Best metal distortion?

philbinator1 · April 18, 2010, 10:44:52 PM

ghostsauce/ yeah I agree...when I was younger it was generally gain set to 11, all treb and bass and no mids...now, I still
LOVE high gain, but not so high I can't hear note definition. Also have bass/treb/mid around halfway...flat eq! Weird!

audioguy · February 10, 2011, 08:31:05 AM

Quote from: caspercody on April 17, 2010, 11:26:16 AM
I have the Eagle files in pdf form. I emailed one of them, and they gave me a web site that has schematics for different amps. Send me a pm with email address if you want any of this. I have not made the pedals from my pcb layouts, yet.

Have you verified the layouts yet? I'm anxious to try these monsters.

bancika · February 10, 2011, 08:40:58 AM

Quote from: philbinator1 on April 18, 2010, 10:44:52 PM
ghostsauce/ yeah I agree...when I was younger it was generally gain set to 11, all treb and bass and no mids...now, I still
LOVE high gain, but not so high I can't hear note definition. Also have bass/treb/mid around halfway...flat eq! Weird!

I agree. Before, I'd start with everything at max and reduced only if it was too noisy

now I take it the other way round, flat EQ and gain from 3 and work my way up if needed.

petemoore · February 10, 2011, 08:53:52 AM

So far it's been the concept of the destruction of the T-1000.
While I respect the directors desired effect of having it go out with mildly with only a brief period of a few gurgled groans and a bit of thrashing, the expectation for an enourmous reation being unleashed as the fantastic energy density was destroyed by being added to the melting pot leaving an unsatisfied feeling which leads back through the entire movie on how it got to that point.
They must unknowingly have worn the E-density down to a level which could easily be managed by a large smelting plant. Had to be Li-ion, it showed no signs of power management losses up to that point.

That said:
Old School: Iomi !
Modern: Mustaine ! !

runmikeyrun · February 10, 2011, 11:56:01 AM

The Tufnel pedal is a relatively easy build and features two 386 chips cascaded into each other. More distortion than you'll ever need.

chromesphere · February 10, 2011, 07:22:12 PM

I'm a bit of a high gain junky. Not so much "metal" though.

My opinion of whether amp distortion is better then pedal distortion changes all the time. If i EQ my distortion pedals properly, i can get some pretty heavy tones out of them.

The Dr Boogie is good, although i find it a bit "hi-fi" for my liking. The EQ is an absolute PITA. The best 'well balanced' distortion i have gotten out of DIY pedals so far is a love pedal (or even just a booster) cranked up into a the box of rock. Here is a video i made of an early build (Distortion Plus clone). At the end of the clip I put the Dist+ into the box of rock. Even the dist+ sounds good on its own when EQ'ed right. Might not be "metal" enough though? Whatever that means...

http://www.youtube.com/user/chromespherecom?feature=mhum#p/a/u/3/maSkDb5pP24

Paul.

thetragichero · February 10, 2011, 08:32:58 PM

did anybody say sd-1 into a jcm800 2003 yet?
an eq helps, too

Unkn0wn Art1st · February 24, 2011, 12:20:04 AM

bsiab 2 for metal!
added the 3-knob marshall type tone stack

8 feb cowboy way.mp3

Nich · February 24, 2011, 01:32:12 PM

I am going to have to agree and say it is all about the EQing after the pedal. All the distortions I have had really left me wanting more until I put a EQ after it. Currently I am running a boost (either a mini booster or Gus's boost) into my Blackstar HT-Dist then EQ to my tube amp. This really works well for me, although my next project is probably going to be a dual valvecaster- maybe using sub minis....

edvard · February 24, 2011, 02:15:34 PM

RE: EQ'ing after the pedal.

Isn't this the purpose of the tone control?
I've been learning (ever so slowly) that high gain distortion doesn't have to sound like pink noise in an earthquake to be awesome.
I re-thought that idea the first time I heard Type O Negative album "Bloody Kisses".
Ugh.
While I enjoyed the album at the time, I'm surprised to hear the guitar at all, really.

Gimme a nice crisp mid-high hump at 3kHz and large but tightly controlled bass shelf from ~800Hz on down, and I think I'd be happy.

petemoore · February 24, 2011, 02:19:41 PM

None better goes to eleven.
No, you don't understand, this one goes to 11, see...it says right there on the panel.
So then there's the other stuff that counts more than the dirtbox.
Some say Zonemetal...fine example of voicing clipped signal, and alternate way to clip the signal, Dwayne had me borrow one, Robert used one for all the leads for a long time [sounded like sour/salty strewdle to me].
Eq pedal shows you what you like.
See what you like then build what you like
Without the noise of the Eq pedals pre-post.
Post tends to be where all the frequencies have been grown or trimmed.
Pre tends to have open door [unless your'e preboosting] in terms of headroom/frequency response. It's not until you do something with 'it' like boost first that it does anything exept 'grow some'.
As growth continues into more gain X gain - clipping + gain type affairs, the features become more recognizable, stuff like Eq starts making sense/being useful.
Notice most of these circuits with XXG Clip Gain Clip topologies [the more popular ones] show sprinkled LF/ HP filters or some extreme filter point[]s, then Tone Control tends to have to be thrown in there.
Best is when it's boilt to the simplest circuit, fewest knobs, ['it' probably needs at least adjsutable treble at/near the end of 'it'] hit the switch and the well centered to be finely Eq balanced, fit-tailored box boiled down to as few components as possible that contends with anything else...
That's the best one.

edvard · February 24, 2011, 02:30:09 PM

Yes, whenever practicing, amp tilted toward my earbones or on a stand is a MUST.
Maybe that's why Marshall stacks as-tall-as-your-daddy got so popular.
The speakers are right where the player can hear as much as the audience.

Nich · February 24, 2011, 04:42:53 PM

Petermoore said it much better than I! Although my setup works well for me now I guess I haven't found one dist box that has had the right sound and the right EQ for me. I guess I better start building then

defaced · February 24, 2011, 04:53:09 PM

Four cascaded 12AX7 stages at about 300 to 350 volts, cathode follower driven tone stack, whatever phase inverter makes you happy and a KT-88 output stage. That is the best metal distortion.

petemoore · February 24, 2011, 07:05:14 PM

Four cascaded 12AX7 stages at about 300 to 350 volts, cathode follower driven tone stack, whatever phase inverter makes you happy and a KT-88 output stage. That is the best metal distortion.
KT-88, all it need then is a speaker to make a sound !
I thought we were discussing the silent distorters.

defaced · February 25, 2011, 01:51:49 PM

Metal is the antithesis of silent. I was being a smartass and describing a metal amp, because, well, that's how you get that sound.

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Best metal distortion?