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In search for the nastiest distortion I can find.

I've been looking for something that spits and vomits when you play threw it. Something so knurled and raunchy it sounds broken. So I made myself a dying battery simulator.

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/DBS/

I've played most of my dirt boxes threw it. The sound I get with the Fulltone 70's fuzz is like coughing up blood. It's almost what I'm looking for. But not quite. I have a few more boxes I'll try tomorrow. Also looking at buying an old DOD distortion box. Like the one used in the demo on the site I got the directions from. The sound he got was SWEAT! The dod ds-1's have been going cheap on Ebay.

The sound I'm getting now with the 70's is really close to the sound on this vid at around 2:22,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnvsBVgpwDc

I've only tried this with full humbuckers. Will have to try both CBGs I have. The lower output of the pickup on the Swamp Witch and the Delta Blues should be cool.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on November 10, 2014 at 4:18pm

for your consideration ...

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 10, 2014 at 11:00pm

Totally cool info The anonymous pick! But as Mr. Richards said "They put a limiter on it ( the recorder ) soon after that so you couldn't overload it." On top of that he would overdub the same guitar part so you would get layers of that distortion.

The Beatles and Eric Clapton were known for overdriving the front end of a Neve recording console. You can actually buy a distortion pedal that's made from the pre amp from that mixer. They're kinda pricy.

Listening to 'Street fighting Man' now. Awesome!

Thanks Wayfinder. I might have to look into that.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on November 11, 2014 at 2:27am

What kind of disto? Tube Screamer into a Fuzztone? Full metal raging odd harmonic solid state, a la Peavy? Dirt on dirt from cascaded 12AX7s and EL 34s?

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on November 11, 2014 at 2:43am

you can get an old one and jack into the head and run it through the speaker .. its a similar sound .

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 11, 2014 at 1:04pm

Oily, I have a few distortion boxes, Staking them can get some really nice to unusable sounds. Yes I've turned them all the way up and all on at the same time. But kept each volume down enough so i wasn't overdriving the boxes. Ended up with a heavily compressed and unusable noise.

Electro Harmonix Soul Food.
Electro Harmonix EXtortion
Catelinbread Dirty Little Secret ll
Catelinbread Wllo
Voo Doo Lab Sparkle Drive
T Rex Crunchy Frog
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9DX
Wampler Tweed 57'
Fulltone 70's
And a Danelectro Daddy O.

Still debating getting an ARC Soothsayer. It's a RAT clone with so much more to offer. Had a RAT in the lat 80's early 90's. Loved everything about it except the lack of tone.

Yes it looks like a lot of the same thing but it's not. The Extortion has a cab simulator so I can plug directly into a PA if I have to. The Sparkle drive is a tube screamer. However you can mix the distortion and clean to get some really nice sounds. The Crunchy frog works the same. However the distortion is better. Personally not a fan of the tube screamer sound. Wish I'd known about the Crunchy Frog before I got the sparkle drive. Live and learn.

The Secret, Wiio, 57' and 70's all sound different from one another. The Soul Food is a Klon clone. For leads and smoother sounding distortion it's a thing of beauty to stack in front of other dirt boxes. As far as the tube screamer goes. I only use that in front of my POG2 to get really cool rock organ sounds. Using a better dirt box to add crunch after the POG2. The Daddy O? It's cheap and nasally sounding. Kinda thin. I was hoping it sounded worst than it does.

Anonymous pick, not sure how to jack into the head. All this was done before the first dirt boxes were ever made. Someone skilled in electronics got wind of it and the rest is history. Somewhere out there. In the mountain of forgotten dirt boxes is probable one made from the components found in an old cassette recorder.

And now we have this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EJIihaLV9g

Nano technology in a dirt box!

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on November 11, 2014 at 1:16pm

6:30

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Permalink Reply by turtlehead on November 11, 2014 at 1:58pm

Of course the first practical use of quantum mechanics would be in a guitar pedal! Pretty cool.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on November 11, 2014 at 3:54pm

Ahhh, the never-ending search for the sound in yer head...always ends up being "almost there." You definitely got GAS, Rat. Me, I prefer creamy tube breakup - old ears trained on FM car radio and Klipschorns ;-).

Kinda like the aural equivalent of that first sip of a freshly-drawn pint of Guinness, where the foam gets in your mustache ;-).

Of course, you could always have big fun with a cheap little 6" radio or car speaker, and an ice pick, pencil, or razor blade - Ray Davies of the Kinks, Girl (You Really Got Me). In reality, good dirt is often the combo of the circuit, the pups, and the speaker. A great weekend can be completely wasted testing dirt boxes and speaker combos. Browner is better in my book.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 11, 2014 at 5:04pm

Oily, I never try to go for the exact sound in my head. That be a great way to drive ya crazy. It's more of a feeling. How the distortion fits or causes a mood in the music. Kinda hard to describe. I treat tone the same way. Love the sound of my little Fender champs all tube distortion. Even the crunchy sound my Marshall Valvestate gets. But couldn't live with just that to work with.

Cutting up an old speaker would be awesome! I've got a few around. If I could find a way to match the ohms to my amps output. Don't want to damage the amp. Can always run across old computer speakers at yard sales. This sounds more like fun!

the anonymous pick, then take that guitar and bring it to electric life. Slaps some pups in it. Pour everything you have into the strings and feed it's soul threw every snarling device known to man. Stretch it. Expand it. Make it larger than it's very being. Then let it pour out threw an electric magnetic field till it rakes the very laws of physics!

Turtlehead, bout time them scientists get it right!