Distressor question

[umkcprof]

Okay all. . . here's your chance to "save" a legend (not me. . . rather, the Distressor):

 

I bought a Distressor and now I'm trying to make it sound like a million bucks. Or, the very least, better than I sounded BEFORE I bought it!

 

I'm trying it out on a hot (distorted) electric guitar and I have to say (now don't stone me!) that, regardless of how I set the darn thing, I think it always sounds better UNdistressed (that is, in by-pass mode) rather than kicked in.

 

Would anyone kindly like to give me a few settings that they think sound lovely on the Distressor for a hot electric guitar sound? I have the Distressor model EL-8x with British mod and image link.

 

I also just purchased a Universal Audio 6176 preamp/compressor (arriving on Friday), so I'd love to know what settings folks out there might suggest as a good place to start on a male hard-rock lead vocal track. I'm tired of trying to reinvent the wheel.

 

Thanks much.

 

Steve

[Brittanylips]

For expert distressing, you may want to badger Fletcher.

 

-Peace, Love, and Brittanylips

[where02190]

Maybe the guitar doesn't need compressing?

[umkcprof]

Hi there, Where. . .

 

Well, to my ears, it sounds BETTER uncompressed, but I thought I could at least sharpen the bite slightly with the Distressor. But, alas, it definitely moved the other way. . . sharper before distressing. Which is distressing. :-(

 

Since you are such a fan of the beastie, can you send me one of your "classic" set-ups for use on an acoustic guitar?

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

[jwag]

I don't own a distressor, but from talking with engineers that I've worked with 'em and forums I've read, some of the most common uses for it are drum busses and vocals. I think there are many other ways to give elec. guitar grit if that's what your after (i.e. throwing a noisy pedal in the chain or even a different overdrive pedal). I think Fletcher and others with serious experience (ex. prosoundweb, gearslutz) would give you better advice. What kind of music are you trying to record?

 

-Jake

[Phil O'Keefe]

Distorted guitar, by its very nature, is already pretty compressed. I don't know that you'd want / need to slam it further Steve... it depends on what you're dealing with of course... I'd suggest trying a SLOWER attack setting if you're trying to get the note attacks to pop out more.

[FoxTick]

If it sounds better undistressed, then don't distress it.

 

If you want to just add harmonic distortion without compression: Select either distortion 2 or 3, turn brit mode on, turn attack to 10 and release to 0. (this insures that there will be no compression whatsoever) Increase gain until the '1%' light lights up, and the red light is barely active. Switch between distortion modes 2 and 3.

 

Mode 2 is supposed to simulate 'tube' distortion and 3 is supposed to simulate the sound of tape.

[TonyCrazyMan]

Either it works or it doesn't, it's that simple. The distressor is used for many different kinds of things but using it with the guitar to make the guitar much better sounding might be a little hard, that's because there are so many similar things that really sounds great too in terms of distortion so maybe you are too familiar with great sound. However, continue trying, you might still dial in something good. The Empirical Labs Distressor should be a good product, but both the distressor and fatso might be overrated when you compare the price with digital similarities in software. 3000 euro is a lot of money, so at least I am questioning if it's worth it.

 

But one thing I would try to do in your situation is to add an Ibanez tubescreamer pedal as well as the FATSO to it and run it through a good tube amp. When the ratios are right I think it could sound fat and great, because the warmth is being colored which should sound interesting. But sell it if you can't get it to sound the way you want. My best guess is that the FATSO would be more useful for guitar in audio recording than the Distressor.

 

I would buy a good tube amp instead of the distressor and save for a great mic. I think you are looking for something like a good Traynor tube amp. Check out this amp:

 

Traynor YCV80Q 410 Combo

 

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Traynor/YCV80Q_410_Combo-1.html

 

I have listened to this amp and I think it's great! When I compared it with the best sounding Marshalls and Fender amps I was really sure the Traynor was the amp I wanted to take me with me home. So buy that amp and save some more for a good mic and you will have a great sound together with a digital tape saturation.