By the way, I have no idea what that riff is but if I ever become a professional wrestler then that's the theme that I want to have ...perhaps with the sound of smashing glass at the start.
Spoilers ahead! haha 2:03 Digitech Death Metal 3:05 Jet City Head 4:07 Boss Mega Distortion 5:09 Marshall DSL Head 6:11 Jackhammer Pedal 7:12 Orange Dark Terror Head
Haven't looked at the results yet but whatever 5 is, I'm buying it. I'm absolutely buying it. That was awesome! Please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal...
Hey man. The Jackhammer has an OD and a distortion mode. I actually like it better as a distortion in the OD side, it has plenty of gain anyway. I love the Jackhammer as well and they go used for nothing.
I didn't guess. I've only really ever used pedals because I use amps with nice clean channels, Roland Cube, Fender etc. I just listened and preferred them in this order....2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 1 so looks like I prefer amp gain. Time to buy a decent amp!
My favourite are: #1, #5, #6 ...Presence, Brightness and Loud Crystal Clean Impact. I don't like to much Bass, Buzz & Muff. I love to hear every single note. That's the way for me.
Its amazing hearing the quick difference between pedals and amp distortion. The Amps definitely have a more full sound. The pedals have more crunch, but at the sacrifice of mids and too much fuzz.
No way youtube is a good place to hear the difference and the way someone plays does a great difference, i would never go for pedals unless i would be stuck
I missed two. I believe mainly because I wasn't too familiar with the Orange and Marshall head but yeah, it's pretty obvious when it's a pedal or amp. The pedals mostly seem to have a hyped tone (scooped mids) and sound like a bee
Dude, this was a great video! Thank you for not trying to show off your lead skills, you just threw down some nice and smooth riffs to let the chords speak for themselves through the distortion, which is exactly what I wanted!!!!! They all sounded good but I think the Jackhammer pedal might be my favorite. I don't know... I want them all!!!
Wow, I have a digitech death metal pedal, and I had NO clue-the example using it sounded pretty damn good, caught me WAY off guard! I'll have to test it in the EP I am working on.
As a former sound engineer. My trick which allowed me to guess all 6 accurately, was listening to some of the low pitch notes. All 3 distortion pedals have a tone similar to an octave pedal which is the biggest give-away. Orange is my favourite for metal with Fuzz pedals. Distortion pedals are for RHCP.
I got them all but the last 2. That Jackhammer pedal really sounds nice, and the DT sounded good too, very clean gain. The others were plain as day easy to tell pedal from an amp.
Interesting, I actually got it right, well, which ones were pedal vs. amp. It seems that overall I prefer amp distortion BUT, I actually liked the Jackhammer the best here, which is odd...I mean, I think I can still hear the diode clipping artifacts but it sounded huge and yet still warm
#2 and #4 definitely sounded like amps. #1 and #3 sounded digital to me. #5 sounded great, but I knew it wasn't an amp when I heard #6, which I knew right away was the Orange. I don't care for the sound of the Oranges. I might have to look into that Jackhammer. Not really my style, but I love the sound.
Really shows the difference in tones from a pedal to tube amp. Guessed them all right except I switched the Jet City and the Marshall amps. The stripped down mix makes it easier to guess.
Wow, that old Marshall Jackhammer sounded GREAT in the clean channel. I was very surprised by that. The Marshall DSL sounded better than I thought it would too. Fascinating results. Great comparison. Good work, Simon Smith!
Although I did not get all the brands correct, it was very easy to tell which were pedals and which were amps. The pedals were more trebly and fizzy, as I expected. If the highs had been rolled off on the pedals, it would have been more difficult to tell.
There is a difference, the question is which do you prefer and thats why on a 2 channel amp you can have (with one pedal) 3 different overdrives/distortion
every one right except 5. Pedals always sound tinny and sound more like a bad fuzz pedal than amp distortion, ESPECIALLY when talking about valve amps. Pedal 5 is actually pretty good though.
I did nail the Boss MD-2, and basically could tell between amp and pedal, but not necessarily which one ( except the Boss). The amps always sound warmer and better balanced.
My answers, with lots of lucky! Just got 2 right, but amps on amps and pedals on pedals. The Orange head is fabulous! 1 Jackhammer 2 Marshall DSL 100 3 Mega Distortion 4 333 5 Digitech 6 Orange Best sounds to me Orange > Jackhammmer > 333 > Marshall DSL 100 > Digitech > Mega Distortion
Several years ago I had a baby Marshall 15 watt with a 10" speaker, and I was using the bridge hum busker on a Focus 3000 guitar. It sounded pretty good, but I went to the music store and tried to find something that would give me more harmonics and sustain. I guy who sounded like he was from Australia heard me, and said "You need a boss HM-2 (this was the version with set tone controls), I bought it, and when I cranked the gain and left the distortion completely off, it gave me a great sound. Because the cab was open back, I out a hand towel in it to catch standing waves. I can get a good sound now, nut I have much more equipment, but that 15 water sounded really good.
