Distortion on Practice?

Hello (not sure if this is the right place)

I have a cheap electric guitar for almost a year but just recently join this site (the YT method doesn't work lol)

So, i have a MiniAmp/Distortion from VOX as only method of amplification/effect. Mostly when i take leasons here or practice myself i use the guitar "Unplugged" as a kinda quiet acustic one. I feel I've advance a lot just with the fundamental lessons but as soon i connect the MiniAmp every progress seems to vanish into a mess of noises

I read somewhere that you should practice with distortion on to learn to control the noises, other talk about noise supressors and Amp setups or other stuff, but im not listening to random advices anymore, I want answers from the people who really know (This site i hope)

¿should i try to used it with distorion everytime?

¿its ok to learn the basics unplugged?

¿do i need a better gear?

Any advice is really helpful, its really discouraging to see that everything i learn means nothing at the moment i plug it in

Thanks

Option three. [u]You need better gea[/u]r.

It's not expensive to achieve what you're seeking, and should be affordable to anyone who can afford to buy an electric guitar.

On a tight or uncommitted beginner budget, buy a [u]decent[/u] solid state mini-amp which will have options of headphone out, a clean/distortion toggle (switch) and sound which will amaze you with its sound for its wattage. e.g. Blackstar Fly 3 or BOSS Katana Mini, or this Fly 3 Stereo from Blackstar for the same price as the BOSS Katana Mini. These are not toys like previous generation Vox, Marshall et al still playing catch up. I own and use both Blackstar Fly 3 units, single and stereo combo.

[u]On practicing clean or dirty[/u]. Predominantly clean in the ab and post initio phases of learning.

[br]You want to assess your fingering aural fidelity and note definition of your notes and scales, forming of chords and transitioning within progressions cleanly so as to be able to analyse and correct as necessary. Whilst they're fun to use and applicable in their own right as tools and techniques to be learned, the obtuse wall of sound affected by applying high gain and/or effects e.g. delay, chorus, reverb, etc can individually or conjunctively aurally disguise and hide mistakes.

Save the gain for having fun at the end of practice after accomplishing the lesson/practice session objectives unless it is part of a practice session objective. e.g. Learning a song with fuzz or gain required to emulate the original's tone. e.g."Satisfaction" single note riff. N.B. Fuzz ref at 57s in that vid hotlink.

Alright, thanks for reply

Originally Posted by: manXcat

Option three. [u]You need better gea[/u]r.

Ok, whatever you think I have... I have something worst lol

I called this thing miniAmp because I don't know how to call it. (10cm plastic block with a headphone jack on a side)

I know I should get something better but when you know nothing about it it's kinda hard

Thanks for the amp info

Anyway, so the right way to be practice should be plugged to the amp but with the distortion off, right?

(That would be turn all the dials except the volume to zero on this thing I guess...)

I try to get tones as clean as possible with the guitar unplugged but plugged in it's a whole new story

Correct. Ideally practice clean, distortion free.

From your description I'm surmising you have a VOX amPlug (or clone thereof ) headphone amp. Current series are VOX amPlug 2. And they come in different 'flavours'.

Cut and paste from VOX's site.

AC30: Provides the AC30 top boost sound.[br]Classic Rock: Delivers the classic crunch of a UK-made 100W amp.[br]Metal: Gives you the extreme high-gain sound of a US-made amp.[br]Bass: Designed specifically for low frequencies, offering a wide-range response.[br]Clean: The ideal choice for fat, boutique inspired clean sounds.[br]Blues: The authentic, crunchy blues tone of a cranked tweed amp.[br]Lead: Searing, high gain lead tone that’s perfect for solos.

[br]Which one have you got?

[br]If not the Clean, [u]to get its output as clean as possible[/u], roll its volume to max & its gain to min position (fully off) and plug in. Put on & plug in your headsets, select the bridge pickup, and with your guitar's volume and tone pots rolled full on, start increasing the gain on your amPlug until you can hear your guitar. Keep increasing gain in minute increments until you achieve the desired volume. At that point that will be min gain (distortion) achievable. i.e. As clean as possible on that model amPlug.

I have a NUX amPlug clone which is they label Classic British. VOX's Classic Rock above is probably its closest comparitive. Loads of distortion. I thought I'd use it a lot when I bought it. I don't, and not because of its tone. Frankly current tech mini amps like Blackstar's Fly 3 render them redundant for all but the most restrictive/lazy portability scenario. If I'm using headphones when practicing -rarely, I much prefer porting the guitar through the Fly 3 input. It's so small and portable its fine to take with me [u]anywhere[/u] I would take a guitar for use with headphones, or speaker.

