how to get distortion overdrive sounds for steel

Jeff Hogsten · From: Flatwoods Ky USA

Im playing in a praise band at my church and we do a lot of southern & country but we are also doing some more contemporary praise and worship music/ I double on guitar but would like to concentrate on steel.I thought if I could get into some more modern sounds with some overdrive or just a little distortion it may help. Any suggestions on how or maybe who to listen to that are recording with some more contemporary music. I would really appreciate some help and advice Jeff

Skip Mertz · From: N.C. (deceased)

Hi Jeff, what kind of amp are you using? Did you get a pedal yet? My friend is holding his for you. please advise.Thanks
skipmertz@yahoo.com

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

The best sound would be an actual tube pedal overdrive. But a Sansamp sounds good on most instruments. The TubeScreamer can sound good, especially on single note lines
But I assume you want chords too.

If you put it after your pedal you can then control the amount of distortion.
If you put it before then the distortion is there, but the level of volume is controled.
I like both placements.
tube pedal before / screamer after.

Dan Tyack · From: Olympia, WA USA

This has done been gone over a bunch of times.....

I use mostly what you might call overdriven sounds for steel. IMHO, the best sounds are:

1) an overdriven tube amp. The THD Bivalve is a great choice for an amp that has an OK amound of clean headroom and awesome overdriven sounds.

2) Using an overdriven tube amp as a preamp. The THD Univalve or Bivalve also works really well in this situation. You take the line out from the power section and feed it into your solid state power amp and you have tone heaven.

3) Use a tube preamp/POD/stomp box for overdrive. there are a bunch of these out there. I like the POD ok, and like the FullTone stuff a lot. There are a bunch of boxes out there, just try them (on stage!) and see what you like.

Ricky Littleton · From: Steely-Eyed Missile Man from Cocoa Beach, Florida USA

I've have been using an Ibanez stomp box with some compression and it sounded pretty good. I just bought a PX4 Pandora's box last fall, and I like some of the amp modeling and distortion in it. Some folks don't like the PX4, but I found it's a pretty good piece of gear in the "toolkit". I had been starting to use it more and more for the overdrive sound.

Ricky

------------------
Emmons LeGrande - 8x4
Session 400 Ltd
Dan-Echo, E-Bow, Ibanez Distortion, Boss Comp./Sustain, Ibanez Auto-Wah

Jeff Hogsten · From: Flatwoods Ky USA

I realize this has probably been went over before but Ive been off the forum for awhile. Can anybody recomend any recordings using any of these sounds thanks for all the input so far Jeff

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

I can heartilly recomend Dan Tyack's Blackened Toast.
Avaialble at the forum store.

His amp choice is topshelf for this, but the other things stated will set you back less.

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

use mostly what you might call overdriven sounds for steel. IMHO, the best sounds are:

1) an overdriven tube amp. The THD Bivalve is a great choice for an amp that has an OK amound of clean headroom and awesome overdriven sounds.

2) Using an overdriven tube amp as a preamp. The THD Univalve or Bivalve also works really well in this situation. You take the line out from the power section and feed it into your solid state power amp and you have tone heaven.

3) Use a tube preamp/POD/stomp box for overdrive. there are a bunch of these out there. I like the POD ok, and like the FullTone stuff a lot. There are a bunch of boxes out there, just try them (on stage!) and see what you like.

Guys, I don't know what any of this stuff is

is there a book I can buy that tells all about the different gadgets you can get for the steel guitar? I'd like to learn all this stuff. thanks
Terry

------------------
TW Sneed

Jeff Hogsten · From: Flatwoods Ky USA

I think I have gotten some good advice on what to use. At this point I think I just need to exspose myself to some more of that type playing., Im ordering Dans album, any more suggestions. Didnt Paul Franklin do some work with Dire Straits

David Spires · From: Millersport, OH

Jeff,

I've been using the POD XT for about a year and a half. It has a model of an Ibanez Tubescreamer in it, and I love it for overdriven steel / slide sounds. For what it is worth, Paul Franklin is using a POD 2.0 - stricly for some of those tones (for his "clean sounds", he bypasses it completely).

Either POD is more expensive than just a stomp-box, but the 2.0 is pretty cheap now-a-days. I personally wouldn't recommend the 2.0 version for your clean sounds, although there are several players who do use it successfully that would disagree with me...

Good luck,

David Spires

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

well, thanks a lot.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Terry a bit of expansion here.

1) an overdriven tube amp. The THD Bivalve is a great choice for an amp that has an OK
amound of clean headroom and awesome overdriven sounds.

This a complete amplifier, (though I don't know if it is cabnet integrated.)
It is preamp and power amp in one, but a very high quality one.
See the thread on Class A watts in electronics.

Not cheap, but a great tone. Check Dan's CD.

2) Using an overdriven tube amp as a preamp. The THD Univalve or Bivalve also works really
well in this situation. You take the line out from the power section and feed it into your solid state power amp and you have tone heaven.

This is more of a preamp with tubes for driving any power amp. It will have input, tone controls and a master output level.
THD Univalve or Bivalve are brand names, and are I believe rack mount units.

3) Use a tube preamp/POD/stomp box for overdrive. there are a bunch of these out there. I like the POD ok, and like the FullTone stuff a lot. There are a bunch of boxes out there, just try them (on stage!) and see what you like.

Ok, there are 110v powered stomp boxes that have actual 12ax7 tubes in them and some setting control for input over drive, tone, output level relative to source pass through level.
This is the cheapest real tube solution. And can sound really good, but will have less control than a dedicated tube preamp or amp power amp combination.

Then there are the regualr transitor stomp boxes like the tubescreamer and others that say "metal heed" etc, each with a different sound.
Some guitarists will have 2 or 3 for the different sounds at different times.

