Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

[spleenharvester]

I am a rhythm guitarist by nature. I play through a Vox Valvetronix VT40+ currently using onboard effects.

I just want a nice, solid, thick rhythm sound basically. I really don't know much about the kind of terms people assign to this kind of topic so bare with me. Don't play much lead; I'll be mainly on the neck pickup.

I'm also not entirely sure on the sound difference between OD and distortion. I know Distortion is a clipping effect and that's about it. Thing is, when I hear the word "Distortion", I think of pedals like the DS-1 and want to cry. So hopefully someone can clarify.

I play Nirvana, Foo Fighters, G'N'R, a bit of RHCP here and there. But not looking to pinpoint any particular sound, just... rhythm! Kinda like, the opening riff to The Offspring - Pretty Fly, that's on the right lines.

I'm selling some stuff and have no idea how much money I will be raising so suggestions across the budget board are all welcome, probably be most likely in the <£100 range though.

Guitar - I'm changing soon, currently use a Yamaha RGX121Z and hate how the wood sounds. Hopefully if all goes to plan I'll be getting an RG550M and moving my Slash Alnico II Pro into the neck, Hotrails in the middle and Tonerider Generator into the bridge of the basswood body.

One of my main complaints for my sound is it sounds shrill and quite frankly hurts your ears getting into the higher volumes. Would an EQ help this?

Only pedals I have tried aside from onboard are a Line 6 Pod (lol oh dear, though it sounds pretty great on cleans to be fair to it) and a DS-1 both stock and JCM modded (the mod improved it no end but still not for me).

Thankyou!

[Ball&Chain]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

So, you are wanting to front a Vox Valvetronix with an OD pedal?

An OD pedal is a light to meduim dirt pedal mainly meant to add a bit of dirt to a clean channel or push an already distorted dirty channel preamp even dirtier and generally work best with tube amps for that application.

Distortion pedals are usualy much higher in gain than OD pedals and run into a clean amp as the sole means of distortion. Of course there are no hard fast rules for either.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

That is what I'd like to do indeed, or a distortion pedal. It sounds more like the distortion is my thing then.

[jeremy]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

you cant get the sound you want out of the vt40+?

[Chickenwings]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

The reason you are looking for a good dirt pedal is because your ears have told you that you are not happy with the sound you are getting. Whats really happening is that your ears have discerned the limitations of your modelling amp. They are a great tool for practice etc and are a low fuss way of getting a heap of useable tones, but no amp can do all things and sound great. All that felxibility comes at a price i.e. Lots of sounds but no single killer sound. Trouble is...its very unlikely that a pedal can help you. Here's why:
The thing about all modelling amps is that they are amp simulators, and the way they operate means that they do not interact with pedals the way conventional amps do. As a result, using a pedal (lets say a tube screamer) will not give you the same efect as it woukd with a tube amp. Their input impedances are different, the way they distort is different, all the software algorythms are based around having a basic guitar input as opposed to a boosted or distorted one (as in the case of using a pedal).
While the VT gives plenty of useable tones for practice and some recording, no matter what pedal you use, you will never get that epic tone you are after in your head with a modelling amp - pedal or no pedal.
Keep your hundred pounds, and keep working with what you have until you can afford a really nice tube amp...the good thing is that you probably already have your favourite sims that you use on your vox, so that will give you an idea about what amp to save up for. Once you have that its worth talking pedals...and you might even find you dont need one. Tube amps are so organic and responsive youll be amazed what you can do with your fingers alone.
A cheap axe into a good amp beats a good axe into a cheap amp any day of the week. As an example, I'm sure second hand marshalls like a dsl will not be astronomically expensive in the UK. Something like that will give you the tone you crave and much more. Its also a pro piece of gear that you may never have to upgrade. They also have both clean and dirty channels, reverb and if you want to use pedals to increase you range of tones, then the sky is the limit...throw in an effects loop and you will have so much more tonal flexibility than what a VT can offer - and all the tones will be epic, not juts digital facsimiles of epic tones.
Another one to look at would be the Fender Hot ROd Deluxe....also offers clean and dirty tones (plus boost), reverb and an fx loop.
There are many more amps too. My advice is just to keep saving and the tonal rewards will be there.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

That's the thing - the VT40 has a Bypass mode which allows you to use it as a normal amp, so surely pedals can be used that way? I'm still absolutely beating myself up for not spending £80 extra and getting a used DSL401 but I guess we live and learn.