[br]Save up and get yourself a Fly 3 and an instrument (TS) lead. It'll do all you expect and more. I picked my second one up from Amazon US just before Christmas for under USD$60 as memory serves. They run fine on Alkaline or NiMh batteries. Brilliant cleans on its clean channel with gain, volume and ISF adjust plus a toggleable second high gain 'channel'. Also has a delay with user adjustable level and time. Features TS (guitar) input, an MP3/line-in input for backing tracks or playing music from your phone and a line out/headphone for connecting headphones, PC, whatever.

Hi KL

I read your post. I have a little Vox plug in unit as well. This vid may give you some insight as to how to control the distortion effect using the guitar volume and amplifier gain controls.

Good luck

Vid

Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: KLZ39I have a cheap electric guitar for almost a year but just recently join this site (the YT method doesn't work lol)[/quote]

What kind of guitar do you have? Depending on the guitar & pickups you might need to dial in a distorted tone a certain way.

What is your skill level? I'm going to assume you are a beginner for this reply. Please let me know if you're not!

Originally Posted by: KLZ39Mostly when i take leasons here or practice myself i use the guitar "Unplugged" as a kinda quiet acustic one. I feel I've advance a lot just with the fundamental lessons but as soon i connect the MiniAmp every progress seems to vanish into a mess of noises[/quote]

Learning to play with distortion (gain, overdrive, etc.) is a skill that requires practice completely separate from learning the basics.

[br]Answering specific questions.

Originally Posted by: KLZ39¿should i try to used it with distorion everytime?[/quote]

No. When you are a beginner you need to focus on the basics of fretting notes, strumming chords, playing single note lines, etc. And you need a clean, clear tone to hear if you are getting all these skills & ideas right.

After you learn the basics, then it's time to work on the separate skill of playing chords, riffs & lines that work well with distortion. And learning how to palm mute, keep things under control with an overdriven tone. It's a skill all it's own.

[quote=KLZ39]¿its ok to learn the basics unplugged?

To a degree, yes. If you need to be quiet in your house, then it's okay to practice unplugged. But it helps to have some time playing plugged in. After all it's an electric guitar! It's designed to be amplified!

That doesn't mean it has to be loud. :) The ideal practice tone for a beginner is a very clean tone with no effects at just enough volume to hear if you are playing with solid technique.

[quote=KLZ39]¿do i need a better gear?

manXcat gave you some good advice & options for gear. That little VOX isn't exactly the best possible option for getting a good overdriven tone. :) But before you go shopping for new gear get a clear idea of what you are trying to accomplish.

Are you just working through the Guitar Fundamentals courses, learning beginner skills & simply need to turn off the distortion & play with a clean tone?

What kind of music do you want to play? What styles? Is it possible to get the tone you desire with your guitar? What kind of features would you need in a guitar & amp?

[quote=KLZ39]Any advice is really helpful, its really discouraging to see that everything i learn means nothing at the moment i plug it in

I think might be mostly a product of trying to use the absolute worst possible tone (distortion) before you know how to control it & use it, and while you are playing beginner material.

Thank all you for the replies

[br]

[br]

Originally Posted by: manXcat[p]From your description I'm surmising you have a VOX amPlug (or clone thereof ) headphone amp. Current series are VOX amPlug 2. And they come in different 'flavours'.

[br]

[br][/quote][p]

[br]Its VOX amPlug 2 "Metal"

It sounds really fun when you do some simple riffs (play the intro of "South of Heaven" on this gives me chills) but yeah it too noisy for learning.

Gonna try that way you suggest

[br]I feel that im spinning around bad decisions because i was listening to the wrong people, i got a cable for the computer and this and it was supposed to be like have the whole thing but we all know its not. so, gonna do a walk of shame and get some real Amp lol

[br]

[br]@William MG Thanks for the info

[br]

[br]

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel[p]What kind of guitar do you have?

[/quote]

[br]Probably the worst i could get...

A Dean Vendetta made in china, that happens to have the worst electronic connections i have seen in my life.

I always dream of a Flying V but wanted to learn before spending on more... so im stuck with this for a while

[br]

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel[p]What is your skill level?

[/quote]

[br]I call myself an inconsistent beginner, i can play some simple things but know nothing of the basics... typical YT student i guess, but yeah im still on fundamentals

[br]to be honest my learning process has been shamefully bad, for a long time my main practice method was Rocksmith (sounds good, doesnt work), so i can play parts of "symphony of destruction" or "do you like it" from kingdom come, but just learn basic scales on fundamentals so...

