For a distorted tone, set your amplifier settings to 7-9 for gain, 4-5 for bass, 5-7 for mids and 5-7 for treble. For metal, consider decreasing the mids and increasing the treble and bass. For heavy rock distortion, lower the gain slightly, and increase the mids. Keep in mind, that this is just a starting point.
The gain control can be found on many Fender amps on the second channel settings. Turning the gain up will cause the tone to become more distorted. Low-mid gain settings suit blues, rock and indie well, whilst high gain settings are suitable for heavier genres such as metal.
Use a guitar amplifier to distort the sound
Many guitar amplifiers have two knobs labeled "volume gain" and "master." Turning the gain knob up will distort the sound even if the master volume is not raised much at all.
Set the crossover point around 10 Hz below the lowest frequency your speakers can produce without issue. (keep in mind that the most common recommendation for crossover frequency is 80 Hz).
The easiest way to get a better metal tone is to increase the bass setting on your amp, use the bridge pickup on your guitar and use a distortion pedal instead of the gain setting on your amplifier. Using a guitar with active pickups will also help to improve sustain without increasing feedback.
A distorted sound is best achieved at a gain of 7-9, 4-5 for bass, 5-7 for mids, and 5-7 for treble. If you're playing metal, reduce the mids and boost the bass. If you're experiencing heavy rock distortion, your gain should be reduced slightly and your mids should be increased.
The distortion you hear on the “Beano” record and Clapton's other 1960s recordings is from the amp being cranked. The humbuckers on the various Gibson guitars he used in the Bluesbreakers/Cream era pushed the amp harder than single coils could — pushing it into more overdrive.
Perhaps crank up the drive on an overdrive to get an “almost-but-not-quite-flaming-out-into-distortion” sound. That's a great way to add interest to signature riffs. Or turn the drive all the way down, and dime the tone knob to get a treble-booster-like effect.
How much THD is acceptable? As long as THD is less than one percent, most listeners will not hear any distortion.
Clipping distortion allows non-harmonics to add color to the sound, while also making it seem like the sound is louder without increasing the peak level. It's also called Overdrive, which is another common term for distortion and works by overloading the input gain for a crunchy sound.
0.1% harmonic distortion is totally unacceptable. Treble from 2-3khz up is just 0.1-1% the level of bass. 0.1% harmonics from bass are a HUGE problem to 0.1-1% treble in the signal. Even 0.01% THD is still 1% distorted treble.
Answer: Kurt Cobain's favorite overdrive pedal was the Boss DS2-Turbo Distortion. He kept this in mode 1 as with his previous DS1 pedal, and he was also seen using a Proco Rat on the 'Nevermind' album.
The amp doesn't know whether an incoming signal is distorted or not. Driving an amp to the point where it is clipping the output, producing a square wave, even of varying frequencies, could damage it and the speakers. Amplifier output and speaker fuses are often slow-blow, so damage could occur before the fuses blow.
Whether you want to put your overdrive or distortion first depends on what you want to boost the most. If you're looking for more of a distorted gain style, then put it after the overdrive. But if you want a subtler sound, then put your overdrive last and don't have your distortion pedal cranked up too much.
MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive Pedal.
Over the years, Eddie left his mark as one of the most remarkable Hard Rock guitarists ever. Unlike many others, he never actually relied on distortion pedals, keeping his overdrive sound quite pure and smooth, with a very original use of modulation effects as his main "secret weapon".
The distortion pedal that Metallica used was the MXR 5150 EVH Signature Overdrive, ProCo RAT, and Ibanez Tube Screamer. In Metallica's heyday, distortion pedals weren't as advanced as they are today. However, despite the limitations, Metallica's sound was always top-notch.
To get a good crunch tone, use either the overdrive channel on your amp with the gain halfway, or use the clean channel and crank the gain. Alternatively, use an overdrive pedal through a clean amp. Slightly boost the treble and mids in comparison to the bass and use the bridge pickup on the guitar.
The Perfect Distortion For Pink Floyd's Sound
The band's trademark spanky attack is made up of distortion, which contributes to Pink Floyd's sound. David Gilmour's signature fuzz distortion can be achieved with a Tube Screamer 808, a Fender Deluxe Delay pedal, and an Ibanez Tube Screamer 808.
Most amps have a 'mids' knob as part of the EQ. So scooping the mids would be turning that knob down to zero or close to it. The tone from your amp would have plenty of treble and bass (high and low end) but very little midrange. This leads to your sound sort of fading into the background.
When it comes to a modern heavy tone, I usually start with a guitar that has heavy strings and active pickups, and then add a noise gate and a high-gain amp to complete the equation. Heavy strings and drop tunings both play a major role in getting a powerful heavy tone.