Recommend Me A High Gain Pedal!

Beecher

Basically my amp has a shared EQ between distortion and clean, and while the distortion is sweet (Oh so sweet!) when you switch over to the clean channel with the gain at around 7 it makes for a very dirty clean tone, which can have its uses but for the most part I want a lovely sparkling clean when I switch over which I can get with the gain around 3. So can anyone recommend a real nice high gain pedal so I can keep the gain down low on the pre-amp? So far ive been recommended the Line-6 Uber Metal, and I like the sound of them including a noise gate on it but I wouldnt mind opinions on this pedal or any others! :v:

Karl Hungus

Yeah, the Uber Metal is supposed to be excellent. What amp do you have though?

Beecher

Engl 620 Tube Pre-amp with an alesis quadraverb in the effects loop for reverb going into an Engl 830/30 Tube Poweramp into a cab with 2 celestion vintage 30's.

Karl Hungus

Quite frankly, I wouldn't want to sacrifice real tube distortion for the kind a pedal will deliver. Sounds like you've got a sweet setup. I'd see how much gain I could dial off before it becomes too little, as when I was testing the Engl Fireball, I really didn't need the gain up past 3 for playing some Death or the like. Try and find the happy medium, if you can.

Doctor J

Give the Dime Distortion a bit of your time. Might be too much but it does what it does oh so sweetly

Beecher

Karl Hungus wrote:

Quite frankly, I wouldn't want to sacrifice real tube distortion for the kind a pedal will deliver. Sounds like you've got a sweet setup. I'd see how much gain I could dial off before it becomes too little, as when I was testing the Engl Fireball, I really didn't need the gain up past 3 for playing some Death or the like. Try and find the happy medium, if you can.

The distortion is savage but doesnt kick in properly (well what i'd consider properly) till I hit 5 on the Gainometer

Doctor J wrote:

Give the Dime Distortion a bit of your time. Might be too much but it does what it does oh so sweetly

Too much distortion is a way better prob than too little! Allthough on checking out that pedal I also came across the MXR Double Shot distortion pedal which is almost like a dual channel pedal where I could have lead and rythym distortions! Plus it looks cool :cool:



Im sooo tempted to bust out the credit card!

Eoin Madsen

To use a pedal to get valve distortion: set the output of the pedal high and use the input to vary the amount of boost - basically avoid distorting the pedal itself and rely on overloading the amp to get your distortion.

But I'm a bit confused... is the problem that you only have a common master volume? If what you're trying to do is avoid the huge difference in volume between the nice clean tone and the nice amp distortion tone... you're probably wasting your time to be quite honest. You won't get the same distortion tone unless you actually overdrive those valves. There are better solutions than compromising with a distortion pedal.

Beecher

The problem Eoin is that I have a shared everything (Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence), well everything bar channel Volume and Lead. With the gain and lead between 6-7 I can get a fantastic distortion, but at those levels my clean tone really breaks up With gain at 2-3 I get a fantastic clean tone but then the distortion suffers even with lead at full. I dont mind this at all for recording purposes but for jamming and practicing it is a nuisance.

Doc_Savage

Eoin Madsen wrote:

To use a pedal to get valve distortion: set the output of the pedal high and use the input to vary the amount of boost - basically avoid distorting the pedal itself and rely on overloading the amp to get your distortion.

The Mxr distortion+ would be a pretty good pairing to push it a bit harder for you!
as a booster more than anything!

HusseinSarhan

Try substituting your preamp valves maybe... Sorry if I misunderstand the problem

Beecher

HusseinSarhan wrote:

Try substituting your preamp valves maybe... Sorry if I misunderstand the problem

Done very recently to JJ high gain, the amount of distortion is not a prob, it can go to an absolutly insane level!! Its just with the shared gain knob turned up the clean tone gets destroyed Hence the want for a seperate distortion pedal. The MXR doubleshot seems to be quite good from what i've read, the first channel is a nice rock distortion and the second channel has the same circuitry as the dime pedal. Hopefully theres one in town I can try out.

