How can I get heavier chugs while palm muting?
- Thread starter sanXp
- Start date
If you want chugga chugga take the DS-1 ULTRA out of your rhythm playing. The DS-1 ULTRA has been engineered to sound SMOOTH and THICK, now, that will not help your chugga chugga.
UNLESS, you put the DS-1 ULTRA's tone settings up to about 12 oclock or more. Notice that at lower settings, you get a nice smooth tone? Now that tone is more for lead and will not have crunch.
A tubescreamer is a good choice for a booster pedal that can enhance your chugga chugga. Or an SD-1.
IMO, the DS-1 is more of a thickener, lead booster kind of pedal. Wherelse, the TS9 and SD-1 are better gain boosters.
Best of both worlds, TS9DX. Where you can set your tone to either normal TS9 tone (great gain booster) or a thickened tone ala DS-1.
I recommend the Tech21 Sansamp GT2 pedal for pure modern distortion bliss. On its own, into a clean channel, it will have enough gain for you lah... its blistering heavy or it can go blues soft, light crunch, jazz clean, you get the idea. Then throw in your ULTRA for lead. The TRI AC is more vintage sound, warmer but has less gain... I'm using it.
UNLESS, you put the DS-1 ULTRA's tone settings up to about 12 oclock or more. Notice that at lower settings, you get a nice smooth tone? Now that tone is more for lead and will not have crunch.
A tubescreamer is a good choice for a booster pedal that can enhance your chugga chugga. Or an SD-1.
IMO, the DS-1 is more of a thickener, lead booster kind of pedal. Wherelse, the TS9 and SD-1 are better gain boosters.
Best of both worlds, TS9DX. Where you can set your tone to either normal TS9 tone (great gain booster) or a thickened tone ala DS-1.
I recommend the Tech21 Sansamp GT2 pedal for pure modern distortion bliss. On its own, into a clean channel, it will have enough gain for you lah... its blistering heavy or it can go blues soft, light crunch, jazz clean, you get the idea. Then throw in your ULTRA for lead. The TRI AC is more vintage sound, warmer but has less gain... I'm using it.
Dude...i've been using my DS-1 Ultra for everything from cream to archenemy, maybe u should play around with ur settings? Or try a different gauge of strings...or maybe pickups? I dunnoe really why u cant get that palm muting chug.... 
By the way...where can i buy or test out the GT2 and Tri Ac?? Can't seem to find it
By the way...where can i buy or test out the GT2 and Tri Ac?? Can't seem to find it
for me i use a heavier string gauge. Get the gain higher for that CHENG CHENG thingy, I place my palm all the way back until the Bridge (depend on the degree of PM you wan). It's like almost open strings but there's something stopping it there and when u attack the string, there will be a heavy, longer PM sound.
that's what i did lah...
that's what i did lah...
There's a TS9DX on sale at Luther's classifieds @ $120. Pretty good price.
You can try the Tech21 Sansamp GT2 at Sinamex. They sell the TRI AC too but don't see a test unit there.
Otherwise, you are welcomed to drop by my place to test out the TRI AC.
I'm on a week long MC. wisdom tooh op. hahahaha...
You can try the Tech21 Sansamp GT2 at Sinamex. They sell the TRI AC too but don't see a test unit there.
Otherwise, you are welcomed to drop by my place to test out the TRI AC.
I'm on a week long MC. wisdom tooh op. hahahaha...Whoa thanks for all your kind inputs.. Greatly appreciated!
Shredcow, I'm using a Smarvo 40w amp, I can get decent chugga from it's own distortion channel but when I compare it to when I use my DS-1, I find that the DS-1's gain is lesser.
Maybe I should record a few clips to let you all hear..
Shredcow, I'm using a Smarvo 40w amp, I can get decent chugga from it's own distortion channel but when I compare it to when I use my DS-1, I find that the DS-1's gain is lesser.
Maybe I should record a few clips to let you all hear..
Ok sanXp, how do you use the DS-1 ULTRA?
The DS-1 ULTRA isn't like a metalzone... it wouldn't have THAT much gain and if you notice, the tone is different from a metalzone or any other hi gain pedal. On its own, its not going to have crushing distortion. Get a GT2 for that. But.. .as a booster, its magical!
So! If you want to use the DS-1 ULTRA for a boost to get more chugga out of your amp, you have to boost the level more than gain.
So likely, your setting on the DS-1 should be..
Level: 1 -3 oclock\
Gain: abt 9 oclock
Tone: Up to you
The idea is upping the level to push your amp's distortion into a heavier drive.
Of course, you have to play with the level, too high a level and you get lots of noise. But the rule of thumb is, less gain, more level.
Now, when you are boosting with the pedal, bear in mind the amp's settings play a part. Don't expect a quiet amp when your amp is already at 3 oclock gain AND you boost it with the DS-1. Perhaps a slightly lower drive on the amp and a good level boost from the DS-1 will do. And thats usually the case.
The DS-1 ULTRA isn't like a metalzone... it wouldn't have THAT much gain and if you notice, the tone is different from a metalzone or any other hi gain pedal. On its own, its not going to have crushing distortion. Get a GT2 for that.
But.. .as a booster, its magical!So! If you want to use the DS-1 ULTRA for a boost to get more chugga out of your amp, you have to boost the level more than gain.
So likely, your setting on the DS-1 should be..
Level: 1 -3 oclock\
Gain: abt 9 oclock
Tone: Up to you
The idea is upping the level to push your amp's distortion into a heavier drive.
Of course, you have to play with the level, too high a level and you get lots of noise. But the rule of thumb is, less gain, more level.
