ok, i'm definitely a beginner at seriously playing guitar. i've messed around on it for a few years, never really gotten super into it until recently. i've accumulated some effects pedals over time as gifts, cheap buys, etc. My setup is: Epiphone/Gibson SG (same pickups it came with), Boss Mt2 metalzone, DOD deathmetal, Boss Ge-7 equalizer, a Marshall Jackhammer, and a Crate XT120R 120W Combo amp.
I few questions: I really don't know what the hell an equalizer is for! I mean, I've used it and it changes the sound, but how should I use it with my pedals? is there a certain order I should hook them up in? Also, is there a way I can use both pedals at once without getting horrid feedback? (a noise gate,perhaps?) I really actually like the Crate amp, being pretty good for a punk on a budget. The music I write and want to play tends to be up the alley of heavy hardcore punk and brutal crust/thrash stuff. Can anybody recommend what kind of effects/etc., or any tricks/additions to get the ultra-simple Crate to really rip, or to get a heavy, thrashy sound? Also, does anybody have an idea what i can do with the Jackhammer? It seems pretty useless to me.

this may be an odd post, but any replies would be helpful. I really don't know what all the possibilities of effects setups and stuff are. thanks.

With the gear you have, plug the eq after ur distortion pedal. Use any of ur dist. pedals, but yeah don't use two of 'em at once, just use one. Put ur amp onto a clean channel then put the dist. pedal on, and screw around with the knobs until you get a sound you like. Then turn the eq on and start with everything in the middle, then go one by one on the sliders and play around with those until you get a sound you like. So with the gear you have this is probably the best way to dial into a decent tone. An eq is to tweak the tone with specific sounds, like the high's, the low-end, and all that. Yeah, I'll let other people get into the details.

dude, with that amp, you can throw those shitty distortion pedals out the window!
use the solo channel. shape more towards the right. plenty of highs and mids, not a lot of bass = good tone. get rid of those crappy distortion pedals

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I don't know, I disagree. The distortions on those types of amps are really cheesy sounding and muddy.

No more chessy sounding than those pedals..

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i've gotten much better sound outta those amps than from any of those pedals. I'd take amp distortion over pedal distortion any day even if the pedal distortion sounds a bit better.

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i'm with cannibal and bls on this... those crates have decent distortion channels... and horrid cleans...

i'd rather use a decent distortion channel by itself than a shitty distortion pedal(all of them are) through a shitty clean channel..

have the eq last in your signal.. it might help to quiet your rig down.

now you said you have some fx pedals? cuz if so you didn't list any, unless you were meaning the distortion pedals...


wow, that was very new-b-ish...

from now on you just need to accept and apreciate that you're playing an epiphone... not a gibson... and that there is no such thing as an epiphone/gibson. there are gibsons that are nice, and epiphones that can be either nice are shitty depending on if you pay alot ...

epiphone/gibson is what kids say when they don't want to accept they're playing garbage guitars.

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Epi's are hit or miss. Some rock while the next one, all though the same model, sucks ass. Gibson guitars can be the very same way but it is harder to find a suck ass gibson. Epi's are harder to find a good one than a bad one. I have a Epi goth explorer, but I played about 20 over a years time before I found the right one to buy. Some just have what I call MAJOR defects.

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oh sorry. it says gibson on it too, so i just figured you called it an epi/gibson. it may be a garbage guitar, but i sure like it.
and no, all i have are the distortion pedals, not effects pedals. sorry for the wrong terminology. i really dont know shit, as you can tell. i must confess that i like the sound of the pedals through the clean channel over my solo channel amp distortion. the rhythm channel sucks ass on that amp.

i have toyed quite a bit today with the eq pedal, and i do like how it can really color your sound. any advice on possible pickups i should eventually get? emg's, maybe?

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i agree. for what that amp is it'll give you an ok sound. throw in that boss ge7 and you're there. it'll hammer out that early cannibal corpse sound to a fucking t as you sit. throw some high gain pups into your sg and you'll be looking pretty good.

as for the eq... set all the knobs to zero. even the volume. set your amp to the sound and volume you want. then go back to the eq and one at a time go through and adjust the slider to where you feel it sounds best. once you get it to where you feel the sound is good write down where it is set and set it at zero again. then go to the next slider and so on and so forth until you've got them all written down. leave the volume at zero still. now just go through and set all the sliders as to how you wrote them down. just adjust them here if you need to and there and adjust the volume as necessary. sometimes you'll need to cut back the volume or you'll need to cut the low end a bit after you have them all set.

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thanks a lot. what sort of high gain pickups should I invest in? All people tell me to get are emg pickups, like an 81 and 85. i always keep the knob in treble position with the SG, since I hate the neck pickup on it.