Members niceguy Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 I self-produce all of my band's work, and that means recording my electric guitar at home. I play a Les Paul, Tele, and Strat into a stock Crate V50 tube amp, miked with SM57. I'm quite pleased with my clean tones. However, I've never been enthused with my distortions. Here are all the distortion tones I'm getting: 1. Overdrive channel on amp, gain cranked. Gives a pretty nice crunch. 2. MI Audio Crunch Box into clean channel. Honestly, I'm not thrilled---sounds very two-dimensional. 3. MI Audio Blues OD into clean channel, with fuzz mode engaged. FANTASTIC tone! That's pretty much it. Now, I'm considering: 1. Getting a low-wattage amp head and running it through the 12" speaker of my V50 (such as Vox ACTVH, Lil Night Train, Kustom Defender or Killer Ant). This way, I can crank up for authentic tube drive without disturbing the neighbors. 2. Getting a Tech 21 Character Series preamp (perhaps the Oxford Orange clone?) and going direct into my interface. 3. Shooting you. But seriously, I want a good variety of distortions: low crunch, medium crunch, 80s crunch, all the way into heavy distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 a little rambling.... Do you have an EQ pedal? Running an EQ pedal with an OD can change the OD tone considerably, try it both before and after the OD pedal. Stacking OD pedals is another option. Play around with order and levels of your gain stages and any EQ available on each pedal and you'll see what I mean. Even just using one as a clean-ish boost before another can make a difference. You could also get more OD pedals, another amp. I also like tracking with at least two amps because there you'll find the most change in character and you'll have less issues with clogging up sonic space with things that sound same-y. Or, run your amp into a speaker cab with different speakers. If the speakers are different enough response wise from those in your combo it's almost like using a different amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jarick Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 I'd check out the Sansamp stuff as well as a couple other modelers, including the Fender Mustang. That works great for amp/speaker modeling direct IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members -TJ- Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 Try recording or layering multiple tracks with less gain than you usually use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mout Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 I think your answer lies in your mixing software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 Try recording or layering multiple tracks with less gain than you usually use. Always a good tip. It will actually sound bigger that way, and have more character. In the end that means the nuances btw the tools you have will stand out more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poltergeist Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 do you play loud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mout Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 Also, something that is very used is recording the same parts with different settings, so the two sounds complement each other. One most perfect examples of that is Malcolm and Angus Young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 Also, something that is very used is recording the same parts with different settings, so the two sounds complement each other.One most perfect examples of that is Malcolm and Angus Young. They have also been know to slow the bass and drum tracks down for recording the guitar tracks and then speeding the guitar playback up to the correct tempo. You get all the extra clarity and harmonics of the slower playing squeezed in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members niceguy Posted March 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 Lots of good ideas here. I'm good about mixing and layering guitars properly--some passages have one guitar, other passages have many more guitars (over 9). I filter each guitar with the proper EQ, so nothing ever sounds muddy. But still, I suppose it's more of a volume issue. I like to record my tube amp pretty loud, and 50 watts is just earth shattering. Now, I'm leaning towards getting a low-wattage head and picking up a few more distortion pedals (ZVex and Devi Ever stuff) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poltergeist Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 that's not what i meant. the louder you play, the better and richer the distortion should sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members niceguy Posted March 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 that's not what i meant.the louder you play, the better and richer the distortion should sound. Quite aware of that fact. But I live in an apartment building, so shaking the walls with SPL isn't a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 Consider an isolation cab and use whatever amp and volume you want. Jet City $329 Randal $380 Demeter $850 Uploaded with ImageShack.us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted March 16, 2011 Members Share Posted March 16, 2011 Try re-amping. That way, if you get a good take, you can play around with tone all you want later, with pedals, different amps/settings etc. Make yourself an iso-room or booth that you can stick your amp in and crank that bitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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