Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

[LLL]

This is for (insert yiddish word for talk/banter: "shpil").

How many out there primarily use their amp's natural distortion (and not a stompbox) whenst playing live/recording?

Describe your rig.

===

My amp is a Marshall JTM45RI which I last modded to be similar to a late 60's plexi Superlead. Non-master-volume.

I have the volume anywhere between 8-9 for typical usage; which is distorted.

I "spice up" the amp's natural distortion with either/combination of...

- EQ
- EP-3 preamp
- AIWA 1011 preamp

...in front of the amp.

Not to mention I typically run a slaving configuration which by itself gives a little more gain.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I'm a big believer in finding the amp that sounds the way you like. Pedals are great and all but it's not me. I know they're useful to make your basic rig more versatile and all though but that's not what I need from my gear.

Orange Thunderverb 50
2203 I built
Mesa Rectoverb
Hiwatt DR503 I built
tweed Deluxe I built

With these I can get pretty much anywhere I want without any pedals. Maybe a boost or OD will be the most you'll see besides my footswitch.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I use my Traynor YCV40's gain channel as my only overdrive/distortion. I use a fuzz face for the occasional lead/heavy part, but less than 10% of the time for sure.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I use my single channel amps for whatever they do best, and I almost always play those at home. I can always count on the Bogner XTC to do the job of 3 amps live, and it definitely sounds better than a simpler amp with OD pedals.

I should sell off most of my OD/Dist pedals. I don't need them. I'd probably just keep the Klon Centaur, Barber LTD silver, and red and blue Bogner pedals.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I never use a distortion/overdrive pedal. All of my amps have enough distortion that I don't need any of them. I guess I'm kind of from the Eddie Van Halen school of amp using. I set my amps with the type of gain/distortion that I like and just usually stay with it. Mind you, all of my amps are channel switching amps, but the only time I switch to another channel is for cleans. EDIT: I take that back......I do use milder gain channels sometimes for my rhythms, and then click on higher gain channels for more distortion, but rarely. I just like to stay on one channel most of the time, and I don't need any distortion/overdrive pedals for that. I'm not a gigging musician anymore, but I do jam with friends a couple of times per month that I used to jam with in a cover band. So, that's pretty much my experience nowadays. We'll play Skynyrd, Zep, CCR, Cars, Cheap Trick, blah blah blah, but I still play all that with "my" tone which is probably way too distorted for that type of music, but it's still not an overly distorted tone, and it's my tone without a pedal. The only time I use a volume knob is after a song when I hit my whisky.

 

[Matt42]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

It depends on the amp. The last time I gigged one of these, I only used an OD pedal on two or three songs from our 45 song setlist. And, if I'd had a guitar with humbuckers with me that night, I wouldn't have needed even those. I just cranked the gain and rode the volume knob on my Tele all night. The only OD I used was my Soul Food on a couple songs to beef up the sound. With the way that amp responds to changes in pickups and volume knobs, humbuckers would have gotten me the tone I needed.

I'll be completely redoing my board after I buy that amp later on this summer, and I'm seriously considering no dirt for a while.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I suppose since I run my pedalboard straight to FOH, that would be a "No".

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

yeah i use my amp for crunch. its a jtm type amp with a master volume.
Last year i recorded a whole album using only various cranked amps to get the tone too. The primary amp was a twin reverb.

For live, i usually bring an overdrive pedal for leads tho. It just makes life easier getting the right sustain at the required volumes.

 

[Grenade]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I've been running my Bassman>Power Soak>Marshall 4x10 in stereo with my Epi SoCal 50>Marshall 4x12 with a Truetone clean boost for solos and a stereo chorus. Just got a TC Electronics Alter Ego V2. Hope it gets here before the long weekend is over.

 

[Archer250]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

Pedalboard through backline amps, so no.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

Describe your rig.

Les Paul -> Full-Drive 2 -> Mesa Amp* -> Recto 4x12

* Dual Recto or Mark V

Using an OD is a fairly new thing for me. I've owned many and experimented with them repeatedly over the years but never really liked them until recently. IMO, they just felt like sh*t to play through and I didn't lfeel they improved the sound coming out of the amp.

That all changed a little over a year ago when i stopped trying to boost or overdrive the amp. Instead I dialed back both the level and gain so the pedal acted as more of a tone shaper. Now I get a pop in the upper mids and a bit more compression without pushing an already high gain amp for more dirt.

It only became a staple within the last few months and I find myself using it more and more when soloing. The Mark V doesn't really need it, but it's nice to have as an alternate lead tone on the lower gain channels and it functions as a safety net at lower volumes where the SPL isn't providing the sustain. With the Recto it adds some much needed compression, upper mids and smoothness that amps grainy texture so I can actually get it to sing a little.

 

[Kac]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

maybe some day

 

[LLL]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I should sell off most of my OD/Dist pedals. I don't need them. I'd probably just keep the Klon Centaur, Barber LTD silver, and red and blue Bogner pedals.

That's what I did. I kept one for "what ifs" or "random jams" - a Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe; for use with a portable combo. But it's not part of my main rig.

 

[LLL]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

We'll play Skynyrd, Zep, CCR, Cars, Cheap Trick, blah blah blah,

Great selection there. The Cars are especially a blast to play along with/cover. Elliot's a master of the tasty solo.

 

[LLL]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

along the lines of tone shaping...

Interesting tidbit: If you take an MXR 6-band EQ (in front of amp) and push 800Hz up some, it tightens up the tone.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

My amp is a Marshall JTM45RI which I last modded to be similar to a late 60's plexi Superlead. Non-master-volume.

I have the volume anywhere between 8-9 for typical usage; which is distorted.

Holy crap. Do you use an attenuator?

I've been going the other direction, using a fat clean sound from the amp (fender or marshall style) then use a compressor, fuzz, OD and distortion to change the tone. We play covers so I need a variety of tones.

 

[LLL]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

Holy crap. Do you use an attenuator?

I either:

- slave (use hotplate as pure dummy load)
- stick the speaker in the bathroom, run a mic to it, close the door and put a pillow at the foot of the door. :naughty:

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

Ah, I understand. Lately I've been amazed what a Pinnacle and Fulldrive 2 are capable of. Light OD from the FD2 with an extra solo boost from the second footswitch, Pinnacle for heavier distortion (gain still less than half) then that light FD2 pushing it more for a thicker tone.

I used to use a Mesa or Splawn, both had clean, OD and either a boosted OD or high gain channel. I still like to use them but lately this other setup has been fun.

 

[Lampy H]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I stick with one tone for anything distortion. I don't think much of a variety of settings for different songs, even covers. Give me one good clean, and one great sound dialed in the way I like, and I'm set. And yes, I'm just running straight into the amp. Although I do want some pedals to try for different flavors when I want them, but certainly not for extra gain. I don't play lead, so that isn't an issue either.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: Primarily Using Your Amp's Natural Distortion

I have two OD's on my board that I occasionally use for some added flavor, or if I'm using a supplied back line it's easier to setup a clean channel and then use the ODs for my gain. But for the majority of the time I use the amps gain. I use either a Boogie MkV or a Marshall JCM 900 4500DR depending on my mood