ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MAKING DISTORTION SOUND GOOD!

Lesson #1- Distortion Characteristics

Distortion Characteristics- Basic Electronics

To properly understand the ways to achieve certain sounds we need to take a look at HOW distortion is created.

In many of these lessons (and upcoming ones) I will be using terms dealing with Electronics and Acoustic physics, you will understand more about music if we look at everything from a technical view and ask the question "why". The ability to know the theory behind something is a great strength. Not only will you be able to diagnose a piece of gear easier, but you will be able to look at a amp or pedal and based on what you know about it's electronic's you can use your ear in conjunction with it and find a sound dead on.

Distortion usually is a "not so good of a thing" in equipment, Amplifiers in such equipment like home stereo's, car audio, and even in guitar amps produce harsh distortion when overdriven into their non-linear region, this is an example of non-musical distortion and is unpleasant to the ears. However like squirrels they can be tamed,...

Taming squirrels,.....oops,...I mean distortion...

We have all heard what it sounds like to have a boom-box so loud that the dog's running around the house in a frenzy, or to sit in a friends car that can't afford a Moshin'watt car amplifier and have the volume cranked so loud that the drums are distorted! So lets pin it from now, that if the drums are distorted then the amp is sweating. So what does this have to do with distortion in your stomp box? Well to tame distortion, the circuit must be specifically designed for distortion/clipping if it isn't it's not controlled, we cannot dial in the sounds fast and easy. So we come to the first stage...

Guitar Output------------------->EFX

This is the stage where you want to put a good pure clean signal (in most case's) into your effects. It's important to make sure your volume on your guitar is full out. This signal is your building blocks on what will become of your final sound. So you want this signal to be clean. (unless your into that thrash-metal bullshit where you would compress the shit out of the pre-amp stages.) but were looking at the pumpkins here. The signal starts from the pick-ups, Billy uses active pick-ups. Active pick-ups are amplified using FETS (field effect transistors) these are used to make a clean, precise, amplification factor without hum and distortion. Your tone controls on your guitar will also have an impact on the signal. Generally, keep the tones flat, in the middle. Of course good patch cords are essential to keep the hum down.

EFX------------------------->Amplifier

The Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi is the heart of the Smashing Pumpkins sound. I have been able to re-create many different tones just with this pedal and my amp! This pedal is VERY versatile, it can achieve a very high tone to a low growl, there were three Big Muff Pi versions built. For more info on Big Muff's and a chance for you to get your Big Muff Pi modded to the spec's of the original "triangle-knob" version or get a pre-modded Sovtek surf to: SustainPunch. Billy uses a version 1 Big Muff Pi pictured at the top of the page. These are the ones available at SustainPunch.

There are three settings on the Big Muff, volume tone and sustain. The volume control is usually kept around a quarter turn as there is quite a bit of gain. The tone control is usually kept around 3 or 4 for a great "Plume" sort of sound, up a bit higher for more of a Siamese Dream tone. The Sustain is almost always cranked.

It is important to not over eq your pedal, the more "active" filtering (eg. amp eq) you do, the better because the tone control on the Big Muff can get pretty muddy and tinny sounding. This is where people have the most problems because they depend on the PEDAL to much to find the sound. To be able to spawn the sound throughout the signal chain is a great art and this is how it is done professionally. So rule number 2 is don't depend on the stomp box, this is your first stage in the signal chain (other then the guitar) it's not your last!

There are also a number of other stomp boxes and Rackmounts the Smashing Pumpkins use most of their new stuff is utilizing rackmount technology, but,......WE can still get that special sound with just a couple stomp boxes, I'm a firm believer in analog electronics, In the next lessons we will concentrate on different effects like compression, flange,chorus and most important reverb. James Iha likes to dress up his solo's with these effects. We will deal with these in the next lesson. Onto the next stage...

Amplifier-------------->Speakers

Your amp has a GREAT deal of tone variation, much more then the big muff has alone. What do you say we unleash that power? Lets run through WHY it has that tone variation.

