"Shred" pedal? "Black Star" tone.

Matt_McG

The Yngwie discussion ongoing has reminded me, that I'm on the lookout for a pedal that does something of that kind of tone.

I'm thinking a high gain, fairly saturated but quite smooth but not overly dark pedal that sort of covers Yngwie's "Black Star" tone (which isn't fizzy or thin). To sit in front of a clean amp, not to boost an already driven amp.

Suggestions?

I'm already covered for everything from edge-of-break up jazzy/bluesy tones, through Stones and AC/DC type sounds, but I don't have anything that really nails that sort of sound.

Matt

ThePrettyDamned

Zoom ultra metal or digitech hardwire metal. 

If neither of those hit it, try the blackstar ht metal or ht dual. 

Of course, there is no substitute for clean, precise picking and volume combined with a strat... 

kennedydream1980

Blackstar ht dual

Matt_McG

My picking is OK. When I work on that stuff (which I often don't) it's fine. If I stop, it atrophies a bit. 

But my 'tone quest' recently has been very focused on other things, and the pedal choices I have are really not appropriate for that kind of music.

I hadn't really thought about Blackstar (I haven't really enjoyed their amps when I've used them) but that might be a good shout. Ditto on the Hardwire (I like the Hardwire range anyway).

bingefeller

Blackstar was most likely recorded with Yngwie's usual set up of his DOD 250 overdrive into a loud Marshall stack.  The only way you're going to get that kind of tone with a clean amp is by layering a few different pedals.

The Yngwie Malmsteen Overdrive is a good place to start.  It's made by Fender and costs a mere £61 GBP on Thomann.  I think I got mine from Amazon a while back for around the same price.

One word of warning - Yngwie runs his signature overdrive with the volume and gain control levels up full and this pedal is noisy as hell, which is why he always has a noisegate after it.  

You could run into your clean amp, but you would need to boost the Yngwie sig overdrive with something else to get the compression.  His tone on Blackstar is not as distorted or overdriven as it may appear and neither the DOD nor the YMO have boatloads of gain.  

Just keep in mind what I said about the noise gate.  

Matt_McG

The primary purpose here is to get into the right ballpark for practice, so distortion that's in the right kind of tonal zone is fine. Layering also OK, I have several low-to-mid gain pedals, and clean boost, which could be chained with a higher gain pedal. 

What about the DOD Gunslinger, or similar? Maybe boosted with another pedal.

I know Yngwie's setup is the DOD 250 into Marshall, but that's not a realistic home solution for me . I do actually _have_ a 50W Plexi style head, too. But that's not child or neighbour friendly.

Telejester

The missing ingredient is volume that compresses the tubes , pushes the speakers, works the transformers and results in that sound , op you may get a '"likeness" to that sound with sticking a drive pedal in front of a clean amp but it will always be a poor imitation if you cant factor in high volume.

Dopesick

Amptweaker Tight Metal - or if that's too much, try the Tight Rock?

bingefeller

Tight Rock is another good suggestion, as per Dopesick.  

Matt_McG

bingefeller said:

One word of warning - Yngwie runs his signature overdrive with the volume and gain control levels up full and this pedal is noisy as hell, which is why he always has a noisegate after it.  

...

Just keep in mind what I said about the noise gate.  

Well, that was interesting. I do have one high gain pedal (a BSIAB2 that I've never really gelled with and which sits in a drawer). Boost it, crank that all the way up to horrible hissing levels, and roll some top end off on the guitar, and the sound isn't a million miles away.

Noisy, though, and a bit ragged.

fastonebaz

I use a fulltone plimsoul for that sound. Kind of like an overdrive and distortion in one pedal so you can get a saturated lead tone easy. 

ThePrettyDamned

Matt_McG said:

bingefeller said:

One word of warning - Yngwie runs his signature overdrive with the volume and gain control levels up full and this pedal is noisy as hell, which is why he always has a noisegate after it.  

...

Just keep in mind what I said about the noise gate.  

Well, that was interesting. I do have one high gain pedal (a BSIAB2 that I've never really gelled with and which sits in a drawer). Boost it, crank that all the way up to horrible hissing levels, and roll some top end off on the guitar, and the sound isn't a million miles away.

Noisy, though, and a bit ragged.

Try that with the gain down a bit, and boost that with a tubescreamer. 

You're after something smooth, but with bite - I think that would work better than any of my previous suggestions. 

For home practice, don't be afraid of having too much gain - when you're up loud, the gain can really come down to the sort of crunch levels he uses. 

bingefeller

Check this, Matt, a drunk Russian in his jim jams demoing the pedals Yngwie made famous:

Cabicular

bingefeller said:

Check this, Matt, a drunk Russian in his jim jams demoing the pedals Yngwie made famous:

With footage of cats fighting for some bizarre reason?

bingefeller

Cabicular said:

bingefeller said:

Check this, Matt, a drunk Russian in his jim jams demoing the pedals Yngwie made famous:

With footage of cats fighting for some bizarre reason?

Yeah, I'm guessing he was also drunk when he edited it.