Getting all your dirt from the amp....

What's Hot
2»

Comments

  • JezWynd said:
    Danny1969 said:

    They still haven't invented a pedal that sounds nice playing chords that contain more than root and fifths IMHO so for covering classic rock gigs doing hair metal I prefer amp dirt still 
    Have you tried the Boss DA-2 or any of the other recent Boss pedals that use 'multi dimensional processing'? They have a rep as keeping the strings defined even with heavy distortion.

    You can play jazz chords with the da2 and it won't sound that bad. 

    Other than the fact it's a jazz chord. But tonally I mean. Amazing pedal.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • professorbenprofessorben Frets: 5105
    Yep amp all the way, I've tried box dirt but tbh, nothing really compares to a wall of amp gain. 

    Having said that, I do use a TS 808 clone, but more as a tone shaping device and boost than a drive. 

    Drive on min
    Vol on max
    tone about 12'oclock
    " Why does it smell of bum?" Mrs Professorben.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 2reaction image Wisdom
  • NPPNPP Frets: 236
    dindude said:
    I gave up on amp dirt a good few years ago. Got tired of the mega clean / mega dirt that most still seem to chuck out, I think it's a very dated (I.e 80's) approach. Struggled to find a dirt channel that wasn't out and out compressed preamp gain, and too much of it.
    that used to piss me off when still playing in bands - sadly back in the 90s ... I had a two-channel Marshall and found that the best setting was to use the clean channel with the gain full up for crunch and the lead channel with the gain all the way down for bright cleans, plus a Tubescreamer for boost. That covered a lot of ground, from funk to Free. 

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • timmysofttimmysoft Frets: 1962
    My whole touring career i used pedals into a cleaner amp, apart from a few brief stints with multi channel amps. I found it much easier to dial in unique tones and if my rig failed, i knew that with my pedal drive i could get an approximation of my sound through most amps.

     Now i'm just recording and rehearsing with friends, i much prefer the amp drive side of things. It does help that now i have the Mesa Stiletto Ace, i have one of the best drive tones i've ever heard. I did try going back to pedal gain after i sold my first stiletto, but couldn't find anything that replicated the sound or the way the Mesa feels. The closest was probably the Bogner LaGrange, but the finish on that pedal was so awful i couldn't live with it.

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    Haven't used a pedal for dirt for over 30 years. I must be 'old school' - it feels like cheating to me....
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • DrBobDrBob Frets: 2998
    TTBZ said:
    I've always used amp gain since getting my Laney but have a few pedals from before which I've started messing about with again. I always have a love/hate thing with the Laney, mostly hate these days I think! My bands recording in a couple months and will probably use the amp slightly gritty and get the rest from a Rat as it's such a classic sound, hard to go wrong! 

    My thing with pedals is I almost never play clean so it feels wrong to use a pedal for all of it somehow. Probably more just me being snobby and thinking I need to do it "properly" though.
    Must confess I'm very much of a similar mind, rarely if ever actually use the clean channel on my amp...
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BidleyBidley Frets: 2912
    Most harder rock/metal players rely on the amp for gain tones.  

    Using pedals for gain tones seems to be more of a blues thing.  

    And a forum thing to an extent!
    This and what @professorben ; says.

    I get the loss of flexibility with just using your amp drive, but personally I only have use for clean, mid-gain/crunch, and hi-gain. I find most of the voicings you can get from pedals are much of a muchness. I can do everything I need with my amp, pickup selection and the volume knob (and I play metal! Get that!).

    Fuzz is a different story, of course!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • 57Deluxe57Deluxe Frets: 7329
    edited March 2017
    This concept is banded around glibly and many use it as a badge of office that 'They get all their dirt from the amp' suggesting that if you don't then you or your gear is not worthy.

    In truth it is so specific to circumstances and thus dependent on your guitar, style of playing and whether you're playing live or recording. I mean cheese knives are great for taking a slice of cheese off the cheese board, but would be useless at boning a joint. Use what's in your drawer!
    <Vintage BOSS Upgrades>
    __________________________________
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 7reaction image Wisdom
  • professorbenprofessorben Frets: 5105
    57Deluxe said:
    This concept in banded around glibly and many use it as a badge of office that 'They get all their dirt from the amp' suggesting that if you don't then you or your gear is not worthy.

