Overdrive/Distortion - Need one.. suggestions?

nick · 2009-09-26T14:05:01+00:00

I have a Tubescreamer, the TS10 model though and I have a cheapy Behringer Ultra Metal. So far: 1) TS10, too little too trebley 2) Boss DS-1, also too tre...

Overdrive/Distortion - Need one.. suggestions?

Mr-M

Here's a couple of suggestions based on what the artists use for their sound/ or what works in reproducing their sound:

Smashing Pumpkins = Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi or a Way Huge Swollen Pickle. Pretty much any era of SPs music.

Pearl Jam = Ibanez TS-9 into Marshall/ Vox Style amp with some breakup/ overdrive happening. A constant staple of Mike's rig. If you don't have a good amp for this, get an MI Audio Crunch Box or an MXR Distortion III to get this sound.

Foo Fighters = Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier or Road King. A pedal to get this sound would be the MI Audio Tube Zone or the MXR Distortion III (at higher gain settings).

slyd

Having had a choice in this matter while playing pro thu the late 80's; I had the IBZ Tube Screamer (stolen),Boss OD1 and Superdrive OD2, but the Tokai Overdrive TOD1 was pedal of note! 8) just 4 info ! I use a G2 Zoom now fyi. :-[

slyd

slyd wrote: Having had a choice in this matter while playing pro thu the late 80's; I had the IBZ Tube Screamer (stolen),Boss OD1 and Superdrive OD2, but the Tokai Overdrive TOD1 was pedal of note! 8) just 4 info ! I use a G2 Zoom now fyi. :-[

With the OD i went directly into a BossCS2 comp/sustain for lead . . .

nick

Mr M wrote: Here's a couple of suggestions based on what the artists use for their sound/ or what works in reproducing their sound:

Smashing Pumpkins = Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi or a Way Huge Swollen Pickle. Pretty much any era of SPs music.

Pearl Jam = Ibanez TS-9 into Marshall/ Vox Style amp with some breakup/ overdrive happening. A constant staple of Mike's rig. If you don't have a good amp for this, get an MI Audio Crunch Box or an MXR Distortion III to get this sound.

Foo Fighters = Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier or Road King. A pedal to get this sound would be the MI Audio Tube Zone or the MXR Distortion III (at higher gain settings).

Thanks for the info 8)

Mr-M

No problem. What I was basically trying to say here is that no one pedal will cover all the tones of the bands you mentioned accurately.

Possibly the only pedal that will cover most of the sonic territory you want to cover would be the MI Audio Tube Zone, which with some tweaking could do most of what you want it to quite well. The only difficulty might be the Pumpkins tone, which is an aggressive & compressed fuzz tone. If you turn the character knob up it makes the sound fuzzier and woollier, which can just about approximate Billy Corgan & James Iha's tone.

Of course the best way would be to get a pedal for each tone.

AlanRatcliffe

+1. Three pedals will usually cover 99% of what you want. An overdrive, A distortion and a Fuzz will do it - exact models to your own taste. The nice thing about having three pedals is you can swap from one to the other without needing to change settings and you can also keep drive settings lower for crunchy stuff and simply kick in two pedals at once, cascading them for more drive when needed.

nick

I want one.. Will call around tommorow and see who has in stock ?

nick

Apparently no local representation for Electro Harmonix in South Africa, online only as recommended by Marshall Music. Who are seriously the most helpful bunch of guys over the phone!

Edit: Bothners in Claremont claim they can get in a day or two.. asked them to order ?

AlanRatcliffe

Yup - Bothners are the EH distributors locally AFAIK. You getting the Russian or the US model?

nick

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Yup - Bothners are the EH distributors locally AFAIK. You getting the Russian or the US model?

US model ? The Little Big Muff is the same thing just with surface mount components?

Mr-M

Bothners used to be the agents. Found out when I was trying to get an EH Micro Pog earlier this year. If they don't have stock left, they can't get more.

The Little Big Muff is apparently the same thing as the US BM Pi, but in a smaller enclosure with True Bypass. A great option if you can get one.

