Is that possible to use distortion pedal together with the gain channel of the amp??

haloa · #1 02.05.06, 3:28 AM

i listened to the zakk wlyde overdrive on the dunlop website, there are a clean amp and dirty amp demo. Dirty amp refer to gain channel, right

that demo is great

but when i use DS1 together with the gain channel, it doesn't become more distorted

will i kill my amp and DS1?

skip tracer · #2 02.05.06, 4:02 AM

You can use the amp's dirt channel and a distortion pedal at the same time with no problem.

_pheonix_ · #3 02.05.06, 4:14 AM

yer, it's fine, i do it all the time.

haloa · #4 02.05.06, 5:34 AM

thanks, but i just found the noise by doing this, haha, maybe the amp is the matter??

my amp is fender frontman 25R...

and dirt amp with distortion or dirt amp with overdrive, which is better??

is that this is called a boost??

berarduur · #5 02.05.06, 5:35 AM

Maybe it is because of the pedal you use; you use a distortion pedal while the ZW44 is an Overdrive pedal.

In the gain channel of an amp the tubes (or is you have a SS amp the SS) are pushed a bit more with the fed in signal. With a distortion pedal you cannot really "push" a amp in gain more because the gain increase your pedal gives is only an "emulation" of distortion (so it is not "real" distortion).
One way to correct this is by increasing your tone control to treble (so the pedal will begin to work the same the old treble booster will do). One other way is by turning the gain down a bit on your amp; this must eliminate the overpower.

The ZW44 is a overdrive pedal (but is also emulates an overdriven amp; it does not really overdrive an amp) but the output this pedal is somewhat higher; with this higher output you can push the begin stage of your amp a bit more.

This is why I love my Colorsound Overdriver, wich is a real overdriver; it just push your signal a lot!

haloa · #6 02.05.06, 6:25 AM

thanks!
so is that your amp is a great amp? so that you only need an overdriver instead of a distortion pedal?

berarduur · #7 02.05.06, 6:48 AM

Well, my amp is a great one (only 3 made all over the world) but it can also be with other amps....

Just remember that the gain of the amp is not set too high (the pedal will elevate it by pushing) and that the tone (of the pedal) is set to the treble side.

Or yes, maybe a overdrive pedal is better...... a ZW44 is a SD-1 clone, wich is a tubescreamer clone. A tubescreamer (or clone) could be used to get that tone as you stated with the OD'ed amp.

Try before you buy; if you know the shopkeeper ask if you can try it out at home or in the rehearsal room.

baby_blues · #8 02.05.06, 7:34 AM

Or rather than use the gain knob on you pedal to boost the signal, use the volume and keep the gain low.

Also remember usuing a valve amp rather han your soild-state overdrives alot better, with a far warmer tone.

berarduur · #9 02.05.06, 8:02 AM

That is true; many players use their tubescreamer clones (as the SD-1

) with the gain set to none and the volume to full to boost. I do the same with my MXR distortion + clone to give my (already overdriven sound) more grit

mr_sean · #10 02.05.06, 2:33 PM

if you're using a solid state amp or a tube pre-amp/ solid power amp putting an overdrive like an sd-1 in front of an od channel. i found with my amp that using an od makes the dirty channel sound much more lively