Which Distortion Item for Steel?

Sigi Meissner · From: Duebendorf, Switzerland

As a standard guitar player I have many Distortion Items but nothing sounds really great. What is the one and only for steel?

I play the Emmons II with a Nash 400

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

Radial Tonebone Classic. Or if you want to spend some money, THD BiValve.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I use an Electro Harmonix Big Muff, but I have it on a loop with a 6 band equalizer, and I EQ the distortion (not the steel itself.) The unit doesn't sound all that great without the equalizer. It's the addition of the EQ that makes it sing.

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Perlowin speaks the troooof!Butt.... Electro Harmonix also makes a "Graphic Fuzz" unit that is a bad boy basically a big muff with a graphic eq built into it.If you like a smoother distortion The Boss "Blues Driver is a good one,also the DOD "Flashback Fuzz"is a good fuzz at $39.00 you just can't beat it.Now for those of you who are going to say that none of those boxes sound any good on a steel guitar....It all depends!!

Steinar Gregertsen · From: Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.

Fulltone Full-Drive2,- incredible dynamic response.

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Ted Solesky · From: Mineral Wells, Texas, USA

I'm still using an old little plastic Boss Tone that I bought back in the 70's. That unit is touchy. It took me a while to get used to the attack it requires. I worked in a band where the club was very dark. A guitar player walked with another musician and said, 'listen to that wild guitar'. He said he got confused when he was watching the guitar player and all he was doing was rhythm. He approached me and told me my fuzz really cut thru and thought it was the guitar player. 1 1/2 yrs ago, I sat in with the 'New Group Lynyrd Skynyrd' band. They had 3 guitar players. When I did my ride in 'Call me the Breeze', they all walked over to my steel to watch and one of them yelled, 'great patch'.? After that,they made me sit in everytime we opened for them.

Frank Parish · From: Nashville,Tn. USA

I'm using a Steel Driver III with one of those orange Boss fuzzes. I can go from one to the other and vary the tone between the two.

John Steele · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

Funny how things change.
Although I rarely if ever use a distortion pedal, the overwhelming response to this same question 4 years ago was....
The Rat.

-John

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www.ottawajazz.com

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I usually use the lead channel of a Boogie amp.

I've heard that the POD XT does a reasonable job. I had a POD 2.0 and it wasn't bad.

I tried for 2 decades to find a "fuzz box" that could sound like a Boogie, for those jobs where you only need it on a few tunes. I like using a Webb on country gigs. Anyway, I gave up that search. I don't think there's a fuzz box made that will make the steel sound right in a rock song.

Now on those "Webb only" gigs I'm using a Digitech Genesis 3 for tonal variety and effects. I have a couple of distortion patches in it that are acceptable - not "great" but much better than any fuzz box distortion I've heard.

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Bobby Lee (a.k.a. b0b) - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Williams D-12 E9, C6add9, Sierra Olympic S-12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop S-8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster D-8 (E13, C6 or A6)

Richard Cooper · From: Eads,TN,USA

Still like a RAT the best.

David Doggett · Posted 7 Aug 2005 9:52 am

The POD XT models several classic fuzz and distortion units, including some of the ones mentioned above. It also models several classic tube amps known for good overdrive. The POD also has EQ adjustments that can be applied to any of the above, even if the originals didn't have EQ. You can set up dozens of preset channels with different effects and different EQs. Plus there are great reverbs and delays, chorus, flanger, etc. So for the price of three stomp boxes you get enough stuff to keep you experimenting for years.

My question is whether anyone has ever found a fuzz or overdrive unit that sounds good before the volume pedal. All of them I have tried sound puny that way. I haven't tried the POD that way, but I think it would screw up everything including the reverb. Before the volume pedal is the natural place for fuzz and overdrive for steel. It would allow the effect to be touch sensitive to your picking hand. And it would allow a constant effect at any volume you choose with your volume pedal. When the effect comes after the volume pedal, it changes in unwanted ways with volume pedal changes. I realize such a fuzz/distortion unit would have to be radically different than the standard ones, but is it possible to make such a thing? It would need to be compatible in front of the new active volume pedals like the Hilton. The old Goodrich Steeldriver was in front of the volume pedal, but it combined fuzz with a Matchbox signal boost, so it is not good before an active pedal. I'm thinking this would be a good product for Keith Hilton or Goodrich.

Dan Tyack · From: Olympia, WA USA

The FullDrive 2 is good, but I really sounds the best driving the front end of a tube amp. It sounds OK in front of a solid state amp, but nothing to write home about (IMHO). I have found that it's a whole lot easier to make a good tube amp lound than to make a loud amp sound good

. Seriously, just use a little Stewart power amp (3 pounds 200 watts) to power an additional speaker if I need to be clean and loud. I agree with Chas that the THD BiValve is the ultimate (again IMHO).