Now, when you are boosting with the pedal, bear in mind the amp's settings play a part. Don't expect a quiet amp when your amp is already at 3 oclock gain AND you boost it with the DS-1. Perhaps a slightly lower drive on the amp and a good level boost from the DS-1 will do. And thats usually the case.
I use my DS-1 into the clean channel of my amp. I use a dod fx100 pedal as a booster, so it's like guitar > fx100 > ds1 > clean channel of amp. My pedal setting is at max distortion, tone around 10-11 oclock, level at 12 oclock. Previously I was using the Ultra mode with the same settings, level at 10oclock. The ASE mode has gain so I switched to that to see how it goes.
Here are some clips I cooked up. Somehow there's more saturation when I record, I don't know why, but the gain difference is noticable. The EQ of the distortion channel on the amp is different than of the clean channel, there is just more mids somehow, but I made it as similar to the clean channel as possible.
Amp Distort (most gain)
DS-1
FX100 into DS-1(more gain but less than amp)
Here are some clips I cooked up. Somehow there's more saturation when I record, I don't know why, but the gain difference is noticable. The EQ of the distortion channel on the amp is different than of the clean channel, there is just more mids somehow, but I made it as similar to the clean channel as possible.
Amp Distort (most gain)
DS-1
FX100 into DS-1(more gain but less than amp)
ok..most distortion pedals on their own can't get that metal chug unless the pedal reads metal distortion or something...so i gather you're searching for a brutal rhythm tone and a nice smooth lead tone from the ds-1? then follow what shredcow said and use the ds-1 as a booster and get another pedal with distortion that you like or just use the ds-1 as a booster for your smarvo's dirty channel...watch the gain knob on the ds1 though..
Man, the DS-1 ULTRA isn't a heavy metal tone maker ON ITS OWN... on its own, its good for like fat, fusion lead lines, or a classical rock crunch (with Seeing Eye mode).
Even when the boosted, you will not get a heavy metal tone ala a Metalzone or GT2. Why? Because the DS-1 wasn't meant to be a stand alone metal distortion unit.
I hear the tone of your Smarvo is pretty nice, good crunch.. stick to that for your rhythm tone... then use the DS-1 ULTRA to thicken to lead.
In addition, since you have a DOD fx100, you can do a 3 stage gain setup.
Gain stage 1 would be your amp alone, set to a lower gain.
Gain stage 2 would be DOD pedal pushing your amp to a more saturated distortion.
Gain stage 3 would be the DS-1 ULTRA either 1) thickening your tone (ULTRA mode) into a lead tone or 2) just upping your gain (Seeing eye mode) into a heavier tone
Note you got to start with a lower amp gain if you are using option 2 at gain stage 3, otherwise, expect noise.
I suggest using the DS-1 ULTRA as a tone thickening booster, so your lead tone is fat and nice. But thats my take on it...
Even when the boosted, you will not get a heavy metal tone ala a Metalzone or GT2. Why? Because the DS-1 wasn't meant to be a stand alone metal distortion unit.
I hear the tone of your Smarvo is pretty nice, good crunch.. stick to that for your rhythm tone... then use the DS-1 ULTRA to thicken to lead.
In addition, since you have a DOD fx100, you can do a 3 stage gain setup.
Gain stage 1 would be your amp alone, set to a lower gain.
Gain stage 2 would be DOD pedal pushing your amp to a more saturated distortion.
Gain stage 3 would be the DS-1 ULTRA either 1) thickening your tone (ULTRA mode) into a lead tone or 2) just upping your gain (Seeing eye mode) into a heavier tone
Note you got to start with a lower amp gain if you are using option 2 at gain stage 3, otherwise, expect noise.
I suggest using the DS-1 ULTRA as a tone thickening booster, so your lead tone is fat and nice. But thats my take on it...
Hmm ok.. Guess I'll try out the GT2 and the TRI-AC. Shredcow when you free? Can I try your TRI-AC? 
The idea of using my smarvo is good, but I can't bring it for jamming, that's the problem.. I'm trying to set up a kind of tone which I can bring everywhere in a practical way..
But I'll play around with that for sure.
The idea of using my smarvo is good, but I can't bring it for jamming, that's the problem.. I'm trying to set up a kind of tone which I can bring everywhere in a practical way..
But I'll play around with that for sure.
Has anyone mentioned using an EQ pedal (like the Boss GE7) after the distortion?
I find that doing so can help to boost the low frequencies to add to the chuggachugga... and also allows u to shape your distortion tone better, for more bite or more balls, depending on ur personal preference.
Just my 2 cents.
I find that doing so can help to boost the low frequencies to add to the chuggachugga... and also allows u to shape your distortion tone better, for more bite or more balls, depending on ur personal preference.
Just my 2 cents.
Yup, you can do that...
But I find using the GE7 after the distortion makes the tone sound less natural as it runs thru the GE7 circuit. I was using an old 1991 RAT pedal for distortion... and the warm tone of the RAT got stiffer, as in it sounded less natural and more processed... Plus, a GE7 is noisy even without the volume boost on...
I think putting any eq before the distortion works better at subtle shaping while preserving the main characteristics of the distortion unit... but if you want boosting or major tone changing, put it after.
But I find using the GE7 after the distortion makes the tone sound less natural as it runs thru the GE7 circuit. I was using an old 1991 RAT pedal for distortion... and the warm tone of the RAT got stiffer, as in it sounded less natural and more processed... Plus, a GE7 is noisy even without the volume boost on...
I think putting any eq before the distortion works better at subtle shaping while preserving the main characteristics of the distortion unit... but if you want boosting or major tone changing, put it after.
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