Favorite hardware distortion

[NEXUS-6]

What I'm looking for is an extreme distortion unit that is some what quite so I don't have to use a gate.
I can’t hang with modeling or plug ins so please stick to the real stuff.
I have been using guitar distortion pedals forever but am looking for the next level of quality.
Something that has that good old metal crunch
it will be used for sampling drums and such
Any insight would be great!

Thanks

[cosmos]

theramonic culture vulture.

http://www.thermionicculture.com/pro...re_vulture.htm

[majortom]

I had a Culture Vulture. It's really nice on drums and does the tube color thing well. I didn't like it at higher levels of distortion, though. Their marketing literature makes reference to a screaming Marshall stack, to me it sounds nothing at all like running your signal through a guitar amp, Marshall or otherwise. I sold it 'cause I ended up only using it on drums and for subtle distortion, at which it excels, but there was stuff I wanted more.

[cosmos]

Originally Posted by majortom

I had a Culture Vulture. It's really nice on drums and does the tube color thing well. I didn't like it at higher levels of distortion, though. Their marketing literature makes reference to a screaming Marshall stack, to me it sounds nothing at all like running your signal through a guitar amp, Marshall or otherwise. I sold it 'cause I ended up only using it on drums and for subtle distortion, at which it excels, but there was stuff I wanted more.

no, it dosent sounds anything like running thru an amp ... but it does sound good to me, ive only demoed it and was planning to purchuse it very soon ...

im after hard distortion as well, so far i got the best results from Sherman filterbank 2, that thing can realy scream if operates well ... !

the best plugin that ive used before was "Warp", but that was along time ago, i as aiming for somthing in that direction ( hardware ) ...

what about the sherman ? have you tryied it ?

[majortom]

If you demoed it and liked what it does, then the CV has a ton of flexibility.

Nope, never used the Sherman Filterbank. Looks cool though. I have used a Studio Electronics Modmax in conjunction with different distortion pedals which seems like it might do some of the same stuff. Very fun and unpredictable.

[cosmos]

never heard the modmax, but it looks intresting, i love fx & filter boxes.

i think you should try sherman, the problem is that they are expensive ... but they worth it, build well, sounds amazing. they come in mono, i think they have a stereo version as well ...

they have samples in their website, check it out. i get a dirty distortion from the sherman, you might like it, i try to post some samples .

[octatonic]

I built this:



It is an 3 distortion pedals (Ibanez TS10 Tube Screamer, Big Muff Pi and a Danelectro Fabtone) built into a rack with a power supple and 1/4 inch jacks on the back.

Very simply- but to put it in a patchbay means it is easy for me to patch on the fly.

[NEXUS-6]

$1,995 for the culture vulture I don't know it may be great but that seems a wee bit high$$.

What about guitar pre amp distortion anyone use them on drums? Like the rack mount ones, I tried my old ADA MP 1 but it was way too noisy to work with.

I had a Z Vex fuzz factory that had a built in gate that sounded good for a while
but got tired of it's sound and sold it.

richmondjames Cool rack BTW..

How heavy can the distortion get on the Sherman filter bank 2 and is it noisy?

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by NEXUS-6

$1,995 for the culture vulture I don't know it may be great but that seems a wee bit high$$.
What about guitar pre amp distortion anyone use them on drums? Like the rack mount ones, I tried my old ADA MP 1 but it was way too noisy to work with.
I had a Z Vex fuzz factory that had a built in gate that sounded good for a while
but got tired of it's sound and sold it.
richmondjames Cool rack BTW..

You have to use the CV to appreciate it. It ha a lot more uses than just mulching synths.

The MP1 chews through tubes- did you retube it?
I have a Fuzz Factory in my live guitar rig- I often use it at mix down- they are wonderful.

BTW, thanks.

JR

[gregor z]

sherman filterbank is VERY versatile and special piece of equipment , crazy distortion and modulations possibilites - but it is expensive, i would love to have culture vulture but it is a bit pricey, i used Presonus ADL 600 on drums and synths with great results (Line In)......and my favourite for synths is EH Tube Zipper for slight or heavy overdriving + it has some unique filter functions that always add some magic to the input. Great box for VA synths and it is not so expensive.....

[cosmos]

Originally Posted by gregor z

sherman filterbank is VERY versatile and special piece of equipment , crazy distortion and modulations possibilites - but it is expensive, i would love to have culture vulture but it is a bit pricey, i used Presonus ADL 600 on drums and synths with great results (Line In)......and my favourite for synths is EH Tube Zipper for slight or heavy overdriving + it has some unique filter functions that always add some magic to the input. Great box for VA synths and it is not so expensive.....

+1 to that

[Meriphew]

Hmmm... what about some stereo OD/Distortion stompboxes?

[NEXUS-6]

Originally Posted by Meriphew

Hmmm... what about some stereo OD/Distortion stompboxes?

