Friend thinks Digitech Death Metal is better than Dual Rec

[protest5]

The other guitarist in my band plays through a Marshall Combo (not sure about the model, but it was around $600 new, pretty sure it's a modeling amp, and has one preamp tube) puts a Digitech Death Metal Pedal in front, and is convinced that his tone is better than anything he's ever played. We've tested out the Dual Recs at our local music store at least a half a dozen times and after 10 minutes of dialing it in he gives up and is convinced that his $60 Digitech Death Metal has a better distortion than the Dual's Channel 3 Modern Setting cranked. I've fallen completely in love with the modern mode, but he remains unswayed. What should I tell him to convince him otherwise?

 

[Scary]

The other guitarist in my band plays through a Marshall Combo (not sure about the model, but it was around $600 new, pretty sure it's a modeling amp, and has one preamp tube) puts a Digitech Death Metal Pedal in front, and is convinced that his tone is better than anything he's ever played. We've tested out the Dual Recs at our local music store at least a half a dozen times and after 10 minutes of dialing it in he gives up and is convinced that his $60 Digitech Death Metal has a better distortion than the Dual's Channel 3 Modern Setting cranked. I've fallen completely in love with the modern mode, but he remains unswayed. What should I tell him to convince him otherwise?

Tell him to buy a drum set he's tone deaf.

 

[kiff]

Tell him to buy a drum set he's tone deaf.

nice one :lol:

to be fair, I haven't heard one of those digitechs, but I'd have a hard time being convinced that it's better than a DR. dunno man, I used to think my boss digital metalizer(?) was awesome until I really started playing through real amps. I think it's an experience thing that comes with playing with a band and knowing what actually cuts through a mix and then still sounds good

 

[Elpelotero]

he must be listening to cheesy bands

 

[silentrage]

1. Sneak into the rehearsal room and remove the guts of his amp and pedal and replace them with a hive of angry bees.

2. If he still thinks his amp is T3H BR()()TALS!!!!~~`111oneeleven,
loose the bees and lock him inside.

3. Record the event, use it as the vocal tracks to our new cd.

4. ???

5. Profit.

 

[fatoni]

hes most likely in love with the way it feels. tube sag and the open feel of recs can be kinda odd when coming from all that solid state clipping jazz going on. just show him a mark series amp. they feel alot tighter but not at the price of tone. if that doesnt work tell him youve found a new guitarist

 

[Turumbar82]

Personally I think he has an untrained ear but how do you tell a friend that they have a bad ear.

The DOD/Digitech Death Metal pedal is really just buzz and fizz in my opinion. My buddy had one back when it was made by DOD (same mother company) because his grandma got it for him for christmas and I never knew anyone that wanted to use the thing.

You could always say, if a digitech pedal and solidstate marshall combo are so great why don't you see many professionals using that set up? You know people that tour and record and make millions of dollars. I haven't heard too many of the big names using those.

Now, does he like only death metal type music? If so you can get away with just using a high gain pedal into whatever amp. Cannibal Corpse uses Metalzone's in Recto's, and a lot of other classic death metal sounds were created with solid state amps.

In the end I think he just has a unlearned ear for tone. I have a feeling he probably runs his gain as high as possible and pumps the treble and bass and scoops the mids. Also like kiff said, when you start playing in a band you gain experience about how things should sound. I thought my DOD tec4 had a great distortion on it and when I got my first tube amp I realized the DOD "Grunge" distortion was horrible.

 

[Sixstringpsycho]

You know i needed this thread to make me feel better, TY. i needed a chuckle :mrgreen:

 

[pokerrules47]

that guy should sell all of his guitar equipment and buy a rope... just long enough to tie off his carotid.

Seriously, take his $600 amp, and his pedal, and turn it up to the point at which it gets real nasty feedback.... then do the same to the dual rec, side by side. Then take each amp and turn it back to the point at which the feedback becomes bearable... even the most tone deaf person in the world will be able to tell the difference. The cheaply built marshall will sound like a pile of dog turd.

That being said, the cheaper amp would possibly be pleasing to his ears at bedroom levels. Which is ok i guess... duals aren't meant to be played in bedrooms

 

[protest5]

that guy should sell all of his guitar equipment and buy a rope... just long enough to tie off his carotid.

That's funny. Yeah I think he just gives up after barely dialing it in, and you're probably right about the bedroom volume thing. I know that to really open up a tube amp you have to crank it to get it to its full potential.

You could always say, if a digitech pedal and solidstate marshall combo are so great why don't you see many professionals using that set up? You know people that tour and record and make millions of dollars. I haven't heard too many of the big names using those.

