Pushing a DSL with an OD pedal

[Iron1]

Reading through this thread I can see no mention of the 4 Cable Method.
The DSL1HR in 4CM with the Helix should cater to all your needs.
For my DSL40CR OD2 channel I run the amp at the highest gain possible before the channel starts to mush up.
I think this is important, as I get better high gain by keeping the DSL gain within reason, and pushing with an OD, than just Maxing the DSL first.
Then (Boss GT-100 4CM), before the preamp I run light NR, the Boss Natural OD, Boss preamps OFF.
After the preamp I run another light NR, an EQ, and TBEs.
This gets me into Pantera 'Walk' / Rammstein 'Du Hast' territory, and just about all other thrash metal too.
The individual settings are complicated, but I could post screenshots if needed.

I don't mean to teach you to 'Suck Eggs' if you know all this @Iron1, but it's not just you reading this thread.
This guy explains stuff really well.

I’ve done the 4cm method before but have my Helix all wired up in my recording setup and don’t want to have to switch all that around when I want to jam - hence the MXR in the loop and SD1 out front notion.

Good thought though!

 

[ricksdisconnected]

Two things I'm looking to do:
1) connect an MXR-108 10-band EQ to the FX loop (MXR should be here later this week)

a fantastic place to start.

 

[Iron1]

Iron try these settings before you go for a pusher. Ive been eyeing that lil monster you just got and really feel like it can deliver a slice your throat tone if dialed in tight try this and lemme know if its any good bc im thinking it is but Ive never had the chance to get my hands on this amp. If not ill be interested to know what gets it there.


ultra- on
Reverb- Off
Bass- Just before noon
middle- one click past noon
treble- one click past noon
ultra volume- two clicks past noon
gain- one click past noon

This is super close to how I already had it, but I had the bass 2 clicks past noon. Definitely sounds good.

I hooked up my wife’s Boss GT1 to the front and rolled through all the D/OD pedal options and went back to bare amp quickly - the GT1 sounds good into her Blackstar TVP, but it made the DSL1 sound not so good.

Never tried the GT1 against an actual pedal so no idea how that would stand up, but I doubt I’ll connect it to the Marshall again anytime soon.

 

[Seventh Son]

@Biff Maloy I was just wondering what your go-to DSL20HR Maiden settings for something à la Piece of Mind are.

 

[Biff Maloy]

@Biff Maloy I was just wondering what your go-to DSL20HR Maiden settings for something à la Piece of Mind are.

After all these years the only sound i go for is Biff Maloy's. Dave and Adrian are big influences as well as others but that was a long time ago.

 

[SkyMonkey]

I hooked up my wife’s Boss GT1 to the front and rolled through all the D/OD pedal options and went back to bare amp quickly - the GT1 sounds good into her Blackstar TVP, but it made the DSL1 sound not so good.

Maybe try the GT-1 in the DSL loop and limit it to just EQ and TBEs (there is a Stack Return option for the GT-1 output).
Then you could face the wrath of the wife if the results are good and she loses her GT-1.

 

[Iron1]

Maybe try the GT-1 in the DSL loop and limit it to just EQ and TBEs (there is a Stack Return option for the GT-1 output).
Then you could face the wrath of the wife if the results are good and she loses her GT-1.

I might try that if I get bored. And, she won't care, she lost interest after a few months... now she treats her Jem Jr like a piece of artwork and the amp & GT1 just sit in the corner. My MXR get here Friday, so I'll probably mess with that next. In the meantime I'm just enjoying the best practice amp I've ever owned...

 

[SkyMonkey]

I'm sure you will hit the tone 'Mother Load' soon.

 

[SkyMonkey]

And, she won't care, she lost interest after a few months...

That's how I inherited an extra acoustic guitar

 

[Iron1]

That's how I inherited an extra acoustic guitar

Ha. I actually got to keep an extra 7 string by calling it hers.

