Not to mention that it will also make it difficult to distinguish the notes.b0b wrote:
Frankly, I hate it when steel players "crank up the fuzz". Sounds cheezy.
Rick
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
Amen, b0b. I never want the clean envelope of the notes to be covered up - there should just be a little mild tube saturation/compression. Straight into something like a Deluxe, Vibrolux, Super, or Pro Reverb is great, depending on the venue and stage volume required. A Super or Pro is generally too loud for me unless it's a pretty loud club.A lot of pedal steel players overdo the 'distortion' aspect when trying to play blues. It really doesn't take very much overdrive to get a good blues tone.
Fuzz overdrive and distortion are three different effects. Tho it is common to refer to them as the same thing, I think understanding the difference at least in how they sound and are commonly used is helpful if your trying to get a certain sound or shape tone.b0b wrote:A lot of pedal steel players overdo the 'distortion' aspect when trying to play blues. It really doesn't take very much overdrive to get a good blues tone.
Frankly, I hate it when steel players "crank up the fuzz". Sounds cheezy. Read about tube amps and distortion units in the Electronics section of the forum. Some of our members are real knowledgeable about this.
Glenn you are correct. There are exceptions to the gross generalizations i made. I made them only for ease of distinguishing between the three effects. A fuzz with the fuzz backed off a bit is indeed an beautiful and not at all cheesy sound. I LOVE fuzz, i think its maybe my favorite effect. I think really with all three effects the most common mistake is overdoing the gain. Overdrives especially, turn down that gain and just use the effect to push your tubes a bit, so much nicer .Glenn Suchan wrote:Regarding some Forumites saying the Boss Tone is a 'cheezy' fuzz effect; it doesn't have to be cheezy or buzzzzzy. It all depends on how carefully you set it's sensitivity and how much you're willing to practice with it to get a smoother sound. To just flip it on and go will pretty much guarantee you'll get a 'bee-in-yer-bonnet' sound.
In my iTunes library, I have an example of how I avoid the cliched pyschedelia-buzz in my playing. If someone can tell me how to post from my iTunes library (I'm an Apple computer user) I'll post my example of blues (E9th tuning) with the Boss Tone effect.
Keep on pickin'!
Glenn