Crap tone

My tone sucks. I need recommendations, I play punk rock, mainly hardcore and punk and pop punk. My gear:

Pedals:
DigiTech Grunge
BOSS MD-2 Mega Distortion
Marshall Guv'Nor
DigiTech CF-7 Chorus Factory
Dunlop Crybaby
BOSS GE-7 Equalizer

Amps:
Epiphone Valve Jr. Head and Cab
KUSTOM something or other, for bass and guitar.

Guitars:
Godin Exit 22-S
Peavey Milestone III Bass (Tone is fine, as I play clean)

Both of my amps have no natural distortion. The Kustom has an Equalizer, but the Epiphone does not.

Alright, so I hate all of my distortion pedals. The EQ pedal which I bought yesterday helped, but only a TINY bit. Blame my crap pedals.

Can anybody give me some suggestions on some really really good pedals that are really versatile, that can give me a punk sound for Hardcore Punk (heavy, but nice distortion), and for Pop Punk (smooth, but still pretty heavy distortion).

The Grunge pedal does nothing. It sucks. The MD2 has crap tone, and no distortion. The Guv'Nor sounds retarded when you have over 50% gain.

Basically what I need is something with all-around great tone, and great distortion, while remaining versatile. Stompboxes please, I never have luck with the Multi Effect. Plus they're too costly.

I apologize for the huge message, but I like to be very descriptive so I know I'll get what I want.

thats why i always try effects before buyin them

That's why your tone sucks dude!

Afro

haha. thats opinion afro, but i agree xD

@ Afro - lol.


Anyway, I'd say just sell some of the pedals and buy and amp with good distortion. I mean all the pedals are usually for more complex music. And just the amp and guitar will do for punk rock and grunge. [It does for me at least].

Ozz

afro: i agree. tons of ***ty pedals mixed with an ok amp is gona sound ***ty.

now for brgging, my tone is great!! lol

epiphone les paul plus top->crybaby->mxr distortion +(vintage handwired **es!)->mxr 10 band eq(vintage handwired **es!)->dod overdrive/preamp 250(vintage handwired **es!)->mxr analog delay(...do i really need to say it?.....YES vintage handwired **ES!)
->1978(year)1959(watts)Marshall MkII Super Lead JMP!!!!....**ES! lol

im not sure a 1978 amp is for playing hardcore punk tho emb

i really like my tone, with only a wah and my line 6 15 watts. combined with my washburn lyon gives it a very hendrxlike sound... with my jacksonits uniqe
go simple

I thought you really liked your pedals! I remember when you got the grunge pedal and you said it was really good. Are you using batteries to power them? If so, then as the batteries get older, the sound quality starts to deteriorate...

When you look at the gear that punk bands use, you'll see that very few of them use pedals - they use distortion from the amp. It could be worth getting a new amp, one with amp modelling so you can choose different types of distortion.

I don't know? 1959 watts just doesn't sound right are you sure that is the watts?

I would maybe suggest a new amp with more built in distortion, but if you want a pedal, I would suggest an overdrive pedal wit a tube inside it, perhaps:

Ibanez Tube King
Vox Big Ben
Electro Harmonix English Muff'n (Check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxIPrX8BXlA )

However, all these pedals are pretty costly ($150-$200 US). :/

How much are you willing to spend?

i have a Roland cube, i love it. I tested out the Line 6 spider when i was looking for a new amp, i think it would sound good for hardcore music, im sure you could get a punk sound out of either of these amps, but ive never tried

I think that maybe you should try a "fuzz face" type over drive over the "distortion" sound you've got.

Also if your cranking the amp you should get some drive to it.

You may also want to look at a booster pedal. what that will do is bost the gain level of your guitar before it goes into your amp. It kind of add's a a gain stage.

Maybe you should look at a new amp. maybe it's not right for ya'

How about a sample of our sucking tone and what your looking for.

Regardless of what every one else says Punk rocks. but if you want to keep that amp mabye you should go for some punkish rockabillity or hellbill, cowpunk or ska?

1959=100 watts, 1959 is just a thing marshall uses.

Well I pride myself on always being louder than the rhythm guitarist and drummer during practice. My recording tone sucks but thats because I use the effects on my Zoom H4 to record.

Try bypassing most of your effects dont run em all at once especially for punk.

You need good midrange frequency to cut through the drums and complement the bass.

Try using your bridge pickup or "hot" pickup.
Dont play clean and dont be afraid to add distortion.
Feedback is a good think since punk rock is usually relentless.

why do you want to be louder than the rest of the band?

your a team you should be in it together.

Ehm? did I misunderstood something, but isnt it that "Sound" and "Tone" is different things?

So I think that effect chains affect more on "sound" than to "tone" and I think those pedals are still atleast average or quite good.

Imo to "tone" affect guitar and amp+amphead...since you have Epi valve... I think that is more like rock or more vintage style amps than that are better in Punk. I have no experience of those guitars tho.

I used to like it when I first got it. I was a bit tone deaf for a while, I'm starting to be able to pick out better tones, but now am becoming fussy. I'm getting a better tone out of it now with me GE-7 Hooked up.

@Afro, there are a lot of amazing punk bands out there with awesome tone. Anti-Flag and Strike Anywhere would be two of them.

I'm really considering buying a new amp now, and I'll sell all of my pedals (minus the wah and possibly chorus), old guitars and maybe my amps (not sure though). What do you recommend I buy, amp-wise? In terms of versatility, great tone, and of course - LOUD. I like the 100+ watt kinds.

@Tele, that booster pedal might be a good idea. Some of my pedals could use that. What make do you recommend? I'm guessing a BOSS

Look a a juice box. I think dod make it a while back i'm not sure it's still available but would do. The juice box maybe more of a overdrive tweaker than a real booster.

I meant that I was loud enough to be heard over double bass drums and Rhythm guitarist. I just like my leads to be extra loud. I actually love to have a loud bass playing my riffs and bass drums pounding the venue.

My mid frequencies are perfect to cut through snare and cymbals and sounds good for punk rhythm in my opinion.

@ Kodi66 I strongly reccomend you try out a 100 watt amp before you buy it because those things get loud without reaching their full natural distortion leaving you with an AC/DC type tone which is not grungy or saturated enough for modern punk but whatever works for your ears is good.