Ugly sounds - like a battery sag Fuzz Face?

Hi everybody!

tried to search all forums, but I've come to my big gripe with most guitar modellers, and why I basically think it all sounds - kind of the same. When trying out the FUZZ pedal, and other distorted amps within GR4 or earlier, they lack the feauture of "sounding ugly". Say an old Fuzz face pedal with sagging battery tends to sustain and decay out in a very "ugly" way. I think - by and large - such sounds are very hard to attempt obtaining within any guitar modeller. It tends to be modelled in a "nice" way, and nice sounding.

And if one tries to mimick that with EQ or different input gain levels, to produce "skewed" or "ugly" attacks the modelled pedals doesn't seem to react as they do in their IRL counterparts. They tend to clean up or at least "sound the same". I want - on certain occasions - to try it sound like old 60's Fuzz Bender or Fuzz faces, with a bad batch of germanium transistors that "sags out" at the decay of the note - due to battery drain. To have at least some sounds sound like they are "annoying" for a while. I wonder if anyone of you has found some way around this, or having the same playing, or if it's not a problem with you.

Especiallly the "fuzz face" thing.

/Mats

 

Hi Matts,

I know what you mean with the fuzz.... I've built a few of my own fuzz pedals (some silicone, some germanium) and they all have their different characters.

The best you can do with the fuzz in GR 5 is go to the advanced mode where you can adjust the bass and treble. Other than that, it's just the fuzz amount and the overall volume. Whilst you can adjust the voltage on the amp with the advanced setting, this isn't possible on the fuzz. IMO, GR5 could do with a few more fuzz variants.

I do really like GR5, but I still prefer my little valve amp for most 'regular' sounds. However, if I want to do something weird and wonderful or get an idea down fast then GR is the go-to thing.... It's a lot more sociable than a small valve amp.

 

Ok, thanks Gary_W. I've only tried GR5 on other computers, friends, and in-stores demos, and the first thing I went for was that Fuzz Face. Sounds the same as in earlier versions... by and large.

It's strange. GR has the SAG feautre in advanced mode on tube amps modelling, but battery "sag" or drain in pedals they've dodged. Of course, pedals are mostly transistors in GR anyway, very few stomps are with the tube kind in it. And I understand why that is unecessary.

 

The main thing is, that I want it to sound like something's on the verge of blowing up, randomly crackling noises and sounds, just like when Hendrix went ballistic. There was a sound from all amps and fuzz faces, that everything was about to short, but in the virtual world - thank god - it wont.

 

http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=957262 in front of Guitar Rig?

The 'stability' control on these is actually turning down the voltage, thus really doing the low battery thing you describe any time you like.

IIRC, it's the fuzz box that was used on 'Plug In Baby' by Muse.

 

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When klicking on your link it just opens up a reply dialog box.

 

Apologies, Matts - no idea what happened there!

It was supposed to be a link to a Youtube video of a Z-Vex Fuzz Factory. If you look that up you'll see what I mean.

 

Yeah, thanks now I got it. Took a while. But ya, that's what I meant sort of. But it's more like that the default thing should sound SLIGHLTY out-of-control ugly if you know what I mean. Like, if I put a IRL fuzz face in front of a IRL amp, and let a beginner play on the guitar, it's downright ugly and the player gets embarrased and asks me to turn down or turn off certain things. However, as fast as I play it, it'll sound - sort of - nicer. The main thing with most amp sims and modellers, is that it is designed to sound "polished" from the start on, you can't have that "unpolished diamond" in the first place no matter how you tweak it.

I mean, like it would be more fun, and more REAL, to have a completely ugly sound from the start on, that sounds totally horrible IN THE WRONG HANDS, but as fast as you hand over the guitar to someone who knows how to pick, and make the sound "nice" with just playing style and skills (not changing patches or stepping on any pedal) , it turns to - not beautiful - but more polished. Real amps and fuzz faces behaves like that.

I e, just like a saxophone player or a violin player who's VERY virtuosic and skilled. Or any vocalist singer. You should be able to within a split second make YOUR instrument sound UGLY or NICE, and anything in between just by adjusting your playing style. You COULD make it squeal and make it sound like a totally beginner if you like to. The modellers and amp sims today seems to be more forgiving on playing idiosyncrasies, and cover up for "not-so-virtuosic" players that are used to change sound only by picking and playing style and not step on any pedal. Well, a corporate plot maybe?

The closest thing that comes to mind, are guitar synthesisers or with MIDI to a synth. They sound pretty much the same regardless of which person that are playing, and can't sound UGLY within a nanosecond (ie without changing a patch). They tend to all sound like medium or beginner talented keyboardist, just padding away with cool sounds.