How to make a specific sounding distortion?

[platypy]

I'm new to making pedals, and my friend wants a pedal for use in hardcore punk band. Something along the lines of the guitar in this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H37-6a5qkKk. I thought I could achieve this by setting the gain of an opamp really high and then putting it through some clipping diodes that would activate at low voltages. While I have found some cool distortion sounds through this method, I haven't found the one I'm looking for. I also tried putting a transistor before the op amp to amplify the signal even more, but I didn't like the background noise it produced.
Do you guys have any suggestions on what I could try, or any names of pedals that sound similar that I could research? Anything would be greatly appreciated! 

[J0K3RX]

Try some broken glass in a blender or garbage disposal and if that ain't enough then try running your finger nails down a chalkboard at the same time... should get you in the ballpark

You could also tie 2 cats tails together and sling them over a clothes line... wouldn't hurt my feelins not one bit! 

[EBK]

I'm sorry I don't have a serious answer for you.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but that clip sounded like a lot of noise with no distinguishable traditional musical notes. 

[diy-tubes]

I think something like screaming meanie and others from http://moosapotamus.net/ will do the job. No?

[ElectricDruid]

It sounds to me like the bit you're missing is tone control.

You've got the gain, and you've got the clipping - that's all fine. But one of the things that makes one distortion different from another is the frequency response, and that's where the tone control comes in. Some have the "scooped mids" sound, others are much more "midrangey" or have a lot of "presence" (usually means upper-mids).

Most distortion circuit shape the frequency response of the signal both before and after the gain/clipping. You might find one or the other is enough. Cutting some of the bass out before the clipping can stop the sound being "muddy" but also tends to make it "lighter".

Have a search around for some simple tone controls (even a passive one would do if you've got loads of gain to spare) and then try sticking one in front of your distortion and/or after it. You'll get a much wider variety of sounds and you might be able to get the one you're after.

Maybe something like this for starters:

http://www.muzique.com/lab/swtc.htm

HTH,
Tom

[platypy]

Ok, cool. I'll look into moosapotamus and tone controls. Thanks for the help!

[GibsonGM]

Throw your favorite EQ pedal after your favorite hard distortion....crank up the highs, drop lows...see what you get!

[Mark Hammer]

well..........(clears throat).......(shuffles feet)......it's not exactly what I trained for, but here goes.

I think what you're hearing in that track (you can still hear, right?) is likely the result of several cascaded distortions.  How many, I couldn't really say, but it's definitely more than one.  What gives it away is that there is a lot of harmonics of harmonics.  That is, one circuit has generated a lot of harmonics, and then one or more additional circuits have taken that and distorted it further.

I think it is also worth noting that the most harmonic content is going to be generated when you pick.  Seems to me that the guitar layer is likely strumming pretty fast, such that the excessive treble is a result of how fast he's banging the strings, and not exclusively a product of the distortion circuit.

I'll betcha, though, that one MXR Distortion+, plugged into a second one, would get you pretty close.....provided you were able to strum that fast.

You won't mind if I pass on the gig, though, do you?  I have, um, work in the morning.   

[platypy]

so maybe if I put one op-amp pushed to the max in front of another one and add some good high-pass filtering, I'll get close enough to this monstrosity?

[slashandburn]

I'm a fan all that dumb punk stuff, no disrespect intended. I'd doubt the original artists were carefully crafting that "sound", seems more like something from the Spinal Tap "crank everything to eleven" school of guitar tones to me.

It's really fizzy sounding and clearly very little thought has gone into the  guitar tone in the first place.  I've never played with the moosapotomas pedal but I'd agree that this is all just a solid state "mid-scooped" sound, with lots of high end fizz.

High gain, Mid-scoop, fizzier than Pepsi. That should come close enough. Rather than a pedal though, if you want your mate to be thinking about tone for that style, have him listen to this: https://youtu.be/x8--aQTpgXo

[Frank_NH]

SO...after listening to the punk track, I decided to have a go at reproducing the "tone".    It seems that a Univox Superfuzz clone, with the tone in the scooped mode, fed into tube screamer or Klon clone (gain set to taste) gets you close...  Could probably use any overdrive, but having something with more tone knobs would provide for additional tone shaping.   

[blackieNYC]

Wow. I played hardcore punk and lots of it.
That is an bad sound.
But not in a bad way!

My first thought was EQ.  There's an almost-all-in-one chip for a 5 band eq here
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=99493.0

You can pick your own frequencies.
In this case I would think it should be after the distortion, but before it will be good too and you could hit the distortion a little harder

[pinkjimiphoton]

sounds suspiciously like my flying spaghetti monster. thru a superfuzz

[robthequiet]

I guess I'm very humbly throwing in the Big Muff  on max treble through a tiny amplifier cranked within inches of its life, then mike that with an SM57. Kind of the pignose approach, but more extreme. One of those little Fender practice amps you get with the beginner's kit might do. I think a single op amp may not give you the texture, following on what Mark mentioned, sounds like a cascade of things. I think the BMP circuit as one box might do it , but you might need a Dist+ before/after to really get the fine serrations.

The guys I knew that played along these lines basically had no money, so the tone came from whatever they could borrow or "lift" cranked as [much as possible ].

Got a similar effect at a living room gig where two guitars and a bass all went through the same amp. 100% IM distortion with a touch of ring mod. Luscious. No cats were harmed, afaik, but they sure disappeared right quickly.

[Derringer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H37-6a5qkKk.

that sounds like an HM-2 to me, but could be a superfuzz.


you might have luck just driving the hell out of a lm386

[thermionix]

A big part of that sound is the very lo-fi recording too.  I mean, you couldn't build drums that sound like that in real life either.  As for what the guitar sounded like originally, I agree plug the two crappiest distortion pedals you can find in series and crank up the gains.  Rocktek, anyone?

[J0K3RX]

I wasn't trying to bash you or put you down.. I was joking because... that is what I do..  Have been told that I am never serious, I guess that's how I entertain myself and at the same time it's a defense mechanism or some sh!t...  That music is not my preferred brand but, I can dig that you dig it!! To each their own...

Read the 4th paragraph down.. may shed some light on the sound you are after.
http://www.metal-archives.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=97214

[platypy]

Don't worry, J0K3RX. I totally got that you were joking. Honestly, I am not a big fan of this sort of sound either, but my friend likes it so I'm just doing it for him

[Quackzed]

yeah its noisy and nasty without alot of lowend or tone shaping , i think the real trick will be getting that sound at stage volumes without feedback getting out of control and slowly or quickly killing your friends amp... i'd probably cascade a few distortions and make one of em, the last in line be 'gated' such that when your not playing (not playing loud enough) it kills the sound. you can bias 'mis bias' a transistor gain stage to do that easily enough... other than that maybee a bass cut or treble heavy high gainer without normal treble roll off tone control... a mxr distortion + and a fuzz face with a small  input cap and a bias pot aughtta get there gainwise as well as gate out when not playing, youd haveta play with the input cap (trebleyness) , and bias of the fuzz (gateyness), but a stock distortion plus in front (due to it being more treble heavy at higher gains as well as a very high gainer) would be a good foundation to start... and a silicon fuzz is low parts and a good versitile circuit...

[nonoxxx]

For me it sound like a bad setting on a Boss metal zone 
Experiment with a metal zone or you can modify a boss DS1 for similar results, modding it to get more mids and gain and turning the tone pot really high will do the job .