SOLID STATE vs FIREBOTTLE

Solid State amps have quite the range of tones then it's bigger (and older) brother brother the firebottle. Since they use transistors to amplify they have a wider and brighter frequency response that's why most people complain about them being too bright or "tinny" sounding. It's true they can get pretty tinny, but once again we can tame the sound you want. One thing that solid state amps have is a very good tone control. Tube amps on the other hand usually have a passive (not powered) tone circuit which makes them not as variable as a solid state amp electronics. Tube amps are known for there ability to have a full bodied sound. In my experience you can get that "tube sound" from a solid state amp a number of ways,.....lets look at the characteristics of tube sound...

So tube amps are less responsive to high frequencies which makes them have a lower "growl" then solid state amps, many people love this sound. Billy uses a 1984 JCM 800 by Marshall this a great amp. However it's not magical piece of equipment. You can achieve this sound with any tube amp! There's nothing special about this design. I have used 3 amps a Peavey bandit 112 (old version) a Peavey Classic VTX (hybrid-tube) and a Peavey studio pro (Trans-tube) The tube amp is my favorite for pumpkins sounds because it doesn't need much tweaking. Its already accustomed to that low end growl. I leave the EQ flat and adjust the tone on the muff. The other two however, need a little tweaking. I noticed that the Big Muff has to be set to pretty much all bass on the solid state amps to compensate on the high end. Now, that's if your EQ's are all flat,.....fiddle around with the EQ on your amp and you will be surprised on how much tone variations are possible. Once again compare that with the song.

And last but not least the SPEAKERS!

The speakers have a very important role in your sound chain, this is your LAST stage and you want this good! Speakers vary in many forms. I have read many articles on the Usenet and I can't believe how many people are not aware of the significance of speakers! If a speaker is torn or ripped you would want to get it repaired or replaced, this will also inject noise into your mix. Speaker sizes and material used also have a great deal of variation in tone. The larger the speaker means, the more air it is going to push, and the more air it is going to push, the higher the sound pressure. The size of the magnet is a good indication of the power handling capacity. A large (and heavy) magnet is a good sign when buying speakers and guitar amps. The material is also an important aspect. Poly is a rubbish material, used mainly with bass amps. It is very strong and reproduces low end sounds very good. Paper cones are suited to guitar because they reproduce a wider range of frequencies. One thing about buying speakers is GET THE VINTAGE ONES! these speakers are built like a brick shithouse, the black widows, and Celestions are very efficient and sound great. Although speakers vary in tone, don't be overly concerned about getting new ones from all the amps I have used, I haven't had any complaints except for Peavey's TransTube series, they just don't seem to push enough.

Lets sum all this gibberish up,...

So to sum up all this stuff, tube amps are your best bet to achieve the sound, as they use them on the records. There is no reason why you should go out and buy the exact same gear they have, it's just not affordable and reasonable I have challenged myself on getting these sounds out of the smallest of amps just to see if it could be done! If you don't have a tube amp, use yours and remember what I told you about the sound characteristics, compare that with the guitar's on the album and go crazy tweaking the eq's, write down ALL your setting when you find the sound (it's easier to find that sound again when you play live or more the controls) Remember to listen to the C.D and play along with it, try listening to a guitar part, noting the bass/treble and distortion ratio and then adjust your eq's accordingly.

I have had several requests for certain songs. I generally don't like to do this because all amps and gear are different. I want to teach you to start using your ears rather then your eye's, here is a small chart for ideas,...

0=flat

Rhythm

Tube and Solid State- High= 0, Mid= 3, Low=6 Distortion= medium amount of low end on the box

Lead

Tube and Solid State- High=3, Mid=5, Low=6 Distortion= Sustain Cranked, roll a little bit of treble on.

Rhythm

Tube and Solid State- High- 0, Mid= 1, Low =8 Distortion= Lots of Low end, you will hear it when it's right!

Lead

Tube and Solid State- High=5, Mid=6, Low =5 Distortion, Again, back off the tone for more treble, use a flange too.

READERS INPUT

Here are some setting that people have sent me, they find these settings very close to those on the album. THANKS GUYS!