IMO, the very best Big Muff style pedal is the Way Huge Swollen Pickle MKII (mentioned in earlier post). Such a huge, killer-sounding fuzz pedal with so much control over your tone, but pricey (around R2700). Had the opportunity to play on one a few times and if I didn't already have 3 fuzz pedals it would be mine! It'll still probably follow me home one of these days. ?

AlanRatcliffe

nick wrote: The Little Big Muff is the same thing just with surface mount components?

That's right. ? Same circuit, just smaller. As Mike mentioned, it's true bypass which is a great upgrade over the original. Also has a normal DC input, centre negative, so can be powered by any common 9V supply (just as well as you have to take the bottom off to get to the battery).

@Mr M - also speak to Matta about fuzz boxes - he had his proto Fuzzilla (sp?) at Graemestock and it looked almost as variable as the Swollen pickle. I have no idea of the price, but he hasn't cut any corners with it.

nick

http://www.ehx.com/products/big-muff-pi

Claims:

(*) True bypass
(*) Singing sustain with attitude
(*) Crushing distortion
(*) Adjustable tone
(*) 9-volt battery included
(*) Optional 9DC-100 power supply available

I had a listen to Matta's fuzz and it went from mild to 8bit complete overfuzz. He said in kit for it might be around R900-1k if I remember correctly.

shadow1

i think overdrive/distortion/fuzz is such a personal thing. I have been in a band where i love my tone and the other guitarist hates it? SO it is best to play on the pedals first but as we all know in SA often the product we want we cant test first. Personally had MANY pedals and amps, i took a chance and ordered the maxon od808 and its awsome! however wont be heavy enough for what you looking for, i ended up getting another tubescreamer called the route 66 (comp and TS in one) while they claim its the same as the maxon (same chip supposedly) the colour in the tine is LANK different. i sometimes layer them over eachother as ALAN R said. Work s DAMN well but with my strat that gets about as "heavy" as jimmy hendrix / bit more gritty than SRV.

I see your setup is marshall and strat so naturally that will be pretty "harsh" or trebely

Heard the marshall is pretty good, theres 2,gov'nor and jackhammer - cant remember which one... ?

good luck mate, hope you get what you want, personally i think you going to need 2 differrent pedals for that spectrum of tone ?

nick

Bothners just called.. got stock of Big Muff Pi... going to look ?

Sidecar

I bought a second hand KORG DST-1 pedal this weekend. If you spot one, get it! Its more of an overdrive in my opinion, but it sounds really great ? Nice string separation, smooth and creamy with the tone down and bright and zingy with with the tone up...

Mr-M

@Alan - Sounds interesting. I'll speak to Matta when my bank balance recovers from all my vehicle repair bills this month. BTW, I searched Fuzilla and got to the Graemestock thread. Looked like it was awesome!

@nick - Thanks for the +/- price. By the sound of it the Fuzilla would be more of a Noise/ Stoner Rock/ Muse/ Classic Rock Type fuzz than compressed Muff-style Pumpkins fuzz - very different types of sounds IMO. My interest is piqued though so I'm gonna have to speak to Matta soon. Alan does have a good point on the power connector on the BM PI - it looks like a a headphone mini-jack, so you'd have to get an adapter cable for it to use it with a regular PSU. Visual Sound do a good one. The Little Big Muff doesn't need it because it has a regular barrel jack power connector.

@Sidercar - That looks pretty cool. Maybe of 80s vintage? How old is it?

Sidecar

@Mr M - Dunno, I'm trying to find out how old it is... There is a similar Yamaha pedal that seems to share the same housing... No trace of it on Korg's website though.

nick

They had both the Big Muff (which really is big, big isnt the right word) and the Little Big, the size and 9v jack sold it for me. Played them back to back and on the Cube amp and American Strat suprisingly the Little one sounded nicer.. Plus its R100 cheaper and will fit on a normal sized pedalboard.

I want to go home now ☹

Manfred-Klose

I want to go home now

that why i wont go and buy gear at lunch time, i know myself to well that i wont get any work done. ?