Distortion pedal for JCM 800 2204

[juliusxxrock]

Hey!

I have a JCM 800 2204 and it's truly awesome.
Altough lately I've been starting to interest in a clean sound too, since I started writing some ska/reggae songs where I'd like a cleaner tone.

To give you some background info, I'm playing a telecaster '72 deluxe, which wide range pups don't have the highest output, so I've been boosting my signal with a Bad Monkey, level at 100%, gain at 0%. I boost my tone slightly after breaking point, so it's rather distorted.
This doesn't give me a very clean tone though, without rolling back the volume, which results in a too big volume loss (I have to roll it back a lot to get the right clean tone), which also looses its fullness.

So I'm thinking a distortion pedal could solve my problems, well atleast make the situation better. I can't afford a multi-channel amp, and since the distorted tone is the most important part for me I don't want to waste money on a kind of cheap multi-channel amp that gives me a not so good distorted tone (the JCM is almost ultimate for me).

I play punk rock, but that's not an excuse for you lazy people out there to not give me a proper reply

I bet lots of people has done this before me, and maybe even some here?
Would this be a good idea?
If so, what distortion pedal would you suggest, keeping in mind to not make it too expensive).

 

[gemather]

I prefer a Big Muff combined with a treble/mid boost into my Marshall to reach distorted sounds.

 

[Adrian R]

Sell the 2204, buy a DSL..and pocket the rest for yet ANOTHER amp or guitar....

I hate distortion pedals, especially in front of a Marshall...and MOST DEFINITELY a 2204..it'll neuter the piss outta your tone man...

 

[plexilespaul]

Sell the 2204, buy a DSL..and pocket the rest for yet ANOTHER amp or guitar....

I hate distortion pedals, especially in front of a Marshall...and MOST DEFINITELY a 2204..it'll neuter the piss outta your tone man...

do not listen to this man as he is officialy biased towards his beloved modded DSL's

 

[Marshall Art]

Tube Screamer.

 

[mk2 steve]

Try an Xotic BB preamp or similar into the low input of your 2204. I had a BB with a 2203 and it was very dynamic - I used it as a boost on the high input, but could get some great tones when I experimented with it in the low input. The Xotic AC booster is great too. Another option is the Fulltone OCD.

A different option is to try a HBE Detox, it works like a reverse boost - set your distorted tone, then you use the Detox to cut the signal to produce a clean tone. I also used one of these with my 2203, and it worked great - videos can be found on YouTube demonstrating how it works.

 

[mk2 steve]

Here's a video demonstrating the Detox:

Homebrew Electronics (Paul Gilbert) Detox EQ Pedal - YouTube

Hope that helps!

 

[medicjg]

Forget the dirt box roll that monster outside and turn everything up to 10..

 

[Bieling3]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISSapaiTrsI]EHX Tortion - YouTube[/ame]

 

[blues_n_cues]

pretty much anything & everything that says distortion,od,tube screamer,or cranked eq works in front of a 2204. AND HAS.

my personal favorites-
MXR Dist+ (pre-Dunlop,pre-indicator light,pre-1980's model).
Boss SD-1 (snip the c6)
Boss GE-7 eq (hump the mids & crank the output or reverse boost style)
TS-9 or 808
BBE Green Screamer (the one w/ the jet on it)
MXR M-77 Custom Badass modified od
Radial Tonebone Plexitube

that should keep you busy for a while.

 

[Adrian R]

do not listen to this man as he is officialy biased towards his beloved modded DSL's

Hah..lol...we need to make the distinction here guyz..OD pedals NOT distortion pedals..People get them confused constantly, and even though their distant cousins, they certainly share very little in tonal quality..

Distortion pedals works best for shitty little solid state amps..NOT a wonderful tube amp like a 2204!

If you are going to use an OD pedal..the Fulltone FD2 is the way to go! IMO, WAY better then the OCD for 'a Marshall'..or *most* other OD pedals on the market..again 'for a Marshall'...its like that pedal was designed specifically for that voice man..

Either way..you are right, a well tuned DSL100 will go toe to toe with a 2204 and sport more flexibility to boot!

 

[blues_n_cues]

hah..lol...we need to make the distinction here guyz..od pedals not distortion pedals..people get them confused constantly, and even though their distant cousins, they certainly share very little in tonal quality..
that depends on what era you grew up in.lol
distortion pedals works best for shitty little solid state amps..not a wonderful tube amp like a 2204!


Either way..you are right, a well tuned dsl100 will go toe to toe with a 2204 and sport more flexibility to boot!:d

heresy, I say!!!!!!!!!

.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Hey!

I have a JCM 800 2204 and it's truly awesome.
Altough lately I've been starting to interest in a clean sound too, since I started writing some ska/reggae songs where I'd like a cleaner tone.

To give you some background info, I'm playing a telecaster '72 deluxe, which wide range pups don't have the highest output, so I've been boosting my signal with a Bad Monkey, level at 100%, gain at 0%. I boost my tone slightly after breaking point, so it's rather distorted.
This doesn't give me a very clean tone though, without rolling back the volume, which results in a too big volume loss (I have to roll it back a lot to get the right clean tone), which also looses its fullness.

So I'm thinking a distortion pedal could solve my problems, well atleast make the situation better. I can't afford a multi-channel amp, and since the distorted tone is the most important part for me I don't want to waste money on a kind of cheap multi-channel amp that gives me a not so good distorted tone (the JCM is almost ultimate for me).

I play punk rock, but that's not an excuse for you lazy people out there to not give me a proper reply

I bet lots of people has done this before me, and maybe even some here?
Would this be a good idea?
If so, what distortion pedal would you suggest, keeping in mind to not make it too expensive).

I have a very similar setup. What are your amp settings? Are you in the high or low amp input?

You can get a very clean tone in the high input with gain on 2. If the Bad Monkey set as a clean boost isnt giving you enough dirt, turn up the gain on the pedal to where ever you need it to be, and if need be turn the gain up to 3 on the amp, you will still get a fairly clean tone when you turn the pedal off.

 

[Adrian R]

.

heresy, I say!!!!!!!!!

**I figured I would get at least one comment of such nature..lol...All I can say is that I have owned both...and as much as I love(d) 2203s and 04s...and they do kick ass, you can get a DSL really close sounding with the right tweaks...AND have WAY more gain and TWO channels man, with a clean tone that is one of the best in the biz...

If you haven't any meaningful experience with one yet, ya need to check one out for at least conversation's sake...