sonicgraffiti

You're welcome. Yes...I come across the same issue when trying to find combinations of FX to get the right sounds. I may know what the difference between the two are (regarding the original post), but I'm in much the same boat as far as all other FX manipulations are concerned. So far, I just do what so many others are recommending - find a preset that sounds "close" to what you want, and tweak it to customize it to your taste. Nice, but the ability to pull that off from a ground level sound is ultimately, the coolest way to do it, however tricky it may be. :blink:

Basically the way this breaks down is that most of the amps that are physically manufactured, and the ones that are modeled here have what's called overdrive, or simply "drive". What this was designed to do is slightly different than what a distortion pedal will do in the outside world. Overdrive is basically a way of sending more power and signal (voltage) through the vacuum tubes of many older amps and essentially "dirtying up" the sound that is sent to the speakers. Solid state amps have been emulating this for a long time, but generally sound a lot thinner. This is one of the big drivers for the "Tube vs. Solid State" war that has been waging in the guitar world since the dawn of time. lol. Distortion is a manipulation of the signal coming from the guitar (in most cases) in that it alters the original signal's wave signature to incorporate more rapidly occurring peaks in the signal flow, hence breaking the wave pattern up and creating a "chunk", or "buzz" effect to the guitar's original signal prior to hitting the amp. Both have similar effects on the sound of the guitar's signal, but you may notice differences in the way they sound. For overdrive, or drive it will be more "rumbly", whereas with distortion it will be a tighter, nastier "buzz saw-like" aspect added to the sound. Check them out with various levels without the other added, and then decide how much of each you would like in the overall sound you're looking for. The two can be used together, but be careful of the levels of both as too much of any one of them can create some unintelligible results. If that's what you're going for, however, go for it. The distortion you get as FX1 will act on either the clean signal from the guitar BEFORE it gets to the amp where it can be overdriven, or after the overdriven sound from the amp. It's your decision, ultimately, but they can produce very different results depending on where they land in the signal chain, and how much of each is applied. Hope this helped. :)

Thanks again, Mike. I have considered outboard stomps. It makes the most sense at this point. I guess I was just hoping I could pull a good distortion out of the built in effects, but ya can't have everything. ;) www.guitargeek.com has some pretty cool setups for popular guitarists. So maybe a combination of what the Spider has, and some outboard gear, I can pull it off.

Thanks, Mike. I played with those suggestions. What managed to happen was that I noticed that the distortion (Classic Distortion as FX1) was the part that seemed thin. I agree with the concept that everybody has different tastes in what sounds good. Mine tend to be along some pretty common lines. I guess my question is more geared around what other distortions would you suggest? The screamer is a little too much (for the sound I'm developing now), but I'm open to other ideas. The tone and volume settings on the guitar are generally maxed, but even that isn't necessarily what I'm listening for. If I were to bring any of those levels down, it would effect tone, yes, but it probably wouldn't do much against the thin sound I was getting from the FX1 settings. Is there maybe a good Bass, Mid, Treble feq. setting that may help keep it cohesive, will maintaining a little dirt? I hate to drop this out there (but it's popular, and people can identify with it), but oddly Brian Adams' sound in "Run to You" is the family of sound I'm trying for. My style is more post punk, with a slight hint of metal in there. Something in that sound would be awesome, if I can get the right grit into it without making it all mushy/tinny sounding. I'm hoping this isn't a limitation to the effects that are provided in the spider IV. I've moved the distortion's gain, level, and drive to similar positions that I have on a Amplitube setup i have on my PC, and the outcome is practically night and day. lol. I know there's differences, but these are quite a separation. I'm removing the "answered" status from this to encourage other input - this is no reflection on the answer you provided, in any way! All of your points were great, and I thank you! :) -Steve

Hey all, I recently purchased the Spider IV HD150 and didn't have much of a chance to listen to it before it updated the newest firmware last night. I'm trying to pull a lightly distorted tone out of the amp and have tried a few different combinations of FX on the tone. I'm Using the Clean Red and adding a little drive (about 45%-55%) to mess it up a little, and if I decide to use the Classic Distortion effect, it just sounds as muddy as it can get. If I pull the drive off of the amp, it sounds really thin and brassy. Does anyone have any ideas on how to set the distortion to pull a gritty, yet clear enough to hear individual notes, type of tone out of these things? Any suggestions would help. I've tried various amp types, but the Red Clean is pretty much the nicest tone IMO. Good tone, a little grit, and some delay and chorus fun on top...that's what I'm going for. Guitar: '97 Les Paul Studio Lite w/ Burstbuckers Amp: Spider IV HD150 w/ FBV Express MKII Cab: Raven 4x12 Thanks for any help! -Steve