Punky Distortion?

EricTheWeary

Moving on from something I was wittering on about in another discussion:

just wondered if there was something that would give The Buzzcocks in a box, The Clash in a can, The Damned in a dirt box, The Exploited in effects, The Pistols in a pedal, Stiff Little Fingers in solder?

Wound up Marshallesque tone (hmm, I have something for that) or something fuzzier ( if so what? I haven't previously gotten on well with fuzzes although have been daydreaming about a mini fuzz face) or Something Else ( nah nah nah, nerr nerr nerr, nerr nerr nerr, ba ba bum bum)?

My new band/ jamming companions (as I can't see us gigging at this rate until about 2016) is fixed firmly in the 1970's so I'm not after anything modernistic and there is just a little scattering of punk covers in the set ( set! ha - optimistic list of ideas!).

Ta

monquixote

If you want aggressive Marshall then crunchbox. 

If you want nasty how about one of the old Dod pedals like the punkifier, or buzz box. 

ICBM

MXR Distortion+

impmann

Steve Jones used a Fender Silverface twin in the Pistols for the classic sounds - with a cheap fuzz/distortion box in front of it. The recent tour he used a Marshall and it sounded a bit... well, too "rounded" for the Pistols sound.

TBH, the best punk in a box tone is going to be something skuzzy, without too much bottom end (leave bottom end to the bass player) - so I'd say a RAT with the filter turned toward the spiker end will get you in the ball park. Although you might want a clanky cranked amp tone for some of the other stuff (think AC30 with kicked in speakers - or a Sessionette 75) And certainly works for me with my punk band (covering Pistols, Clash, SLF, Damned etc).

mike_l

I had a nice Punky sound from a Boss SD-2 on the lead setting, with everything set around 7. Might be a little "metal", but would do all those sounds mentioned quite easily.

EricTheWeary

@impmann - I saw the Pistols reunion thing on SkyArts and the big wall of Marshalls sounded fine but wasn't the classic sound for sure.

Never owned a RAT ( or one of the Mooer clones mebbe?) although my memory of trying one is that it was quite fuzzy so that may well be a thought.

The MXR's  seem to be cheap and cheerful, although I'd thought of them as more hair metal than punk?

mike_l

IIRC Steve Jones, recently has been using a Boss SD-1 into the front of a 50w Marshall amd 4X12 cab, with his Gibson LP custom.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Edit, I think he also used a flanger

EricTheWeary

Sold my SD-1. And then realised what a good  all round OD it was
X_X I had been after the Billy Duffy les paul into SD-1 into a Marshall stack kind of tone. I was just missing the les paul, the Marshall stack and the talent.
:-L

ICBM

EricTheWeary;30694" said:

The MXR's  seem to be cheap and cheerful, although I'd thought of them as more hair metal than punk?

Punks used them too - including Steve Jones I think. They were one of the few anything like 'modern' distortion pedals available in the late 70s - most before that were fuzzes or fuzz-distortions like the Big Muff.

The MXR has a bright aggressive crunchy tone, perfect for what you want if you run it into a clean amp, or a cranked Fender. Hair metal players did use them later, but into overdriven Marshalls.

paulk

Boss DS 1

daveyh

I get a cracking punk sound with MXR '78 into a clean amp

ThePrettyDamned

Mxr dist plus wound right up, or a Marshall gv-2. Both would get you punky, neither break the bank. The guvnor is awesome, and the Mxr is a pedal I sold but only because it no longer suited my amp.

Fazer

impmann

I wasn't going to mention the MXR Distortion+ as I wasn't 100% sure about Jones' use of it - but the tonal footprint is about spot on with a Twin for the classic Pistols sounds. 

But to be honest, any toppy mid gain pedal into a combo is going to get you into the ball park - stacks are NOT punk rock.

ICBM

impmann said:

I wasn't going to mention the MXR Distortion+ as I wasn't 100% sure about Jones' use of it - but the tonal footprint is about spot on with a Twin for the classic Pistols sounds.

Interestingly I was just reading some old interview stuff from him and he says the only pedal he used was a Phase 45 - which by a possibly important coincidence is the same colour as a Distortion+, although it has only one knob. So any photo of him with a khaki-coloured MXR-sized pedal in it is probably the Phase 45, unless you can clearly see the number of knobs.

The pull distortion circuit on the Twin is capable of that bright crunchy sound as well, when the amp is cranked.

EricTheWeary

Well, gag me sideways with a spoon. I got carried away and put a bid on a Distortion+ on eBay, assuming I would be outbid but, y'know, everybody loves a bargain. Anyway, now have a Distortion+ incoming (possibly a bargain) so it will be my punky pedal of choice ( if I like it or not!). Of course now the new band project will fall apart and it will just be an expensive yellow paper weight... 

~:>

mike_l

Dibs....

EricTheWeary

mike_l;33235" said:

Dibs....

Well, I suppose I ought to try it at least. Quite befuddled myself.

fretmeister

DOD / Digitech Grunge?

EricTheWeary

Just an update:
- the Distortion+ seemed quite cheap and then the next one went on eBay for even less.Bit annoying but there you go.
- have now got around to putting it on my board and played it through an amp.
- the controls don't do a fat lot through much of their rotation then suddenly WHOA! Some kind of tone control would be nice but doesn't seem essential.
- it is not at all grungey, it has that quite tight, kind of bouncy distortion that rewards staccato riffs and palm muting. Doesn't reward lazy strums and bluesy playing and doesn't clean up particularly well from the guitar (so,not as good for Nelly The Elephant as I might have hoped). 
- doesn't seem to like slapback delay or reverb after it, just induces mushyness and/or high end tizz.Still, I wanted an inyerface distortion and that's what I got.
- so, yes,good choice for the Clash covers and I can hear Green Day and shades of hair metal in it.