distortion, amps, and you

Hey...are there any Fender amps that provide good distortion for usually clean guitars, like a strat?

Go with crate.

I owned a Fender Twin Reverb for years & could never get a half decent distortion out of it no matter what I did. First I tried shear volume & blew the speakers, got em re-coned, blew em again...and again. Then I put in a couple of 12" JBL speakers and had the amp rewired so the reverb knob worked as a master volume but even then it still sounded totally lame without an effects pedal. Worst of all, it weighed a TON!! Personally I like the sound of Marshals with an attenuator control. I sold Crates at a music store I used to work at & they sounded pretty good, but it really depended on the amp model.
Right now I just use whatever is the right size & power for the gig and stick with a well programmed multi effects pedal that emulates just about any sound you'd ever need. Best of all, no amplifier hum when you record....just go direct into the board.
Hope that helps!
Peace & Grooviness
schmange
wavelength@tvo.org

Thursday, April 13, 2000
7:43:21 PM

What about pedals? any distortion or wah pedals you'd recommend?

As far as seperate pedals go, I haven't really used em for a long time. The only thing I have now is an old wah pedal called Mister Cry Baby. It's great but you always have to remember to unplug from the thing or it drains your battery.
I used to have the standard Boss Overdrive, Chorus, Compressor etc, but I lucked out & got a used Boss ME-5 Multi Effects pedal real cheap that has absolutely everything you need. You can emulate any amp or sound and midi it up so you don't have to punch pedals all the time.
If you're lucky enough to have a drummer that plays to a midi click track, you can pre-program all your patch changes ahead of time & just concentrate on playing.
I assume there's newer, more techno stuff out there like rack mounts etc, but I like the option of going back to pedals whenever I want. If you check out a muti pedal at a music store, take a pair of headphones with you so you can listen to the different sounds and experience em in stereo, see how much noise each sound produces & how sensitive the controls are. (besides you can wail away without the salespeople giving you the evil eye for playing Eruption or Stairway to Heaven).

Peace & Grooviness
schmange
wavelength@tvo.org

Friday, April 14, 2000
2:27:03 AM

Multi-effect pedals are a wonderful thing, but not everyone can afford them, and depending on how you play it might be more cost effective to buy individual pedals. I myself have a DOD FX-7 (a multi) and it works great but i never use half the effects it has. I personally don't believe in emulation of amps and speakers, it can't possibly be worth what it costs, and its all that fancy **** that makes most of those multiFX pedals so expensive (like the BOSS GT series which cost several hundred). If you're buying any kind of pedal I'd recommend DOD, particularly their Death Metal distortion, a suprisingly versatile distortion, and their multi's which can usually be found for a good price. Try to get one that has only the effects you want, or few as possible extras that you know you won't use, this will cut down on the price. If you're looking for used gear, check out www.UGBM.com, they have a good selection.

The other guitarist and I have spent years looking for 'the sound'. You know, that distortion that's gonna define our sound. And after years of getting kicked out of stores for playing amps for too long, someone suggested we just find a nice clean-sounding amp, and whack on a pedal.

Well, my mate did it and loves it - I tried it and hate it, so I guess this story has no point. Just keep lookin'!

If your looking for a distortion pedal look at the Boss Metal Zone, it has a nice distortion, can get pretty heavy. My friend has a princton chorus and it has a nice distortion, its kinda of a classic distortion, not very heavy. As for a wah pedal, the Morley Bad Horsie Wah or a Snarling Dogs one isnt bad.

i'd have to go with the boss mt-2 metal zone as well, it seems to be a real popular one and has a nice sound to it...

i used to be real big on the multi-fx thing, but i've since gone back to individual effects units (pedals and a couple rackmounts) the multifx will give you way more options which is great if you have to play many different styles, but if you want to define a sound that is yours i think a couple good amps and a few stompboxes is the way to go.. multifx are good if you want to sound like everybody else....

jason

No, the words "Fender" and "Distortion" generally dont go well together at all, especially with a strat (or any other single coil equipped guitar, for that matter). Single coils just don't cut it for distortion, they sound very thin & nasal in comparison w/ a humbucker (through ditortion), and they put out that super-annoying 60 hz hum. As for the amp, you're not going to get a good distortion out of it alone since it's primarily intended for sparkling clen sounds, but if you find a good multi effects pedal (or even an average one, given the amp sounds exellent clean) or distortion pedal, you can eq in a great, clear, high gain tone. If you're going to play a Strat through distortion, you need to put a humbucker in the bridge, though. Try a Duncan Custom (SH-5), it's a superb pickup.