Boss GT-3 question for Blackheim

[For My Sweetheart the Drunk]

Hey Blakkheim, just want to say that you're one of my guitar heroes and I had the incredible pleasure of seeing you in Montreal last year. Also, I just want to point out that Fredrik and yourself are responsible for getting me into Jeff Buckley and the Red House Painters -- which I discovered in 99' after getting into Tonight's Decision and browsing the site.

Anyways, I was wondering with the Boss GT-3, do you use the distortions on it?, and if so, which one do you use?; also, what's some of your tweeking advice? Apart from that, the thing is pretty cool; I love the delays and the reverbs.

Anyway one else have this effects unit?

 

[Blakkheim]

thanx for the nice words!
yeah we actually use the distortions (preamps) in them and have tweaked around a lot, cuz when we play one off gigs, u never know what amps yer gonna get, and it can be a hassle to get a proper sound out of them (one amp can be state of the art with freakin 5 rows of panels and u dont know what to operate / or an amp can be total crap with no proper eq and what not), so to be safe we adjusted the GT-3's so we run them as preamps and then into the effect loop of any amp. we dont use the actual distortion section in the GT-3's, only the preamps and crank the distortion in them (metal 5150 and/or metal drive). play with the eq already on the preamps, then go twiddle the eq section and lastly also the sub eq section to really get there. we'll be upgrading to GT-8's before the end of the year.

 

[jptk]

Whatever your doin with that pedal is definately workin, the tone on each album is very different and really adds to the overall feel of each album and on viva its very "metallic" or something. Great stuff. Gonna check out one of those gt8,s myself, been hearin some great things about em!

 

[For My Sweetheart the Drunk]

Awesome. Thanks for the tips

 

[Commence Destruction]

awesome,I posted a similar thread a long time ago with regards to the gt5,the only problem I tend to encounter a lot is the digital aliasing,if you run the preamps too hot you start hearing this ring modulator type sound in the background of your distrtion,have you ever encountered this anders? if so what would you advise to keep the tone but get rid of the excess noise? because the tone itself is close to what im going for,but it has that damned sound lingering.

I run my pedal into the comp and almost every tone ive custom made has A LOT of excess noise,the presets though sound louder,have close to no noise and have better note definition,so I have quite some learning to do about the effect chain placment as well im guessing.

 

[ether]

I whish I could only understand a word of what you guys are talking about!!!
I 'm sure I'd need more years to learn how to use all these effects and settings than to learn properly how to play an acustic instrument...

I must admit electronics and technology in music are extremely fascinating, but I guess it's not for eveyone!
there are so many possiblities and combinations you can put together to get different sounds...that I'd go mad only thinking about it!

 

[Commence Destruction]

I whish I could only understand a word of what you guys are talking about!!!
I 'm sure I'd need more years to learn how to use all these effects and settings than to learn properly how to play an acustic instrument...

I must admit electronics and technology in music are extremely fascinating, but I guess it's not for eveyone!
there are so many possiblities and combinations you can put together to get different sounds...that I'd go mad only thinking about it!

hah,the trick is to mess with the effects youre given and try to sculpt the tone in your head out of it,its not always possible and its one of the most frustrating things to have trouble with but it goes hand in hand with the search for a good tone.

 

[Cerulean]

I got a GT-6 but I just suck at tweaking knobs so I only use pre-set effects

 

[L0bster]

I asked Anders this very same question a while ago when I was thinking of buying a used GT-3. Nowadays it follows me around n every gig, and I always plug it into the EFX-return, meaning I won't have ot worry about all the knobs on the amp. It's a very nice way to get the right tone on every gig, plus the possibillity to use any effect I like.

When it comes to these kindo' multipedals it's all about tweaking. Opeth also use the built in GT-distortion, as well as Dan Swanö.

I haven't been trying out the GT-8 yet, but GT-6 definatelly kick-ass, so I guess I'll go through some kind of update when I got the money needed.