 

[Musicmaniac]

The only time I use my ZW-44 overdrive pedal is to boost the clean channel in my DSL20. I find it's a nice middle ground between the green and red channels alone.

 

[Seventh Son]

After all these years the only sound i go for is Biff Maloy's. Dave and Adrian are big influences as well as others but that was a long time ago.

The reason I asked is that I saw your recommended settings above and they were very close to what I dial in when I am going for a classic Maiden tone. I roll off the bass almost completely, dial in loads of mids, and am very careful with treble and presence. If you go by sight, it looks weird to have almost no bass and mostly mids, but that's the best I can get out my DSL's.

 

[Biff Maloy]

The reason I asked is that I saw your recommended settings above and they were very close to what I dial in when I am going for a classic Maiden tone. I roll off the bass almost completely, dial in loads of mids, and am very careful with treble and presence. If you go by sight, it looks weird to have almost no bass and mostly mids, but that's the best I can get out my DSL's.

Glad you noticed. I guess that's a lineage to that part of my past. I've noticed very few seem to run their DSL's that way but a mids forward and what i call a bouncy low end that is made up for in volume is the kind of smooth heavy distortion i like. Yeah, you could say it's a bit Maiden like.

 

[DerekLicon]

I know there are a pile of DSL threads that talk about pedals and such, but none seem to directly relate to what I'm wondering. So, apologies for yet another DSL thread.

Grabbed a DSL1H a few days ago and love it so far. Oddly, when I run my Helix into my MG15 clean channel is sounds really, really good. When I run it into the Classic channel on the DSL1H it sounds very thin and very bright.

Two things I'm looking to do:
1) connect an MXR-108 10-band EQ to the FX loop (MXR should be here later this week)

2) Get another SD-1 to push the front end. I did that with my JCM900 back in the day and it sounded incredible.

I play extreme metal, not hard rock or lower gain stuff, so I'm wondering if anyone who has a DSL has pushed it with an SD-1 and what your experience was. I've seen several threads discussing using a Tube Screamer (for some reason, I've just never gotten along with the TS type pedals/sims) and several threads discussing boosting the amp for hard rock tones, but nothing to get it to Brutalville. TIA!

The DSL 1 watt isn’t exactly the same as any of the bigger head versions of the DSL in terms of tone or headroom. And to my ears all three sound different. The one that is my favorite for old school death metal is the JCM 2000. The other newer ones have a tighter modern gain without a boost.

there are three main DSLs that I would consider for extreme metal are the old UK JCM 2000 DSL, the Newer DSL100H and the newest DSL100HR, they’re all different but the newer ones are more similar, the HR being my favorite of the two newer ones. And the older one sounding drastically different altogether.

for extreme metal there are essentially two settings For the JCM 2000 that I have used. One is no boost straight in the other is with a boost. With a boost (I use SD1)it sounds pretty much like any other high gain tight metal creamy midrangey amp, without a boost and different settings it does a pretty great death metal tone.

With boost(sd1) settings channel 2
Presence 5, treble 7, midrange 7-max , bass 2-5 , both deep and toneshift OFF , pregain at 4-5

no boost (straight in)settings also channel 2
If I remember correctly For the EQ.
presence max , treble Max , midrange 5, bass 5+ deep on or off, tone shift on pregain around 5-6



this is with no boost and I think the settings are listed in the video it’s been a while since I watched my video again but if you can get the 1 watt to sound like this Then I stand to be corrected but from what I heard it doesn’t have the same gain structure to be able to pull it off. Although they sound good for classic tones.

 

[Iron1]

The DSL 1 watt isn’t exactly the same as any of the bigger head versions of the DSL in terms of tone or headroom. And to my ears all three sound different. The one that is my favorite for old school death metal is the JCM 2000. The other newer ones have a tighter modern gain without a boost.

Good info, but I'm not gonna buy a JCM2000 - if I bought another 100 watt amp, it would be another JCM900 4100 that I used when I was playing OSDM back when it wasn't old school.

Looking for OD recommendations for a DSL1, though. Any suggestions?