Hey Simon, pleased to meet you. My choices: 1- sounded harsh and very very bright, even shrill. I used to own a Death Metal pedal and I remember it was way over the top & almost uncontrollable. a terrible pedal. 2- had a warm tone to it, definitely more mids there, but it sounded a bit muffled. 3- sounded very compressed and squeezed, like toothpaste tryin to get out and it can't. 4- this one sounded muddy with almost no definition in tone. 5- had a warm tone and nice breakup. I really like the Jackhammer pedal. 6- this one surprised me. Never expected a mini amp head to produce such a great sounding disto, warm and full.I always thought you had to go with something over 100 watts all-tube, such as a Bugera 333XL Infinium. Thank you so much for your video uploads. Much appreciated.
i'm not ever a guitarist (just a bassist) and I could easily tell the difference. for me it's simple: the amps distortion sounds more bass, thick and round, and the pedals sound more thin and cutting, and really lacking mids. on my bass pedalboard I always turn up the mids and bass for the distortions and overdrive. that's the way to go if you want a sound that will really give the overall sound a full figure
Oh and Tone #3 was the most familiar sounding to my ears like that same tone is in a million songs. So I wasn't surprised to see the results. The problem with headers is no one actually uses a header and by itself. I think beginners try to, but find they are forced to use pedals due to control and reliability reasons. In the studio you need a good reliable static to come through the mix. Sure Cobain used a Mesa Boogie, but his distortion came from the Boss Turbo Distortion DS-2. See... the thing is, pedals are *NOT DIGITAL AMP MODELING* unless thats what they are sold as - which is actually beginning to increase on the market). Pedals operate the same as TUBE amps - BOTH are REALLY using electric current to overdrive REAL electronic components. The pedal will overdrive a transistor which is small, the tube amp will overdrive a valve type triode which is large. Each has a different sound depending on the types of transistors/valves used for each. Even the BRAND you use of the exact same specification will create a NOTICEABLE sound difference. So basically, its like saying Boss will use a certain transistor from Japan. However, that is only sold to Boss and not to the public. Tubes are different somewhat. Things like the quality of coper used along with all the other components for eq etc can also effect the output. Now AMP MODELING is digital and takes processing power. It takes the input guitar signal, turns it into digital 1's and 0's, and then attempts to run a software routine to mimic the sound of a pedal or amp. Then the sound is sent back out. These usually sound very flat and tiny with lack of presence. As to where the pedal is a REAL guitar signal coming in, and then overdriving a transistor or diode, then going back out. actually you can even overdrive using an LED light. Theres lots of videos showing their LED pedals. So a pedal technically does the same thing a valve does. One just overdrives a different component than the other. Getting good distortion from tubes alone is the EXCEPTION not the rule. The breakup will usually be too muddy and chunky. Many amps are hybrids and people don't realize it. Some solid state amps have moved to amp digital modeling and sound worse than older models that would use a transistor for distortion on inout. and them run the digital effects like reverb AFTER the real distortion on input. But now it seems they are just moving to full amp modeling so the distortion is faked which allows them to boast more types to sell more. This is why people shouldn't short sell pedals. Even Pete Townsend had huge custom built Hiwatt amps, but he found he still needed a pedal to get a reliable tone dialed in.
I figured out 2,4 and 6 were amp distortion sounds with 5 coming really close. There's a richness in the amp distortion whereas the pedals sound directional if that makes any sense. But again, this doesn't mean that one is better than the other.
Got all 6 correct. First four were pretty easy to spot. The last two were the hardest to tell. The Jackhammer Pedal kicks out a lot of bass/low end, and the Dark Terror Amp not so much, at least the way it was set for this video. But you can also hear slightly more note clean clarity using the amps and the underneath tones tend to sound more like the louder full volume tones, whereas in some of the pedals there's a noticeable clarity difference. The Jackhammer sounded really nice though. :)
My thoughts when hearing the video was that the tones from best to worst were: 5>4>2>6>3>1 [Please watch the full video before hitting show more] I guess the lesson of the video is: high gain "ultra extreme metal" pedals will sound noticeably worse than preamp tubes (given away by both how harshly the treble frequencies are compressed, and the lack of dynamics), but more botique overdrivish pedals can sound fairly good, to where I end up picking it over a DSL-100, as the jackhammer had an even less harsh method of compressing treble frequencies, though it still could use a bit more dynamics.
I think playing all those on the bridge pickup would change things a good bit. I just always liked the bite and cutting treble of the bridge pickup better for metal.
The Jet City, Jackhammer, and Orange were tough to place given they are all less extremes in terms of tone, but the DSL, MD2, and Death Metal all seemed pretty clear. I think the DSL is definitely the standout for that raw, focussed lower mids tone
Great video. This really helped me understand how different amp vs pedal distortion really sounds. I especially liked how you used 3 amps and 3 pedals which I have never personally used before and yet I was able to tell each time whether or not you were using amp or pedal, so thanks for the enlightenment!!