Lastly is the POD, by Line 6 this is a small computer on the floor that can program several sets of effects and recall them in any order you want, and can also be controled by MIDI like a synthesiser.
These are not cheap, but are very powerful multi effects units with very good sounding programable distortion patches.

I use Line 6 plug-ins in the studio to emulate amps with direct instruments.
This alows me to tune the sound of the amp AFTER the player has gone home. Or vary it during a song.
Even switching amps or cabnets in mid song, and using the same guitar or steel track through multiple different amps for a stacked sound.

Hope this all helps.
DD

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 23 March 2004 at 10:05 AM.]

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

Terry, there have been a number of good books written about different effects units, what they do, how to combine them, how to match sounds from records, etc. all aimed at 6 string guitarists, but they have the same information that you would want. Try the Music section at Borders, or the Elderly music site/catalog. As far as using distortion/overdrive, I wouldn't recommend just getting a box and tuning it on, but rather doing some auditory research and finding someone who has a tone you'd like to get close to, then you have something to shoot toward in your listening tests. Besides steel players, try standard 6 string bottleneck players like Duane Allman, Warren Haynes (Govt. Mule and Allman bros.), Dave Hole, Roy Rogers, and one of my particular favorites, the country recordings of Leroy Parnell. Don't miss David Lyndley's stuff with Jackson Brown ("Running on Empty"). I think once you've listened to a lot of overdriven slide tones, you'll start to get a better idea of what you want to sound like.

------------------
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Moved to 'Electronics'. (Maybe I should rename the section 'Amps & Effects')

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

Thanks David, and Mark. but it all sounds like greek to me.

I ain't to bright when it comes to all this fancy stuff.
I know who I want to sound like though. Tom Brumley in his Buck Owens steel breaks.

I guess I'll just keep playin straight out of my session, bout all I can afford.

------------------
TW Sneed

David Doggett · Posted 23 Mar 2004 3:34 pm

Terry, here's my suggestion. Take your steel, amp and volume pedal to the biggest music store near you. Try to go on a week day when not a lot of customers are there. They will have lots of effects units from small and cheap to big and expensive. They will already know more about them than you could ever learn by reading. Try them all until you find the sound you want. That's the only way I know to find what you want, unless you just happen to have a friend who already has something that sounds good to you, and he will let you try it.

John McGann · From: Boston, Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.

The type of sounds vary a lot...There are units available that are more "overdrive" than "distortion"- distortion (to me) being the nasty bumblebee like sound of a "fuzz box", while overdrive sounds more like a nice warm fat tube amp overdriving...if you are using a tube amp!

Any inexpensive "fuzz box" will give you distortion. "Overdrive" boosts your signal so that it drives the amp harder, making the tubes (if you are using tubes) work harder and giving you a warmer distortion than you would achieve with an electronic chip.

The TC Electronics Line Driver and Klon Centaur are good overdrive type pedals. They are a couple hundred bucks. If you want a compressed, distorted signal ("fuzz box"), you can get an Ibanez Sound Tank for about $30 on eBay- and about $40 new.

------------------
http://www.johnmcgann.com
Info for musicians, transcribers, technique tips and fun stuff.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I like distortion, but the "all-or-none" switching is not useful to me. I split the signal coming out of my volume pedal with a Y-cord and run one side to effects and keep one side a straight signal, them mix them back together with a cheap little powered mixer. This way, I can control the blend between the straight and processed sound. Distortion sounds way better to me when it's expressed as a percentage of a mixed signal, rather than that full-on "Strangling Wombat" sound you get when you just stomp on a fuzzbox. If effects manufacturers would include a blend knob it would do the same thing. For great distorted steel tones, check out Dave Ristrim's "Crisis at the Theme Park", available from b0b. There's a rip-roaring version of "School Days" on there which is my current wake-up-the-neighbors morning anthem. b0b himself has a few mp3's with his Mesa Boogie in fine form. Johan Jansen gets off some good stuff on "Head Back in the Clouds", Dave Easley on "3 Now 4' too, also available here.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

All the David's seem to be in agreement.
And Crisis ITP is a fine album.

A sansamp is a nice sounding little box.
But got to the store and try things your ears are your best judge.

I suspect it's possible to get a better sound than the one your looking for since it was recorded so long ago.
or that sound plus a few others in tyhe same box.

I got a Peavey Transfex Pro 212 amp which is like having a stereo Session amp with a TubeFex inside it. Midi pedals can control the progrmming. It gives me several great sounds, that I can change mid song, and the tube emulation sounds as good as the Tube Fex I replaced it with.

But not as good as Dan Tyacks sound.

I love that good tube sound.

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

Thanks guys. we have a nice music store here in town, I think I will take my guitar up there and try different units to see what I can come up with. maybe just a different amp would give me the sound I want, or close to it.

Gerald Menke · From: Stormville NY, USA

I would like to recommend the find sounding Klon Centaur overdrive pedal or my latest surprise find, the Homebrew Electronics 3 diode Power Screamer pedal, like three in one. You can play chords on either neck with either of these pedals, and still great definition between intervals, chords still sound very integrated and rich, not muddy. And with both single coil and humbucking pickups is still very rich, not compressed and undetailed like many "distortion" pedals.

Here are some links: http://www.homebrewelectronics.com/ http://www.klon-siberia.com/blank.php

I have also gotten a pretty hot sound by turning up this Top Hat Club Deluxe I have about halfway, great for the studio, sounds like an old tweed amp.

Gerald

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

Thanks for the link Gerald. I think maybe that BIG D is similar to what I'm lookin for.
overdrive and distortion in one unit.
$239

------------------
TW Sneed

Forum Index > Electronics		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic