Your guitar players distortion. How does it work with your sound?

[Ephminus]

I suggested to my guitar player that he should get himself a more modern smoother sounding distortion pedal.

He's playing a Fender Strat through an old Fender Blues Deville amp.
He kind of has a John Frusciante-Red Hot Chili Peppers sound.

He is willing to spend up to $400 on a new pedal and he prefers boutique gear.
He's been considering a hand made pedal that is also hand painted.
I don't want to mention what it is so I can get an unbiased opinion from you guys.

I play an SWR WorkingPro400 through an Ampeg SVT-410 HLF cabinet and I would love for him to find a distortion that compliments my sound.

What kind of distortion pedal does your guitar player use and how does it mesh with your bass sound?

[xshawnxearthx]

out of the 4 guitar players i'm in bands with, only one uses a rat. the rest just turn the gain up!

[bassman03]

One uses the overdrive chanel on his amp - a smooth and a rougher setting, and the other uses 3 dirt pedeals. a Boss Blues Driver, a DS-1, and an old DOD pedal, mixes it all together with a digitech reverb pedal and he's set. Sounds pretty good all together in our opinion.

[excane]

I was the one who had to sculpt my guitar players sound....didn't know what the hell he was doing when it came to tube amps, FX, etc. He's a hell of a player, just not very technically inclined.

I set him up with a board with a few pedals, (mostly Boss) and footswitches to his Marshall and my dual rec. I made sure his EQ wasn't treading in my territory

[bassman1185]

My guitarist uses a Les Paul copy from Agile through a Marshall JCM2000 halfstack, along with a Mesa F100 2x12 combo for some gigs. He'll occasionally kick on a Boss Super Overdrive for a solo/tapping boost. I would say his tone is a really nice midpoint between the thinner vintage tones and the overly boomy, scooped, "modern" tone. I think he sound really good, so I try to work around him for the most part. He doesn't scoop out his mids, which is great, and he doesn't boost his lows very much, so I have a good bit of sonic space to work with. I try to fill in the low range, and help accentuate the low-mids (we're a heavy band that plays in drop C tuning, so we ride a lot on low open chugs) while allowing him to take control on the higher range. Since we just have one guitarist at the moment, I have a bit more in the midrange than I might if we had two guitars, but for now we get a really nice thick tone together.

[RobertPaulson]

Ibanez Tubescreamer (ts-808 preferably)

/thread

[Nick Kay]

If I could go back and play with the last guy I played with who used a Strat into a Deville, I'd push the ZVex Box of Rock on him. It's the only thing I've ever heard that could turn a Fender combo into a roaring Marshall stack. The growl in the mids works really well in combination with jazz basses, too. Tightens up the low-end nicely, too, which can be problematic with Fender combos.

[rasthedoctor]

Originally Posted by RobertPaulson

Ibanez Tubescreamer (ts-808 preferably)

/thread

That was going to be my suggestion too. I LOVE it when my guitarist forgets his pedal (one big multi) at home and has to borrow my TS-808.

Edit: I should mention, of course, that it might be the exact opposite of the sound you're going for, I've just always been VERY happy to loan it to him in my band situation and the way he sits in when it's on.

[Jateca]

My guitar player used to use a Marshall Jackhammer, but only due to necessity for a solo boost. Now he's using the various distortions on his new Me-50

One of the best sounding pedals IMO, though, is the EHX English Muff'n. Guy I played with briefly had one and it sounded absolutely phenomenal.

[excane]

Originally Posted by RobertPaulson

Ibanez Tubescreamer (ts-808 preferably)

/thread

Agreed 100% How 'bout 2 of them?.... Modded for bass

I got my guitar player into the TS9 and TS808 so I bought a dual modded 808 for myself. It sounds amazing on guitar as well.

[18eranaRic]

i like the distortion master from maxon (DS-830 Distortion Master), one of the best i've ever heard. really locks in with rock bass as far as the over all tone. here's the link, there's some clips there too at the bottom of the page; http://www.maxonfx.com/Vintage_DS830.php
Hear how round the bottom end is? like I said, locks in great against your bass. looks like they're about $220.00, and sound like $400.

[kevteop]

My guitarist mostly plays clean with delay and pitch shifting as his main effects, but when he does use distortion it's overdrive from his Mesa amp.

But his basic tone is very bass-friendly, because he's also a very good bass player, and a decent producer, so he knows that he needs to leave sonic space for the bass to get the kind of sound we want. He's a great guy to know and I've known him since kindergarten. I am spoiled.

[Deluge Of Sound]

My guitarist has a really tight distortion sound (ala Tool's Adam Jones) that he augments with a Fulltone OCD.

Since he's all tight and rhythmic like, I get to be all fuzzy and messy, and it all works out.

[18eranaRic]

Originally Posted by kevteop

...but when he does use distortion it's overdrive from his Mesa amp.

mmmm, mesa yummo!

[Kenny Allyn]

Actually this was just a topic of discussion between me and my guitar player ...

He uses a Fulltone OCD and Fulltone Fulldrive in tandem works very well. I use a combination of EBS multi-comp,
Tech 21 VT Bass and a Roger Mayer Voodoo bass (a great Strat pedal BTW) we are both big on using
multiple pedals to "gain stack" for getting the right sound.

If it comes down to using one pedal the ultimate IMO is the Klon Centaur but we are talking $800.00 here




But in the real world I would go with the $150.00 wonder the Ibanez SD9 "Sonic Distortion"
it's the only guitar pedal I kept from my guitar only days. Now discontinued Maxon thankfully
still makes it as they did for Ibanez back in the day.



... My old SD9 has held it's own against many a boutique challenger

[RobertPaulson]

Originally Posted by excane

Need some more info before I have a gas attack...

[dnarock]

tell him to try a new head just caus its boutique gear dosent mean its always good try a peavey 6505+ or the cheeper Kustom quad 100 or 200 they have a great gain channel and I think the kustome goes for about $350

[Ephminus]

My guitar player ended up getting a ZVex - Box of Rock.

I am super impressed with it!

Anyone else have experience with these?