Can't believe how everybody's hating on #1. Sounded perfect for metal with a crisp, fierce sound which wasn't as soft or muffled as the other ones. Guess-wise, I expected 2, 4 and 5 to be the amps since the distortion was softer/weaker. Guess the dark terror amp is worth checking out :-)
First thing to mention is audio on youtube is 128 kbps. For a world class recorded guitar tone it's better to avoid distorsion pedals. There is nothing like a good gtr in a good tube amp. especially when it comes to fast playing and string clarity while you do super complex chords with your six strings resonating all togheter.
The orange was the only tone I really like it had the cut of the pedal tones but bigger and warmer, if I ever need a small high gain amp it looks like a contender.
You can tell by the highs. Tubes don't respond very much to high frequencies whereas a transistors do. Of course ever since the Tubescreamer, solid state pedals and preamplifier sections have been getting closer to emulating tube response through all kinds of clever analog circuitry. I could tell straight away with all of them except an initial doubletake on the Dark Terror, which sounded very similar to a solid state pedal at first, but I think that was the EQ and the high gain compared to the other amps. I am a big fan of both solid state and tube tones, so no snobbery here.
What I figured out before the results, #1 and #3 were definitely pedals and #4 was definitely the Marshall. I was pretty sue #2 was an amp, but no idea about #5 or #6.
I called all correctly , though the Orange amp sounded almost as raspy as the pedals. All the pedals had a raspy sizzly high end with less depth to my ears than the amp overdrive. My choice of pedals for heavy distortion is a Mesa V twin , Friedman BE OD and a Fetto Nord 70 .
The Boss surprised me, sounded massive, much like Bolt Thrower! The Jackhammer did well too. Marshall and Orange were nice as well. But I think the tone always depends on how you set it... Thanks for a very interesting experiment!
I nailed it quite well, being sure that 1,3 and 5 were the pedals (not sure which is which). I was also sure that number 6 was the Dark Terror - I used to have one. It combines the controlled and cutting distortion with the warmness and natural gain of tube amps. Fantastic little beast.
I've noticed this trend with amps that aren't super high grade like Hugh and Keffner, is that amps with built in distortion and effects are always muddy and sound faded with almost no presence and are almost always super base heavy and sound muffled, while pedals of almost all price range even super cheap ones sound very clean and clear as long as your treble is up even with a terrible cheap clean amp you can make it sound studio quality.
Got all right, I was thinking about 4 (Marshall vs Orange) but when 'veI heard 6 sample everything was clear, such massive and juicy tone that Orange has.
The Orange alllll day long. The others fell into two categories: Too fizzy or too muddy. The orange had great high end without fizz and great bass without mud. But a bit of fizz doesn't matter too much in a band. It gets lost in the hi-hat and cymbals anyways. Not too keen on the muddy sound though. At some point in history, someone decided that "vintage" means "All the caps have drifted way off value and the amp sounds shit and not at all like it did when it was new and sounded the way it was designed to" and now people try to emulate that horrible muffled sound. Screw that. It's easy to cut unwanted treble; not so easy to add missing treble
The way i see it is all about how much presence you like. Just fiddle with eq knobs and you will get "your" tone out of any pedal or amp in most situations.
I prefer the Jackhammer and the Orange. I'm not so keen on getting another distortion peal though, and already own an orange. I'm not a particular fan of the warmer spectrum of tones and less so of the harsher tones like death metal. I actually own one but it has been modified into a noise machine which gives it a better purpose I think. I prefer all-round, dynamic tones that will neither collide with the bass nor sound like white noise in the mix.
At such a high saturation, they are going to sound very similar, and the riff/style you are playing doesn't show the tube strength vs the pedal weakness. If you were to play at lower gain, some chunky palm muted riffs on the mid strings or some singing leads the difference would be more noticeable. I wasn't 100% sure, but I liked the evens better and it turned out to be the amps, lol. Once my ears lock on to that metallic fizz, I can't shake it. I know it's preferred for Death Metal, Sludge, Speed Metal, etc, but, to me it just sounds like metallic fizz.
kind of guessed straight off that 1 or 3 would be the digitech, very fizzy sounding. 2 and 4 were kind of lacking in character. 5 and 6 sounded nicest so I was hoping(!) either one of those would be the orange. turns out the jackhammer was my favourite!
I can't believe out of all pedals, the Jackhammer sounded the best kinda split on each amp tho, they're all really good, and the Orange is the harshest imo
In my opinion, #1, 3, and 5, sounded way too thin #2 and 4 sounded way better but a bit too muffled #6 clearly sounded the best, no surprise it's the the head's distortion #6 and #4 sounded the best out of all of them
I guessed the Digitech death metal pedal immediately purely because I'd, by coincidence, watched a video demoing that very pedal just the other day. Out of the pedals, the jackhammer sounded best to my ears by far.
i got 4 out of the six right pedal or amp but it was still really hard to judge exactly which brand for the ones I got right except the first one which was super obvious to my ears. good challenge. of course a normal consumer or audience member wouldn't even care. they just wanna hear music and that's fine with me.