 

[For My Sweetheart the Drunk]

I know, it sounds so much better now that I've plugged in through the EFX-return -- the preamps actually sound good now. If I may ask a final question about your sound ( I don't want to come off sounding like a musician with no individuality in terms of sound), what clean preamps do you use predominately?

 

[Blakkheim]

I know, it sounds so much better now that I've plugged in through the EFX-return -- the preamps actually sound good now. If I may ask a final question about your sound ( I don't want to come off sounding like a musician with no individuality in terms of sound), what clean preamps do you use predominately?

contrary to the presets with distortions, i think there are actually a few really nice presets with cleans and would advice you to take the one u like the most to fit yer playing/style and copy the preset to a user setting and tweak it based on the original settings. its a great shortcut to a good sound without starting from scratch. i use different preamps for different types of playing or sound (like full chords or picked notes, pickup switching etc), but the JC-120 is used the most.

damn, i fukkin love my GT-3... what a good buddy he's been...

 

[Cerulean]

God damn I can't get my distortion to sound decent

Also, I wasn't able to recreate the sound used during the clean parts for Dispossession, and as our drummer is too perfectionistic he doesn't wanna play it anymore

 

[Blakkheim]

everythin u hear on kata albums (exception: rhythm guitar distortion) and live was done thru that GT-3 device... it's all in there... fukk around with it til no end!

 

[For My Sweetheart the Drunk]

everythin u hear on kata albums (exception: rhythm guitar distortion) and live was done thru that GT-3 device... it's all in there... fukk around with it til no end!

Watching the live dvd was the deciding factor in purchasing the GT-3. I was like "wow, they even use it live, and what a great sound they get". But of course, 99.9 percent of it is due to what's in the fingers......All hail the GT-3!

 

[Cerulean]

Is there anyone here who has a GT6 and made a good distortion sound who could tell exactly what his settings are??? I'd appreciate it very much!!
Right now I use a slightly altered Metal Zone preset, but it doesn't sound 100% right.
And what about leads? I use the Metal Lead preset but that sounds awefully thin

 

[jptk]

Is there anyone here who has a GT6 and made a good distortion sound who could tell exactly what his settings are??? I'd appreciate it very much!!
Right now I use a slightly altered Metal Zone preset, but it doesn't sound 100% right.
And what about leads? I use the Metal Lead preset but that sounds awefully thin

What other equipment do you use, guitar? amp?

 

[Cerulean]

I have a Hughes & Kettner Vortex half stack amp.
My guitars:
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Epiphone Goth Explorer
Epiphone Flying V

BTW I don't like my amp's distortion, I even prefer the Metal Zone presets then.

 

[Mellon]

I must say Katatonia are actually the band that offer the best artistic proposal of the latest 5 years. They are actually my favourite band after The Cure. I play guitar and sing in a band and I use a Gibson les paul voodoo with a boss ME50 running into the effect loop of a peavey 5150II. Ok now, I used soooo many amps in my life, and they was great. My distortion is on the 5150II anyway, that's the tone. I wouldn't be able to use a digital distortion anymore. I saw Katatonia live 2 times and I saw them using a custom valve head...it is a matamp isn't it? Great thing anyway.

Cerulean: Please throw away that Boss metal zone, is the crappiest distortion pedal ever made. If u want to keep on a pedal distortion give a chance and a try to a turbo RAT or a marshall guv noir. Also a big muff will work great (expecially for the tonight's decision tone) I must also say to try an EQ with'em, (i suggest Danelectro fish n' chips) it will completely change ur tone. I red once stephen carpenter (deftones guitarrist) say: "It's not my preamp or my distortion to made my tone, is all on the EQ, that's what I use for create my different tones".
And believe me it's true.

Bye

Mellon

 

[Cerulean]

Thanks but MetalZone is not the "crappiest distortion pedal ever made".

 

[Mellon]

mh i think it is. mostly there is no one who has a point on guitars that likes metal zone.
it's just tastes anyway. Go here: www.guitargeek.com they will help u find what u want.