In the middle of recording guitar type music in a reasonable studio
and interested to know peoples comments on this subject

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom, Boss GT6 effects and Laney VC30
amp (single speaker).

For cleanish sounds I find the tone far superior by only using the amp
- as opposed going via the GT6 to the amp

As for distortion I find it difficult to get the crunchy sounds
without using the GT6 and amp (or even a Line 6 POD which sounds
better than the GT6 I reckon)

The engineer mikes up the amp with one mike close to the speaker and
another room mike (Shure- so I assume they are good quality)

Any tips on getting a crunchier sound - or is my guitar and amp that
is the problem ...?!!!

I've obviously tried different guitar pickup settings, different drive
volume and tone settings but crunchiness ain't easy to find without an
effects unit.

"groundhog" wrote:
In the middle of recording guitar type music in a reasonable studio
and interested to know peoples comments on this subject

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom, Boss GT6 effects and Laney VC30
amp (single speaker).

For cleanish sounds I find the tone far superior by only using the amp
- as opposed going via the GT6 to the amp

As for distortion I find it difficult to get the crunchy sounds
without using the GT6 and amp (or even a Line 6 POD which sounds
better than the GT6 I reckon)

The engineer mikes up the amp with one mike close to the speaker and
another room mike (Shure- so I assume they are good quality)

Any tips on getting a crunchier sound - or is my guitar and amp that
is the problem ...?!!!

I've obviously tried different guitar pickup settings, different drive
volume and tone settings but crunchiness ain't easy to find without an
effects unit.

I don't know the Laney VC30, but if that's your only option and the amp
won't do it (you've tried cranking it all the way?) then you need something
to either hit it harder or introduce distortion before the amp.

You might try a Tubescreamer such as an Ibanez TS-9 or 808, Maxon OD-9, Boss
OD-1 (basically the same as a TS-9, but w/ asymmetrical clipping) or other
overdrive pedal (Voodoo Labs Sparkledrive, Frantone Brooklyn, Jaques Tube
Blower, etc) or if it's almost getting there, but you just need to throw it
over, possibly a boost (Keeley Javaboost, MXR Microamp, etc).

I think *any* of those would sound better through a good amp than a GT6 or
POD.

-jw

Any tips on getting a crunchier sound - or is my guitar and amp that
is the problem ...?!!!

Have you tried a Marshall stomp box (Drivemaster would be best) or a Chandler
tube driver? These are both older units but if you look around you may just
find one.