Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

[LLL]

It seems that with the butt-load plethora of OD and Distortion boxes available (and damn, there's a ton), we've (gear businesses and players) forgotten that amps are capable of producing overdrive and distortion on their own. :smack:

So, anyone here actually use their amp's (natural) distortion versus slapping an OD/Dist in front?

 

[Demanic]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I find I get the sound I'm looking for by going through a pedal into the cleanest sound that I can get from my clean channel. Though sometimes I like the gain channel on my Carvin X amp. But even then I find I have to use some additional boost to get what I'm looking for.
Of course, finances prevent me from getting my hands on a higher dollar amp whose gain might be just fine by itself.

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[mwalluk]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

i prefer amps natural od vs pedals

 

[some_dude]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

These are my two favourite distortion pedals.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

yep for sure. To go a step further, where possible i like to get the power section cooking rather than just buzzing the preamp.
Just did a live recording using a 5e3 and no pedals.
Done many gigs using a JTM style amp (admittedly with a master volume) and no pedals.
Recorded a whole album not using any pedals using (believe it or not) a non master 1969 twin reverb as the main tone for dirty guitars. I used a bunch of other amps too squeezed to within an inch of their lives. Gotta say, that twin even isolated in a soundproof room could make the walls shake when it was really roaring.
I actually hate pedals compared to amp tones, but they are often a necessary evil for a lot of gigs and their inherent volume restrictions etc.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

Yes. Although 50% of the time I have a treble booster, but even then I don't use it for gain - I'll set it to unity and use it as a tool to shift the EQ range when needed. If I ever end up in a situation where I'm not allowed anything but a guitar and an amp, I wouldn't panic. I may even actually prefer it.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I've got tons of dirt pedals, and I use them all the time. I mostly run them into clean amps that don't have great distortion of their own.

An exception: H&K Tubemeister 18, which doesn't take pedals well but has a great distortion that I love for metal and shred. It's Marshall-esque but not exactly like any Marshall I've ever tried. But it will give me a nice tone for Rust in Peace.

 

[Archer250]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I prefer amp distortion, but for convenience's sake, I get all my dirt from pedals live.

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[Demanic]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I've discovered that I don't really like power tube distortion much for the type of metal I play. It makes the bottom just too flubby.
Now, if I were trying to cop a Neil Young "Live Rust" sound, it would be a different story.

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[Empty Pockets]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

A cranked, kinda dirty amp is my core tone and i add pedals for spice.

 

[NjuiMusic]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

hmm. I personally don't have a preference, I use whatever sounds better and 9/10 times that's amp gain. For anything in around E standard to Drop Db I can usually get away with just using my Mesa with no boost but as soon as I grab my 7 string or 8 string I put an overdrive pedal but not for producing gain, I use it to tighten the amps gain so that it's not just a pile of mud.

For my Marshall I use an overdrive pretty much all the time to get that early Metallica tone but mainly just to get more low end and a tighter low end with a bit of drive going into it so that palm mutes are still a thing.

I don't think it really matters, companies make really really good distortion boxes now a days that you can put into a Fender Dual Reverb and get some convincing gain tones like the Seymour Duncan Palladium or the Blackstar tube Distortion pedals.

 

[hydro]

Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I used to do it that way, but the extra cables for channel switching and the hassles of matching channel levels, plus having to deal with unknown backline situations, led me to the "pedal platform" approach recently. Now, I turn a tube amp up just to where it starts to break up, then add boost, OD or distortion as needed. In theory, I can get close to the sound I want with any decent tube amp

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I still prefer the kind of setup I used in the early '70s. Classic-style amps from before the dreadful advent of master volume controls, set to the edge of breakup (meaning I need a few amps of different power levels). Then a boost/ mild overdrive to punch things up. From there, I take responsibility of how it sounds with my playing efforts.

Over the decades I've occasionally investigated the newer technologies and variations, but whenever I thought to myself "When/ how did I get my best sounds?", it was always from the early years. Just good core tone. If I want pretty, dreamy, ugly, menacing or anything else, I just try to play that way. It's kinda like playing naked, there's nowhere to hide.

It works for me, but I understand my old ways ain't for everyone.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I prefer Vox or Fender amps for their cleans that breakup nicely into overdrive. I need an amp to have good cleans. I prefer a good amps natural overdrive but I can make do with dirt pedals. But I have a cleaner tone than most do I have it a bit easier.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I actually hate pedals compared to amp tones, but they are often a necessary evil for a lot of gigs and their inherent volume restrictions etc.

This is about where I'm at. It took me a long time to appreciate dirt pedals and I'd still rather not use them, but the practicality of having a gain boost at my feet finally sank in with me.

 

[Matt42]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

Lately I've been pushing my amp to overdrive more on it's own and riding the volume knob to clean it up if I need to. I also like to set it just past the edge of break up and use my Archer to give it extra umpf when needed.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

yeah I generally use my amps gain as opposed to pedals, though I do use boosts and fuzzes

 

[Swampy]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

OR-15 - Amps dist (sometimes fuzzed or boosted)
Mesa Express - Amps dist ("")
Sunn Beta Lead - Currently on pedal search

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

I've never gotten a "great" distortion tone from pedals. Sure, some combinations worked OK but I've tried, bought and built many distortion pedals and yet, even with so many great pedals out there, nothing even comes close to using the amp's distortion. I'll use an overdrive if needed but the base dirt tone ALWAYS comes from the amp for me. If I buy or build an amp, it's gotta be an amp who's distortion I love (unless I'm buying/building for clean purposes only). There's something about the feel and dynamics of a good tube amp that I can't get from pedals.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Using Your Amp's (Natural) Distortion

When I had my Spawn, I only used the amp's distortion; and I only use the amp's distortion when I play my Mesa ... but my other amps are more crunch territory and sometimes require a boost or drive pedal. Depends on the circumstances, really.