Guitar effects

Effigen

member
Dec 29, 2005
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Toronto, Can.
what do you think the best guitar effects processor or distortion pedals are?
im interested because im looking into replacing my shit "Metal Zone".
 
I prefer amp-distortion to pedals, but my favorite effects pedal of all time is the Line6 DL4.
getdata


I recommend saving up for an amp that has a satisfying distortion rather than spending money on pedals.(unless of course you need something that has many different distortion tones)
 
An Absent Friend said:
Come on pedals are much much better than Amp distortions. And yeah save your money and get a Boss.

You obviously don't have much knowledge of how classic, landmark, and even quite common albums are recorded.

Pedal distortion is an afterthought. You want tube saturation, and you get that by running your amp until the speaker excursion in the cab is just right. That usually entails that your power section is cooking, and depending on how much distortion you want, your pre section too.

Pedals are used to tighten up the sound when hitting the front end of the amp more than anything else.

Cheap digital distortions sound fake and are given away instantly on recordings. An analogue distortion pedal won't get you anything without a decent amp to be run through.

It's an uphill battle, trying to shortcut your search for tone with pedals. Go for the basics.

Player > Guitar > Amp.

To address the initial question...

It depends what you want to use the pedal for. If you're going for recording, ditch the idea entirely. If you're just thinking about bedroom jamming, playing gigs etc. then something like a Boss ME-50 or GT-8 will do you fine. Wide array of sounds, which are all plastic and shit compared to their real-world equivalents, yet nonetheless usable in less demanding situations.
 
Well , anyway I think pedals role in distortion is a lot bigger than role of amp. And I am not talking a about cheap pedals. For example my friend has Boss GT-6 and I have a Laney amp. And a good one , the pedals distortion is a lot better.
 
Probably yes , but admit that pedals are seriously important. Especially when aiming a nice distortion.

Maybe its just for me , I don't know. I love the harsh distortions of my friends GT-6.
 
They're not though, that's the thing. Talk to people who own high-end tube amplifiers. Usually they'll have an EQ pedal or some sort of pedal boost to hit the front end more efficiently, but that's where it ends. The pedal's effect on professional high-gain sounds is quite usually minimal.

When you come to jamming in a bedroom through a crappy combo amp, of course a GT-6 is going to sound good. I'm talking in refference to high end distorted tones.
 
Moonlapse said:
They're not though, that's the thing. Talk to people who own high-end tube amplifiers. Usually they'll have an EQ pedal or some sort of pedal boost to hit the front end more efficiently, but that's where it ends. The pedal's effect on professional high-gain sounds is quite usually minimal.

When you come to jamming in a bedroom through a crappy combo amp, of course a GT-6 is going to sound good. I'm talking in refference to high end distorted tones.


Yes :D It sounds good better on Laney. And Its not a high-end tube amp.
 
if you want the best of both worlds, (amp and pedal dist.) buy yourself a nice overdrive pedal. i run one with the gain on about 3, but the volume up pretty high. it brings out the monster in the preamp. however, the pedal that i have is the ibanez tubescreamer TS-9...which sucks absolute ass...unless you want your amp to sound like a duck. i have played the TS-808 which pretty is smooth and clear, but hard to come by. there are 808 mod chips on ebay that go for around 10-20 bucks.
 
JoeVice said:
however, the pedal that i have is the ibanez tubescreamer TS-9...which sucks absolute ass...unless you want your amp to sound like a duck.

What's your problem with ducks??! :erk:
 
Opethian666 said:
What's your problem with ducks??! :erk:

i have nothing against ducks. it was a fucking joke!!! jesus :rolleyes:

but, really...the ts-9 thickened things up at low volumes but turned my amp into a duck when i cranked it...a very annoying duck, talking through a loudspeaker. i suppose combined with a talk box, the ts-9 could be dubbed the duck-box mod.