High gain pedals

[agalamba]

I am thinking about buying a pedal for higher gain work, such as heavier lead passages and heavier songs... I checked out the Direct Drive SS by Barber and the Distortion Pro by Fulltone. Do you guys have suggestions on the higher gain land? Which one of these do you prefer? Thanks for your help.

[Offshore Angler]

agalamba, Welcome to the forum! Be sure to check into the introductions area!

Can you give us an example of a song with a sound you're sortof looking for. It would help steer you in the right direrction. Also, if know about your rig it will help.

OSA

[Franklin]

Welcome agalamba!! What kind of guitar amp are you using? I'm guessing it's not a high gain amp!! There are a lot of choices out there, what did you think of the Barber and the Distortion Pro?

[agalamba]

I am using a Fender American Standard Strat with Kinman Avn Traditional MK-II pickups on it (by the way they are awesome). My rig is pretty simple, I am currently using a Cry Baby, Barber Direct Drive, Small Clone Chorus and a Boss DD-2 digital delay. I am also about to buy a Peavey Classic 30, as I don´t have a decent amp yet. I only heard samples of the DD SS and the Distortion Pro. The sample for the Distortion Pro was a very low quality sound file, so I still haven´t formed an opinion about it. Although I thought the Direct Drive SS sounded a bit more "real".

Let me tell you a couple of high gain sounds I like. I know I am never going to get those sounds, but just so you have a reference. I like Eric Johnson´s high gain sound, I also love the higher gain sounds Robben Ford uses and also Mark Knoplfer´s sound on the later Dire Straits CD´s. ...

Well thanks for your help! I really can´t demo any of theses pedals since there are no big dealers here in town, so thanks for your help.

[Tele-Bob]

Those really aren't "hi gain" sounds you're referring too. When I hear "hi-gain" I'm thinking 80's metal, Korn, Tool, Nirvana and such.

You will easily get the type of gain sounds you listed above from the rig you described.

[agalamba]

Well, high gainess depend on the point of view. Since most people here seems to be into tamer sounds (from what I could read in other threads), I consider those to be high gain sounds. Anyway, I have a Mesa/Boogie I can use to cover the whole 80´s metal area etc... All I am asking is sugestions to pedals I can use to get those type of sounds (EJ, Ford, Scott Henderson) from a dead clean amp, I know my Direct Drive can´t deliver that.

[Kap'n]

If your direct drive won't get you in the right ballpark, don't expect the SS version to get you there. Same pedal with more tweakability.

[tenebrae]

A good place to seek reference points in "recreating" the sounds of the players you're interested in is to hit the gear pages in their respective forums. For example, try

http://ericjohnson.com/phpBB2/viewfo...4c9cbdcac19e0f

for discussions surrounding Eric Johnson'd amps and pedals. There are plenty of people out there trying to extract his sound down to the smallest nuance, pages like that (dedicated gear pages) might give you more specific information. If that works for you, hit the forums for some of the other players that you mention and see what's transpiring in the "gear" discussions there.

Cheers!

Tenebrae

[detuned]

Try a Visual Sounds Jekyl & Hyde.
Two levels of dirt, from Tubescreamer to cranked Marshall (or Mesa, depending on how you set the mids), & you can combine channels for maximum dirt.

Does it sound *just* like a cranked amp? No. No pedal will, IMO.
Close enough for me, tho'.

[Mr Fuzzy]

Check out the Hughes and Kettner Warp Factor Guitar Pedal
This may be too high gain for you but, I have gotten some cool lower gain sounds out of it. Only $50.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--HUKWFP

[Offshore Angler]

If you're buying the C30, it will have all the high gain sound you need on the drive channel. It's awesome for preamp overdrive.

[Offshore Angler]

Also, Eric Johson and the others you mention use a lot of post-mike effects.

[Franklin]

Good call Offshore Angler!
You can always add a good boost or OD pedal to go in front of the drive channel too to goose it a little more too -your direct drive may be perfect!

[Offshore Angler]

In the mean time:
TURN THE REVERB DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE AMP!

[Offshore Angler]

And on the C30, use the drive channel, boost off, and notch the mids. It will sound like a Fender/Tubscreamer on steriods.

[pc]

Notch the mids? You mean with an external EQ?

[Offshore Angler]

pc, the C30 has High, Mid, and Bass EQ controls. Just grab that chicken-head on the mid and drop her down to about 3 or 4 and boost the High and Bass to about 8 or 9.

That little C30 is a monster. Hard to believe Peavey made it!

OSA

[pc]

Oh--gotcha. "Notch the mids" is an industry term that means isolating a particular frequency with a graphic (or more correctly, parametric) EQ and then cutting that frequency with a very narrow "Q"--something a guitar amp tone control cannot do.

I thought maybe adding an EQ in the loop was another of your C30 secrets. :)

You're right about that amp though--I love the way it sounds. Everytime I play one I am inches from breaking out the plastic.

