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Author Topic: Distortion pedals...  (Read 1953 times)

hhcave

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Distortion pedals...
« on: May 18, 2008, 09:11:30 PM »
This is a really stupid question i know but i really want to know - do people use distortion pedals (eg. Distortus Maximus, reezaFRATzitz, Dist-X) as a gain channel in itself ie. use a clean setting on the amp and turn on the distortion pedal for gain or do they use it to boost the amp's distortion?

Thanks
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Jonny

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2008, 09:15:23 PM »
For me (as I don't use pedals yet) I would use a clean and then smack on the distortion pedal. I think it's better for what I want. As most songs I play are clean/distortion back and worth.

I think it's really down to preference. And until I find a good pedal for clean to distorted I'm just gonna have to pause and click the distortion on, lol
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38thBeatle

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2008, 09:31:03 PM »
I used a basically clean tone but I use distortion to get the sound but at the same level as the clean and I have a clean(ish) boost to use of either when required-so I suppose the answer is that I use it as an additonal channel.
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ailean

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2008, 10:14:02 PM »
The couple of times I've tried using a dist pedal into a dirty channel I've not got a tone I liked, we play our dist pedals into the clean channels.

I ran a thread a while ago on how I was going to replace my ValveKing because I really didn't like the lead channel, but I bought a couple of Blackstar pedals, plugged them into the clean channel and got great tone. (dual HT, and a Dist X that Sue's nicked).

I see no reason why you can't use one in front of a dirt channel, but I think one or the other would have to be on a low gain setting or it will turn to mush as it did in my experiments, which I have to say I gave up on pretty quickly, so I probably missed something (or a lot).
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hhcave

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2008, 10:45:54 PM »
Oh okay - thanks guys!
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Bodenhamer modded Maxon OD808
Mesa/Boogie F-50
Marshall TSL 2x12

TheIronBeast

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2008, 12:23:34 AM »
I am a complete pedal freak and I get my tone from running various effects through the clean channel on my amp.

With distortion pedals it usually depends on what kind of distortion you're looking for. If it's high gain metal (death metal etc) then Digitech do some pretty cool ones and also the Boss Metal Zone and Metal Core are good also.

If it's lighter distortion for hard rock 70's - 80's type stuff I would go with either the Digitech Grunge, Boss DS-1 etc.

But to answer your question, yes people do use distortion pedals... well at least I do anyway lol.
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hamfist

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2008, 07:20:19 AM »
In my experience most distortion pedals sound much better being played into a clean amp. If you want to boost an already dirty amp, then Overdrive and boost pedals are better IMO.
   However, each amp/pedal interaction is different and in the end, you actually just need to try them out with your own amp.

MrBump

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2008, 08:54:47 AM »
I play through a single channel vintage Orange, with no master, just volume and EQ.  Therefore, I need a decent pedal (in this case a Blackstar HT Dual) to get a bit more poke from the amp.

Saying that, since dropping two of the four valves from the amp, I am JUST about to get it to break up at legal volumes...  and when the Blackstar kicks in at that point, it sounds like nothing on Earth...

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maverickf1jockey

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Distortion pedals...
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2008, 08:57:15 AM »
I use a Blackstar HT-Dual into a high gain Tiny Terror with the clean channel set to attenuate the output to allow the sound to clean up.

Other people who use a distortion pedal as a booster include Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, who use Keely modded DS-1 pedals.
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