Best metal distortion?

[Brymus]

What perfect timing, I just made a comparison clip of a distortion pedal on the clean channel vs. my amp's gain channel.  Hoping to prove that distortion pedals just don't cut it when it comes to really giving you that sense of power.  Check it out, let me know what you think, I'm not going to tell you what order the clips are in though 

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8983115

The first clip is fuller and has more bottom end,the second clip sounds,well lesser in tone.
So I say the second clip is the pedal,based on your statement that pedals dont cut it,
Bryan

[Ripthorn]

For those of you who haven't built the DieFET, you have to try it (sounds best through a cab sim and direct in to make best use of the deep control).  Also, soulsonic's Freya is a great one to try, though I would recommend building it without the teeth and bottom controls, seeing as how they add more noise than anything else.  There is a thread about it in the members only section and I think I put a sound clip in there of it (quick and dirty, if I remember).

[philbinator1]

What perfect timing, I just made a comparison clip of a distortion pedal on the clean channel vs. my amp's gain channel.  Hoping to prove that distortion pedals just don't cut it when it comes to really giving you that sense of power.  Check it out, let me know what you think, I'm not going to tell you what order the clips are in though 

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8983115

yeah I would agree with Bryan and say the first is your amps distortion, second, pedal.  what pedal did you use?

[Guitarfreak]

The first clip is fuller and has more bottom end,the second clip sounds,well lesser in tone.
So I say the second clip is the pedal,based on your statement that pedals dont cut it,
Bryan

yeah I would agree with Bryan and say the first is your amps distortion, second, pedal.  what pedal did you use?

You are both wrong    The first clip is the pedal.  To me the pedal sounds hyped, which means that there is no power in the mids, it's all bump and thwack.  The second clip to me sounds much more powerful, you can actually hear the speaker moving some air.  There are much more mids, it's much smoother, and the pick attacks sound strong and not covered by a blanket.  The pedal is a DS-1.

[FiveseveN]

To me the pedal sounds hyped, which means that there is no power in the mids

I'd say that's about right but how does "less midrange" "prove" that all distortion effects are in one way or another?! It only proves that that particular pedal through that particular channel sounds different than the other channel, which you prefer. Have you tried tweaking the filtering?
And in what Universe is the DS-1 a "good" distortion? 

I'd say there are lots of great distortion circuits out there, may of which have been reverse-engineered or specifically designed for DIY use. However, "great" is just as subjective as "just don't cut it", so there's no point in arguing choises. However, it's a lot easier to make those choices if you understand how "tone" works, i.e. what factors are involved and how each parameter influences a certain aspect of the final sound.

[Guitarfreak]

To me the pedal sounds hyped, which means that there is no power in the mids

I'd say that's about right but how does "less midrange" "prove" that all distortion effects are in one way or another?! It only proves that that particular pedal through that particular channel sounds different than the other channel, which you prefer. Have you tried tweaking the filtering?
And in what Universe is the DS-1 a "good" distortion?  

I'd say there are lots of great distortion circuits out there, may of which have been reverse-engineered or specifically designed for DIY use. However, "great" is just as subjective as "just don't cut it", so there's no point in arguing choises. However, it's a lot easier to make those choices if you understand how "tone" works, i.e. what factors are involved and how each parameter influences a certain aspect of the final sound.

Well it doesn't, but that is what is hoped anyway.  Otherwise nobody would have to spend money on heads and cabs and have to suffer through the volume to get good sounding studio recordings that mix well.  If a stompbox really had the feel of more expensive/tube equipment then everyone would be using Line6 pods and spider amps live and in the studio and Marshall and Mesa and all the other companies would go out of business because Line6 could do it cheaper and you would have to lug less stuff around  

Call me a tone corksniffer or arrogant bastard what have you, but I think that pedals and simulations result in sounds and these sounds can be good or bad, but truly good equipment results in tone.  Especially for metal, nothing gives you that feeling of power like a tube amp pushing a 4x12 cab and most boxes that I have tried just kill that whole feel, you lose the pumping on the chugs and all you get is squelches in the high mids.  Nothing beats true tube compression and cascaded preamp gain staging for that grunty yet oh so smooth modern metal sound.

Just as an aside to my rant, my amp isn't that great, I'm not saying I have amazing stuff or anything.  My cab is pretty nice though  

[Brymus]

LOL I think your amp sounds weak and the pedal sounds good.

[deadastronaut]

LOL I think your amp sounds weak and the pedal sounds good.

yeah totally agreed the pedal sounds way  better.........ds1..your joking right!.is it aprils fools again?.........

wow i love the sound of them russian dudes work...mean n gritty but chunky as f**k.....very

anyone got any vero's/pcb's of the russian stuff?...the krankenstein etc!...im not to au fait with schematics..sounds exactly what
most of us palm muting devil riding muthas are after....chugg chugg digga digga digga dunnnnnggggg......

rob.

