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I'm looking for recommendations on how I can get the med/high gain guitar tone from PJ Harvey's Rid of Me album, particularly starting at 2:15 in this song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClcnhN2pHBc[/youtube]

With YT compression, it may come across as plain-jane distortion, but to my ear it's more open, uncompressed and growly than what I think of as a typical distortion, with some spitty/splatty characteristics I usually attribute more to certain fuzz pedals. Here are some other examples of it from the same album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJG_mPHsKM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjbTOzXusEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_WGZ4Fcw90

So my question is, is there a pedal I can get that will approximate this tone? I know humbuckers are part of the equation -- what do I need to consider in terms of amp type and settings?

In terms of a pedal, It would have to have a reasonable amount of tightness in the low end for the palm muting, so I'm not sure a fuzz pedal will do. Maybe a hybrid like the Dr Scientist The Elements or SS/BS Fuck Overdrive? I'm not sure if this recording pre-dated Albini's use of the Harmonic Percolator, but a HP clone would be a possibility, too.

I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks!

Some type of Muff (I think she have a Big Muff Deluxe).
Those could get close:
-Dr. Scientist, The Elements
-Earthquaker Devices, Hoof
-Blackout Effectors, Musket
-Dwarfcraft Devices, Eau Claire Thunder / Baby Thundaa

You might be interested to visit this link:
http://pedalmaniacs.wordpress.com/category/pj-harvey/

sylnau wrote:Some type of Muff (I think she have a Big Muff Deluxe).
Those could get close:
-Dr. Scientist, The Elements
-Earthquaker Devices, Hoof
-Blackout Effectors, Musket
-Dwarfcraft Devices, Eau Claire Thunder / Baby Thundaa

You might be interested to visit this link:
http://pedalmaniacs.wordpress.com/category/pj-harvey/

Thanks for the reply.

Would the BM Dlx be tight enough for the palm muting she does? Maybe a green Russian BM, which I gather is voiced more like an open distortion in some ways. Although, the chords played on the album seem to decay more like a distortion than a fuzz.

As for the pedals you recommended, The Elements is definitely one I'm considering. Do you have personal experience with one?

I already have a Hoof (love the clarity and growl, but still too fizzy on the decay and not quite tight enough on the palm muting), and a Musket (too smooth and compressed, no growl or sputter).

Maybe a Blunderbuss would be enough sputter while still being muffy.

maz91379 wrote:Might be a fizzy amp? Distortion+ ? nyc big muff, electric apple? I'm tone deaf tho.

Yeah, I'm kinda hearing that one. Maybe dubkitty or some of our resident D+ gurus can do a tone confirmation. It's been months since I've a D+ in the lineup. I bet a Doomidrive could pull it off.

blanket wrote:Thanks for the reply.

Would the BM Dlx be tight enough for the palm muting she does? Maybe a green Russian BM, which I gather is voiced more like an open distortion in some ways. Although, the chords played on the album seem to decay more like a distortion than a fuzz.

As for the pedals you recommended, The Elements is definitely one I'm considering. Do you have personal experience with one?

I already have a Hoof (love the clarity and growl, but still too fizzy on the decay and not quite tight enough on the palm muting), and a Musket (too smooth and compressed, no growl or sputter).

I have The Elements... I sold all my high gain muff style or distortion pedal since I got it.
Very versatile pedal. You can get close to this sound if you want.
Check my youtube video... link in my signature.

I'm like 95% sure that's a Dist+. Sounds really similar as people have said and I remember reading she used one back then.

Edit: Awesome record by the way

Birthday Boy wrote:I'm like 95% sure that's a Dist+. Sounds really similar as people have said and I remember reading she used one back then.

Edit: Awesome record by the way

Thanks for the confirmation.

Would a current production Distortion+ do it, or is that tone particular to a vintage or modded version?

How much of that growly, sputter tone would you attribute to the pedal as opposed to the particular guitar/amp/pu config used?

A good chunk of it at least I think, I haven't used a Dist+ in a while though. The amp seems to be running a bit hot a lot of the time on that record so that might be a factor, but I don't think there's any major other stuff going on.

I'm not sure about old vs new versions.

In before Dev suggests buying this!

Should be your best bet. Made by the guy that designed the original... or some junk like that. I will say that I did have a newer production MXR, with the LM741, and it did sound pretty sweet. Made me a believer.

The Gold Box is a good idea
Doesn't she use mostly Boss pedals though? A DS-1 or something like the old, cheap Ibanez DS10?
Although that sounds a bit like a Rat to me...

Get a Rat anyway, they're awesome.
And the Gold Box. It's awesome too

I think the DS-1 was later. Don't quote me on it though.

I used the DS-1 someone left at my house years ago today. Even if it's not amazing or anything it really doesn't suck as bad as people say.

You'll have those sound with The Elements (Dr. Scientist)... Rat, Muff, Distortion, OD, Boost and many more.
It's the most versatile drive pedal that I know of...

toanz?

to the damblmobile!