Do you have any favorites?

The Sherman Filter Bank looks good but I already have a Filter Factory
the filter bank seems a bit noisy as well but still sounds good from the mp3
Clips I’ve heard.

Keep the suggestions coming I'm making a list of things to check out

[NEXUS-6]

Originally Posted by richmondjames

The MP1 chews through tubes- did you retube it?


JR

Retube excellent idea thumbsup will take it in next week or maybe I can do it myself.

[robd]

The sherman is really really great, but has a little bit of noise. I like my effector 13 synth mangler a lot, but it is definitley not quiet. The fulltone 69 sounds really beautiful on everything I have tried it on,including drums, but it is not particularly quiet. Everything they make that I have heard sounds good. I will definitely pick up a tube zipper based on these commments. I didn't even know it existed. In my experience, distortion boxes that are quiet tend to be nice, polite, pleasant-sounding overdrives. The ones that are capable of completely mangling stuff tend to have at least a little noise. That said, the noise on the sherman never bothers me. It isn't very noisy, and I never use it for anything where a little noise here or there matters anyway.

I have used a technosaurus effexon, and it was pretty damn quiet and sounded nice. The ringmod was good, but not as good as the moogerfooger, but the modulatable overdrive with one fully parametric eq band before it and one after wsa incredible. Unfortunately, last I heard they were out of production. (this might have changed since then.) I have been looking for one for a year without any luck. If you see one for sale, you should either jump on it or pm me with the info.

[vixapphire]

Originally Posted by Meriphew

Hmmm... what about some stereo OD/Distortion stompboxes?

the juggernaut.

[pounce]

i'm still using the rack mount sans amp here.

[NoamLavi]

sonnox Inflator is my go to plug for tube sturation or natural comp. but if i need cold distortion i either use the powercore Tubifex (marshall amp sim) or a really cold steinberg incl. dist with the cab button on actually sound flat and tight. not bad for an included cubase/nuendo plug...

if i had the money right now i'd get the new Peavy Revalver. ITS THE BEST AMP / PRE / PEDALS / CAB AND POWERAMP SIMULATION EVER!!!

[cosmos]

latley im getting great results from TC FireWorx & H7600 but the Sherman is still favorite here ..

[Phaidon]

Boss GL-100...shhh...!

I just got my second one on Evilbay for like $40.

[SWAN808]

Take a look at these tube distortion pedals. Some also have a DI output stage...

Dave Hall Amps - Home Page

[jude]

im still a fan of driving one of my little behringer desks way, WAY into the red. its about the only thing behringer gear is good for

[obsidious]

Another vote for Sherman. I've never played with a mkII, not sure what the difference in sound is, but the original filterbank is just the most anarchic, evil signal raping device I've ever heard. Noisy as F#ck but that's the whole point of it, you really want clean polite distortion? Original filterbanks go cheaper than mkII's as well from what I've seen, totally worth it. They'll bend your signal source over a barrel and make it squeal like a pig...

My other favourite is a far more modest Boss hypermetal pedal I picked up for $20, sick crunchy sound and digital so you can count on it to behave, so to speak. Sherman doesn't like to do what it's told. Wouldn't want to use something like the fireworx for distortion, definitely not it's strong point.

Go see Herman for a Sherman.

[esaias]

H&K Tubefactor
(it's a killer with 808!!!)

This pedal won't eat your bottom, i works well with line level-stuff. I have lso use H&K Rotosphere, it's been great combination with JX-8P's pads.

-Tomi

[aeonlux]

Overdrive/Distortion/Fuzz/Dirt/Crunch Sources:

pedals:

• Analogman Sunlion
• Barge Concepts BP-1
• Diamond Fireburst
• Diamond J-Drive TR
• Foxrox Hot Silicon
• Foxrox ZIM (w/VT, CS, BB, T+, H9, FF, and BM ZIMcards)
• Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere mkII
• Lovetone Cheese Source
• Zvex Fuzz Factory

effects devices:

• Eventide H8000FW
• Kurzweil KSP8
• Line6 POD XT
• Roland RE-201
• Schippmann Ebbe und Flut
• Sony DPS-V77
• t.c. electronic FireworX

synths/samplers with audio processing:

• Clavia Nord Modular
• Korg OASYS PCI
• Yamaha A5000

DSP cards:

• Digidesign ProTools|24 - running Amp Farm & D-Fi

cheers,
Ian

[RedSun]

I use the EHX English Muff'n.

It's an excellent tube distortion unit with a 3 band eq. What I really like about it is that you can customize it's sound by changing it's tubes to change it's gain ratio.

[bitman]

Tech 21 Sans Amps

[Entrainer]

Analog Distortion:

Culture Vulture
Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face (Red)
Marshall Shred Master
Metasonix SM-1, SM-7

These all have very unique tone and are not redundant.