| I'm not personally real big on the fuzz that makes all guitars sound the same. I have a Twin Tube too and it's GREAT for that monolithic chain saw sound. It's also good for clean country like sounds too. Used it almost exclusively for music for film for a long time but got tired of the sound. A friend gave me a HipKitty distortion box recently that's kind of nice. Hand made, cheap, hand painted so it looks sort of something made by a boy scout. But it keeps the tone of the guitar in tact. Being basically a clean tone player I haven't really pushed it much, but it seems more controllable and dynamic than other fuzzes I've tried. It seems to interact with the volume out of the guitar better than most - it's a little more like a real amp - lower volume, less crunch. Also use the Sex Drive which is really great for a clean, compressed, just the slightest bit of hair kind of distortion. And sustain.
I guess for me it's more about compression and sustain. And more than that, a great amp and guitar.
I saw Hendrix live and LOVED his tone. Small room, before he was gigantic. With the Soft Machine opening. Great show.
But the big issue for me is that so many stomp boxes are so recognizable and it makes for a sort of stampede of conformity.
To me, the best is a really great sounding guitar through a really great old tube amp just singing without a whole lot of Louis Armstrong gargling b-b's kind of sound. And with the collapse of the US economy, some very wonderful amps can now be bought pretty cheap. I see old tweed Fender Pro's going for way less than a year ago. And of course, my fave, the Magnatone or Panaramic 213 is just like walking in the holy land. And I'm falling back in love with the 1972 Marshall 50 watt head I bought a few years back. They're actually nice amps when not turned up to career ruining levels.
Also the T Rex Replica - the echo - has a great "Brown Tone" button on it that gives it that tone without all the 36" Husqvarna chain saw sound. ANd they're really cool folks.
I really believe a good guitarist can SQUEEZE the sound out of a less than perfect rig. I've seen it many times. You adjust your magic tricks to the size of the rabbit and breadth of the hat.
Haven't tried the Zendrive. Of course, the combination of the words Zen and drive is a bit of an oxymoron. But if Bill likes it, I sure do!
Now I'll have to check it out.
It's snowing - actually a blizzard here on the island now. Our well pump froze today - no water! Fixed that. Fixed the frozen pipes in the cottage. Fixed the frozen septic pump on my son's house. It exploded brown dookey all over my son who was trying to fix it! Been plowing our drive and our neighbor's drive - it's a Tibetan Buddhist temple - for the past bunch of days. (Long driveways) SHeesh! This place is supposed to be fairly balmy this time of year. But it's great weather for practicing guitar and getting studio work done.
Peace inside and out
Richard
On Dec 20, 2008, at 11:00 PM, William Walker wrote: Hey! can’t we get back to talking about Special Sauce and Secret Goo? I’m with Kevin, and I started this thread, OK? So blog buddies what’s your poison, I know we’ve been over this before but it bears repeating, as peoples taste and gizmos change. What distortion are you using and what do you like? Are you an overdrive and amp distortion guy like me, does distortion do it for you, are you a metal monger? or are you a fuzz fancier, ( there should be a periodical called Fuzz Fancy like Dog Fancy the magazine for dog lovers) show me what you got and tell me why. I love my newest overdrive the Zendrive, as I previously stated, great at any setting ,and the Twin Tube is also very good sounding and tube driven and a little more unruly and prone to feedback, at high settings. I’ve been digging the octave fuzz setting on the M-13 lately that sounds great on the lap steel , I can get sub octave death metal lap steel tones, oh baby! Bill
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