dumb distortion question

[audienceofone]

I just got my first distortion pedal, a Danelectro Fabtone, one of the original ones, not the new plastic ones. I got it cheap so it will be my first pedal effect to start with.

I know that a distortion pedal is basically it increases the volume because of the gain ( or something like that).

When I turn the pedal on, the volume gets way loud, so loud that when I l play at church I feel it will be too over the top. I have the volume set at 9 and the gain about the same.
so my questions are:
1. Am I doing something wrong?
2. What can I do to fix this?
3. Does it sound like I prefer an Overdrive rather than a dist. pedal?

Sorry in advance for such a newbie question

 

[Freaky Fender]

Why can't you just turn the volume down? or did you mean 9 o' clock as opposed to the knob going from 1 to 10?

 

[The Winkler]

Lower the volume.
Volume = how loud the effect is
Gain = how much effect is heard
You want the volume set so there's little change in volume when you press the pedal.

 

[audienceofone]

doh,
I left out part. sorry.
I have the volume at 9 o clock (should have said that better), because if I have it lower it cuts out completely. The gain is set to 9 o clock also.

 

[Freaky Fender]

doh,
I left out part. sorry.
I have the volume at 9 o clock (should have said that better), because if I have it lower it cuts out completely. The gain is set to 9 o clock also.

What's your EQ like? Do you have them up a lot or are they relatively low?

 

[audienceofone]

What's your EQ like? Do you have them up a lot or are they relatively low?

It has bass and trebble knobs. I had the bass pretty high and the trebble low. Not sure what my amp is set at.

 

[Pearl_jammin]

Yeah well cheaper pedals generally cut out the lows, my advice would be to look at your amp and boost the bass on the EQ.





My other piece of advice would be to not use distortion at church

 

[DbNBassist]

Erm, Fabtone is not a cheap pedal and the newer ones are still made out of metal.

 

[Pearl_jammin]

Sorry got it confused with the straight Fab pedal, my mistake!

Point still stands though, 90% of overdrive pedals will suck your low end, just compensate with EQ, and if you have the option, blend the overdriven pedal with the clean to keep the lows. Can be done with Boss LS-2 and others.

 

[Beav]

My other piece of advice would be to not use distortion at church

No shame in it. My band plays predominetly in churches and I use three gain stages for my distortion.

 

[bongomania]

90% of overdrive pedals will suck your low end, just compensate with EQ...

You cannot "put back" low end cut by a pedal just by turning up the bass on your amp EQ. All that does is boost the low mids, which can give the illusion of more lows, but it can also muddy the mix (depending on the mix) and it still leaves you with a mutilated signal.

The second suggestion, about using a clean blend loop device, is a really good way to handle it. Or, hand the offending pedal to a friend who can mod it for more bass- it's often a simple mod.

 

[audienceofone]

more information.
My daughter tried it with her electric guitar and amp and there was no change in volume.

I am running schecter Elite 5 > Fabtone > Fender Rumble 100.

Can anyone explain why that might be different?

I mean, I got a really large volume jump when I kicked in the pedal.

I will check what my EQ setting on the amp are.

 

[bongomania]

Different impedance relationships between the components of her rig and the components of yours?

 

[Sean S]

would an active onboard preamp be part of the problem? try turning down your bass's volume, perhaps

 

[niftydog]

Right, let your daughter set it up again, ensure it's still behaving itself, DON'T TOUCH ANY KNOBS! (eh hmm!) Then plug your bass in to that rig instead of her guitar. That should eliminate your bass as the cause.

Then, do the ol' switcheroo. Run her guitar and the offending pedal into your bass amp. This should, if bongo is right, produce the same unexpected volume boost problem. There could be something in the interaction between the pedal and your amplifier.

Just clarify for us what controls the Fabtone has.

Oh yeah, and is your amps input set to passive or active?

 

[RockFace]

so loud that when I l play at church I feel it will be too over the top.

distortion at church?

METAL.

haha

 

[Sean S]

distortion at church?

METAL.

haha

Hey, I had an octave, big muff, wah, chorus, and phaser going all at once a coupla weeks ago

 

[audienceofone]

I'll give that a try when I get home.

I have to check to see if I have th active or passive selected.

Yes distortion at church

I play for the "The Edge" service, so it is all pretty rocking music. Not your normal church music.

The Fabtone has Volume, Bass, Trebble, and FAB (gain)
I know I had the
Volume at 9 oclock,
Bass at about4 oclock
trebble at about 9 oclock
Fab at about 9 oclock

I do know that I have my bass volume all the way up, but I think the bass and trebble at noon.