Driven sound preferences?

[deeaa*]

To put it simply, which do you prefer - OD or distortion?

Years ago I realized that especially when recording guitars, it usually pays to play with as little drive as one can just about get the kind of the sound one wants, because after micing, mixing with the others and compression layers it will be hugely more distorted than it sounded when playing.

It always results in much more clarity and also live I play with so little drive it is sometimes almost uncomfortable to play, i.e. the saturation hardly carries on the wailing etc. but I always get great comments and questions on how do I get such a clear yet very driven sound.

Myself I prefer OD always; live I use an 18W type all tube head which I drive hard with EMG pickups plus a compressor and sometimes even a clean boost - never ever use any distortion, but sometimes I've used an OD pedal like a Tubescreamer, OD-2 or lately Marshall Jackhammer on OD mode.

So which is your preference?

[SuperSwede]

Oh it depends on the mood, but I usually prefer the amp to be set on "almost breakup" and then add some boost or slight OD when I want to "break on through to the other side"...

Or play around with my friends boss metal zone.. its a box-of-fun

[Gutmann]

I would chose every possibility, I like the gain of my Prosonic, but also using distortion an overdrive pedals (the Crowther Hot Cake from NZ: )
Another great thing is boosting the amp to get it overdriven..

[Lev]

It's funny you should bring this up. Since I started playing with a band I've also found that the less distortion I use the more clarity and projection I get in a band mix.

Yesterday we were rehearsing a song that uses a bit more distortion than normal so I dialed in the appropriate crunch level on my distortion pedal and thought I had nailed the sound when just playing the guitar on it's own. As soon as the band came in the guitar was lost in the mix.

I reverted back to using just a tiny bit of overdrive from my Dano Cool Cat OD and no distortion and hey presto it sounded great in the band mix. Although I didn't like the tone when playing the guitar on it's own, it sounded great with the band.

I've come to the conclusion less is always more when it comes to distortion.

[MichaelE]

Tube overdrive all the way.

[Robert****]

It depends on the music I'm playing, but I often pick distortion even when I'm playing blues, just so I won't have the same sound as all the other gazillion blues players. Plus, I like me some distortion.

[marnold***]

Obviously I like my "Thesis 96" OD, but I'm a metalhead so . . .

[sunvalleylaw]

I play my strat mostly, and my Viking a good bit too. I mostly play at home by myself, or with backers, and I most often like my strat with the Bad Monkey OD into my C-30. I play the Viking mostly clean. The last 3/4 of the year, I have been mixing that up by using my Rabid Rodent distortion, but at least half the time in the OD mode. I love the distortion sounds it makes, I just don't have the occasion to use those sounds all that much with what I am playing. If I do rock my distortion, it is usually with the Viking. That is a ton of fun.

But overall, OD with pedals it is.

[hubberjub***]

My amp is set so that it always has a little edge to it. I use my Lovepedal for my overdrive. I have my Analogman DS-1 there for those times when I need to relive my 80s hair band fantasies. It happens far too often.

[Spudman***]

I usually play cleaner too because of the sound having more presence and clarity and versatility, but to do that I've used a lower gain OD unit in the past. Now I'm finding that a distortion unit with the gain turned way down is pretty cool as well and I really like what happens. I get similar note clarity, presence and articulation but the seeming more compressed sound of the distortion unit is what I'm enjoying right now. It has a little more fun factor, plus if I need it I have gain on hand without switching pedals.

[Ro3b]

It might be instructive to hear what kinds of music everybody is playing with their particular levels of OD and distortion.

Me, I'm all about the snarl. For the splashy low-tech garage rock I'm into now, I usually have the drive knob on my OCD set at around 2:00, running into a fairly clean amp. A great thing about the OCD is that it can do pretty high levels of dirt without losing clarity and definition.

If I'm using the Big Muff, I keep it set somewhere between "puree" and "rend asunder."

[ibanezjunkie]

i like the 'insane' setting on my pod, with the noise gate on max and the gain dialed slightly back, with some flange.

[deeaa*]

It might be instructive to hear what kinds of music everybody is playing with their particular levels of OD and distortion.

Me, I'm all about the snarl. For the splashy low-tech garage rock I'm into now, I usually have the drive knob on my OCD set at around 2:00, running into a fairly clean amp. A great thing about the OCD is that it can do pretty high levels of dirt without losing clarity and definition.

If I'm using the Big Muff, I keep it set somewhere between "puree" and "rend asunder."

Well I can offer a few clips here:

http://www.myspace.com/crankenhaus

- All of the songs (mine is the lead melodies/main rhythm guitar) I've played with an EL84 based 18W amp which is basically clean with a passive guitar, but with my EMG85 pickups and when playing hard/full chords it has a very convincing Powerage-era ACDC crunch. That I've on all these songs that have driven guitars boosted with a Marshall Jackhammer on OD setting with gain at about 0,3 i.e. very low and volume at a slight boost. That's it. Where ever it's cleaner still (Come December), I've just rolled off some volume on my guitar or simply played by picking very lightly, or when it's just crunchy not very driven it's just the 18W and the EMG (machinist girl).

The other rhythm guitar/small licks/solos is an Ibanez w/original pickups and the amp is JCM900 on a slightly over half gain, no pedals.

These days my sound is pretty much just the same, but instead of OD pedal I use a compressor set on boosting the amp a li'l. Downside is it's noisier, but even more definition.

BTW I almost always use all 6 strings for chords - if I played these songs with just 2-3 string 'heavy' chords it'd sound wayyyy less driven...for me most of the crunch and drive comes from hitting all 6 strings so they hrmonize and cascade and hitting them hard.

With any 'ultra' gain amp like my Pod Insane or some JCM2000 ultra gain etc. it all becomes simply a huge big mess and mush.

[Gutmann]

It might be instructive to hear what kinds of music everybody is playing with their particular levels of OD and distortion.

Yep, one moment....Here are some samples with the hotcake, the tech21 XXL and the pure amph
There's a difference between the left and right channel on those samples - I used a beam blocker on the left side..
The FretKing-soundsample is also played with the hotcake...
And here more of the tech21...

[Plank_Spanker]

With the Germino, I prefer the natural distortion and drive of the amp, but I do use a Radial Tone Bone Trimode with it for small rooms where I can't get the amp to it's sweet spot.

The Tone Bone can be set anywhere from clean overdrive to "split your atoms" gain. I prefer just enough distortion to add some growl, while retaining enough clarity to keep the amp punching and the sound present in the mix.

[pes_laul]

Being a grunge rocker I tend to like me mass amounts of distortion. though I use my bad monkey quite a lot I generally use it as a solo boost or when I want to bust out some bluesy leads.

[MichaelE]

I play mostly late '70's through '80's rock and pop. Some newer tunes too. Some New Wave as well.

Or would that be Old Wave now? :

[pes_laul]

My amp is set so that it always has a little edge to it. I use my Lovepedal for my overdrive. I have my Analogman DS-1 there for those times when I need to relive my 80s hair band fantasies. It happens far too often.

hey what's an alalogman DS-1? I've never heard of it.