[br][quote=ChristopherSchlegel][p]Learning to play with distortion (gain, overdrive, etc.) is a skill that requires practice completely separate from learning the basics.

[br]This is the kind of things why i join this site, i've heard people say a thoundsand times that it happens all as a whole... like miracle or something

[br][quote=ChristopherSchlegel][p]What kind of music do you want to play? What styles? Is it possible to get the tone you desire with your guitar? What kind of features would you need in a guitar & amp?

[br]Im more into Rock/Metal kind of music but for now just playing anything makes me happy

[br]

[br][quote=ChristopherSchlegel][p]I think might be mostly a product of trying to use the absolute worst possible tone (distortion) before you know how to control it & use it, and while you are playing beginner material.

[br]I know, but its hard when you dont know and many people say different things.

My resolution was learn and practice unplugged and just one in a while connect the amPlug to see how it sounds just to find that it dont go near as i expect

[br]Thank you

I figured you had an amPlug programmed for [u]high gain distortion[/u]. It's almost impossible to effect a totally true clean with that if it's anything like my similar Classic British NUX.

The [u]VOX amPlug Metal mode[/u]l is the [u]highest gain distortion you can get within the amPlug series[/u], think [u]Mesa Boogie[/u], the exact opposite of what you want for learning clean.

Here's its description in the listing cut and pasted from VOX's site, as I posted yesterday.

"Metal: Gives you the extreme high-gain sound of a US-made amp"

If you follow the instructions I provided in my previous post you will get the optimum result possible from that unit and any guitar combo, although it's still likely to sound distorted at best.

As I said, hardly any dearer than another amPlug, a Blackstar Fly 3 is your all purpose [u]inexpensive[/u] portable solution. They're end user KISS friendly & reliable. It won't disappoint.

Christopher has elaborated on the necessity to practice clean, and when it's salient to use distortion as an effect or deliberate technique.

Touching on another point, although one can practice in silent mode on an unamplified electric guitar, [u]it's not my preference[/u] as don't find it effective other than as a stretching & warmup or scales repetition tactility exercise because it doesn't provide all important aural attack or tonal nuance feedback that even very quiet amplification can. If you practice this way and then go to a larger powerful amplifer and try to play the same piece be it a song, chords, melody, lick, or riff it won't sound anything like you think it did in unamplified mode or you'll want it to. e.g. Here's what I'm working on right now. With its distortion, intro two string slides, vibrato, lick and bend, can you imagine trying to get this sounding right with its 'attitude' in unplugged mode? On the Coda of John's part now, about to start George's rhythm part before moving to John's short lead overdub.

If you need to practice or play with no externally audible noise so as not to annoy the neighbours or others in the house, use a pair of affordable reasonable quailty studio headphones with a Fly 3 or its like, or VOX [u]Clean[/u] amPlug if you want to go there instead, although the latter will again be more limiting in its single clean only tone, and with no effects.

IDK the brand or guitar, but a quick look at the link for that Dean Vendetta guitar series taking into account their marketing and price point, it's likely the x2 HPUPS will be ceramic -type, unspecified other than the deliberately obtuse description "DMT design". In conjunction with that Metal amPlug, IMV you'll be pushing to obtain clean at any gain/volume combo setting.

[u]Practice clean, buy a Fly[/u]. In conjunction with your GT sub, you'll have the tools you need to achieve what you need to in the course Core and subsequent chosen Style genre tuition structure, and options of playing clean or dirty with some tape delay.

Well yeah thanks for everything

What is clear is that i need to seriously research about Amps and guitar parts/components (and what they actually do)

Yeah, the Dean information is useless and not knowing the difference between pickup types, strings and others stuff didnt really help me when i got it

But i have to say i lose some respect for that brand just because of how bad the wiring is on this thing. It seems that the people ditching Jacksons to pick up these instead manage to make sure theirs were Dean-USA that seems to be a whole universe of difference, but anyway... you live, you learn, isn't it?

Originally Posted by: KLZ39[br]Probably the worst i could get...

A Dean Vendetta made in china, that happens to have the worst electronic connections i have seen in my life.[/quote][p]Any electric guitar is fine for learning. As long as you can keep it in tune, it has decent action & it works, then it will be fine to learn on. Is this your model guitar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7JcwFyNyys

That guy is getting a decent clean tone. manXcat gave you some great advice on trying to set the Vox plug in to get a clean tone. Hopefully that will get you there.

Originally Posted by: KLZ39I call myself an inconsistent beginner, i can play some simple things but know nothing of the basics... typical YT student i guess, but yeah im still on fundamentals[/quote]

Get a clean tone & work on the fundamentals.

