Getting good overdrive/crunch?

[BoneDigger]

Using the song below (or similar), any recommendations for general amp settings for nice crunch/overdriven tones? For the purpose of this, leaving guitar type, pickups, and playing style (Knopfler uses fingers) out of it, just amp settings for overdrive? How do you generally set your highs, mids, bass, reverb etc. on the amp? Anything else to watch for? I can do overdrive but it never really has that "musical" quality and sounds a bit harsh. Do you usually just push the amp or do you recommend overdrive or boost pedals (I have several).

Just as an example:

https://youtu.be/Br9N2Y0k7hU

[srbell]

Getting crunch/overdrive/distortion is simply a matter of having the gain up enough to clip, or the volume high enough to cause the power amp section to clip, or both. Tone control settings are a matter of preference. I generally like to boost the mids, but many others like to scoop the mids. One thing I can tell you that may help though is what sounds a bit harsh when you're playing alone may be just what's needed to cut through the mix when you're playing with the whole band. Also, you may also need to tweak the tone controls again to suit the venue - that is, what sounds good at home will usually sound much different when you pack up and go to the venue you're going to play.

[Chickee]

BoneDigger, this was a pretty good article and video. You may see/hear something to help you achieve what you are looking for. Have a look.

https://www.thomann.de/blog/en/one-w...rk-knopfler-2/

[Gordon Currie]

Getting good overdrive is somewhat of a holy grail issue.

Turns out that the smooth overdrive many seek is a combination of preamp overload (but not too much or else it becomes harsh and nasty) and power amp overload (smoother sound but difficult to obtain at reasonable volumes).

Pedals can be a great way to emulate power amp overload at a lower volume. Make sure that the pedal is ONLY overdrive, not overdrive/distortion.
Even though they seem like a spectrum, in practice they are very different and the best circuit designs are NOT the same.

I find with any overdrive that some EQ is essential. Since any form of overload/distortion produces harmonic content, the high midrange/treble part of the signal will increase. Rolling it off can take out some harshness.
Too much bass can also be a problem. You may find that your EQ settings for an overdriven sound are radically different from your clean tone.

Knopfler's tone in Dire Straits relied heavily on compression to give it that smooth aspect (particularly because he was playing with fingers). That may be an element you are missing.

[DukeX]

It depends a lot on your amp. You didn't mention the amp you are using. That makes all the difference in the world.

I have a Vox AC4HW1 and 5e3 Tweed Deluxe. Both have very nice cleans but wonderful natural overdrive and don't need pedals. It's hard not to get a good overdrive sound out of them. That's my solution.

[Aspiring]

I have to say that I am really having fun exploring overdriven tones on my two new modelling toys. (Yamaha thr30ii and axe fxii)

Having good overdriven tones available with low volume and / or headphones has really allowed me to play around with changing my guitar controls and playing dynamics and how it impacts what I get. Rocking out in headphones is awesome as well.

I have been able to translate that easily into my tone king which has an attenuator now as well. I have never been able to do that much with my marshall that I've had forever as it is just too loud when you get it into overdrive for playing at home.

With both the Yamaha and the axe fx I can also download other people's tones to try out what I like and see how they did it as well as playing around with various compressors and noise gates and how that imapcts things

[ghostnote]

An amp that sounds really good without any overdrive should be the starting point. In the past I've tried using pedals to make a blah amp sound better - all I did was add a layer of crap on top of the crap I already had. But with a good amp, pedals can sound great. If you decide to use pedals, you picked the right time: never have there been so many good pedals available at extremely reasonable prices. Especially overdrives of every type - boosters, overdrives, distortions, fuzzes. A lot of the clones are really done well, too. And even though they started out as copies of something, a lot of them really have their own thing going on. They are fun to play around with; I have a bunch of them.

[robj144]

Try a cheap Joyo pedal like the American Sound or the British Sound pedal. They are around $30 each and can not only smoothly drive your amp, they can also change the sound of the amp a bit too.

I like them a lot and there's not much to lose:





One more British through a Fender:

[roylor4]

I agree with Gordons assessment of getting good OD sounds.

If you have a true 2 channel amp (both channels have full eq), then your OD channel will need to be shaped vastly different than the clean one or you will experience some harshness of tone.

I also find that while reverb can make cleans sound fantastic - too much reverb will really muddy up an overdriven tone.

All my electric amps are 1 channel tube or tube hybrid and I find pedals do what I need. Depending on venue and song selection, I have used the EH Soul Food and Hot Wax pedals with great success.