Same here, 5 was surprising to me considering it turned out to be a pedal. I quite liked 4 but I wasn't expecting it to be the DSL since I thought it would be fizzier. Turns out the DSL sounds better than I thought.
Great test the Dark terror and the Jackhammer were the two i got the wrong way around. I'm surprised at how rounded the jackhammer was, the DT was harsh and fizzy but both sat well in your mix. The other two amps stuck out like sore thumbs though very easy to spot.
i was right about 2 and 4 being a head. The dark terror was impressive and fooled me. I'm trying to get my sound down using tube head distortion and pedals. its been difficult. seems the low end on most heads can be flat and muddy.
Guessed 1 - 4 correctly, but #5 I guessed to be an amp, but it was the JACKHAMMER. Incredible, how amp-like it sounds. Great. Thank You for this comparison.
Yes, my dear man, I have to commend you on getting right to the point. There is a video out there that asks the simple question: Gain versus Master Volume, What is the difference? I want to watch it but why is this video 32 minutes long? At any rate, great video. I gotta be honest, the Boss Mega Distortion stood out only because I used to own that pedal. But that damned DSL cuts to the bone. Keep up the great work.
The orange sound is so distinct. I don't see any orange user being fooled. My least favorite was the jet city. I kind of liked the first pedal. It had a cool character.
By the way, I have no idea what that riff is but if I ever become a professional wrestler then that's the theme that I want to have ...perhaps with the sound of smashing glass at the start.
David C Stone cold Steve Austin?
I didnt think it was possible for guitar riffs to have an english accent but you proved me wrong.
Tyler Riles lol wtf?
lol
Tyler Riles shit youre right!
Bahahahahaha
m8 what paradise lost song is that?ßßß
Quick comparison:
2:04 tone #1
3:06 tone #2
4:07 tone #3
5:09 tone #4
6:11 tone #5
7:13 tone #6
Thank god... FFS
I love how clear and precise your videos are, the lack of bullshit makes me so happy
Thanks :0)
The pedals were generally fizzy at the top end. An EQ pedal could solve the issue.
Spoilers ahead! haha
2:03 Digitech Death Metal
3:05 Jet City Head
4:07 Boss Mega Distortion
5:09 Marshall DSL Head
6:11 Jackhammer Pedal
7:12 Orange Dark Terror Head
Thank you.
The thin sounds of the pedals and the dark terror were fairly obvious. Really liked the Jet City's crunch.
very muffled sound, kinda sucks
The Digitech Death Metal and Orange Dark Terror head are my favorites. Both super heavy and crisp tone
Haven't looked at the results yet but whatever 5 is, I'm buying it. I'm absolutely buying it. That was awesome! Please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal, please be a cheap pedal...
Was it a cheap pedal? I can't remember...
Yes, it was! Lucky me. You should be getting commission or something from them.
Hey man. The Jackhammer has an OD and a distortion mode. I actually like it better as a distortion in the OD side, it has plenty of gain anyway. I love the Jackhammer as well and they go used for nothing.
I didn't guess. I've only really ever used pedals because I use amps with nice clean channels, Roland Cube, Fender etc. I just listened and preferred them in this order....2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 1 so looks like I prefer amp gain. Time to buy a decent amp!
The riff is so simple yet sounds so powerful.
Thanks mate
It's the drop D and riffs in minor. It just always works. And no human in history has ever figured out why.
Such a fun riff i want to learn it.
Is it from you or a song?
My favourite are: #1, #5, #6 ...Presence, Brightness and Loud Crystal Clean Impact. I don't like to much Bass, Buzz & Muff. I love to hear every single note. That's the way for me.
Well bass guitar is important in music, it holds everything together
Its amazing hearing the quick difference between pedals and amp distortion.
The Amps definitely have a more full sound.
The pedals have more crunch, but at the sacrifice of mids and too much fuzz.
wow that was great, I got 2 wrong that jackhammer sounds really great
\m/
Same here; thought the jackhammer was a nicely balanced tube amp.
Mel Alvarez I actually thought number 2 was the dark terror
I've got a jack hammer. Great pedal, It's a combination overdrive and distortion.
No way youtube is a good place to hear the difference and the way someone plays does a great difference, i would never go for pedals unless i would be stuck
The Jack Hamer and Orange have more organic distortion !
The others sound very artificial.
Numbers 2 and 4 really stood out to me. To my ears, they emitted a tone that was noticeably fuller and warmer. Just my humble two cents...
First and the last (#1/#6) had the best tone in my opinion. Dark Terror... I should take a consider it to buy one in the future...
That Orange amp is awesome, i cant put my finger on why i just love their sound.
Right?
oRANGe AMpS ARE THE beST i HAVE AN ORANge !!!! ;)
CursedInEternity92 i have a micro dark and its awesome
The Micro Dark can make a spectacular Preamp too ( if you bypass it`s solid state power amp by coming out of the FX loop )
Could you elaborate a bit for me. How does this work? - Thanks
You've officially sold me on the dark terror
Cool. It is a beast!
that's dark for a sunbro.
Nightingale1887 Anor Londo looms only in darkness under a false sun.
It’s such a great head!
Azrael hail
I missed two. I believe mainly because I wasn't too familiar with the Orange and Marshall head but yeah, it's pretty obvious when it's a pedal or amp. The pedals mostly seem to have a hyped tone (scooped mids) and sound like a bee
Dude, this was a great video! Thank you for not trying to show off your lead skills, you just threw down some nice and smooth riffs to let the chords speak for themselves through the distortion, which is exactly what I wanted!!!!! They all sounded good but I think the Jackhammer pedal might be my favorite. I don't know... I want them all!!!
I guessed all of them correctly (pedals sounded thin) but I'm still surprised by nr 5- you achieved really big tone here!
2:04 #1
3:05 #2
4:07 #3
5:09 #4
6:11 #5
7:13 #6
Without looking at the answers, 2, 5, and 6 sounded best to me. 1 sounded pretty awful.
After looking at the answers: man, I gotta get a Jackhammer!
Wow, I have a digitech death metal pedal, and I had NO clue-the example using it sounded pretty damn good, caught me WAY off guard! I'll have to test it in the EP I am working on.
2, 4, 5 ! Simon do you remember knobs settings on Jackhammer?
As a former sound engineer. My trick which allowed me to guess all 6 accurately, was listening to some of the low pitch notes. All 3 distortion pedals have a tone similar to an octave pedal which is the biggest give-away. Orange is my favourite for metal with Fuzz pedals. Distortion pedals are for RHCP.
Orange Dark terror won this vid in my opinion. Awesome full tone.
I got them all but the last 2. That Jackhammer pedal really sounds nice, and the DT sounded good too, very clean gain. The others were plain as day easy to tell pedal from an amp.
Interesting, I actually got it right, well, which ones were pedal vs. amp. It seems that overall I prefer amp distortion BUT, I actually liked the Jackhammer the best here, which is odd...I mean, I think I can still hear the diode clipping artifacts but it sounded huge and yet still warm
#2 and #4 definitely sounded like amps. #1 and #3 sounded digital to me. #5 sounded great, but I knew it wasn't an amp when I heard #6, which I knew right away was the Orange. I don't care for the sound of the Oranges.
I might have to look into that Jackhammer. Not really my style, but I love the sound.
Really shows the difference in tones from a pedal to tube amp. Guessed them all right except I switched the Jet City and the Marshall amps. The stripped down mix makes it easier to guess.
wow, I was close. I guessed 1,3 and 6 as being the pedals. That orange sounds fucking nice man!
I guessed 1 3 5 were peddles right off the bat then got confused by that orange
DeVaughn Currie that Orange is a damn beast!
Uh, WTF?
Seneeki Kaant me too
Seneeki Kaant
yup. me to
I got them all, that Orange blew me away though like wow that thing has some tone.
Wow, that old Marshall Jackhammer sounded GREAT in the clean channel. I was very surprised by that. The Marshall DSL sounded better than I thought it would too. Fascinating results. Great comparison. Good work, Simon Smith!
My favorites were 2, then 4, then 6... So I guess I know what type of distortion suits me better :)
Likewise :-)
same
me also. Hope it wasn't how it was recorded, but other sounded like a briefcase full of bees.
yes clear difference, way more balanced sound
Briefcase full of bees would be great song
Who the f**k would click the dislikes on this ??
Thanks
Although I did not get all the brands correct, it was very easy to tell which were pedals and which were amps. The pedals were more trebly and fizzy, as I expected. If the highs had been rolled off on the pedals, it would have been more difficult to tell.
There is a difference, the question is which do you prefer and thats why on a 2 channel amp you can have (with one pedal) 3 different overdrives/distortion
every one right except 5. Pedals always sound tinny and sound more like a bad fuzz pedal than amp distortion, ESPECIALLY when talking about valve amps.
Pedal 5 is actually pretty good though.
I did nail the Boss MD-2, and basically could tell between amp and pedal, but not necessarily which one ( except the Boss). The amps always sound warmer and better balanced.
My answers, with lots of lucky!
Just got 2 right, but amps on amps and pedals on pedals.
The Orange head is fabulous!
1 Jackhammer
2 Marshall DSL 100
3 Mega Distortion
4 333
5 Digitech
6 Orange
Best sounds to me Orange > Jackhammmer > 333 > Marshall DSL 100 > Digitech > Mega Distortion
Several years ago I had a baby Marshall 15 watt with a 10" speaker, and I was using the bridge hum busker on a Focus 3000 guitar. It sounded pretty good, but I went to the music store and tried to find something that would give me more harmonics and sustain. I guy who sounded like he was from Australia heard me, and said "You need a boss HM-2 (this was the version with set tone controls), I bought it, and when I cranked the gain and left the distortion completely off, it gave me a great sound. Because the cab was open back, I out a hand towel in it to catch standing waves. I can get a good sound now, nut I have much more equipment, but that 15 water sounded really good.
Hey Simon, pleased to meet you. My choices:
1- sounded harsh and very very bright, even shrill. I used to own a Death Metal pedal and I remember it was way over the top & almost uncontrollable. a terrible pedal.
2- had a warm tone to it, definitely more mids there, but it sounded a bit muffled.
3- sounded very compressed and squeezed, like toothpaste tryin to get out and it can't.
4- this one sounded muddy with almost no definition in tone.
5- had a warm tone and nice breakup. I really like the Jackhammer pedal.
6- this one surprised me. Never expected a mini amp head to produce such a great sounding disto, warm and full.I always thought you had to go with something over 100 watts all-tube, such as a Bugera 333XL Infinium.
Thank you so much for your video uploads. Much appreciated.
Glad you like the videos mate. Thanks for commenting.
i'm not ever a guitarist (just a bassist) and I could easily tell the difference. for me it's simple: the amps distortion sounds more bass, thick and round, and the pedals sound more thin and cutting, and really lacking mids. on my bass pedalboard I always turn up the mids and bass for the distortions and overdrive. that's the way to go if you want a sound that will really give the overall sound a full figure
Oh and Tone #3 was the most familiar sounding to my ears like that same tone is in a million songs. So I wasn't surprised to see the results. The problem with headers is no one actually uses a header and by itself. I think beginners try to, but find they are forced to use pedals due to control and reliability reasons. In the studio you need a good reliable static to come through the mix. Sure Cobain used a Mesa Boogie, but his distortion came from the Boss Turbo Distortion DS-2.
See... the thing is, pedals are *NOT DIGITAL AMP MODELING* unless thats what they are sold as - which is actually beginning to increase on the market). Pedals operate the same as TUBE amps - BOTH are REALLY using electric current to overdrive REAL electronic components.
The pedal will overdrive a transistor which is small, the tube amp will overdrive a valve type triode which is large. Each has a different sound depending on the types of transistors/valves used for each. Even the BRAND you use of the exact same specification will create a NOTICEABLE sound difference. So basically, its like saying Boss will use a certain transistor from Japan. However, that is only sold to Boss and not to the public. Tubes are different somewhat. Things like the quality of coper used along with all the other components for eq etc can also effect the output.
Now AMP MODELING is digital and takes processing power. It takes the input guitar signal, turns it into digital 1's and 0's, and then attempts to run a software routine to mimic the sound of a pedal or amp. Then the sound is sent back out. These usually sound very flat and tiny with lack of presence.
As to where the pedal is a REAL guitar signal coming in, and then overdriving a transistor or diode, then going back out. actually you can even overdrive using an LED light. Theres lots of videos showing their LED pedals.
So a pedal technically does the same thing a valve does. One just overdrives a different component than the other. Getting good distortion from tubes alone is the EXCEPTION not the rule. The breakup will usually be too muddy and chunky. Many amps are hybrids and people don't realize it. Some solid state amps have moved to amp digital modeling and sound worse than older models that would use a transistor for distortion on inout. and them run the digital effects like reverb AFTER the real distortion on input. But now it seems they are just moving to full amp modeling so the distortion is faked which allows them to boast more types to sell more.
This is why people shouldn't short sell pedals. Even Pete Townsend had huge custom built Hiwatt amps, but he found he still needed a pedal to get a reliable tone dialed in.
I figured out 2,4 and 6 were amp distortion sounds with 5 coming really close. There's a richness in the amp distortion whereas the pedals sound directional if that makes any sense. But again, this doesn't mean that one is better than the other.
The mid range on that jet city head is killer. That will cut through the mix like a hot knife through butter.I like the jack hammer too.
Today I learned that the Jackhammer is a pretty fucking awesome pedal. The other pedals were fizzy as shit.
Got all 6 correct. First four were pretty easy to spot. The last two were the hardest to tell. The Jackhammer Pedal kicks out a lot of bass/low end, and the Dark Terror Amp not so much, at least the way it was set for this video. But you can also hear slightly more note clean clarity using the amps and the underneath tones tend to sound more like the louder full volume tones, whereas in some of the pedals there's a noticeable clarity difference. The Jackhammer sounded really nice though. :)
My thoughts when hearing the video was that the tones from best to worst were:
5>4>2>6>3>1
[Please watch the full video before hitting show more]
I guess the lesson of the video is: high gain "ultra extreme metal" pedals will sound noticeably worse than preamp tubes (given away by both how harshly the treble frequencies are compressed, and the lack of dynamics), but more botique overdrivish pedals can sound fairly good, to where I end up picking it over a DSL-100, as the jackhammer had an even less harsh method of compressing treble frequencies, though it still could use a bit more dynamics.
