Which pedal next for better tone?

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

I am looking to improve my tone, as at the moment I use a roland cube 40 watt with a Boss sd-1 to eliminate some of the 'muddiness' of the tone, but it leaves a lot to be desired still. I have read the 'guide to djent tone' and it lists a lot of pedals that contribute to a better tone.

As someone with zero experience of compression/noise gates/eq, I humbly ask; which would be the most useful pedal to purchase? I am vaguely aware of what they do, but I don't know which one would most benefit my tone.

Essentially I just want better articulation/clarity because I can't go above a certain amount of gain without my playing just turning into a farty distorted noise

Cheeers guys

 

[JustMac]

Way Huge Green Rhino. It's THE overdrive/tubescreamer type pedal you want for that tone. you use it you'll wonder how you ever went without it. Tight, defined, clear as crystal, but still nice and thick. Also has a 10db cut/boost to the sub-100k frequency (exactly what you need for dje...I can't bring myself to even type it..
.

And no, I'm not a Way Huge/Dunlop employee.


With all that extra noise you also need a noise suppressor. The best is the ISP Decimator II,and it really is fantastic.

The other ones you might wanna look out for further down the line is the MXR 10 band EQ. I don't get the compression thing, I had one (Carl Martin) but it didn't really do anything, most gain channels have sufficient compression as it is!

I know these are a tad expensive, so you *can* cut back by going down the budget route. A Digitech Bad Monkey, Boss NS-2, and a Danelectro Fish 'n' Chips will definitely get the job done for bedroom tones.

Hope I helped!

 

[asher]

Not sure a tubescreamer boost is going to help all that much with a SS amp? Cubes are all solid state right?

 

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

Yeah the cube is ss

 

[JustMac]

My bad, didn't notice it was a Cube. Well, def get an EQ then, it allows you to shape tone to your tastes.

 

[wat]

I use a tubescreamer into a line 6 to tighten it up. does exactly what it's supposed to do just like it does with any other amp so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work for a roland cube.

 

[JustMac]

^ it would but don't expect anything too drastic OP. It will enhance and tighten up the tone, not totally rearrange it. The effect is very different through a tube amp. Ditch that DS-1 though, it won't do you any favours.

 

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

What's wrong with the sd-1 though? My tone was definitely worse before I got it. I think you're confusing the sd-1 with the ds-1

 

[thraxil]

A Roland Cube is going to be tough.

There are a couple standard routes to the "djent" tone that you seem to be chasing. Typically, it's using a high gain tube amp with most of the distortion coming from the amp's preamp, possibly with an OD pedal boosting and shaping the tone that's going into the preamp. The other common approach is to use a modeller (Axe-Fx, POD, Guitar Rig, etc) to simulate that signal chain. What you generally *won't* see people using is a distortion or OD pedal as the main distortion source running into a SS amp that's really geared towards clean tones like a Roland Cube.

There are some good sounding SS amps out there, but generally, if you don't like the basic tone out of your SS amp, an OD in front of it won't help it much the way they help with tube amps.

Does the cube have an effects loop? If it does, your best bet will be to get a separate preamp pedal like the Amptweaker TightMetal, ISP Theta, one of the AMT pedals, or even an old Pod X3 and run that into the effects return, bypassing the cube's preamp altogether.

 

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

No it doesn't have an effects loop...

 

[asher]

I use a tubescreamer into a line 6 to tighten it up. does exactly what it's supposed to do just like it does with any other amp so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work for a roland cube.

It'll do some of that nice low end cut EQing things but, because SS, you can't slam the preamp tubes harder for that extra crunch/sizzle which I think is at least 50% of the reason people use them.

 

[DreamError]

No it doesn't have an effects loop...

Make the EQ as flat as possible, or treat it like a post EQ to sculpt the sound more. Or use the 'PRE' models (preamp modelling only) if I am wrong about the Cube being super clean, or you just want to use the Cube's speaker tone vs a modeled cab.

If you have one of the COSM Cubes, use the cleanest amp model it has if you want to run another modeler into the front of it.

You have an SD-1 already, which is an overdrive, so I don't think adding another overdrive pedal like the tubescreamer will really help you a whole lot anyway. Maybe to replace the SD-1, but I definitely wouldn't add the two together unless you just want to amplify any noise in the signal chain by another 20db or so

 

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

Nah I don't want another overdrive I'm beginning to think that a practice amp isn't the way to go for good tone?

 

[JustMac]

For what you want, no. Especially if you plan on gigging or jamming. But in my opinion the JC Clean setting on the Cube is the nicest clean tone you can get on an amp under €500, so its not a bad amp by any means. Why not buy an EQ? You'll want one anyway at some point and will definitely fix that "farty distorted noise" you're currently getting, by cutting the mega low frequencies and focussing the midrange.

 

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

An eq pedal sounds like the right idea. The pedal you mentioned earlier, the green rhino, does that essentially act as both an eq and an overdrive?

 

[Vrollin]

If your thinking about buying a bunch of pedals to chase tone why not get a decent multi effects unit like one of the high end boss units or line 6 hd500?

 

[JustMac]

An eq pedal sounds like the right idea. The pedal you mentioned earlier, the green rhino, does that essentially act as both an eq and an overdrive?

No, it's an overdrive that also lets you increase/decrease the 100k range by +/- 12db . Now, that's good for removing mud, but the frequency range you also want to be able to control is the 800-1600 (mid range), where you can get an articulate and tight sound, so you'll definitely want a dedicated EQ Pedal.

 

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

If your thinking about buying a bunch of pedals to chase tone why not get a decent multi effects unit like one of the high end boss units or line 6 hd500?

Hmmm could do… do they work just like a pedal i.e. guitar->multi effects unit->amp input ?

 

[Vrollin]

Hmmm could do… do they work just like a pedal i.e. guitar->multi effects unit->amp input ?

Sure do! Someone can correct me if im wrong here but with the line 6 unit you can download patches for the exact tone your after, ie particular guitarists tine you love etc....

 

[Ed_Ibanez_Shred]

Well I have zero experience with amp modellers but I think you can do that on a POD.

I might actually do what you suggested, a pawn shop near me has a POD 2 for sale and I definitely think it'll be cheaper than buying all those pedals for a similar tone.