Members MrSandMan Posted August 22, 2007 Members Share Posted August 22, 2007 I see people respond with pictures of bees in a glass jar when someone posts metal sound clips. What is the 'ideal' distortion for metal? All distortion is 'Clipping' anyhow... even the best metal amps have SS components creating clipping, aka Distortion. Each amp has it's own characteristics... like 5150 is tight and grainy, XXX is Dark grainy borderline fizzy (but can be dialed in differently) F-50s are bright and fizzy or grainy... Rectos are Dark and fizzy with low end growl. XXL (SS) are kinda in between XXX and 5150 as far as fizzy/grainy goes. Marshall are thinner, midsy/british with crunchy/grainy. GH50L have the JCM800 with balls sound. Mark IV are crunchy with saturation... Not the 'ideal' rhythm metal amp, but it really excels in the leads. I know there are a lot of gear whores on HC who are consistently 'searching' for their 'perfect' tone. As I am one of them. However, I don't understand why some attack a diode clipping amplifier. I think the tone variation of distortion is far less complicated than we make it to be. So I guess my question is, what is the perfect distortion? Like most members here, I've tried ALOT of different high end amps. None was ever superior over the other... they all had pros and cons. My band mates were getting irritated with me, because I was showing up with a different amp for every practice. I had to dial in each amp to perfect with our mix. Taking time from our practice. I can ask all of them today, what was the best sounding setup... They'll respond with "All sounded good, none stood out over another" If I answered my own question, It'd be simple.... "The amp that feels, sounds, and plays best FOR YOU is the best amp". We can debate tone all day long.. but the most logical solution to are amp debate is "personal preference". ...and the guys who attack bees, grainy, and fizz are probably being bias from a HUGE number of other factors. 1) amature recording 2) just a guitar (I notice some people who judge sound clips can't look past a single guitar being recorded) i.e. they could hear a full band mix and think it's the ultimate tone... then hear the same settings on just the guitar mix and think 'horrible'. (that type of people irritate me! They have no clue that amps have to be dialed in differently for recording vs. bedroom playing) 3) poor dial in on the amp 4) 80% of tone come from the fingers, not the amp (and 98% of statistics are made up) Out of all the amps that I've owned... I liked the 5150 the least. Though it's seems to be a very popular amp on HC. The amp that I liked best is hard to say... because I can spend all day trying to decide which I liked the best. Too many to list. Right now my amp of choice is the HD147 and a 1988 RG100 ES with a Guyatone Metal Monster. I could go plug into my XXX or Pre-500 Mesa Recto and change my mind... then plug back into either SS amp and change my mind, yet again. A huge factor that should play into Distortion tone is 'versatility'. People in the audience isn't paying attention to "your" tone. Remember, 80% is in the fingers Flame on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSandMan Posted August 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 22, 2007 ooops, wrong forum. Please delete this thread. I moved it to the AMP forum. Sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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