I'll probably trade up the VT40 for a DSL401 or similar if I get a job but if that's not the case then it looks like it's here to stay unfortunately.

I can live with its sound just that going into higher volumes it sounds ear piercingly shrill.

[~Vintage~]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

Run an EQ through your loop and see if you feel differently about your amp/pedals then. You should be able to make your tone exactly how you like if you can shape your base sound.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

MXR Custom Badass Distortion
Boss DS-1
Boss DS-2
Way Huge Fat Sandwich
Vox Saturator
MXR Distortion III

Any of those should be in your budget, easy to find and a good place to start.

[atreidesheir]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

I have the original Valvetronix tabletop unit. Similar brain. It takes pedal well.

On your vox go to the Soldano model. 7 oclock to 11oclock is on the gain is overdrive. 12 oclock to 5 oclock is distortion. The Fender models offer overdrive to about 2 oclock. the rest is distortion.

Mine is 8 years old and I still use for some things. Nice units. If I had one when I was a teenager, I would have been dangerous to the world.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

What's the Soldano model? Can't find anything about it on my amp

The MXR Distortion III sounds quite nice to me, reckon it'll mix well with this amp?

Also any suggestions for a cheapish EQ?

EDIT: The Distortion III seems to go for about £40 used, which I can easily recoup if I sell my Pocket Pod and modded DS1, so I may give it a try.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

I have to agree with Gibson 175. I owned a VT 120 for a short while a few years ago. Man was I happy to get rid of it. Just like you are experiencing, the tone was shrill/had no color/was cold and lifeless/couldn't even come close to the sound and feel of a tube amp. The funny thing is, you don't even know what you're missing till you get rid of it and get a reasonably decent tube amp. It is like night and day.

There are MANY inexpensive tube amps on the market that will blow away that VT even before you spend any time dialing it in to get its best tone.

Do your best with what you've got now and save up for a decent amp. You will be soooo glad you did.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

Reading this has given me some hope:

Sorry to say original Chinese speaker is crap. I replace mine with an old EV 10" that I had and the difference was spectacular. No ear stinging highs or flubby lows. You also need to be mindful of turning the bass setting too high. Past 1 o'clock may be too high on certain amp settings. I was ready to ditch my vt40+ until I made this change.

Anyone recommend a nice 10" speaker to get me by?

Don't feel as bad for not having gotten a JCM401 instead since I couldn't even go over my budget at that time anyway but it's still a pain in the ass. I might try find a load of stuff to sell and then see if I can do a p/ex with somebody.

[Ball&Chain]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

I wouldnt recommend upgrading the vox. You wont get that investment back. I also dont believe they have an effects loop. They have plenty of effects built in, including overdrive/distortion effects, so I dont see why it would need one.

Modelling amps are good for getting a nice fat tone at low volumes, but they dont translate as well into higher volumes. FOr the most part, tube amps are quite the opposite.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

Agh. It just annoys me considering I bought the amp little more than 3 months ago. Surely even if it's just something to get me by until I can afford something decent?

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Good rhythm distortion/OD pedal

Agh. It just annoys me considering I bought the amp little more than 3 months ago. Surely even if it's just something to get me by until I can afford something decent?

While I realize its probably not at all what you want to hear throwing stop gap gear at a problem in the long run will cost you more money and will make it only take longer until you can get decent gear. Especially if your income is limited you want to spend money only where you really want to.

I say dial in the best tone you can with what you got.. .then just play and not worry about it. Concentrate on learning and music while you save up some cash to get a better amp. You could run out and dump 50 bucks on a pedal that likely wont do what your after but thats just puts you 50 bucks farther away from getting a good amp.