Should I get a distortion or overdrive pedal?

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Eddy

I have a Line 6 Spider 3 150-watt amplifier, my first and only amplifier. Anyway, I've had it for a few years now and I just can't get that sharp metal sound that I want. I want to buy my first guitar pedal but I'm not sure whether to buy a distortion or overdrive pedal. I really am confused between the two lol. I'm leaning towards a Digitech DDM Death Metal Pedal because the reviews are really good, but again, I'm not sure.

Which would be a better pedal to buy? And, moreover, if someone could explain to me the difference between the two in simple definitions lol b/c I would like to know.

Answer
An overdrive pedal can be thought of as a booster. It doesn't really add a lot of distortion on it's own...it's more for hitting the front end of an amp harder and causing it to overload.

A distortion pedal will have a circuit that adds distortion to the signal (as well as gaining it up). This is usually a couple of diodes, and it's supposed to mimic the sound of a tube being pushed into clipping. Some do it well, others...not so much.

So...which one for you? An overdrive pedal works best with an amp that has a tube preamp (at least). Your amp does not. In fact, I will tell you that those Spiders sound awful when the front end is overloaded on them.

You likely want some kind of distortion pedal. I don't particularly like the Death Metal pedal, but that's just personal taste.

I'm kind of surprised that you're not able to get what you want out of the Spider. The Insane model has more gain than is possible in the real world (if you really built an amp like that, it would be completely unstable and would just squeal all the time).

Good luck.

Greetings from Austin, TX
Ken

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What guitar pedal should I purchase?

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Jake

I've been playing for about a year now and I have fallen in love with the instrument. Right now I have an Epiphone Les Paul which I'm playing through a Marshall MG100HDFX. I have a pedal board which consists of a Hardware Loop/delay pedal, a boss os2 overdrive pedal, an electro harmonix small clone chorus, and a flanger which i rarely use. Anyway I want to know what pedal i should considered adding to my pedal board. I play mostly rock but also play a lot of reggae rock such as Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Stick Figure, Rebeloution, Expendables etc.

So basically what pedal should I consider buying to get a accurate sound of these types of bands right now I'm deciding between some phaser or the cry baby wah wah. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
I'd have to agree, wah is a good idea. Pick up a good Dunlop Crybaby wah and go nuts. A Volume pedal is a good investment too. Look up "volume swells" on YouTube - you'll see delays and volume pedals in each vid i'm sure.

Also, all those pedals can get noisy. A good gate or noise gate pedal will keep the hiss down.

Signal loss can happen when you chain all those pedals together. You could also invest in a signal buffer. There is a company called "This Ones Mine" (T1M) that sell buffers that are very good and very cheap.

You could also pick up a second delay with a tap tempo on it (Boss DD7). Many players have two or more delays, one for long delays and one for short.

A good power source like the Dunlop DC Brick and a good pedal board like Pedal Train's stuff is always a good investment too.

Hope that helps.

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Where to I place my Boss Compression Pedal in my guitar setup?

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Ryan C

Currently I go from my guitar to my boss overdrive pedal - dunlop wah- then to compression and on to the amp. I run a chorus through my effects loop.

Not sure if the compressoin needs to go at the end, beginning, or middle of the board.

Thanks

Answer
Compression SHOULD ALWAYS be at the front.


The reason for this is that the compression takes the peaks of your guitar signal.

Being after the distortion AND the wah, based on the settings chosen on your compressor, you will either cancel out certain parts of your distorted, wha'd signal, or do absolutely nothing and be a waste of space.

Hope that helps.

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Where to I place my Boss Compression Pedal in my guitar setup?

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Ryan C

Currently I go from my guitar to my boss overdrive pedal - dunlop wah- then to compression and on to the amp. I run a chorus through my effects loop.

Not sure if the compressoin needs to go at the end, beginning, or middle of the board.

Thanks

Answer
Compression SHOULD ALWAYS be at the front.


The reason for this is that the compression takes the peaks of your guitar signal.

Being after the distortion AND the wah, based on the settings chosen on your compressor, you will either cancel out certain parts of your distorted, wha'd signal, or do absolutely nothing and be a waste of space.

Hope that helps.

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What kind of sound will an overdrive pedal give me?

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Asian95

im looking to play some heavy songs by slayer metallica etc
but my local music store doesnt have distortion pedals they only have overdrive pedals. Will i be able to play slayer with an overdrive pedal sounding any good?

Answer
Overdrives will drive amplifiers and give you a more classic rock type distortion or blues type sustain generally instead of the metal style a metal distortion pedal approximates. Depending on the amp you use you still might be able to get pretty heavy distortion. Have your local store let you demo the pedals using an amp and guitar similar to the one you use or will use. if they don't let you do this then find a better store. Let your ears help you decide.

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What Guitar stuff should i get for my birthday?

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Connor

My birthday is coming up on may 8th and i have been looking at guitar equipment i could get. But i cant find anything, I Have a line 6 amp, an esp guitar with seymour duncans, a wah and overdrive pedal, and thats pretty much all of the big stuff. I was wondering what some of you veterans think i could get that would be helpful. Thanks and anything guitar or headphones, etc. Thanks!

Answer
Hello there,

I would think you have a better idea of what you need than a stranger would. You get the gear you need (or as in some cases the gear you want whether you need it or not). So what do you need to get the tone you want for your music?

A couple sets of strings is always useful. Most newer players do not change their strings often enough. You should expect to get about 30 hours of playing time out of a set of strings. If you play a lot, you will go through a lot of sets of strings.

Nice guitar straps are an easy gift. There are so many nice looking straps around.

Picks are always needed. I keep a jar full of the type of picks I use. I go through a lot of picks.

A single guitar stand is handy. Don't store your guitar in it. But a stand is handy when you need to set your guitar down for a few minutes. Too many folks lean the guitar against the amp. Then if it falls over, you risk breaking the neck. If you have a lacquer finish on your guitar, don't leave the guitar in the stand for an extended time. Plastics, rubber and the like can affect a lacquer finish.

Do you have a good tuner pedal? What about a decent EQ pedal?

Do you have a FBV Express pedal to use with your Line 6? Or maybe a FBV Shortboard? What about a simple FBV-2 or FBV-4 channel switching foot switch?

What you ever thought about moving up to a tube amp? The Jet City 20 watt head is a great little tube amp.

This question is actually pretty hard for me to answer. I cannot relate to your situation. I am always thinking of more gear I want. I have no trouble coming up with things that "I must have." That probably explains the stack of amps, the boxes of pedals and the 30+ guitars sitting around here. I even have a few of those little battery powered amps. A cute little Fender (sits on my desk) and a couple Danelectro (I was a sucker for the surf green ones).

Later,

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How to fix nasty electric guitar buzzing?

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A A

When I plug my electric guitar up to my amp I get a horrible buzzing sound. It happens right after I plug the thing in, and it's constant.

I'm not actually able to get any sound from the guitar at all. It's not background noise like you'd get from an overdrive pedal.

There's definitely something wrong with the guitar itself, it's not the cables/amp.

I'd like to fix it myself rather than taking it to a shop. Any ideas?

Answer
Troubleshooting a problem like that always starts at the amp. Make sure the amp jack is clean and working. Then make sure the cable is as well. Cables are normally the #1 culprit. If both of those are working properly, then you need to troubleshoot the guitar. Does it make the noise on every pickup selection? With the volume up or down? It could be a loose wire, ground, bad pot, bad connection, bad jack, dead battery, etc.

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