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Mike:Electro Harmonix just reissued the Graphic Fuzz,I have an original that I bought at a Namm show in about 1980.It was one of the last units that they built before their workers got beat up with baseball bats,Sick stuff.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Dave. The areas where the Podxt sucks the worst are the overdrives and compressors after the VP.

Still waiting in vain for a volume pedal interface other than the theory that one could be made.

In the meantime I've found the Boss OD2 turbo overdrive to deliver the best and most controllable OD box that doesn't change the clean signal. I don't use it very much but with the new tele I might use it more.

EJL

Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

If you have to use a stompbox for distortion, avoid those that produce a sharp trebly buzzy tone. They sound bad enough with guitar and would sound worse with steel.

Sigi Meissner · From: Duebendorf, Switzerland

Thank you for the informative responses.
To David Dogett and Bobby Lee:
I have the POD 2.0 but I don't know how to get back from a distortion preset to the bypass signal during a song. There is no Bypass switcher

how did you do that?

David Doggett · Posted 8 Aug 2005 5:21 am

Set up a preset channel with no amp and no speaker cabinet and no effects except reverb. You can have a stomp that goes in or out on that channel, or you can have your stomps with their special EQ on other preset channels.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I've used distortion pedals before, for guitar and steel, but generally do not care for them. To me, there's just nothing to beat the distortion of a hard-driven tube amp. A steel overdrives a cranked Fender Deluxe/Vibrolux Reverbs, most any Boogie, or a good old-school Marshall very nicely. I tried a THD a few weeks ago - very nice sound.

I use a Pod 2 a lot - there are tons of great overdriven tube sounds that can be gotten at reasonable volumes. I use the Blackface 1 (Deluxe Reverb) model a lot for that, also both the British Classic (Plexi Marshall) and British High Gain (JCM 800) models. Don't forget the Tweed models - they're especially nice for lap steel.

I often use the Pod clean sounds directly for steel, and the overdriven sounds are just a switch to the different patch.

To get what I needed, I had to forget about the 'stock' Pod sounds for steel, though. I had to take some time and dial in my own. I use the Blackface 2 (Twin Reverb) settings for clean steel, and the others I mentioned for overdriven. On the Pod 2, one needs to use the midi connection to a computer and the SoundDiver or Line6 Edit software to make the changes, to get the full range of settings changes. Once one figures out how to do this, it's also a lot faster and more intuitive, but there are sometimes issues getting this going.

Jim Ives · From: Los Angeles, California, USA

I'm with Steinar: FullTone Full Drive 2.
-Jim

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Mullen D-10 -or- Zum D-10
Lexicon MPX 100 -or- RV3
Fulltone Full-Drive II
Evans FET 500 -or-
Peavey Nashville 1000
Vox wah-wah pedal
My dog Toby sittin' on the floor listening

John Daugherty · From: Rolla, Missouri, USA

I think the definitive answer is: Robert Randolph ... ooops

David Wren · From: Placerville, California, USA

Ibanez TS-9 (Tube Screamer, "Green Box) works for me.

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Dave Wren
'95Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Session500; Hilton Pedal
www.ameechapman.com

David Doggett · Posted 10 Aug 2005 1:35 pm

RR just does what several people above suggested. He uses overdriven 100 watt (or smaller) tube guitar amps. If he needs more volume, he just does it the old fashioned way, he stacks all the 100 watt heads he needs. Even with their early breakup, several guitar heads will play loud and clean when they are all hooked up, and for dirty, you just switch back to one. I just don't want to haul around a stadium rig myself.

John Rickard · From: Phoenix (It's A Dry Heave) AZ

Sigi does not want to buy an amp. Just a simple Distortion unit that sounds good. Here are a few choices, make sure the unit you choose has a tone control (EQ) of some sort on it. I choose these for ease of use, durability, and tone. These are not that expensive (like boutique types), but not cheap crapola either. You can get good sounds from all of these. Check this guy out http://www.analogman.com/ for modified versions of some of theses pedals and vintage/boutique stuff!

Boss Distortion+
Boss Overdrive/Distortion
ProCo Rat
Ibanez Tube Screamer

There are many more but this is a good start. Cut back on the reverb when using grind, it can mush things up quite a bit.
JR

[This message was edited by John Rickard on 11 August 2005 at 12:12 PM.]

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Actually, John, I don't see anything in his post about a "simple distortion unit". He also asked a question about the Pod 2, which is not exactly an amp, nor exactly an effects unit.

A simple distortion unit is not the only way to get musical distortion, and clearly, some of us prefer another method. If he can get the Pod to work, he may not need to buy anything at all.

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