The guitar tone on Pavement's slanted and enchanted and Crooked rain Crooked rain cds are amazing but I can't seem to figure out how to get a similar type sound from guitar, does anyone know what type of guitars they used or amps or pedals or anything?

Doing a search, I found this comment from a guitar user about an "overdrive" unit he liked. Can't vouch for his knowledge though:

Product: Visual Sound JH1 Jekyll & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive
Price Paid: US $119.00

My style is very experimental so this pedals variety is essential to my diverse, tonal experimentation. It suits the mild drive sound on the Slanted and Enchanted album by Pavement [b]when the Jeckle side is used[/b].

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... drive/25/6

Reminds me of this Tape Op collection I've been meaning to get for a while:

http://www.amazon.com/Tape-Op-About-Cre ... 0922915601

It includes a PAVEMENT interview/story.


I'm a hardcore amatuer, but I guessing the tone on Crooked Rain is just an overdriven tube amp, with the treble turned up a bit. All analog equipment, and recorded to tape, of course.

Also, I remember reading that Malkmus used a lot of guitar overdubs on Slanted.

Another Harmony Central review. See "Malkmus" reference near the end:

Product: Visual Sound Jekyl & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive Red
Price Paid: #130
Submitted 03/10/2006 at 05:15pm by Doog

Ease of Use : 10

Pretty straightfoward in use, it's effectively just 2 dirt boxes mashed together, with a few switches. I skimmed the manual for any important info and just ignored the suggesting settings since..well..I have ears and hands, so can adjust the dials til it sounds good.

Sound Quality : 8

I primarily use hot singlecoils (Strat & Jazzmaster) into a few assorted delay and modulation FX, into the front end of a Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 and 1936 2x12 cab, with the amp set so the clean breaks up a bit when I dig into the strings. That's what tube amps are for, aren't they??

So you've got your 2 sides, the green 'Jekyll' overdrive and the red 'Hyde' distortion- green has a bass boost switch, red has a "sharp/blunt" switch which is basically a treble boost/cut. Right, one side at a time..

The overdrive is "a funny one", as they say. There's loads of pedals out there that audibly mix the clean with the overdriven signal to retain clarity (the original Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal does, an old fave of mine) and even some that allow you dial in the balance (Sparkledrive). I reckon the green OD side could do with one of these balance dials. Far too much clean in the signal, it just sounds like 2 sounds crammed together in a very unsubtle way, like you're running 2 amps or something.

Fortunately, this works a lot better with a crunchy amp though, the general mix between the 2 is a lot more subtle and pleasing. The bass boost switch is a boon, since so many Tubescreamer type pedals will lose your low end. The gain and tone controls cover a fairly wide spectrum, and the level can very LOUD! More on this later..

So, the red side. Why the hell Visual Sound decided to put that Sharp/Blunt switch in, I'll never know- even with the tone down all the way down, and said switch set to Blunt, I find the distortion still a little too bright. And I use singlecoils, so it's not like I'll have a high treble setting on the amp, I keep it fairly low to keep things smooth. God knows what it'd sound like with a more trebly, humbucker-friendly amp EQ setting.

The EQ dial is pretty useful, but I always leave it on "0" for the lovely midtone. It's not a 'honky' midtone by any means, it just sounds so much fuller in the lower settings. Bringing it up scoops the mids for braving early thrash metal territories.. fun once in a while, but not what I'm about. The volume has just about enough scope, could maybe do with being a little louder maybe, you can't get the huge volume boosts like availabe on the OD side.

Now the low end problem. The Hyde seems to have low end hump around 150hz or so.. not a FAT low end, more of a rumbly one. It's not really a problem, until you start palm muting and it all gets a bit wooly. So, I ordered the online mod pack walkthrough thing at Indyguitarist.com to tame the low end, just a simple resistor swap. It made a bit of difference, but didn't totally cure it- I was worried about putting too low a value resistor in and finding all of the pedal's guts had gone since the bass was most prominent in that 150hz region.

