Well, today I was just messing around spending some time in a music shop, playing around with different distortion affects that I may purchase in the near future. I really liked the Boss Metal Core ML-2 pedal they had, but they also had a bunch of others I tried out and can't quite remember tham all. I'm a big thrash/heavy metal fan (MegaDeth, Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, etc.) and I've been looking to add some distortion to the mix. It just sounds so odd playing this type of stuff clean.

I've been trying to read around as many different forums and sites and going and trying out as many different setups as I can to really get a feel for what sounds I like, so, I'm just wondering to the metal players of Teamliquid what types of effect pedals you like to use, and some of the experiences you've had with them? Thanks for you time.

xBTx

Canada542 Posts

October 12 2008 05:11 GMT

I actually spent like 3 years plugging right into my Marshall JCM 800 half stack, but more recently I bought one of the large RP series pedals from digitech. Obviously since its all digital you won't get the authentic sound of 500 individual boss pedals, but its about a quarter of the price with everything from flanger to wah to whatever you will need.

KrAzYfoOL

Australia3037 Posts

October 12 2008 05:16 GMT

I used a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone connected to a Zoom G1X multifx pedal. The reason being is because the damn MT-2 doesn't have a reverb nob and there's no other way for me to add reverb but to connect it with my other pedal

Still works out great though i can get all sorts of cool distortion effects.

FreeDoM[YA]

Canada855 Posts

October 12 2008 05:18 GMT

I have a small Marshall with a Zoom G1X I like it with only 100$ (it was a sale) and I can get some really nice sounds out of it.

CFDragon

United States304 Posts

October 12 2008 05:33 GMT

Yeah, I played the Metal Zone a bit, but I really preferred the Metal Core's sound, it seemed much bassier to me.

Sadly, I didn't get to test any Wah pedals out. They had an auto-wah, but I wasn't really into it. I've heard the Crybaby 535Qs are good, kinda wish I would've gotten to play around with one.

koreasilver

9109 Posts

October 12 2008 07:21 GMT

I'm not a metal player, but when I tried my friend's Metal Zone, I couldn't help but think it was just disgusting.

Seriously though, the best distortion is the distortion that comes straight from a nice tube amp, and when it comes to distortion pedals, I often find that tube distortion pedals are the best. I don't play metal though, so I dunno what kind of distortion pedals to recommend to you. What kind of guitar and amp are you using currently?

Drowsy

United States4876 Posts

October 12 2008 07:27 GMT

I'm more of a death metal guitarist, but what pedals you use should depend on what amp you're sticking them in front of. If you're using a solid state combo or something then definitely get the meanest pedal you can, a metalzone or a metalcore or something like that and probably just run it into the clean channel. If you have a decent tube amp, but can't quite crank out as much distortion as you need, you're way better off going with something like a tubescreamer to give a small, warm boost that won't compromise your tube distortion too much. Also, look into a multieffects/amp modeler type pedal, I use a line 6 toneport in college since I couldn't bring my amp up and it sounds sick as hell through decent speakers, and not terrible on headphones. They're really versatile, you can use it solely as a distortion pedal or use one of the higher gain amp models and it has useful effects like reverb/delay/eq/noisegate etc. They're usually similarly priced to distortion pedals as well.

Centric

United States1989 Posts

October 12 2008 10:23 GMT

If you're cheap and don't want to buy multiple individual pedals you should try taking a look at the PODxt Live (or the newer, fancier POD X3 Live). I use the PODxt and I have to say, the versatility of the options available to you are insane. Line 6 does a decent job replicating the real sounds digitally (after all, that's what their company is founded on). I don't really play heavy metal stuff, but I've always found that I could create any sound that I had in mind.

CFDragon

United States304 Posts

October 12 2008 19:31 GMT

Yeah, I really need to upgrade my amp to be honest

. So I was looking around and I saw that Line6 Spider III was getting usually more positive than not, reactions from different websites. The main thing it was getting bashed for was that it's a solid state, so it's quality isn't as good as some of the tube amps. But, it's got a lot of built in distortions and such that eliminate the need for many pedals. And, it's rather inexpensive, so that plays a lot into my decision. Hopefully, I'll be able to try one out in the near future and see how I like the sound.

koreasilver

9109 Posts

October 13 2008 00:02 GMT

#10

The thing is, built-in effects on amps are generally pretty bad.

Drowsy

United States4876 Posts

October 18 2008 07:20 GMT

#11

On October 13 2008 04:31 CFDragon wrote:
Yeah, I really need to upgrade my amp to be honest

Yeah, don't do that. If you want something by line 6, just make it anything but the spider, spider 2, or spider 3. Worst investment ever, the preamp section is based on some old hunk of junk POD from like 1999 or 2000, and the power amp/speakers suck. You're way better off getting a newer pod, guitarport, or toneport and plugging into stereo speakers, desktop speakers, or headphones. You'll have way better effects, more amp models to choose from, more speaker cab models, and better sounding everything. Even just a cheap 100$ stereo/cd player with an equalizer sounds absolutely fantastic with a line 6 preamp running into it, definitely not as good as the amps their modelling but more than suitable for practice and maybe even gigging purposes.

Line 6 really needs to update the preamp sections of their spider line of products. The Spider Valve would be like... sick as hell if it had the HD147/PODxt preamp, though obviously you could just plug a pod into the power amp section but that would cost money and I'd rather stick a non digital preamp into it.

Hypnosis

United States2061 Posts

October 18 2008 07:50 GMT

#12

On October 13 2008 04:31 CFDragon wrote:
Yeah, I really need to upgrade my amp to be honest

I would recommend the spider, I have it and its great for every day practice, it gets loud too. If you like metal its great.

-orb-

United States5770 Posts

October 18 2008 08:14 GMT

#13

Pre-amps are the only real way you're gonna get good distortion.

Then again all the bands you like are american metal so maybe you'd like the tone that comes out of a pedal :r

You could always get an amp with a pre built in, like the spider IIIs from line 6. Then again you sound like you already have an amp, so getting a separate pre would probably be the better option.

I have a Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP-1000 and it's fucking amazing.

I also have a line 6 spider III 2x10" and it sounds pretty good with the right settings.

Also you say you want to add distortion to the mix, which leads me to believe you've been playing clean this whole time. If so you probably aren't using pickups geared towards distortion. You're going to want a relatively high output (relative to clean pickups that is) humbucker rather than a single coil. I'd definitely recommend the EMG HZ H-4. I have one and it sounds great.

From personal experience I really don't like active pickups, but you may. They sound muddy to me. That's a huge opinion base though, everyone seems to have a different opinion about active pickups.