Best sounds: 1, 5 and 6. And I can't quite hear the melodies on these sounds, but the dropped palm mute sounds killer! :)
I think playing all those on the bridge pickup would change things a good bit. I just always liked the bite and cutting treble of the bridge pickup better for metal.
Kevin Jordan They were all recorded on the bridge pickup. The video was shot later.
Oh, cool.
The Jet City, Jackhammer, and Orange were tough to place given they are all less extremes in terms of tone, but the DSL, MD2, and Death Metal all seemed pretty clear. I think the DSL is definitely the standout for that raw, focussed lower mids tone
That was fun. I got all three of the amps. The surprise was how good the Jackhammer sounds. I think I need one...
Great video. This really helped me understand how different amp vs pedal distortion really sounds. I especially liked how you used 3 amps and 3 pedals which I have never personally used before and yet I was able to tell each time whether or not you were using amp or pedal, so thanks for the enlightenment!!
Can't believe how everybody's hating on #1. Sounded perfect for metal with a crisp, fierce sound which wasn't as soft or muffled as the other ones.
Guess-wise, I expected 2, 4 and 5 to be the amps since the distortion was softer/weaker. Guess the dark terror amp is worth checking out :-)
First thing to mention is audio on youtube is 128 kbps. For a world class recorded guitar tone it's better to avoid distorsion pedals. There is nothing like a good gtr in a good tube amp. especially when it comes to fast playing and string clarity while you do super complex chords with your six strings resonating all togheter.
The orange was the only tone I really like it had the cut of the pedal tones but bigger and warmer, if I ever need a small high gain amp it looks like a contender.
You can tell by the highs. Tubes don't respond very much to high frequencies whereas a transistors do. Of course ever since the Tubescreamer, solid state pedals and preamplifier sections have been getting closer to emulating tube response through all kinds of clever analog circuitry. I could tell straight away with all of them except an initial doubletake on the Dark Terror, which sounded very similar to a solid state pedal at first, but I think that was the EQ and the high gain compared to the other amps. I am a big fan of both solid state and tube tones, so no snobbery here.
What I figured out before the results, #1 and #3 were definitely pedals and #4 was definitely the Marshall. I was pretty sue #2 was an amp, but no idea about #5 or #6.
I called all correctly , though the Orange amp sounded almost as raspy as the pedals. All the pedals had a raspy sizzly high end with less depth to my ears than the amp overdrive. My choice of pedals for heavy distortion is a Mesa V twin , Friedman BE OD and a Fetto Nord 70 .
actually surprised that I got them all correct. Almost thought #4 was a pedal until I heard #5!
Which one is your favourite tones Simon? The number #6 (Orange Dark Terror Head) is fantastic!! Great video, very interesting, Thank You!! \m/
Dark Terror and Jet City
The Boss surprised me, sounded massive, much like Bolt Thrower! The Jackhammer did well too. Marshall and Orange were nice as well. But I think the tone always depends on how you set it... Thanks for a very interesting experiment!
No worries buddy
I nailed it quite well, being sure that 1,3 and 5 were the pedals (not sure which is which).
I was also sure that number 6 was the Dark Terror - I used to have one. It combines the controlled and cutting distortion with the warmness and natural gain of tube amps. Fantastic little beast.
The distortion pedals sound sharper than the amps. The osund of the amps is warmer and round, more heaviness..
Jack hammer sounded very Tubey and the orange head sounded very distortion pedally
Possibly the best channel I've found on TH-cam
I've noticed this trend with amps that aren't super high grade like Hugh and Keffner, is that amps with built in distortion and effects are always muddy and sound faded with almost no presence and are almost always super base heavy and sound muffled, while pedals of almost all price range even super cheap ones sound very clean and clear as long as your treble is up even with a terrible cheap clean amp you can make it sound studio quality.
Got all right, I was thinking about 4 (Marshall vs Orange) but when 'veI heard 6 sample everything was clear, such massive and juicy tone that Orange has.
Pretty much exactly what I was expecting to hear, pedals have little/no low end or lower mids.
Jet City Head,Mashal DSL Head & Jackhammer Pedal i love that tone
But i like the Jet City Head
The Orange alllll day long. The others fell into two categories: Too fizzy or too muddy. The orange had great high end without fizz and great bass without mud. But a bit of fizz doesn't matter too much in a band. It gets lost in the hi-hat and cymbals anyways. Not too keen on the muddy sound though. At some point in history, someone decided that "vintage" means "All the caps have drifted way off value and the amp sounds shit and not at all like it did when it was new and sounded the way it was designed to" and now people try to emulate that horrible muffled sound. Screw that. It's easy to cut unwanted treble; not so easy to add missing treble
i got em all right. I think head/amp distortion sounds more clean and raw and pedals more dizzy. Especailly when it comes to tube amps
The way i see it is all about how much presence you like. Just fiddle with eq knobs and you will get "your" tone out of any pedal or amp in most situations.
