Recommend distortion pedal please

[HappyBlues]

Well in fact I am considering a single seized humbucker pickup. DiMarzio to be more specific. Best guitar builder in our counrty (Steve Clark is his endorsee) recommends me DiMarzios. I would love one, but I can't see which would be best. I would like it to sound like classic humbucker. My first-sight guesses are ToneZone S and ProTrack (I liked the sound clips), maybe preffering a ProTrack a bit. So? :) This is getting interesting... instead of replacing DS-1 I'll replace a pickup... Funny, but quite good turnout as I like DS-1 character quite a lot...

edit: I want it for rock (stuff like intro guitar sound in "My Hero" (Foo Fighters) or Bullet The Blue Sky sound of U2
Midrangey, with no curles and a bit raging rocky...

thanks folks...

[Lungo]

Tone Zone is a good choice, very well balanced with high output. PAF Pro would be another good option.

[HappyBlues]

Sorry but I need Single coil sized humbucker... So Tonezone S and Pro Track came to my mind. Any comments? Anyone has those?

[Lungo]

Oh I see. I was thinking maybe you would be willing to get another pick guard with H-S-S configuration.

Another one to consider from Dimarzio is the HS-3 that Yngwie uses.

[HappyBlues]

well, after all, I'll either buy a Tonezone S or go through all the trouble and have PAF Classic Bridge and push/pull volume pot so I can split coils... Installing humbucker requires doing modification to guitar body, pickguard and of course installing pickup. At least these things are not too pricey here. I will pay about 100$ (66EUR) for work. That's not too bad. Considering this is pro, recognized widely. Slovak hands are never too pricey. another 130$ (70EUR) for pickup and I'm ready to rock.

I am also considering buying som vintage sounding humbucker for neck and doing parallel wiring for grestch-ey sound on neck...

Thanks for all suggestions so far folks... I hope I will get good rock tone from my VM now... Maybe I'll even switch to amp's od, who knows...

[slowpokerhino]

I'm am currently fighting the idea of putting 2 DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs in my Strat with some creative wiring for splitting & combinations. I feel your pain. :lol:

[StephenRutledge]

MI Audio 'Crunch Box' is an awesome distortion pedal: http://www.mieffects.com/cbinbrief.htm
So is their Tube Zone apparently: http://www.mieffects.com/TZinbrief.htm

[HappyBlues]

Well, I have found the solution to the problem with bad distortion sound with scratchy highs. You have to crank it up! Really. I was using VM at home with master at 9 o'clock. When I turned it up to 11 o'clock all the fiziness was gone... All that left was great tube sound. Sorry folks for all the time it took me to find out. It's that simple. VM really doesn't sound good at bedroom levels (well at 9 o'clock it is such a bedroom level that my ears ring...)

I'm in a bit of a trouble now... What amp to buy to be able to practice at home? AVT20? Or what??? :) It looks like I will be able to use anywahere else than a gig. I doubt if I will be able to use it at least at rehearsals...

[barkfield]

What you need is a THD Hotplate - expensive but well worth it to be able to crank your favorite amp without deafening the neighbours!!! (it's also smaller than another amp and you'll be able to use your lovely 2266C anywhere you like :D )

[corellaco]

MI Audio 'Crunch Box' is an awesome distortion pedal: http://www.mieffects.com/cbinbrief.htm
So is their Tube Zone apparently: http://www.mieffects.com/TZinbrief.htm

Using the Tube Zone at the moment until my Rocket Fuel arrives. The Tube Zone is great and I highly recommend it. I'm pretty psyched to get my hands on the Rocket Fuel though... check them out!

http://www.majikboxusa.com/RocketFuel.htm

[C0ldFart]

What you need is a THD Hotplate - expensive but well worth it to be able to crank your favorite amp without deafening the neighbours!!! (it's also smaller than another amp and you'll be able to use your lovely 2266C anywhere you like :D )

I'm using a THD Hotplate with my 2466 running into the MG412A and B cabs. These cabs are a bit "clean" sounding for this amp but I love it.
Master vol at 3 o clock and hotplate to adjust volume, typical -8dB

For solo I use volume pedal (in the effects loop), guitarvol and sometimes the "Maxon Vintage Series OD820 Overdrive Pro" with just a hint of drive and lots of vol boost.

C0ld

[lowenzz]

I'm pretty psyched to get my hands on the Rocket Fuel though... check them out!

http://www.majikboxusa.com/RocketFuel.htm

I'm sold, but damn it's spendy. Doug Aldrich tone box. I may have to check that one out a bit further. :D

[TonyC]

Using the Tube Zone at the moment until my Rocket Fuel arrives. The Tube Zone is great and I highly recommend it. I'm pretty psyched to get my hands on the Rocket Fuel though... check them out!

http://www.majikboxusa.com/RocketFuel.htm

Doug is such an amazing guitar player, has such a wonderful tone that I believe he'd sound awesome through anything. The RocketFuel audio samples were great though, and I really want to try one myself. I wonder if Doug uses a VM in those clips. It sounded really close to the Doug VM demo mp3 on Marshall's site.

[mety]

He didn't use a VM in those clips as his amps are/were in storage.
It was a 71 modded Marshall set to crunch - but loud.

He said about using it with th VM:
"Hey man,
This pedal is more for boosting the front of the amp. It works great with the VM though. The pedal has the Bass shift which can give more bottom to the VM."

About settings he said:
"I have been using it on tour to see how it was.... It really worked out great. Since I got home, I have been experimenting with some various settings.

There is a really cool one that I didnt use before. Its putting the Boost on about 2oclock. The Level on 10oc..tone knob OFF and the Gain on full.

Then keeping my guitar volumes on half with the neck PU a bit higher.... With this setting, you can go from really clean( Cause GTR Vols are down)
Then kick in either the Boost for a regular big tone, or the OD side for higher gain snarl. Or Both for something over the top.
Plus you got all that headroom on your guitar.
The pedal doesnt loose any bottom and has a real dramatic lead sound with this setting.
On tour I had it in my rack and it was just set as a Boost OD.... but this new setting is cool."

I don't know if anyone saw Doug on the latest Whitesnake tour, but he was the star of the whole evening for me...
IMHO of course!

8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[TonyC]

Great info mety! Now I REALLY want one :P

I saw Whitesnake June 6th this year, and yes... Doug was the star, but Coverdale wasn't too bad either 8)