Distortion

Gary Shepherd · Post by **Gary Shepherd** » 26 Feb 2012 2:02 pm

What do you guys use for pedal steel distortion? For example if I want to play a distorted sounding lead break on a blues tune.

Hmm... Now that I think about it... All of my playing is a bit distorted.

Still, I'd like to get "that sound" a couple of times a night.

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 26 Feb 2012 10:32 pm

Ive used a Fulltone OCD or my vintage MXR Distortion+ with good results.

Clete

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 26 Feb 2012 11:18 pm

I crank my Fender BDR and it's plenty.

Benjamin Wolfram · Post by **Benjamin Wolfram** » 27 Feb 2012 3:36 am

I really like the MI Audio Crunch Box for some simple distortion that is a bit thicker than most, and it's quite good for fronting really clean amps and still getting a thick cool distortion. Careful with it though, it'll wreak havoc if you try and juice too much out of it

Gary Shepherd · Post by **Gary Shepherd** » 28 Feb 2012 6:56 pm

Maybe I'll find a decent distortion patch on my v-amp tonight.

Bobby Snell · Post by **Bobby Snell** » 28 Feb 2012 7:10 pm

Hi Gary, you might try rolling off the tone knob (if you have one) on your steel a little if you are going into a patch designed for guitar. And I find it helps to cut the signal overall a little, by volume knob on the guitar or setting the volume pedal 1/2-3/4. Using a Nashville solid state you don't want to overdrive the pre-amp at all.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 8 Mar 2012 10:41 pm

I've tried tons of guitar distortion/fuzz/etc. boxes and most don't work well for pedal steel. It's expensive but the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube, or the Blues version of the same box, do it for me for rock and blues. It really functions as a tube preamp that allows you to dial in the exact amount of breakup you want. I go straight from the guitar into the Duncan box,so it is pick sensitive, and I control the amount of distortion with how hard I pick, just like a regular guitar into a tube amp. The volume pedal comes after the box, so it only controls the volume and sustain (as we are used to on steel) and has no effect on distortion. If you put the box after the volume pedal, you are trying to control the distortion with your foot, and that just doesn't work for me.