From: Adam <[email protected]> I just can't fathem the thought of someone typing all this out!,....Its appreciated adam.

Let me start by covering pedals and floor operated effects. Billy's most rare effect is probably the Mu-Tron biphase. Mutron made this unit in the 70s and it's a huge metal box that looks like a rack effect box with a small foot control. This thing is two phasers in one that can be used individually, together at the same time or, they can interact each other.

Billy's got a bunch of phasers other than this one including a big old orange MXR phase 100 that was used with a misc. fuzz box on the plume solo, an Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser, and a MXR Phase 90. He's also got this really old, really cool Electro-Harmonix Micro synthesizer. It's like a synth with a strange flanged / phased fuzz effect in it. It sounds really nasally and squeesed out. This was used in the end of Cherub Rock with an old brown Maestro Fuzz tone. The fuzz tone has this really wierd sound to it that can make you sound like you're taking a razor to the speaker.

Billy also has an old EH Envelope Filter, a digitech wammy pedal, an old univox Fuzz/Wah, two standard vox Wah's (one before distortion, one after...He's always using the one before the distortion set in the middle somewhere for solos, and the one after the distortion is used for that "weeesh wash wish" sound you hear a lot (think about the first Slunk solo). He's got a univibe for chorus sounds, an ADA Flanger, and an 80's BOSS purple Flanger. For a track on MCIS, he (reluctantly) used a Roland guitar synth while whining that why should he need to use something to make his guitar sound like a guitar. I can see his point. Billy also uses a "Lake Butler MIDIGator" for his MIDI switchboard. Most of his MIDI controls are set up to go ahead in the song and make changes automatically according to time, or a certain note he may play that will tell his rack effects to use what settings and how. But, on the switchboard, he has one button for almost every sound he could use live. Billy has dozens of fuzz boxes. They used a Super Fuzz on some tracks for a really huge sound with a doubling octave effect...

He's got a Fender Blender. Those things have more gain than you'd ever need or know what to do with and underneath the ton of fuzz is this slight octave effect. When you play a note and hold it & vibrato it a bit, the blender will start off with the note you play, and a harmonic generated one octave above the note you play, and gradually, the actually note you're holding disappears under the fuzz, and you're left with a squealing sustained octave that was generated by the pedal. It's wonderfully sick. And just when you thought it couldn't get any louder or more gained out, there's a boost button. Billy says it sounds like the end of the world, and I have to say he's right. You can hear the blender on MCIS in Bullet at about 1:30 when the speakers come in really distorted. Also, it sounds like the blender was used for rhythm in XYU where you can't distinguish one chord from the next near the end. If you have Viewphoria, that seen in Japan where they play slunk with through those two JCM 800 2203 heads, the distortion is all coming from the Fender Blender. It makes the guitar sound unintelligible. Also on MCIS, there's tons of tracks of E-bow layered up.

 

All of the Siamese Dream rhythm sound was done by plugging an EH Big Muff Pi into the low gain input of a 1984 JCM 800 2203 head set so the preamp gain is just on the edge of overcoloring the sound, and the master is all the way up. The head was modded for KT-88 power tubes because Billy thought they added a very round fat tone to his sound which a huge part of the Siamese Dream sound. (he hates EL-34s) I do not recommend using these tubes in your guitar amps. They are meant for high end audio power amps and therefor, they do not distort easily. They are designed so they stay clean even when the amp is cranked (you don't want powertube distortion in your stereo, right?). Tubes like EL-34s break up and distort nicely at high volumes adding a whole other tonal characteristic to your distortion. Billy bought the amp off some stoner guy (included a 4x12) years ago and the cab ended up being used on almost all of Siamese Dream & Mellon Collie, and during the Gish days, it was the only cab Billy used live. These days he's got two recto 4x12s and two JCM 800 1960A and B style Marshall 4x12s for live situations.