Custom22

Use the volume control on your guitar !! :eek:

It's free and all!

Karl Hungus

Custom22 wrote:

Use the volume control on your guitar !! :eek:

It's free and all!

Damn, now why didn't I suggest this? Fantastic solution!

Beecher

Custom22 wrote:

Use the volume control on your guitar !! :eek:

It's free and all!

Tried The clean breaks up less but still breaks up with the gain control above 5! Great Idea all the same

demanufactured

do what i do

get your nice clean tone

then use a boos sd1 to help push the drive channel

Beecher

Hmmm, I do have an sd-1 and a ds-1 in my wardrobe along with various other effects and things, Ill give it a shot tommorrow!

Kenny_D

Maxon OD808

I left mine on all the time. Gives a nice clean but when you hit overdrive it gives it the extra crunch where needed

Beecher

demanufactured wrote:

do what i do

get your nice clean tone

then use a boos sd1 to help push the drive channel

Well I raided through my old effects and dug out a CS-3 Compressor and DS-1 distortion and with the gain down low they really do help boost up to a real nice distortion. Your a f*cking legend dude! But it is a little noisy so I might invest in one of those behringer noise suppressor pedal! :v:

Edit: I turned down the compressor level and turned up the sustain and the noise has dropped considerably! Woo! And its left me with a very John Petrucci 'Glassgow Kiss' kinda sound, Im lovin it!

Karl Hungus

Beecher wrote:

But it is a little noisy so I might invest in one of those behringer noise suppressor pedal! :v:

I recon you could do a lot better than Behringer. Supposedly the Decimator is very good indeed.

Beecher

Karl Hungus wrote:

I recon you could do a lot better than Behringer. Supposedly the Decimator is very good indeed.

Ah the behringer pedals aint too bad and they are cheap as chips (esp from piedog, £13.50 a pedal!) but that pedal looks amazing! Depending on its price I might order one today!


Edit: Hmmm £79 sterling, aint too shabby, will prob order it in 2 weeks when my student cred card is paid off!

Karl Hungus

Beecher wrote:

Ah the behringer pedals aint too bad and they are cheap as chips (esp from piedog, £13.50 a pedal!) but that pedal looks amazing! Depending on its price I might order one today!

Yeah, they're cheap, and I'd nab myself a Behringer chorus pedal or something, just because it's not something I'd use very often, but for something you'd be using constantly, I for one would invest a little more and get a better product.

Don't quote me on anything though, I don't use any pedals whatsoever, so I'm just relaying second hand opinions on what's good. You're far better off taking a good look at some detailed reviews on that Decimator, because I only suggest it as it's something I've heard being very good. Don't take my word here as anything definite. Though if you're interested, I've also heard that the Rocktron Hush is very good indeed, and it'll fit in your rack.

But like I said, make sure you look up genuine reviews about those products, as I don't use them, and can't give you any first hand experience on them.

Beecher

Cheers for the suggestions Karl, on the research i've done the Hush doesnt seem to be the ideal choice as it apparently only targets the noise while not playing effectively, and isnt as hot for the noise while playing unlike the decimator which has rave reviews and one of the soundclip examples has the exact noise sound im trying to clear so its going to have to be the decimator. My only issue now is do I order it now or wait a week till my credit card debts are paid off!

jamesm5744

Radial Trimode, Marshall type crunch on one channel and Mark 4 sustain on the other, brilliant pedal. Likewise the Mesa V-twin or the new Blackstar dual HT. Have them all, all great for the type of sound you're looking for. Hope this helps, good luck!

darrenw5094

Check out some of the Krank distortion pedals.......the last time a Krank pedal took prisioners...........they got mashed.........

Doctor J

Do ye reckon he waited over two and a half years to buy the pedal?

punchdrunk

http://www.catalinbread.com/Hyperpak.html

ooops just read docs post! :rolleyes: