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Posted by: timrobwall Mar 15 2010, 03:47 AM

I'm playing a strat (single coil) though a RAT with medium-to-high distortion setting, playing a riff that involves both single lines and some quick E-B-G string chords. The single notes sound OK, but the chording sounds horrible -- to my ears nothing but gain and mud in the mix, which of course makes the band sound bad. What are some of the tips/settings/important info to know about using this kind of distortion and cut through the mix? thank you.

Posted by: jafomatic Mar 15 2010, 03:55 AM

The short answer is this:
1. more mids
2. less bass
3. maybe a little less distortion, but not too much less.

Your strat should be pretty bright already, so give it some mid-range EQ on the amp to get some punch in the right frequencies. As for the distortion, it's very common and easy to set it for "too much" but telling folks to back it off can also produce "too little" see what happens if you lower it just a little bit at a time. If you can lower the gain or drive without losing distortion, that's probably good; you'll bring back some of the dynamics of the notes that way.

Also: what exactly is the amp? Is this one of those low-wattage small stack valve amps that won't cut through the rest of the band?

Posted by: timrobwall Mar 15 2010, 04:42 AM

QUOTE (jafomatic @ Mar 15 2010, 02:55 AM)

Posted by: Staffy Mar 15 2010, 08:43 AM

+1 on Jafo here, however I find RAT a very "mid"-oriented pedal mostly suited for leads a'la Robben Ford or such. Since You got a great amp (You know I have the same... ) , I would have go with just a booster or maybe a TS instead. Also, keep the guitar pretty "dry", otherwise it will also muds up with the rest.

//Staffay

Posted by: Damir Puh Mar 15 2010, 09:07 AM

Back off the gain. Single coils don't handle high amount of gain well and this is most obvious when you play chords. More mids, less gain - you should be fine.

Posted by: MickeM Mar 15 2010, 01:35 PM

QUOTE (jafomatic @ Mar 15 2010, 03:55 AM)

Posted by: Daniel Realpe Mar 21 2010, 07:26 PM

Great tips! I agree that the trcik should be in the gain, then again you have to be more secure in your playing

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Mar 22 2010, 08:13 PM

Everybody gave great tips on this one, I might note something that seems a bit obvious. When playing these chords, make sure guitar is perfectly in tune, and that the chords are perfectly played. this can often cause big problems as well.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Mar 24 2010, 08:07 PM

As everyone stated I think in your case you need to use less gain. Try setting up the tone by playing those chords and changing settings on the amp. You don't want to kill either frequency range (bass, mid, treble). Often players set too much bass and treble and gain and kill mids. Though this may sound ok on its own, when band starts to play you can't cut through the mix well. Mids are very important.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Mar 25 2010, 07:26 PM

Gain seems to be a common problem here, many people use way too much gain, which only results ina verry muddy and unprecise sound. Less can definitely be more and even a high gain sound doesn't need 3 distortion pedals in a row.