Two, five, and six were definitely my favorite tones. Great riff! Great video! Thanks.
Thanks mate
I prefer the Jackhammer and the Orange. I'm not so keen on getting another distortion peal though, and already own an orange. I'm not a particular fan of the warmer spectrum of tones and less so of the harsher tones like death metal. I actually own one but it has been modified into a noise machine which gives it a better purpose I think. I prefer all-round, dynamic tones that will neither collide with the bass nor sound like white noise in the mix.
At such a high saturation, they are going to sound very similar, and the riff/style you are playing doesn't show the tube strength vs the pedal weakness. If you were to play at lower gain, some chunky palm muted riffs on the mid strings or some singing leads the difference would be more noticeable. I wasn't 100% sure, but I liked the evens better and it turned out to be the amps, lol. Once my ears lock on to that metallic fizz, I can't shake it. I know it's preferred for Death Metal, Sludge, Speed Metal, etc, but, to me it just sounds like metallic fizz.
kind of guessed straight off that 1 or 3 would be the digitech, very fizzy sounding. 2 and 4 were kind of lacking in character. 5 and 6 sounded nicest so I was hoping(!) either one of those would be the orange. turns out the jackhammer was my favourite!
Wow! I can't believe how good the Orange amp sounded. Easily the best. Not real familiar with Orange prior to this. I may have to check it out
I can't believe out of all pedals, the Jackhammer sounded the best
kinda split on each amp tho, they're all really good, and the Orange is the harshest imo
the Orange DT almost sound like fuzz since it got so much bass but of course does not have that saturated sound that a fuzz has.
In my opinion,
#1, 3, and 5, sounded way too thin
#2 and 4 sounded way better but a bit too muffled
#6 clearly sounded the best, no surprise it's the the head's distortion
#6 and #4 sounded the best out of all of them
#2 that warm tube sound is unmistakeable
I guessed the Digitech death metal pedal immediately purely because I'd, by coincidence, watched a video demoing that very pedal just the other day. Out of the pedals, the jackhammer sounded best to my ears by far.
i got 4 out of the six right pedal or amp but it was still really hard to judge exactly which brand for the ones I got right except the first one which was super obvious to my ears. good challenge. of course a normal consumer or audience member wouldn't even care. they just wanna hear music and that's fine with me.
Yes I can.
Recorded on youtube obviously lessens the difference, but in real life the difference is huge.
I guessed 2,4 and 5 valve amps. The jack hammer sounds pretty good for a pedal. I liked the ids of the 2,4 and 5.
Same here, 5 was surprising to me considering it turned out to be a pedal. I quite liked 4 but I wasn't expecting it to be the DSL since I thought it would be fizzier. Turns out the DSL sounds better than I thought.
Great test the Dark terror and the Jackhammer were the two i got the wrong way around. I'm surprised at how rounded the jackhammer was, the DT was harsh and fizzy but both sat well in your mix. The other two amps stuck out like sore thumbs though very easy to spot.
My ranking in descending order 5,6,2,4,3,1. Wow, wouldn't have believed I'd prefer the jackhammer over everything else.
And yes, pedals, the ones in this vid use solid state circuitry, like in a SS amp.
i was right about 2 and 4 being a head. The dark terror was impressive and fooled me. I'm trying to get my sound down using tube head distortion and pedals. its been difficult. seems the low end on most heads can be flat and muddy.
Guessed 1 - 4 correctly, but #5 I guessed to be an amp, but it was the JACKHAMMER. Incredible, how amp-like it sounds. Great. Thank You for this comparison.
Yes, my dear man, I have to commend you on getting right to the point. There is a video out there that asks the simple question: Gain versus Master Volume, What is the difference? I want to watch it but why is this video 32 minutes long?
At any rate, great video. I gotta be honest, the Boss Mega Distortion stood out only because I used to own that pedal. But that damned DSL cuts to the bone. Keep up the great work.
2,4, and 6 are amp distortion (tone 6 could be from Orange amp)
Was everything recorded with flat settings? I can't believe the Dark Terror beats the rest...
Recording wise yes. Settings on the amps were different for each amp though.
The orange sound is so distinct. I don't see any orange user being fooled. My least favorite was the jet city. I kind of liked the first pedal. It had a cool character.
Tone #3 might sound good, but the problem starts at the very last sound he plays. It turns to shrill on those kinds of notes.
Wow, I got each one right. I did learn from this video that the Jet City head was my favorite though!
It's a great head for amazing money