Pedal Questions


Fenderalltheway
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Fenderalltheway
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06/30/2006 1:02 pm
To add to my endless question threads, here comes another one.

I've decided to upgrade my guitar this year, and buying some new gear for it. Something that I've been checking out are pedals.

So what I'm asking is could anyone recomend a good chorus, or distortion pedal? For the distortion, I'm not looking for like a metal distortion, a good warm sort of thing, if you know what I mean.
"When you want to rock hard children, lean of F#."
# 1
Lordathestrings
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Lordathestrings
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06/30/2006 2:04 pm
If your amp has an effects loop, I can recommend the DOD Bad Monkey for distortion. I don't usually like DOD stuff, but the Bad Monkey has a wide range of tones in it, and when its on, it sounds really good.

The reason I returned mine, is that it doesn't have true-bypass switching. When you turn it off, the signal still goes through part of the circuit, and it sucks all the tone out of your axe. :p An effects loop would get around this problem though, so I can happily recommend it for use with an effects loop or some other A/B switching system that will bypass the pedal when its not being used.
Lordathestrings
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# 2
PRSplaya
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PRSplaya
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06/30/2006 2:05 pm
For chorus, I love my Boss CH-1. There are a butt load of distortion pedals out there that could get the job done. It mainly depends on how much you want to spend, and how versatile you want it. Could you maybe give a song or two that has a similar distorted tone to what you're lookin for?
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# 3
PRSplaya
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PRSplaya
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06/30/2006 2:15 pm
Originally Posted by: LordathestringsIf your amp has an effects loop, I can recommend the DOD Bad Monkey for distortion. I don't usually like DOD stuff, but the Bad Monkey has a wide range of tones in it, and when its on, it sounds really good.

The reason I returned mine, is that it doesn't have true-bypass switching. When you turn it off, the signal still goes through part of the circuit, and it sucks all the tone out of your axe. An effects loop would get around this problem though, so I can happily recommend it for use with an effects loop or some other A/B switching system that will bypass the pedal when its not being used.

Isn't the Bad Monkey made by DigiTech? If we're talking about the same pedal, I've heard a lot of great things about it for the price. Also... a distortion/overdrive pedal in the effects loop :confused: I've never tried that, nor even thought about it. I guess I'm just too used to using my overdrive/distortion pedals to compliment and boost my amps preamp.

Funny story... Just yesterday, I was seriously thinking about buying a Carl Martin Plexi Tone distortion pedal, because there's a certain Marshallness it has that I haven't been able to get, but when I got home, I pluged in my Yamaha instead of my PRS, adjusted my EQ pedal slightly, and adjusted the EQ on the Rockmaster slightly, and BAM, I had the tone I had been looking for! Saved myself about $200 :eek: I'm still very tempted to get it to use with my 5150 live though :rolleyes:
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# 4
Lordathestrings
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Lordathestrings
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06/30/2006 2:52 pm
Originally Posted by: PRSplayaIsn't the Bad Monkey made by DigiTech? If we're talking about the same pedal, I've heard a lot of great things about it for the price. Also... a distortion/overdrive pedal in the effects loop :confused: I've never tried that, nor even thought about it. I guess I'm just too used to using my overdrive/distortion pedals to compliment and boost my amps preamp....


My bad - yeah, its DigiTech. I don't function well before 10 AM...

The price is very good - I got mine for CDN$60. I just may go back and buy it again, and rig some kind of external bypass switch for it. It really does make some wonderful tones when its on. It really does suck all the tone out of your axe when its off.

Placing the dist. pedal in the effects loop gives you some more options on sound shaping, because that usually puts most of the preamp in front of the pedal.

And you shouldn't sound so surprised that you got good stuff out of a Yamaha? :rolleyes:
Lordathestrings
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# 5
PRSplaya
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PRSplaya
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06/30/2006 3:03 pm
Oh, I wasn't surprised I got the tone out of the Yamaha. I had just been playing my PRS a lot recently, and I guess I just forgot how good it sounded. It's got a nice open woody kind of tone to it.

I've only had one DigiTech effects pedal, and it completely sucked the tone out of everything! It was the Digiverb. It's reverbs sounded great, but it sounded like I had a blanket over my amp.

If you ever get a chance, try out an MXR ZW-44 Wylde Overdrive pedal. I would be curious to hear your opinion on it. I love mine, but it's definitely not for everybody. I basically use mine to get a slight gain boost and to tighten things up a bit. I keep the level maxed, gain all the way down, and the tone at 12 o'clock. Bumping the gain up to about 9 o'clock, and going into a clean channel that's already slightly gritty when playing hard, it can give you some nice creamy bluesy overdrive to some nice crunch.
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# 6
PRSplaya
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PRSplaya
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06/30/2006 3:08 pm
>THIS< might be a good way to get past the tone sucking.
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# 7
rockonn91
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rockonn91
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06/30/2006 3:44 pm
I really dont recommend digitech distortion. its very fuzzy and fake.
I do like their modulation effects alot though, I can get some great sounds out of my GNX3.

as for distortion, I like the bigmuff pi.
JK :cool:

-Agile Guitars Enthusiast
# 8
aschleman
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aschleman
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06/30/2006 4:41 pm
I use Boss for all my pedals pretty much... except my TS-808 which is by Ibanez... Boss has the DS-1 which is a plain Jane distortion and also the Metal Zone... which is a little bit more edgy... gives it a kind of Mesa Rectifier sound. I own both and I use them both often... I prefer the DS with my TS for my blues tones... and dirty cleans... and my hard rock tones....I use the Metal Zone as a stand alone distortion for my metal tones... companied with gain and distortion diales in on my amp...
# 9
tzer
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tzer
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06/30/2006 11:40 pm
I have three distortion pedals and I love 'em all .......Digitechs "The Weapon" , the "DF-7" and the Scott Ian's "Black 13". With these 3 I can get all kind of great distortion tones. Listen to the sound clips at the bottom of each of those pages and see which ones you like.....I use an Epi LP, Fender American Deluxe HSS Strat, or 1 of my ESP's and I play through either my Crate 120W 2x12, Crate 50W or a Marshall 50W combo.

Number 3 sound file on the "Weapon" page is really awesome, you press the pedal down slowly and the distortion fades in real smooth!! A great effect
# 10
Fenderalltheway
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Fenderalltheway
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07/01/2006 12:31 pm
For distortion? Hmm...a song...I know this might be a stretch, but if you listen to Dazed and Confused, you know, Zeppelin, immediatly after Plant goes, "Sweet little baby, I don't know where you been, gonna love you baby, here I come again.." and after the end of all the verses, you know that part? That's pretty close to what I'm shooting for, without need four marshall amps, and a $2,000 les paul...But thanks for all the suggestions guys!
"When you want to rock hard children, lean of F#."
# 11

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