[Offshore Angler]

He he, I'll tell you another secret with that amp. Find an old horn from a PA speaker, connect it to the ext. cab jack and throw it in the bottom of the cab. Connect a Tele to the input jack and hang on!!!

[pc]

Yaow, that might kill a man.

Tell me more about putting a dummy plug in the ext cab jack--like tonal differences? More punch, more compression? Does it make it run hotter? I've never heard of that before, so I'm very interested!

(Sorry we've hijacked the high gain pedal thread into a Peavey C-30 discussion! ;))

[Offshore Angler]

pc, just google Steve Ahola and you'll get lot's of good data on the amp.

OSA

[wurlwynd]

I use a fulltone 69 into a soldano GTO pedal in a bypass loop. I turn them both on at the same switch, and it sounds awesome through my twin. (The "evil" one)

Either one by themselves I don't dig all that much. The soldano has some pretty awesome high gain sounds, though. You might want to check it out.

[Huckleberry]

Toadworks makes some good stuff.


www.virtualtoad.com

[Rickenjangle]

Eric J. uses a Chandler or BK Butler Tube Driver.

[Dale]

Rocktech Silver Dragon

[detuned]

Eric J. uses a Chandler or BK Butler Tube Driver.

Into a cranked Marshall...

The Tube Driver alone won't get you there, it's pretty low to mid gain-oriented.

I've got the lamp cord Chandler version.

If you check out the phtot of EJ's pedal board in the latest GP, you'll see that he's got it barely on:
Low EQ: 7 o'clock
High EQ: 7 o'clock
Gain: 8 to 9 o'clock

Heard it on the X y'all...

[thetallcoolone]

Hey OSA!
Got any neat little tricks, like you mentionned about the C-30, for the Fender Blues Junior?
(and don't be a smart and tell me to throw it out and get a real amp ;) )

[Tele-Bob]

Hey OSA!
Got any neat little tricks, like you mentionned about the C-30, for the Fender Blues Junior?
(and don't be a smart and tell me to throw it out and get a real amp ;) )

Uh, correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't a "smart " a contradiction of terms? An oxymoron if you will?

:rofl

[Offshore Angler]

Nope. Never really messed too much with the BJ.

Just play it with an attitude and practice in front of a mirror, and you'l be set.

[thetallcoolone]

T-B, I'm working with the available tools here. Sometimes the end result is not exactly on target.

OSA, thanks anyways.

[Tele-Bob]

LOL TC1!

jumbo shrimp

military intelligence

new Strat model

[Franklin]

Into a cranked Marshall...

The Tube Driver alone won't get you there, it's pretty low to mid gain-oriented.

I've got the lamp cord Chandler version.

If you check out the phtot of EJ's pedal board in the latest GP, you'll see that he's got it barely on:
Low EQ: 7 o'clock
High EQ: 7 o'clock
Gain: 8 to 9 o'clock

Heard it on the X y'all...

Yeah, he used it to push the amp over the edge.

My current distortion pedal is a Maxon SD9.

[Kap'n]

My current distortion pedal is a Maxon SD9.

I had a Ibanez SD-9 back in the day. Loved it to death. Then it started bleeding a touch of distorted sound through in bypass.

If I knew it could be fixed, I wouldn't have traded it away. I should probably buy another.

[thetallcoolone]

LOL TC1!

jumbo shrimp

military intelligence

new Strat model

Maybe I'm plagued with that "military intelligence".
I had to read your post quite a few times to realize what you were saying.
And still, I'm not too sure.

[Franklin]

I had a Ibanez SD-9 back in the day. Loved it to death. Then it started bleeding a touch of distorted sound through in bypass.

If I knew it could be fixed, I wouldn't have traded it away. I should probably buy another.

That's what the mjaxon pedal is, but with true bypass!

[Kap'n]

That's what the mjaxon pedal is, but with true bypass!

Well, that would have fixed my problem....

I think it was a leaky coupling cap or something. Apparently it's fairly common in 9 series pedal.

[Dale]

I still think a Silver Dragon, Tonebone, or Mesa V-Twin are the best of the bunch.

[djinn1973]

BTT
Looking for a ($100) high gain for an AC15CC, thoughts?

[Rickenjangle]

Wow, Djinn, you have revived an old thread! What tipped me off was seeing Tele-Bob's name on here...

You know what I use for high gain for my AC15? A TS9 set for low gain, volume boost, into a Super Overdrive set for more hair and equal volume.

I've got loads of overdrives, and a little Big Muff, but these 2 pedals help me cover the most territory: I get clean, light overdrive, heavier overdrive, and and over-the-top sustain using these 2 pedals in various combinations of on/off.

And the best thing is, they can be had cheap on the used market.

(psst! I'll tell you a secret - I'm a pedal junkie but the crowds we play for never seem to notice my tone as much as my playing, anyway...so, I'll probably never plump for an expensive boutique overdrive.)

[djinn1973]

I am ashamed to admit... I never thought to stack two pedals. I think I'll fish out my DS-1 and see what I can come up with.
Thanks RJ!