But for all these niggles, I really like this pedal. I've got a warm, full sounding distortion on the Hyde side (gain at about 5, the tone and EQ low and the switch set to Blunt).. THEN! With the gain down and the tone and level at about 5-6 on the OD side, I've got a great sounding PHAT boost to add on top of the distortion. It's got a load more volume available too, I can almost double the volume with this setting.

This is what made this pedal for me. I'd messed around with EQ's and boosters to get my leads to cut through with limited success, but with the J&H I can get such a great lead tone and huge volume boost. The amp needs to be set fairly clean for this though, run into a crunchy clean channel, the solo boost just slams the front end for more preamp gain, not a volume boost.

Phew, that was comprehensive. I guess I tend to go for the classic rock-indie rock kinda guitar tones (ala Stephen Malkmus) and this pedal does a pretty decent job. Noise is pretty low unless you dime the gains on both sides, then you get this strange minor oscillation thing..might use it on a song actually..



Reliability : 10

After having taken the pedal completely apart to get at the PCB for modding purposes, I'd say I have a lot of faith in the construction and parts. Everything seems really sound, no dodgy soldering jobs or anything.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Not had to contact Visual Sound, but from what I hear, the main dude is a real gent.

I had always thought that part of the slanted & enchanted sound was the shitty distortion pedal he was running his guitar through. If you want a sound like that I wouldn't try so hard.

If you want the beefcake, however, I would recommend reissue fender or marshal half-stack.

Just sayin...

Old K is absolutely correct: the secret to that sound is to not overthink it. Single coil fender guitar, tube amp set to Clean and Loud, and then an ibanez Tube Screamer (which the Jeckly/Hyde pedal directly immitates on the Jeckyl half, btw). It's important to note that the tortured, pushed sound he gets is because he's playing the guitar pretty damn hard a lot of the time. I'd recommend light strings (9's maximum, 8's would be better) and then get used to picking heavily. Back off the fuzz till it sounds right.

How do I get my guitar tone to stop sounding like Pavement?

Take lessons.

oh that makes sense now, my amp is solid state, how differnet do solid state amps and tubes sound? And does anyone have any idea about what would be a good cheap tube amp?

Oh jesus, solid state / tube amps sound very, very different. Nobody's made a good sounding ss amp (for anything other than jazz, re: Roland JC120). Tube do things inefficiently, non linearly, and those imperfections sound really fucking "right" for electric guitars. There's no way to fake it well yet.

Cheapest thing that sounds good is what Haq got. Fender Blues Jr. The Hot Rod series from them is alright too - good deal for the $, not really top shelf tone but a helluva lot better than ss stuff. But brace yourself, tubes always cost more than ss amps.

Gimme a budget, a new/used preference, and sounds you like.

Budget- hopefully somewhere between $100-400$, Used would be nice, I'm not picky about having new things.

As far as sounds go, I like tones that sound fuzzy(but not overly so) and warm, as I've already said I really like the tone on Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, I also like grungy guitar tones ala the Afghan Whigs and bands of that nature.

I got my 1966 Ampeg Gemini II on ebay for 340 and i'm officially done.

Never getting rid of it, if i get more amps, uh... when i get more amps, it'll still be my workhorse.

I have the Blues Jr. myself (Fender) and love it. As long as you don't live in an apartment it'll work well. You may also look into the Pro Junior. Smaller speaker and cab which almost fits that amp configuration better, but you're only left with a tone and a volume knob (which is really all you need.) Remember that tube watts are rated much differently than solid state.

The Pro Junior lists for $299 and the Blues Jr for $399. A little overpriced perhaps, so buy used or talk the store down on new.

Oh...and both of these amps take pedals extremely well.

The Juice is correct. There's lots of 'em used out there, too. Then get a Tube SCreamer TS7 (which will be another hundred bucks). Viola.

i've always seen Malkmus playing Jazzmasters. That is all I know.

Oh sweet! Loved my Gemini II. That is a bad-ass amp.

We are men of discernment and refined taste.