[deadastronaut]

\m/

[philbinator1]

Haha Rob you metaller you.     Love it!  Funny, I'm leaning towards going back to pedals, rather than amp distortion...
I've been comparing my BSIAB2 to the crunch channel on my Peavey Triple XXX, and the BSIAB2 has better mids than the
XXX, whereas the XXX is kind of...boom-ier, more scooped and 'bigger' sounding than the pedal.   My bassist has complained
for years that my sound is a little muddy (until recently, when I started having my mids around 12 o'clock), so with the pedal
I should jump out in the mix a lot more.  I thinking of using bsiab2 for rock od, then build the Dr Boogey for metal stuff.

Pretty much the complete opposite of guitarfreaks setup!  But y'know, it just personal preference I think.   

[caspercody]

I did a Eagle layout of the Uber, slo, and lart. I have the Eagle files and pcb.

[deadastronaut]

I did a Eagle layout of the Uber, slo, and lart. I have the Eagle files and pcb.

brilliant i dont have eagle though!...but the pcbs would be cool...

do you also have the others off that site like he krankenstein vht etc...

[deadastronaut]

Haha Rob you metaller you.     Love it!  Funny, I'm leaning towards going back to pedals, rather than amp distortion...
I've been comparing my BSIAB2 to the crunch channel on my Peavey Triple XXX, and the BSIAB2 has better mids than the
XXX, whereas the XXX is kind of...boom-ier, more scooped and 'bigger' sounding than the pedal.   My bassist has complained
for years that my sound is a little muddy (until recently, when I started having my mids around 12 o'clock), so with the pedal
I should jump out in the mix a lot more.  I thinking of using bsiab2 for rock od, then build the Dr Boogey for metal stuff.

Pretty much the complete opposite of guitarfreaks setup!  But y'know, it just personal preference I think.   

cheers yeah ones mans distortion is another mans  noise ha ha...
these russians know their stuff though...by the sound samples...

[caspercody]

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.

[jkokura]

First one was definately better.

jacob

[Brymus]

I did a Eagle layout of the Uber, slo, and lart. I have the Eagle files and pcb.

Can you/will you post those here for us to use?
If not please send them to me,if you would.
I would like the Eagle files as well as the transfers is you dont mind.
I was gonna try modding the DrBoogie to work for some of the Russain designs,since Gausmarkov posted his Eagle files for it.

I have been using my Dr Boogie into my 18 watt Marshall and just loving it.(which there arent many pedal I like into my 18 watt) In fact I havent even boxed it yet cause lately what free time I have had I have been playing it instead of geaking on designs and finishing projects.
I still think the Dr Boogie could be more touch sensitive,but its an awesome pedal as it is from the Gausmarkov version.

[Speeddemon]

What perfect timing, I just made a comparison clip of a distortion pedal on the clean channel vs. my amp's gain channel.  Hoping to prove that distortion pedals just don't cut it when it comes to really giving you that sense of power.  Check it out, let me know what you think, I'm not going to tell you what order the clips are in though 

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8983115

The first clip is fuller and has more bottom end,the second clip sounds,well lesser in tone.
So I say the second clip is the pedal,based on your statement that pedals dont cut it,
Bryan

Sure the first one MIGHT trick you into believing that it's fuller; only because the sound is more direct, with more bitey highs and scooped mids. The 2nd part sounds like you'd expect from a real amp; nice creamy mids. Not the direct-into-the-mixing-desk-tight-'n-bright-sound.

[ghostsauce]

In my boogey, I put (what I understand to be) low-spectrum JFETs.. they have way less distortion than some of the other fets I've tried, but these ones don't sound harsh or generally retarded when I crank it.  I don't really go for high gain, even when playing metal riffs.. I find that there's a point where you just can't tell what's being played anymore, and I'd rather have someone go 'holy frick that was a cool riff' instead of 'I can feel my brain rattling'.  But that's just me, and I'm not saying this cause I think one is better than the other.. it's just about preference. 

Anyway, all that to say this:  All the recommendations in the world won't find the pedal that's right for you, you need to do some research on youtube and find the one that sounds like what you want.   For myself, my amp's distortion sounds terrible to me.   I have a Marshall AVT150h, it has a 12AX7 (I use a mesa) in the preamp but if I run it on the OD channels it just sounds nasty.  Buuut, if I run a Boss OS2 or Dr Boogey in front of the clean channel which also runs through that tube,  it sounds amazing to me. So I use the OS2 as a light OD, and the boogey for anything beyond that.

What I suggest to SolderFodder is to spend a lot of time on YouTube listening to demos.. That's what I did and I found what I was looking for before I spent any money.

[SolderFodder]

What I suggest to SolderFodder is to spend a lot of time on YouTube listening to demos.. That's what I did and I found what I was looking for before I spent any money.

Right.  I had never heard of Dr Boogie prior to this thread (or at least in respect to what it was).  Typically I YouTube any gear anyways, this was very helpfull.  Think that will be my next build.  Thanks to everyone who contributed in this thread.

[caspercody]

Brymus,
I have no problem sharing my files, but not sure how to post on this forum? If anyone can tell me how I will post. Or if you want me to send to you, and you can post that is fine too. Just send me a pm with your email address and i will send.

Thanks
Rob