Amp distortion vs Pedals...

[Pierre]

Now obviously there's the whole tube vs SS but let's try to stay away from it... For instance, a clean tube amp with loads of pedals for distortion. Would you lose dynamics, etc... compared to a real amp distortion? For some reason I have it stuck in my head that pedals = less good, and I have no idea why. I'm too damn snobbish. Anyway... Any of you guys here use pedals exclusively?
I was thinking of using my Laney strictly for the clean channel, get a footswitch to kick in the boost and get crunch and from there use a couple of distortion pedals for a more modern sound and that's when I got thinking of that.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

Even thought my Sound City sounds amazing when it's cranked and my tweed Super has got one of the best natural overdrive tones EVER I still almost always use a pedal of some kind...be it a boost, overdrive, distortion or fuzz. I like to have to option to have a different sound at my foot plus if you get the right boxes you can do a lot of the controling of them from your guitar still...it's not pure 100% tube tone but it works for me. You still get most (if not all) of the dynamics from the amp as well as the core tone but you can enhance it with the right pedal.

 

[Pierre]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I see what you mean man. I'm the kind of player to always leave a clean boost in front of any sound with Overdrive, or use it for a drive boost on a clean sound.

 

[Loserchief]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

i use 4 channel Engls, i don't need pedals in front of them. When set right i'll have bluesy crunch, classic hardrock/old school metal and death metal available without using any pedal(of course a footswitch is needed).

 

[some_dude]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I think it has alot to do with how you're using your pedals.

For instance, if you're using a dirt box like a MetalZone you can't really expect alot of the amps tone to shine through as the MZ is the primary sorce of the distortion.

On the other hand, if you're using some sort of boost pedal to push the tubes in your amp you can expect most of the amps tone to still come from the amp.

I don't think that using a pedal for overdrive kills the dynamics any more than turning the amp's gain up to the same level (if it's possible) that you'd get with the pedal.

That said, I do find that boosting with a pedal tends to put an emphasis on the midrange that makes the bottom end feel a little less full. I tend to avoid them for this reason.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

Now obviously there's the whole tube vs SS but let's try to stay away from it... For instance, a clean tube amp with loads of pedals for distortion. Would you lose dynamics, etc... compared to a real amp distortion? For some reason I have it stuck in my head that pedals = less good, and I have no idea why. I'm too damn snobbish. Anyway... Any of you guys here use pedals exclusively?
I was thinking of using my Laney strictly for the clean channel, get a footswitch to kick in the boost and get crunch and from there use a couple of distortion pedals for a more modern sound and that's when I got thinking of that.

a lot of times I'll use a FAB metal on a tube amp's clean or slightly dirty channel when I'm in a thrash mood. palm mutes sound really good to me. unfortunately, I don't do anything "exclusively" with guitar. i'm not a one-trick-pony player.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

i love the sound of amp distortion. everytime i hear a live recording when im using a pedal, i stop using them. they always sound a little fizzy on top. then the convience of not dragging two amps takes over, then i hear a recording and the cycle repeats itself

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

Amp boosted with a TS = heaven, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Reload in 5]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I think pedals sound better than amp. Of course I am using a twin tube classic into a peavey SS amp.

 

[Axl H]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I have a 4channel ENGL, so alot of my drive comes from the pre-amp, but I like to crank the master volume to add more drive, and then put a BD-2 as a booster in front of it, for solo boost.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

Depends on the amp. Depends on the pedal.

Better stuff sounds gooder. Mediocre stuff sounds so-so.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

If an amp is fully capable of everything on it's own, then plug straight in.
For everything else.....meet Mr. Klon

 

[jeremy]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

i havent found a pedal that can top turned up marshall or fender amp distortion.

if some one knows of something please let me know. tube screamers are ok and have their place but they are not anything like amp dirt.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I stick with using the amp for my tone.

I'd rather just put the $200-400 I'd spend on a pedal towards a better amp.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I always pushed my Marshall with my J&H Ultimate Overdrive, just made the sound more open. However, since getting the Duplexer from Rid, I'm using that almost exclusively.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

At this point of the game, my only valve amp is a single channel with no (read ZERO) gain/distorto channel, so for anything more than a very mild OD, i have to get in some out-side help !

And - no amp can give me the fuzz tone that i love so much, so, with that in mind, i will always have to use a fuzz-box for that very reason.

And not to mention delays . . .

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

Amp OD channel :smokin:

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I turn the over all gain to about 3/4 the way. My clean is pretty good for most applications and blues, my dirt channel is good for a thick, semi weak,classic rock type of tone and my lead channel is setup for heavy rock to high gain. Love my Mesa.

I dont think its easy to get good tones out of a distortion pedal. Joe Satrianis old tone sucked live IMO. Just listen to Live in San Francisco...

His distortion was thin, dull and had no definition. It sounded better when he used the wah because that helped tighten it up a bit.

 

[joelap]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I've gone back and forth between both. Loved the tone of my Sound City on 10 with a Rangemaster on 10... my absolute favorite tone I've ever gotten with any amp. However, forget playing clean. Then I ran the SS clean and used an SIB Varidrive, Line6 Distortion Modeler, Marshall Jackhammer, DS-1... etc. etc. etc. Thought I like Amp distortion much better, got a Peavey Ultra, then ditched it.

I think the reason I dont get along with pedals that much is because (I'll admit it) I have difficulty dialing in tone knobs on distortion boxes. I can never get a distortion tone I like and a clean tone I like at the same time. The search continues for a heavy gain box that'll let me do both. Just bought the parts to breadboard up a vintage-style RAT and a Colorsound Overdriver, hopefully one of these is able to do the job. I just have a hard time dialing in two EQ's if they arent independant... I'm hoping I can develop better ears so I can do this. Maybe I'm just playing the wrong pedals!

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: Amp distortion vs Pedals...

I always thought that if I needed a stomp box for distortion of any sort, I must have the wrong amp for my needs. But others seem to like the tone with boost, I figure a good amp stands on its own.