 

All of Gish was recorded using an ADA MP-1. Billy says he wrote all of the album with the unit & can't imagine it being played any other way. He's also got an ADA MP-2 that he used for various solos. This brings me to rack gear. The basic sound of MCIS was a Marshall JMP-1 preamp combined with an Alesis 3630 compressor into two Mesa/Boogie Strategy 500 power amps. (the strategy 500 power amps are each 200 watts...Youch!) Also in Billy's rack is an Eventide H3000 harmonizer which was used for Love. I've noticed James has been using one live lately, and that is the effect they used live on the End is the Beginning is the end for the super high squeely notes. James has two Digitech DHP harmonizers which were used on his Zero solos. For some different distorted tones, they also used a Mesa Triaxis. For more mid- ranged gained out tones, they use an Orange overdrive 120 head & cab. I've seen James use it live as a poweramp for his rack. I also heard that Billy recently picked up a Triple recto head. You could probably expect to hear it on the next album after "Adore" which Billy says is going to be the greatest rock album ever. For splitting signals he uses Flash noise-free 4 X 1 stereo swithcers, and a Flash Great Divide four-channel splitter.

 

For pickups, Billy uses the Lace Sensors. He says they add the bottom end of an SG, with the cutting tone of a strat to his strats. he uses a blue in the neck, one silver in the middle, and one red on the bridge. It also has a five- position pickup selector switch which he installed himself. The '57 reissue strat became his number one guitar because his '74 Strat used for recording Gish was stolen after Gish was completed. They also used a wide variety of guitars on MCIS. On Where Boys Fear to Tread, Billy used a Les Paul Junior Reissue, and on Tonight Tonight he used a '72 Gibson 335. His new 74 strat was used on Bullet with Butterfly Wings and also Muzzle, because the heavier wood gave it the basic strat sound with a bit more bottom end. And finally Billy used a Epiphone SG which he recorded "Fuck You" with. Billy also has a mint condition, really old Hamer. But I don't think he ever plays it. For acoustic tracks, Billy uses a black Ovation Standard Balladeer.

 

James' 84 Ebony Gibson Les Paul Custom is equiped with gold hardware and an ebony fingerboard with pearl block inlays, Gibson standard 490R and 498T humbuckers. James also has an early 80's Les Paul Custom (silver sunburst). When performing live James likes to use a Rickenbacker for tonight tonight and/or 1979. He's also got a Gibson Flying V. James also uses an Electro Harmonix Small Stone Phaser (original). James little solo in "Zero" was run through a detuning patch on that Digitech DHP-55 Harmony Processor I told you about. He also uses a Digitech GSP2102 Effects Processor which is also a pre-amp. oh yeah, and for picks, they both use the customary SP Jim Dunlop 1.0 millimeter tortex pics.

From: Eddie <[email protected]> Thanks Ed, your input is appreciated.

Hi,

You were saying Billy get's his clean channel first and he doesn't compress the pre-amp... he actually does compress his preamp using an Alesis 3630 compressor... your settings for the various songs were really good... they actually sounded like the songs... here's one more

I have a 1983 JCM 800 2203 and this works out perfectly

Rocket: Presence - 9, Bass - 6, Mid - 0, Treble - 4, Pre-amp 10 roll back the tone on the guitar to 0 middle pickup

From: Eddie <[email protected]>

bon soir,

here's another Pumpkins amp setting

Thru the eyes of ruby

TUBE AMP: Presence - 10, Bass - 6, Mid - 0, Treble - 4, Pre-Amp - 7

SS AMP: Presence - 9, Bass - 5, Mid - 2->3, Treble - 3, Pre-Amp - ?

Big Muff: Volume and Sustain Cranked, Tone at about 2->3 (don't know bout the muff setting for the Solid State)

 

Strat: 2nd or 4th position

Les Paul: Middle Position

Only set the pre-amp high if you have a compressor to "hide" the gain

-Eddie

PS - do you want me to record an example of the muff through a JCM 800? (strat and les paul), I'll borrow a uncles original muff.

Adam Edgemont <[email protected]> Thanks Adam for your input again its appreciated.

