Cranked and ranked! (best heavy distorted tones?)

[dentsinger]

You're asking about getting some sustaining crunch from the head only. Seems like the thread got off track. Here' what I've played and what I thought.

My first head was a Sovtek MIG 100 since I couldn't afford the Soldano. I wasn't much into tube tone since I played using a distortion pedal, but I remember it being beefy and a little fizzy. The Soldano as is didn't have what I was looking for as well. I was a little naive and overly expectant of available amp distortion after Pantera's "Cowboys from Hell" was released.

I liked the Peavey's 5150 though still as is, I couldn't get what I was looking for. After all, I had been introduced to Obituary and the like. I never had the opportunity to compare the 5150 with it's 2nd incarnation. The here say being that the original sounds much better.

Then I sold the Sovtek and purchased a Carvin X100b. A little expectant still, especially since I didn't even get to try it out before buying. I was very impressed though with it clean channel which was all I wanted anyway for my pre's. The distortion on it was chunky and could be tailored to sound heavier due to the EQ sliders. Who didn't scoop the mids the moment you got an amp? Still, I didn't think it stood on it's own and maintained my use of pedals and then rack pre's. Namely the Rocktron Pro-GAP. That was my deadly duo for many years to follow...til it was stolen out of my car.

I've played the 6505+ and it's basically a souped up 5150 and it actually does hold it's own I think if you're looking for a metal distortion.

Crate sounds like Crate. Fender heads lack something metal wise unless you're Def Leppard. I dunno. Well, there's my take on things.

[JerEvil]

Just got a T3 yesterday. Bought the Behringer F112B footswitch but doesn't work right. I would love the schematic for the foot switch as well. Has anyone tried using a midi footswitch for this? Thank god it defaults to the first gain channel and not the clean channel when no footswitch is plugged in.

[Chuck H]

One of my favorite heavy distortion tones was my early reissue 1959slp. I added a master volume. I would jumper the channels and run the "normal" channel dimed and the "bright" channel on about 3 or 4. Then I would overdrive the input with a Boss GE7 EQ pedal with a mid hump and crank the output level to 15db boost. Balls out bad a$$ and easy to do.

Chuck

[kg]

i think this thread needs a bump. and more posts.

[MWJB]

Pat Hare, "I'm gonna murder my baby", Sun Records '54...a sure sign that distorted guitar is the embodiement of "evil", 'cause then he went did just that! ;-)

God knows what he used...some kind of little Silvertone has to be in the running? I mean for the guitar, not the murdering...

[redelephant]

Almost impossible to answer, so many good dist tones out there. I love fuzzy stoner rock but that's almost all Fuzz Faces, and also more crunchy but not super high gain metal such as Wylde's tone (Marshall?). Porcupine Tree has fantastic crunch tone, but they aren't high gain are they?
My problem is I don't know who uses a pedal end who does not?
I'd like to know who only uses the tubeamp for super dist sounds? Seems to me everyone has at least one dist pedal in the chain and that's where most of the dist tones come from.

I think most guitarists need a tubeamp with great clean/semicrunch tones, and a great sounding dist pedal up front.

Albums are not honest in the reproduction of the gitarist's tone, since most guitar tones are at least layered a few times if not EQed as well on the recording. (They duplicate the original take and layer several copies with a very slight delay, so you end up with a fatter tone. Some can have more than 10 layers). How can we know which recording is not done like this?

[Gtr_tech]

To echo tones that I like but am not sure how to get: As I mentioned earlier I really liked Blue Oyster Cult in the 1970s and perhaps their most famous tune was "Don't Fear the Reaper" - which I was priviledged to see in a small auditorium during the 1975 Agents of Fortune tour. It featured the first laser light show that I'd ever seen - a bright red beam hitting a giant disco ball (didn't realize at the time that the lead singer probably had a 3/8" thick cable running up his arm and a foot long tube assembly).

Anyhoo, the "dominant" lead guitar on that album has nice, rich sizzling guitar with some "reverb/echo" and perhaps some compression on it - almost sounds like someone getting speaker to string feedback but very controlled. Any ideas about how that cranked tone was achieved?

Rob

I really liked the tone on the first album. Very warm and tasteful. The second one was kinda brittle, and by the third album (Secret Treaties) he had it back under control again.

[Gtr_tech]

For super gain stuff, the tone on Forbidden's "Twisted Into Form" album is pretty decent.

[guitarmike2107]

I remember learning how to get a “Metallica” sound , reading through my peavey transtube manual about 15 years ago and thinking I was pretty cool. I am sure now that it sounded like pants and I have never been cool.

I like some of the new Krank type amp sounds, really chainsaw sounding with great clarity, but unusable in the normal playing situations I find myself in.
Dimebag was using krank amps in the end, Not that I am a fan.

Lately I have mostly enjoyed Matt Bellamys (Muse) sounds, loads of interesting high gain tones to be had there. Not really grinding though…. He uses an array of amps so its not really a tone you can nail with just a peavey transtube if you know what I mean.

[Steve Conner]

Lately I have mostly enjoyed Matt Bellamys (Muse) sounds, loads of interesting high gain tones to be had there. Not really grinding though…. He uses an array of amps so its not really a tone you can nail with just a peavey transtube if you know what I mean.

He also has a bunch of other secret weapons like a theremin built into his guitar. :O

Years ago I was experimenting and trying to get that Metallica chugging guitar sound at a usable volume. I ended up with a Rockman rack preamp that I bought second-hand, set to full gain and full mid scoop, plugged into an Amstrad stereo with the EQ sliders also set to full scoop, which was connected to a couple of 6x9" speakers from an old reel-to-reel tape deck, still in the tape deck's wooden shell. The cones flapped so violently that they rattled against the wire-mesh speaker grills, which was the finishing touch that the sound needed.

I'm also fairly sure now that it sounded like pants. I also realise the guitar has a lot to do with it, my guitar refuses to chug since I changed the bridge pickup.

[defaced]

I like Pantera's tone for example. Don't know how to get it tho.

Randall. I don't remember what model, but Dime was a SS guy.

_________________

My setup (basically, the amp is DIY and far from stock, but for simplicity)

Fryette (VHT) Deliverance. EMG 85 @ 18v in the bridge. Drop C# tuning. It's tight, and it chugs, and it can be heard.

[Chuck H]

Re: I'm Gonna Murder My Baby...

Here's a picture of Pat Hare sitting on what appears to be a wide panel tweed (Deluxe?) playing a Danelectro.

[riz]

I have an SLO-100, but honestly I like my old Big Muff into any clean tube amp better. Actually, into my old '64 Fenders, Deluxe NR and Super Reverb.

[cminor9]

I like Pantera's tone for example. Don't know how to get it tho.

one other key to Dime's tone is the pickups. He was using bill lawrence XL-500s. His solos, while high gain obviously, had a lot of note definition and clarity. Having a pair of these pickups in a guitar, I can tell you firsthand that they make a huge difference if you want that tone.

[guitarmike2107]

I have a big muff, but I find its bass response irritating.. maybe I just need ot play with it a bit more to get the best out of it... I was planning on modding it..