Why do my overdrive pedals sound like fuzzes and static when plugging in DIRECT?

[dallenhos]

I run a couple overdrive pedals and a delay pedal through the effects loop on my Boss gt-8, but they sound really bad when going direct, its not the sweet ward overdrive i get when plugging into my amp at home, any ideas of what could be causing this fuzz staticy sound??

 

[Rich]

Either you're overloading the input of whatever you're plugging into and/or whatever you're plugging into is voiced much differently than a guitar amp. Guitar amps are voiced to accentuate midrange frequencies while mixing boards and the like are voiced to be flat; overdrive pedals are designed to sound good with guitar amplifiers, not mixing boards and mixing boards will make the overdrive sound much brighter. While the GT-8 is not actually a guitar amp, it does emulate the sound of them so that's why it sounds fine with your pedals.

 

[Leendrix]

Either you're overloading the input of whatever you're plugging into and/or whatever you're plugging into is voiced much differently than a guitar amp. Guitar amps are voiced to accentuate midrange frequencies while mixing boards and the like are voiced to be flat; overdrive pedals are designed to sound good with guitar amplifiers, not mixing boards and mixing boards will make the overdrive sound much brighter. While the GT-8 is not actually a guitar amp, it does emulate the sound of them so that's why it sounds fine with your pedals.

My words exactly. Just like pedals will sound different in front (or in the FX loop) of every amp. It's like running pedals into a PA really thin and harsh.

 

[Dr.Distortion]

If the board has an input "L pad" turn it up. That should help tame the pedal.

 

[Hamtone]

Essentially any od will sound like crap in ISOlation. They will sound very transitor, just like listening to an amp on very cheap headphones.

 

[cuthbertg]

What are you plugging 'direct' into??

 

[Nigel T.]

You say you have them in the effects loop, overdrives are normally meant to go in front of the chain. So from guitar to overdrive to the multi effect, see if the sound improves that way. It is not a hard fact as nothing is regarding sound, so experiment with the position.

The delay normally goes into the loop. Once again... if it agrees with your ears.

My pedal setup is as follows: guitar > tuner > wah > whammy > overdrive > (amp <fx send --> volume > multi effects for chorus, delay, etc. --> fx return) > talk box > speakers and P.A. People have their own ideas on this chain but it works for me.

 

[dallenhos]

I plug direct into a PA system most times at my church, but I will try the above, and plug my pedals in the chain before my multi effects.

Another question, I am also getting rid of my GT-8, and am looking at the sansamp GT-2 tube Amp modeler, when plugging direct into a PA system, where would this go in my chain? Before or after all my pedals...thank!

 

[Reeko]

Normally you run Pedals like Fuzz, Distortion, OD, before the amp or amp modeler. Time based effects (Chorus/Flange, Delay, Reverb ) are normally after.

That is a general rule ofd thumb. Usually delay before amp only sounds good if you are running the amp clean.

 

[cuthbertg]

I plug direct into a PA system most times at my church, but I will try the above, and plug my pedals in the chain before my multi effects.

Another question, I am also getting rid of my GT-8, and am looking at the sansamp GT-2 tube Amp modeler, when plugging direct into a PA system, where would this go in my chain? Before or after all my pedals...thank!

An amp emulator would be last in the chain, to take the place of your amp

Does your GT-8 have an emulated output, or any speaker/amp modelling onboard? If so, use that.

Ideally, to get close to the sound you are useed to at home, you should be taking your whole set up (including amp) and mic the amp up and run that into the pa, of course even then it will be different, unless your bedroom is identical in size, shape materials and furnishings to the church hall!

I'm not familiar with the sansamp, but an acitve DI box with speaker emulation would also be worth considering

 

[Guitar Freak]

Tech 21 pedals are known for sounding great when playing direct, but even better yet, mic up that small amp and you have all that hard overdrive you want at home, through the pa speakers!

 

[Staple maker]

Tech 21 pedals are known for sounding great when playing direct, but even better yet, mic up that small amp and you have all that hard overdrive you want at home, through the pa speakers!

Thats what I'm saying!

Don't get a $200 amp simulator when you have a nice amp, spend $70 and get an SM-57.


And get a ESP while your at it.

 

[dallenhos]

Agh yeah staple maker I love you. I'm gettin an ltd this afternoon, how strange. I'll see you in 5 minutes, your late for practice

 

[dubcut]

Because, simply put...A guitar amp is lower fidelity than a PA and attenuates the treble upper freq. a tad so that the sound is better.

A PA, stereo, power amp, ANything designed for flat output curve will not sound right without proper equalization.

You need an eq

Also the input of power amps and so on do not have the tendency of a guitar amp to compress as it saturates - to achieve unity gain you will be right at clipping the input section of the PA. Put a tubescreamer type soft clipping od after your distortion pedal. It will add the character of compressing and enable you to roll the hi's around a tad.

This is also why dist/od drives fx loop different, because the return of effect is essentially a straight shot at the power amp. Magnified by the fact that the signal at that point in the circuit is changed because of input eq and the preamp circuit. Squishes it up a tad.

 

[redoubt9000]

sry didn't read the majority of the thread, but I went ahead with registering just so I could make a post...

When you say you're recording direct, you mean you run your guitar through the pedal, and from the pedal into one of your audio interface's inputs (PC sound card/recording device) yes?

If so you've basically left out the most important thing in the chain.... The speakers! You need an emulation, and not necessarily an amp emulation...

Just pick up an IR plugin such as LeCab or KeFir (both free) and find an IR/cabinet impulse to your liking (LOTS of free ones out there) for your speaker emulation. You're good to go then You can also add a free amp simulation prior to the IR loader, in the case if you're using say an overdrive pedal instead of a distortion pedal.

 

[cuthbertg]

sry didn't read the majority of the thread, but I went ahead with registering just so I could make a post...When you say you're recording direct, you mean you run your guitar through the pedal, and from the pedal into one of your audio interface's inputs (PC sound card/recording device) yes?

If so you've basically left out the most important thing in the chain.... The speakers! You need an emulation, and not necessarily an amp emulation...

Just pick up an IR plugin such as LeCab or KeFir (both free) and find an IR/cabinet impulse to your liking (LOTS of free ones out there) for your speaker emulation. You're good to go then You can also add a free amp simulation prior to the IR loader, in the case if you're using say an overdrive pedal instead of a distortion pedal.

Have a look at the OP's 3 posts - At no point are the words recording, DAW, computer, VST etc mentioned at all

And welcome to the forum BTW!!

 

[Rich]