Hey Jeff- its adam here, i never told you that i think my big muff you modified is awesome. thanks very much. i think a have some settings to contribute to your pumpkin settings page:

for a tune like Cherub Rock:here's what i do, I have vol around 12 o clock or 1, tone around 12 o clock, and sustain on all the way, on my amp (Marshall 30th anniversary) these are my settings: bass: 7-8 mid:4-5 high:3-4 presense:9-10

for other tunes like Quiet, its pretty similar but i just turn the tone knob back a bit for the rhythm sound. Here's another trick i use: a boss GE-7 eq pedal is a great helper in the sound. However, boosting the bass too much makes it sound too muddy, so I generally don't touch that much. I play around with the settings until i find what i'm looking for really.

Also, I'd like to mention, I've tried out much of the gear that the pumpkins use, for instance: marshall jmp-1 preamp (it really isn't too great, dont expect serious pumpkin gain out of this thing), Fender Blender (like Adam said, totally sick), Big Muff (i own one, its indespensible), i've got a strat with lace sensors too which don't give a pumpkin tone in my opinion. the reds are decent but not really high output. I've also got this pedal called a Marlboro Wailer (its really sick) 2 modes of fuzz, 1 is normal, 2 is sick, mid-scooped death fuzz. I combine that with my big muff and sometimes my ge-7 (if i dare) to get sound similiar to much of the lead tracks on Siamese Dream, its really cuts thru the mix well.

If you or anyone else knows how to nail more of the MCIS tone, let me know, because the JMP-1 does not cut it at all, and i pretty much use the same guitar and pickup configuration too, it kind of stumps me. One guy had a rumor that Billy uses 2 preamps at the same time to get that massive gain sound. Know if that's true?

thanks for the Big Muff mod

adam

Another email from Adam Edgemont:

here's a little something else about my opinion on pumpkin tone: i don't really like the sound of active pickups when trying to nail a pumpkin tone, my friend had EMG-89's and they were way off, i was much closer with my lace sensors, they get you in the ballpark of their sound, however, if the reds had more output, then i'd be happy.

you can definitely tell when he uses certain pickups: for instance in The Aeroplane Flies High, at the very beginning of the guitar solo (not sure of the time), you can definitely hear the long, fat sustaining notes, which is definitely the blue lace sensor (neck position) I can duplicate that sound exactly. For some of the cleaner tracks, i think billy uses the silver and blue pickups more than the reds.

another cool trick which billy has done a few times and i've seen him do live, is bending the string behind the nut, which sounds like you're detuning the guitar, it takes a little practice but it sounds very cool when you've got it down, i recommend you try it in Drop-D tuning only. Billy uses it in the opening solo of Hummer and in a live version of Porcellina of the vast oceans. its a neat little trick. also in XYU towards the end, when the song gets insanely distorted, it sounds to me that billy is using a wah pedal, but only just to get a more trebely sound, not actually for wah. that's something else i've been able to reproduce rather easily.

-adam

From: Brian <[email protected]> Thanks Brian, quite interesting.

I personally think his pickup settings are as important as the Big Muff. Live, Billy's often switching between pickups mid-song I've noticed. I've always got a Billy "Siamese Dream" Cherub Rock clean sound with position 4 on my strat.. then again, it resembles position 2, also. I wish I could find some concrete evidence on this one. FYI, I have a '68 reissue strat with a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage heavy blues the bridge, stock pickups otherwise. I did the Lace Sensors thing and didn't like it. I've got a Ram's head logo big muff (which I changed to DPDT bypass), plus some other effects which aren't important for this! My amp head is a 1977 Marshall JMP Mark II which has been hotrodded by my tech. JCM800 1936-style 2x12 cab with 75 watt Celestions. BTW, I'm a little surprised you actually like solid state amps! They're so "floppy"-sounding and toneless :) Just my opinion! I'm of the belief guitars were not meant to be run into transistors.. tubes came first and will probably go last. I'll get off my soapbox now..

