Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

[guitarSQUIRELL]

I have a BossŪ DS-1 Distortion pedal and the DD-3 Delay pedal. I'm trying to make this combo sound amazing. I'm not used to individual pedals since I have used mostly floor processors since I started playing. I'm running through a Randall RX-120 Head and 4-12 cab. Any help on the settings for both is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

Fiddle with the knobs until you find something you like.

[guitarSQUIRELL]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

I have tried and it's tough since I'm used to having all those amp models and presets already pre-programmed in a processor.

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

I have tried and it's tough since I'm used to having all those amp models and presets already pre-programmed in a processor.

I have a POD and I have no idea what your talking about preprogrammed. I had to program all my patches and tones, and it was a pain. Just put everything at 12 o clock and see how it is, then use each knob to figure out what they do to the tone and then determine what you like and what you don't. It's how we all have/ had to do it.

[Snake Aces]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

Scoop the mids!! I am only kidding of course. Like the Kid pointed out, it's always a good idea to set everything at halfway up and begin making your adjustments from there on any kind of equipment.

[dd12939]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

The other question I have is - do you need the DS-1 on top of the Randall's dirty channel? Or are you just wanting to use it with the clean channel as a different color?

[GuitarStv]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

I like setting the DS-1 as a slightly dirty booster. Volume up high with a little gain, and the tone rolled slightly off (ds1 cuts bass, by rolling off the tone you can use the pedal as a mid boost). This pushes your tube amp a little harder and usually sounds nice as a lead boost.

[guitarSQUIRELL]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

I like setting the DS-1 as a slightly dirty booster. Volume up high with a little gain, and the tone rolled slightly off (ds1 cuts bass, by rolling off the tone you can use the pedal as a mid boost). This pushes your tube amp a little harder and usually sounds nice as a lead boost.

So your saying you're using it kind of like a pickup booster by using those settings?

[St_Genesius]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

The Randall RX120 isn't a tube head, though.

[guitarSQUIRELL]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

The Randall RX120 isn't a tube head, though.

Correct.

[GuitarStv]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

So your saying you're using it kind of like a pickup booster by using those settings?

It gives you one more, like turning your amps knobs up to 11.



If you're not running a tube amp, I have no idea if this setting would still work.

[Nacho8807]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

I hate to be this guy, but you probably wont be able to make that gear sound "amazing". But you should be able to attain "pretty good".

First recognize what you want to change about your tone. I'm not sure how you plan to run the Randall, but it sounds like a low to mid-gain crunch is the best way to go for a base tone. I'm assuming you'd rather not use the dirty channel of the amp, and I wouldn't recommend running the distortion on top of it. However you can get a slight breakup, start there.

I'd use the DS-1 as others have said, and just push the amp a bit using a low gain setting, and the output at unity. Tweak tone to taste.

Try something like: Gain 9:00, Level 11:00, Tone 1:00

For the delay, I'd stick to a short, subtle one or two repeat echo if you want it on all the time. Something like the way EVH used his EP3. Keep the Level and Feedback low, and the Delay between around 800 milliseconds.

I'm not saying these will be perfect settings, maybe you won't like it at all. But it should be an ok starting point. Good luck!

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

I mean, when I bought pedals, I never bought something that I couldn't get a good tone out of, so if you're not doing it with this gear, trade in and trade up.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

ditch the pedals for a few weeks and see what you can coax out of the two channels on your amp. See if you can't find a good clean tone and a good crunch tone. Don't forget that on either channel, you can use your volume on the guitar to roll back and get a quieter and slightly less present rhythm tone, then wind back up to 10 for a cutting lead sound.
After a couple of weeks of playing, listenign and fine tuning, if you really feel the need, add the ds-1. Set the gain at zero and set the volume and tone for as close to unity as you can, then dial in the gain a little at a time, depending on how far you want to get into that "leap off the cliff" screaming lead territory.
After you get comfy with all those sounds, place you delay in the fx loop of the amp, because placing it before the dirty preamp will create a godawful mess.

[hydro]

Re: Guitar Pedal settings/HELP

A friend of mine suggests that the best use of a DS-1 is for target practice. I used to have one and to be brutally honest it's one of the worst sounding distortion pedals ever made (some people will disagree of course). A decent tube screamer like a Maxxon or Ibanez TS-9 will give you the warm tone you want. For heavier sounds I will defer to others who know more on the pedal front, I generally use amp gain for my heavy stuff. I've used a MXR Dist. III for this purpose but I am sure there are better pedals out there.