    In truth it is so specific to circumstances and thus dependent on your guitar, style of playing and whether your playing live or recording. I mean cheese knives are great for taking a slice of cheese off the cheese board, but would be useless at boning a joint. Use what's in your drawer!
    Wis. Very well put sir. 
    " Why does it smell of bum?" Mrs Professorben.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • JayGeeJayGee Frets: 1254
    I get all of my dirt from the amp except for when I don't :-)

    To expand on that my main "me" dirty sound for about 90% of my bands current set is the crunch channel of a Blackstar Series 1, about 5% is OD1, and the other 5% is a Joyo Vintage Overdrive. Horses for courses, most of the time my amp's the right tool for my job but if a pedal works better for a particular song or in a particular context then I'm not going to get all snobby about it...
    Don't ask me, I just play the damned thing...
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • TwinfanTwinfan Frets: 1625
    I've never found a pedal I enjoy playing through all the time, so it's amp gain for me every time.  I'm just not a pedal guy.

    It's a very personal thing and one way isn't better than another.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • BeexterBeexter Frets: 597
    edited March 2017
    I think the question of amp dirt vs pedals also has a lot to do with the type of music you play. As with most things,  I tend to go in cycles. I started out with pedal dirt through a clean amp. Seems to work pretty well for Mr Gilmour....
    When I got my Orange Rocker head, it seemed ridiculous not to use amp dirt, so amp dirt it was. I do still keep a fuzz on my board together with a Barber Gain Changer for some different flavours. My Koko boost is what I usually use to give the amp a kick in the nuts.

    Having recently acquired an AX8, most of my gain tones are got from amp models alone without any modelled dirt pedals so my approach in modelling world also seems to be amp dirt. 

    I think pedal dirt into a clean amp gives the most flexibility but my goodness, that Orange sounds good..... 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • dindudedindude Frets: 8534
    57Deluxe said:
    This concept in banded around glibly and many use it as a badge of office that 'They get all their dirt from the amp' suggesting that if you don't then you or your gear is not worthy.

    Also, there's often an intimation that's it's somehow more authentic to get dirt from the amp, but unless you are cranking a Plexi to the max to generate power amp drive, then the legacy of sticking a solid state device into the front of a valve amp pre-dates 2-channel pre-amp gained amps by double-digit years.

    But agree with the principle it's whatever works for you, if I was into more gain, then I'd almost certainly use amp drive.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    Im amp gain only and have been for about 20 years. (apart from a couple of specific patches where the switching requirements are weird..(specifically loud bright clean with delay trails to "shit tone") so for that I switch in an amp sim and EQ and remain on the amps clean channel.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    dindude said:

    Also, there's often an intimation that's it's somehow more authentic to get dirt from the amp, but unless you are cranking a Plexi to the max to generate power amp drive, then the legacy of sticking a solid state device into the front of a valve amp pre-dates 2-channel pre-amp gained amps by double-digit years.
    This. All the great classic rock distortion sounds that are dirtier than a non-MV amp turned up to the max involve a solid-state box of some sort, even if it's something that sits on top of the amp, or a modified tape recorder or some other DIY approach rather than a 'pedal'. 'Amp gain' as a concept only arrived with the first Mesa-Boogies, and even those are only medium gain by modern standards.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • professorbenprofessorben Frets: 5105
    57Deluxe said:
    This concept in banded around glibly and many use it as a badge of office that 'They get all their dirt from the amp' suggesting that if you don't then you or your gear is not worthy.

    In truth it is so specific to circumstances and thus dependent on your guitar, style of playing and whether your playing live or recording. I mean cheese knives are great for taking a slice of cheese off the cheese board, but would be useless at boning a joint. Use what's in your drawer!
    Wis. Very well put sir. 
    " Why does it smell of bum?" Mrs Professorben.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.