Brian

From: "Peter Strait" <[email protected]>

To: <[email protected]>

Subject: Excellent rig setup

All right, I usually never speak of what I use to get my signature sound in my own band The Hour-Lilies but I didn't feel right reading you're page without contributing something, so here we go......

First off, I use an ultra rare '89 Fender strat plus (ash body, maple fretboard for extra brightness, and Lace Sensor golds in every position) and run it straight into a pumpkin orange DOD Classic Fuzz (excellent for anything from pumpkinny to my bloody valentine, big muff sounds to fender blender, excellent little box, cheap too!) from there I go into a cool little box by electro-harmonix called an Echo-flanger (rare as well, the poly-flange is supposedly the same electronix, different packaging or so I am told) straight into a little yellow "phasor" by DOD, I belive it's from the seventies, but I'm not sure. Thickens the tone, yet leaves it atmospheric and airy. Very cool box

Ater that I run into a Yamaha spx-90, the coveted pre-amp of My bloody valentine, slowdive, Coctau twins.....etc. Excellent delays, reverbs, pitch shifting and of course Reverse reverb. Hard to use and stay in time, but WELL worth the practice nessasary. think "Bang Bang, Your'e dead" and you have the TRUE secret to that vocal effect. Don't belive ANYTHING else you hear.

Now this might sound lame, but for my amp, I use a Fender Pro 185 2/12. Its solid state, but with all the modulation that goes into it, you want you're amp clean as HELL, it sounds eerily like a twin reverb, but without the problems of distortion at high volumes, and if you need the x-tra kick use the channel switcher. If you set up the preamp right, decibel switches on the back, you can be louder than a marshall stack on 10 with the amp on 1, using preamp gain as master volume. Plus the open back cab will fill any small club with more sound than nessesary.

I have used MANY setups in my time, and this is the best so far to my ears. You can go from "Barbed wire kisses" by the Jesus and Mary Chain, to "rocket" or "silverfuck" or "drown" with a slight turn of a knob. And if you dare to tread the realm of Slowdive or Dinosaur Jr. You WON'T be disapointed, my band's songs differ from each other in ambiance so drastically using most setups would bring on a nevous breakdown on stage, but this keeps things pretty simple. Four pedals (one for the preamp, it's not a multieffects processor, just one at a time) and a guitar, I've been meaning to get a rotovibe or a univibe, but really see no need just yet. This rig is great for recording, as well as a live rig! In my opinion anyway.

Saul Maduin <[email protected]>

 

 

Distortion Characteristics- Pre and Post EQing

When you run a EQ before a stomp box it is called pre-EQing, this essentially will make one hellova tone control!

This is a great way to find a "tone", using a simple 5 band eq pedal you can derive many, many sounds. I have a Yamaha GE-10M2 graphic EQ, it has 7 bands. Basically the idea here is to "modify" the signal going into the stomp box (Big Muff Pi) to do this you need to have an EQ AFTER the guitar but BEFORE the Big Muff. Keep all the bands level. Set your amp up level too. When you use this set-up it is best to EQ your pedals first then tweak it with your amp. Set the gain to zero on the EQ.

Some songs like " Tales Of Scorched Earth", "Quiet", "Geek USA", "Bodies" and "Jellybelly" will need some EQ pre-amp gain, in this case you would add some to get those tiny little transistors warmin' up. Don't over do it or you will have alot of harsh distortion.

Another idea is to drive the eq with the Big Muff Pi, this is called post EQing. This also gives a wide range of distortions. Again leave everything flat then build on it, one band at a time. I haven't had as much success with this setup. Try it and see if you can work anything out. Let me know if you do.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU FIND!

If you find a great setup, let me know. I always love to hear from people. If you have any questions also email me.

VISIT SUSTAINPUNCH TO GET YOUR BIG MUFF PI MODDED TO THE FULL SPEC'S OF THE TRIANGLE KNOB OR BUY A PRE-MODDED ONE CHEAP!

CHECK OUT MY CUSTOMERS FEEDBACK ON THESE BIG MUFF PI'S!

I NOW DO SOVTEK MODS TO THE ORIGINAL TRIANGLE KNOB SERIES!

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