Distortion Pedal
Distortion Pedal
do you use a distortion pedal on amp's clean or overdrive channel?
I've been playing guitar for about a year and im a newbie to pedals. I wanna get a distortion pedal but i dont know which one to get or what amp channel to use it with? Would you recommend any other effects other than distortion?
Generally you either use a distortion pedal OR the distortion on your amp.....not both. Think of it like the old saying "garbage in = garbage out." When you use an effect, you want to start with a clean signal and let the effect unit do it's magic. If you were to look at distortion on an oscilloscope, you would see that it "clips" off the extreme ranges of your sound waves or signal. So if you take that clipped signal and send it into another distortion channel, you'll lose so much data that you'll end up with mud for sound.
So with a pedal, use the clean amp channel. As for other effects, buy them as you find a need for them. When you hear a sound that you just have to duplicate...that's when to consider another pedal. There's too many effects out there to just start collecting randomly. With distortion and a little delay, you can do a lot.
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Guitar Blink 182 - The Secrets To A Blink 182 Guitar Sound
Tom Delonge has always contributed a great guitar sound to Blink 182 that has become his signature. Lucky for you, creating a tone for your guitar Blink 182-style, is fairly simple.
By taking some of Tom Delonge's secrets and implementing your own tweaks, you can create a solid punk rock sound. Here are a few of Blink 182's signature guitar secrets.
1. Use compression on your tone from a pedal or a rack piece.
When Blink 182 plays live, Delonge gets a good amount of attack on his guitar. A nice compression pedal will even your strumming and also boost your attack power a couple notches.
2. Shop for guitars with extra mid tone like Fenders.
Tom Delonge started his Blink 182 career playing Fender guitars because of their versatility of genres. For a similar sound, play either a Fender or another guitar that has a natural boost in its mid range.
3. Give the mid range on your amplifier a little boost.
Sometimes when guitarists are configuring the knobs on their amps or guitars they tend to cut out the mid range. Mid range is essential to a round guitar sound like Blink 182's so give that knob a few clicks.
4. You don't need amplifiers with too much distortion.
Even though amplifiers like Marshalls supply a huge amount of distortion, it's not really what you should aim for with a Blink 182 guitar sound. Average distortion amplifiers like Fender, Mesa Boogie, and Orange supply smooth tones.
5. Keep your bass and high tone levels on the guitar amplifier around 50%.
A common mistake for beginning guitarists is to pull up the high and low ranges of the guitar amp while lowering the mid range substantially. To keep your tone meaty, you'll find that you need a nearly even spectrum from all ranges.
6. Distortion pedals or rack pieces are not necessary.
Too much distortion can create ugly white noise that covers up your melodies and causes fans to not like you. Keep you tones pure like Blink 182.
7. Use a pure guitar sound without many effects or processors.
Tom Delonge has his moments when he'll use a delay or reverb pedal for a certain section of a tune, but it's tasteful and rare. Follow his practice and keep your effects to a minimum.
The goal to reach with getting a Blink 182 guitar sound is to find that balance between distortion and clean to give just enough bite without compromising the tone quality. Put your own personal touch on the mix after you execute these tips.
About the Author
For more information on how to get a sound on your guitar Blink 182-style and other fast guitar tips, visit How To Guitar Tune.