yabba]

I have both...Stock and Keeley...The Keeley kills the stock, hands down.

more punchy and less fizzy?

do you have any good clips? (or know of a source of some?) the clips on the keeley site don't really give any good metal examples

do you use it in front of a clean amp or one running dirty?

[Partial @ Marshall]

Cleaner...less floor noise more versatile and musical. Sorry no clips of it. Blue Led too

[yabba]

I'll have to try to find one to check out

[lynchfan6]

I'm a fan of the previously mentioned "pedal in front of amp" while on the amp's OD channel.......but only for singing leads. For a rockin' rhythm sound, I prefer to use the gain on my SLO100 alone, set at about 6 or 7. This to me is the "perfect" sound!!! I'm totally addicted to my amp. But for a little more sustain and harmonic boost for solos, I love the sound of kicking on a Boss SD1 (level way up, drive near zero) over top of an already distorted amp. This combo to me just sings so sweetly, dripping with harmonics....perfect. And I MUCH prefer this to turning the SLO gain all the way up. However, for my basic overdrive sound, it is always "amp" gain. I do a similar thing on the normal channel of my SLO--dial it in for a nice crunch that cleans up nicely, and kick on the SD1 if I want a more country/ rock solo sound.

[metalchurch79]

you guys using metalzones, are those stock or modded? (I've been thinking about picking one up lately)

I have a stock MT-2 that's a 1993 model. It has a better sound than the new models for some reason. My on/off button sometimes doesnt work on the first try, so I bought a new MT-2 to replace my old unit, and thats where I found out initially that the older ones are better.
I've also compared it to a couple of my friends' MT-2's as well.

Havent tried the Robert Keeley mod yet, but I hear great things about it.

[sl2lover]

I think it comes down to how much you wanna spend? When I was younger i would use pedal in front, now that I can afford a "real," hi-gain amp I use the crunch I can get off that! It sounds more natural and meaner coming from the amp to me personally!

[shadowcat]

I recently found that I got a more singing and cutting lead sound with better artificial harmonics by using a preamp model of my Boss GT10 compared to the channels of my ENGL Invader... so I'm using pure Invader distortion for rhythm and switch to GT10 distortion for leads. Best of both worlds!

[shredmonster]

I buy 3 channel amps myself so I have a crunch channel and then a solo channel with more compression, sag and sustain.

I prefer amp distortion but I play about once a month at a Hamer Jam where the guy has a backline of amps - mostly Dr Z'a and a couple TopHats. I have a really good distortion pedal that aboslutely KILLS when plugged in the the Dr Z's.

But thats because the pedal is so friggen good. The amps are clean and the my pedal has two sides - it was built custom - it is literally 2 distortion pedals in one box with two separate stomp switches so I can run each one separately or combine both sides together. Plus I have a shitload ot tone shaping controls on each side.

[emperor_black]

But thats because the pedal is so friggen good. The amps are clean and the my pedal has two sides - it was built custom - it is literally 2 distortion pedals in one box with two separate stomp switches so I can run each one separately or combine both sides together. Plus I have a shitload ot tone shaping controls on each side.

Do you have any pics?