Originally Posted by: KLZ39This is the kind of things why i join this site, i've heard people say a thoundsand times that it happens all as a whole... like miracle or something

Nope. No miracles. Just a lot of repetitious practice. With a clean tone. :)

[quote=KLZ39]Im more into Rock/Metal kind of music but for now just playing anything makes me happy

Rock & metal require an overdrive tone and different physical techniques to play. I'm glad to hear you are happy to play anything. Because it will benefit you to start by working on the basics.

[quote=KLZ39]I know, but its hard when you dont know and many people say different things. My resolution was learn and practice unplugged and just one in a while connect the amPlug to see how it sounds just to find that it dont go near as i expect

Sorry for your frustrations! I think you need to be patient with yourself & know that if you practice basic technique with a clean tone you will improve. :)[br][br]Once you get into the rock course, then you can try a little bit of gain (distortion) tone. A little goes a long way. It can be surprising how little distortion is necessary to get a great rock or metal tone. At the core of any tone is solid playing technique.

Hope this helps! Keep practicing!

Hello, and thanks again for the help

Now, I have another kinda dumb question but since it may be related i choose to write it here intead of make a new thread (tell me if its not then i see wha i can do lol)

Im gonna get the Amp you recomend me as soon the world stop falling appart, but for now im relying on the Amplug and an old little Orange CR3 i found around (just clean no distortion or overdrive)

The thing i just notice is that no matter what setting i try, fretting a note will ring the note... if that make any sense, sometimes just the slightlest press will make it sound

On fundamentals so far we have almost not deal with an electric more than the obvious things so i dont know if it is a matter of technic and will get on that later or if i wont be able to get this to work till i get a better equipment

...and that let me to the other idea i have, could this be because the action is too high?

because fretting a chord is a finger cutting pleasure with this thing after we have to ajust the truss rot because half of the neck was buzzing like hell

...im telling you i got the worst guitar i ever seen lol

I try to find info about this but everything i got was fret buzz stuff and the usual "its gonna go away by itself... like a miracle" kind of BS im tired to hear

Thank you

many cheap no name electric guitars are equiped with real bad PU's, the windings in those PU's are to loose and not glued like in descent PU's and it"s those windings that start to move and induce a current and sound even ( most off the time ) unwanted sounds.

a new descent set of PU's would cost you probably about 3 times more then what your rig costed and that is why I always say to beginners to buy a descent mid priced guitar because a cheap one only ends up as being a way to expensive piece of firewood, they are hard to play and sound like sh...t and most beginners give it up after a month because of that. A mid range guitar playes far better and sounds far better and keeps you interested in playing and in the rare case it doesn't, you can always sell it and get your money as good as completely back

Herman

Originally Posted by: hsnoeckx

many cheap no name electric guitars are equiped with real bad PU's

Well, it's a Dean Vendetta... It wasn't supposed to be the piece of garbage that it actually is

But you mean this issue may be related to the pu... That I will assume are the pickups?

Because it feel more string or fret related, but I don't know

I want to start by saying I'm sorry this is so frustrating for you. If you can bear with a few more questions, then maybe we can help you sort all this out! You might want to post a video with sound demonstrating the issues that are troubling you. That would probably help us sort out what's a real equipment problem versus what is just normal beginning learning problems.

Originally Posted by: KLZ39The thing i just notice is that no matter what setting i try, fretting a note will ring the note... if that make any sense, sometimes just the slightlest press will make it sound[/quote]

This is kind of an odd statement. The point of fretting a note is so that it will sound. Electric guitars can be much more sensitive, because they can be amplified!

So, part of the issue here may be that you need to work on muting with your fretting hand palm which stops the strings from ringing until you want them to ring. And often the slight difference in timing between when you fret the note & then pick it can result in unwanted sound when you are a beginner.

The point here is that it might be a beginner technique issue that is just something you have to gradually practice until you get better at coordinating your fretting hand and you picking hand.

Check out this tutorial on muting, especially the first part on beginner level muting.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2281

Originally Posted by: KLZ39On fundamentals so far we have almost not deal with an electric more than the obvious things so i dont know if it is a matter of technic and will get on that later or if i wont be able to get this to work till i get a better equipment[/quote]

Good question. That would be where a picture or video of your technique & guitar would be helpful.

[quote=KLZ39]...and that let me to the other idea i have, could this be because the action is too high? because fretting a chord is a finger cutting pleasure with this thing after we have to ajust the truss rot because half of the neck was buzzing like hell

That's hard to say without knowing how high the action is. Who adjusted the truss rod? It is very possible adjusting the truss rod could make the action too high (or too low). Often when the truss rod is adjusted you also have to compensate by adjusting the bridge saddles which make a huge difference in action.