I've said this to him a few times he's just really stubborn but I'll give it another go. I don't want to be on stage with a Rectifier on my side and a Marshal combo on his! We would get laughed offstage.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[MF]

I've said this to him a few times he's just really stubborn but I'll give it another go. I don't want to be on stage with a Rectifier on my side and a Marshal combo on his! We would get laughed offstage.

chances are, nobody will be able to hear him anyways :wink: .

 

[GD_NC]

First, get another 4x12 under that Recto to shame him into submission!

Next, make several off-hand remarks that question his manhood with a thinly veiled "mine is bigger than yours" challenge. "...you know, chicks really dig the big ones..." (Yes, I mean amps!) 8)

Then, line up a photo shoot to update your band's myspace page. Gently remind him that you will be soloing in front of 6 feet of bone crushing sonic power as you ask him if he'd like to make sure they get his Death Metal in the shot of him with his trusty Marshall combo.

If all else fails, buy him a Daisy Rock for his birthday. :roll:

 

[silentrage]

And one of those cheap MIC pink hellokitty strats.

 

[protest5]

Then, line up a photo shoot to update your band's myspace page. Gently remind him that you will be soloing in front of 6 feet of bone crushing sonic power as you ask him if he'd like to make sure they get his Death Metal in the shot of him with his trusty Marshall combo

:mrgreen: I actually laughed out loud at this one. Great idea! I also think that when I finally get my Rectifier and turn it up to 2 and a half to overpower the drums and he's at full volume, I think he'll understand who has the REAL amp.

 

[MF]

Then, line up a photo shoot to update your band's myspace page. Gently remind him that you will be soloing in front of 6 feet of bone crushing sonic power as you ask him if he'd like to make sure they get his Death Metal in the shot of him with his trusty Marshall combo

:mrgreen: I actually laughed out loud at this one. Great idea! I also think that when I finally get my Rectifier and turn it up to 2 and a half to overpower the drums and he's at full volume, I think he'll understand who has the REAL amp.

The second you fire that monster up and the two of you start playing, i'd be shocked if he still held onto his belief. He may be too proud to admit it at first, but just look for the soul crushing defeat in his eyes during your first jam as he struggles in vain to cut through the mix. No reasonable person with a functioning frontal lobe would think that a SS marshall combo sounds better DR. It's like pitting a 500hp muscle car against a little 4-banger honda sedan in a drag...sure, they both get there in the end but i sure as hell wouldn't want to be the poor sap in the sedan.

 

[bduersch]

This is a tough one, because it's a personal thing... if he says that the Digitech/Marshall setup sounds better to his ears, then I don't think there's anything you can do to convince him that the DR sounds better. It's like trying to convince someone that their favorite flavor of ice cream should be strawberry instead of chocolate.

That said, I've gone through this with bandmates in the past... when I thought they had horrible tone, but they were perfectly happy with it. The trick isn't to try to one-up them with a better sounding amp, but rather try to understand "What is it about amp xxx that you like?" Once you understand that, you can find and reco other (good sounding) amps that play to those characteristics, realizing that a DR may not play to those characteristics at all.

Example: I played with a guy in college who had a horrible sounding Jackson preamp... when I asked him what he liked about it, it boiled down to a thick crunch tone and lots of sustain. So I encouraged him to check out a Soldano SP77 preamp... it was right up his alley, and far more pleasant to listen to (for me, at least).

--B

 

[silentrage]

I ran into the same thing with my buddy.
He likes his MT-2 into my mark III clean channel than my tone, which is modded TS7 into Mark III R2.
But I can see how the mt-2's extra hard clipping makes it sound very aggressive.
Personally I know this sound won't work in a mix or record well, but I'm just gonna leave him be.

 

[fluff191]

I read this post and laughed.

It reminded me of a buddy a few years ago who bought a Dual Recto, but insisted on still using his old Metal Zone for a distorted tone. He got punched for that one.

 

[R_ADKINS80]

"Friend things Digitech Deth Metal is better than Dual Rec"

Step one: find a new friend.
Step two: Beat up old friend and rip his ears off. If they don't work then he dn't need em lol.

 

[ryjan]

Dude! Im going through the same thing with my buddy. We both ran out and bought Boss GT-3's back when they first came out and ran them as preamps through the loop returns of our crappy crate amps and now 10 years later he still runs his that way through a Peavey 5150! I still use mine but only as a tuner and volume pedal and maybe a little delay. He thinks the "metal" distortion fuzz box in the boss sounds "tighter" than the lead channel of the 5150. I told him he needs to learn how to play better because the boss just covers up his crappy picking. These are the people who use the factory presets. :lol: