Helping my tone, I should know but I'm humbling myself and asking you all for help

[kotornut]

My setup is a pretty low priced one. I use a Vox Bull Dog distortion for all my chrunch and distortion. I usually run it through my roland cube 30's JC channel or when I gig I run it through a Roland JC 120. I like the tone but, my distortion tones, however, aren't able to go up that extra bit into the mesa esque range if you know what I mean. Now, I don't know if I should try to add gain to recipe or if I should add compression to it. I need someone to tell me some pedal reccomendations for taking my solo and heavy rythm tones up a notch. Any suggestions are welcome.


And somebody explain to me how important the short connector cables are for a pedal board. I should know this but until I sold my stack and moved to Japan I was an Angus young type guy (guitar staright to amp) or sometimes I had a wah and that was it.





I know that a tube amp would help my tone too, but honestly I couldn't even use it on the lowest setting in my apartment nor do I gig enough to warrant the purchase now. Also, I don't have a car so carrying one on a train and around for a few blogs to go jam with someone or for a gig doesn't sound that enjoyable. That's why I just use the house's JC120.

[Davey]

Sounds like you're in a similar situation to me. What I did was bought an old Peavey combo and ran a Line 6 Pod XT Live through it... AWESOME bedroom tone, plus the amp is loud enough if I wanted to play small gigs. I'd get a tube combo if I was playing out more often though.

Anyway, I don't know what the pricing is like over there but over here you could get the pair of those for around £300. Recently I changed the Peavey for a mini Marshall stack and that's great too (and looks cool!)

This isn't mine, but this is what the mini stack looks like:

[fretboardpyro]

righty everyone's opinion of the elusive "tone" thing is different. If we are lookin to get a bit closer to mesa tone what needs to be considered is you are trying to emulate the "sag" of the tube rectification circuit and also the natural compression the valves supply.
i'm assuming though you'd like the smooth crunch a mesa provides with the variation for a lead. i'm currently running a jcm900 marshall with a boss ds-1 and a mxr-zw44 overdrive in front of it to give it a shove to get a mesa esque tones. for solo's i cant recommend a good phase pedal and compressor enough, the phase gives your sound a bit of movement and the compressor adds extra sustain so those notes hang on. for this i use a maxon pt-99 and an mxr dyna comp.
As for keeping your patch leads short, the main reason behind it is simple. Cables provide resistance and so in an audio chain this is undesired as it will degrade your signal and ultimatley sound.
some pedals i love are the keeley twilight zone mt-2, t-rex bloody mary, boss ds-1, maxon phase tone pt-999, mxr script phase 90, mxr-zw44, ibanez ts9dx tube screamer and any good quality compressor.
like i say though, its all a matter of what please's your own ear.

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

If you want a "bit extra" tone, maybe look at an eq pedal?

Rock on!

[kotornut]

thanks everyone. I really appreciate it. I think I7m going to do a couple of things. I'm going to get another distortion of some kind, just for variation sake and I'll get some chorus or another modulation. I have it though, because we kind of go on and onbuilding setups don't we? It's fun but it's tiring always getting a new thing going.

[Rotti]

A compressor pedal might give you some tube like sounds. I stopped using one because I get enough natural compression when my tube amp is cranked but for low volumes it's great.

[ColinMmmmm]

I've got a JC-120 - and while I've never gotten a good metal sound out of it, my favourite so far has been a Zakk Wylde distortion - but that would really be only for lower gain sounds. If you can try one out give it a shot.

[kotornut]

Please don't hink I am un happy with my Vox pedal I did a lot of testing and I love it. I got it for cheap compared to the states because Korg makes them here in Japan only $130. After I wrote this thread I decided to play everything alll hooked up loud as my neighbors would let me and see what I could do. I have to say that I'm not lacking so much as I guessI'm just looking for other sounds. Diversity. I'm running just one good tone now.

Not so much uber metall esque tones, just something like a midrange heavy tone and a smooth fusion tone. But I think I've got the core of my sound. I thought a compressor would help but the more I play the more I like the open raw sound. I play alone, so you know how it is, I keep searching for more sounds endlessly whereas if I was in a band I'd be happy with the few I have.

Thanks for helping, any other suggstions are welcome as well.

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

I gotta say it again, it sounds like you need an eq pedal to me. Check out the MXR 10 band if you can, they are great, I borrowed my friends, and have been gassing for one since I gave it back.

Give one a try, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Rock on!

[kotornut]

okay maybe I'll give it a try, how did you use it. Did you use it just to change sounds?

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

I liked it best in front of my amp (Laney vc30) as a boost/tone tweak. It really allowed me to get a wider range of useable tones from my amp. From glassier or fatter cleans, to boosting the amp from bluesy to a nice rock or metal distortion, it worked a treat.

Since I gave it back i've only been playing through my podx3 and headphones, cause the amp just doesn't sound as good without the eq pedal.

Rock on!

[7 Dying Trees]

Have a look at the mesa v-twin pedal, they are very cool, and with a boost can do very high gain.