Distortion- Amp or FX?

diablo175

diablo175

Well-known member
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My co-guitarist and I have labored to find the right distortion tonal package. He has gone to his 100W JVM thru a 1960 A cab to get his. I get mine from a distortion setting in a Boss ME 50 I bought used, running into my JVM and a M412A.

It probably should be added that a lot of the sounds he gets comes from the Boss GT-100. But the distortion is purely amp generated.

So, do you prefer your distortion tone to come from your amp or from the FX array?

 
I'm not understanding why you'd use a distortion FX into a high end amp like a JVM....do the gain channels on it suck?

Regardless, my vote is amp.

 
Pedals.

I started out with Fender amps and that's probably the biggest reason. I've come close with a couple amps, but they had to be so damn loud to get there, and they weren't ever 'just right'.

Plus it's a lot easier/cheaper swapping out a pedal once the honeymoon is over.

 
jisham said:
I'm not understanding why you'd use a distortion FX into a high end amp like a JVM....do the gain channels on it suck?

Regardless, my vote is amp.
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In the simplest terms possible- I can't get the dirt sound I like from the amp.

Had every intention of doing just that, using the amps' dirt, but had a "happy accident" wherein I stumbled on one of the presets on the ME 50 and haven't looked back since then.

 
Tube distortion has limits - Phaez mentioned this on their website in designing one of their tube amps for a client to "have as much tube-distortion as possible". Marshall hit the wall in 1989, hence the JCM-900. You're not going to get Dimebag/Pantera distortion from just tubes (I believe Dime's Randalls had solid-state preamps), and those that prefer just-tubes for distortion are not playing anything approaching modern Metal music.

Compare tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7F6uxKk-8

Solid State (I've never heard a tube amp produce the tone heard at 2:11):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anhe1yvhhts

 
i like a combination ,push the input a little(pedal ) drive the pre amp a little , turn the output up enough to get some dirt there also (power section & speakers ). to me to much gain at any one stage doesnt sound as good as a little push at each

 
Never2late put a fine point on it- it largely depends on what type of music you play. Since we play a lot of different types.of hard rock and metal, I have to have tones that just can't be gotten from a tube amp exclusively. That, and I really like the sound my guitars produce when running thru the ME50 and into the JVM. Perhaps it's a subtle contribution that the JVM's tubes add but it is, IMO, the shit! /emoticons/default_biggrin.png

 
dragan said:
i like a combination ,push the input a little(pedal ) drive the pre amp a little , turn the output up enough to get some dirt there also (power section & speakers ). to me to much gain at any one stage doesnt sound as good as a little push at each
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+1. Ideally I have the Valvetch cookin' enough so it will dirty up a little from hard strumming, and the gain boost will get it into AC/DC territory. Then I have an old Marshall Guv'nor that is not set with too much drive, so I can add the Guv'nor to get a high-gain sound, or use just the Gov'nor for a different flavor of crunch.

 
I prefer much of it to come from the amp, but I prefer the added "tightening" from hitting a moderately dirty amp with a boost. It also gives me two levels worth of gain from which I can roll back the guitar volume...

 
I like amp distortion if there is enough in there for me to play with, then back it off with the vol control on the guitar. That's the ultimate for me. My favourite amp distortion was a rickety old shagged-out Seymour Duncan 84-40.., that thing was mega but hella unreliable.

I quite like the ability to have a pedal for distortion as well, as you can stick it up the front of any old clean amp and pretty much know where you are (within reason of course).

If I was going to take a guitar and no amp to play somewhere, I'd probably take a pedal or 2 just so I had something referencable, or at least in case of gear failure.

I can get sounds I like out of all sorts of different stuff, but it always sounds like me playing, and when I rarely go out to play, I've always used way less distortion than at home and different tone settings as adding volume give me the sustain I want with less gain, which is nice, and more controllable for me, plus finding a sound that sits nicely with a band is pretty much always different to the sounds I set up for fun at home /emoticons/default_smile.png

 
burningyen said:
Modeler.
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+1I never looked back after I began using good modelers. It's like carrying around many sounds in your pocket.

In addition, it's compatible with the clean channel of any amp, as well as any PA. This is very practical if you gig often and in different places.

 
Really good single channel amp, guitar volume down for clean, guitar volume up for classic crunch, add pedal for different gain structures, solo's. Done.

Cool Beans

Gene

 
Distortion from the amp works for me. That is my crunch tone and everything.

Fuzz pedals have interested me a lot in the last decade. They have to have a real fuzz tone that sounds like a pedal, not just some kind of high gain. Think "Satisfaction" as an example.

 
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