good eighties distortion

[Somicide]

sort of a followup to my booster question, anyone have any ideas on what pedals would give a good eighties metal type distortion.  along the lines of Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" type of distortion.  Cuz, Big Muff's are nice, but sometimes, its gotta be flashmetal.

[Marcos - Munky]

The Obsidian with 2N7000 transistors.

[Fret Wire]

The Dist.+ was a staple of alot of seventies and eighties metal. "Good enough for Randy Rhodes, good enough for us".

[bwanasonic]

Check out the Marshall Guv'nor ( the original, not the little silver thing). Should be able to cover that material. General Guitar Gadgets has a schematic and layout.

Kerry M

[Ansil]

hey fretwire.. randy only used it as a clean booster. he kept the gain from .5/1.5 and just used the output to od his amps. i would dobut if it even had enough dist to make the diodes clip.. but i could be wrong opn that.

but i have seen numerous clips of his pedal board and thats always were it was set.  nearly wide open vol and almost zero gain.

i agreee with you ther bwansonic.  the original guvnor pulls this off nicely.. i modded one for a friend and he fel in love with it.. i changed the first stage low roll off cap. to a .15 for a 482.5hz roll off.. and changed the  second gain stage from a 10k resistor to a 6.8k to give it a boost of 100. andi am prety sure i changed the otuptu cap made it a little bigger and changed the treble cap from 4n to a 4n7  film.

great 80's metal..

[Fret Wire]

hey fretwire.. randy only used it as a clean booster. he kept the gain from .5/1.5 and just used the output to od his amps. i would dobut if it even had enough dist to make the diodes clip.. but i could be wrong opn that.

Could be. His Marshalls were modded for alot more gain. From interviews I always thought he used it to bump them up into od, but I didnt realize his dist. setting was so low. Either way, when you listen to him, he's still got that Dist.+ thin-bass sound.

Depending on the guitar/pickup/amp combo, every one will have a different setting for volume and gain. I think it sounds best on a dimed out amp, set to push it a little harder. You get the distortion, but your amp and guitar still retain their character. That's usually the best way to set any OD/Dist. pedal.  Alot of people just dime out the dist. knob and the pedal takes over the amp's sound and sounds the same as a cheap practice amp.

[Paul Marossy]

Wasn't a lot of the 80s distortion sound produced by SS Peavy amps?
That's what I think of when someone says "80s distortion".

[Fret Wire]

I always think of Lynard Skynard when I  think of Peavy SS amps.

[Somicide]

Finally!  A reason why i got that Peavey!  Thanks for the tips, I think I'll check out the Guv'nor, and hope it works.  Thanks again!

[Ansil]

what about this.. is this 80's  ???


http://geocities.com/cemaynard1134/sound

sledgehammer


lol  shameless plug time

[RDV]

I always think of Lynard Skynard when I  think of Peavy SS amps.

Not to be argumentative but, the Peavey amps that Skynyrd used were tube models(Mace). I've also heard that the Peaveys were out front, but behind them were miked up Marshalls and Fenders.

Regards

RDV

[Fret Wire]

Sounds eighties to me. Nice wah sound on "coldwind".

[Ansil]

thanks. thats the modded bad horsie i did.. took a crybaby type wah and modded it to bad horsie 2 specs

[RDV]

I do love my old Peavey Bandit 65 though. It doesn't do the eighties distortion sound by itself though, but with a transistor Obsidian driving it it does!!

Regards

RDV

[Fret Wire]

Not to be argumentative but, the Peavey amps that Skynyrd used were tube models(Mace). I've also heard that the Peaveys were out front, but behind them were miked up Marshalls and Fenders.

Regards

RDV

Really, I never knew the models they used. That's just the mental connection I always make. About 20 years ago I used to jam with a guy who was a die-hard Skynyrd fan, and he used to nail their stuff perfectly with his Peavy SS, so I always make the connection.

RDV: no problem, no argument or offense taken. I'd rather be corrected if I'm wrong than be humored. Typewriter agruments and 5 page flame threads aren't my cup of tea. I'm just here to learn how my favorite pedals work, and help others when I'm able.

[RDV]

Me too on all of that!!

I rather like Peavey SS amps and you can nail Lynyrd Skynyrd with one!

Regards

RDV

[bwanasonic]

Hmm, Peavey SS is not what comes to mind when I think 80s Metal. I think Judas Priest , Twisted Sister, Cinderella, G&R, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, et al. Not a Peavey in sight as far as I know. Nothing against Peavey SS amps, just that I can't think of any signature 80s Metal that was recorded with them. Just listen to Robert Randolph if you want to hear glorious sounds come from a Peavey SS though.

Kerry M

[MarkB]

I had a Renown - . it would pretty much NAIL the 'Ratt' rhythm tone...
pushing it with a DS-1 got a great 80's metal lead tone... if there is such a thing
"-)

[Somicide]

was your renown "SCORPION EQUIPED" ? haha, love that sucker

[jimmy]

is howies metal simplex meant to be an 80s metal pedal? ive got one, and it rips! ill record a sound sample if i could be bothered lugging my amp down the stairs tomorrow morinin... no wait ill use my firefly YAY!!

yeah so its a good pedal but is lacking in sustain but you can always stick an orange squeezer in there and even drive it a bit harder.

rock on

cheers
Jim