Finally cheap guitars often have poorly cut nuts as well which makes fretting difficult. You also mentioned the electronics were bad, but I'm not sure how you determined that.

If you haven't already I strongly encourage you to take it to a reliable guitar shop. If nothing else, go try some other guitars & see if you have the same trouble with any other guitars.

[quote=KLZ39]I try to find info about this but everything i got was fret buzz stuff and the usual "its gonna go away by itself... like a miracle" kind of BS im tired to hear

Without more observational evidence about your technique or the guitar it's impossible for us to know or say how to help.

It could even be some of both! Sorry for you frustration. Keep trying to find a solution!

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

I want to start by saying I'm sorry this is so frustrating for you. If you can bear with a few more questions, then maybe we can help you sort all this out! You might want to post a video with sound demonstrating the issues that are troubling you. That would probably help us sort out what's a real equipment problem versus what is just normal beginning learning problems.[/quote][p]

ok... Gonna try to record a video as soon i can to see if it helps

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

This is kind of an odd statement. The point of fretting a note is so that it will sound. Electric guitars can be much more sensitive, because they can be amplified![/quote][p]

I know, thats why its so hard to explain lol but... what i mean is that pressing the string before picking it make it sounds loud enough to notice the doble note, its like i was tapping the string and then picking it, but even if i press it light (as light as it did not buzz if i pick it)

Thats where the idea of the high action comes to my mind because i though, maybe im pressing the strings too hard, I've been trying to find a mid spot to see if that's it... i might pick up a bad habbit of pressing too hard by playing it unplugged

but it seems that as soon the string touches the fret it sounds... no matter how light... if thats normal then i dont know how does all this works lol

Im not sure if its a mutting issue but im checking that video right away

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

That's hard to say without knowing how high the action is. Who adjusted the truss rod? It is very possible adjusting the truss rod could make the action too high (or too low). Often when the truss rod is adjusted you also have to compensate by adjusting the bridge saddles which make a huge difference in action.

[p]

Well, thats an interesting question...

So far, four different people have tried to adjust it (ever single one charge me, and thats really nice...), first on the music shop, two guys at different music stores and lastly some guy that have a lot of guitars

I dont know about the bridge adjustement, but the last guy was testing with a tunner if the notes alongside the neck were right after the adjustment... not sure if this means anything

At first it was low, it was easy to play but half the notes have fret buzz (open 6 or 1 strings for example sounds awful) after the last adjustment its really hard to press "but its easy for bends" they said ...like if im doing that right now

[quote=ChristopherSchlegel]

You also mentioned the electronics were bad, but I'm not sure how you determined that.

Lot of interference, cricket like sounds, the fact the volume dial was loose and badly weilded... or the mess of cables it got inside gives me that idea

[quote=ChristopherSchlegel]

go try some other guitars & see if you have the same trouble with any other guitars.

Right now thats kinda dificult, but definitely will do.

I remeber fooling around with a friend's Jackson and dont remember any of these issues but again i didnt know what to look at

Thank you for reply and will see if i can rec a little vid or something.

...Im back

First i want to clarify somethong i said before, when i was complaining about getting bad info i was talking about the YT thing and X named sites around, the help i have get on this site has been great and im very thankful[br]

You know, Christopher said many times "sorry for your frustration" and i was like, im not frustrated im learning... im making progress, i was trying to keep it positive since i start this journey but im feeling that frustration now.[br]Since i join here i've been pretty happy on see the progress i got to move the fingers and change chord shapes without even need to look, but ultimately that means a rat's tail if it doesnt sound well once is plugged in[br] [br]I spend the last two day's practice time just analyzing and trying to make this make sense.[br]Record a vid of this was kinda harder than i expect due a lot of reasons and lack of cables but i got some

The other thing im sure now is that everything is too loud and too sensitive... and i dont know why, and the other thing is that having the action high, it need to go really down to sound right, and pressing the string fast to travel that distance on the rythm will make it smash into the fret making a tapping sound.[br]im aware that is kinda normal to have little noises like that that are covered by the picked note but still i dont think is normal to be so loud[br] [br]In general, im aware the strings make sound if you touch them even lightly but its normal to be that sensible and that loud? because if the first step is to manage to stop all that noise trying to fret one sigle note, someone would have point it out on lesson zero or something i think... but i dont know[br]i dont know anything about anything

I load the vids on google drive (didnt know where else to put it)[br]I got two, the second one is a closer look if need more inspection but its really bad... and loud... dont know why

Not sure if this will actually help but...[br]here is me shaming my self for science...

VoxAmplug settings:[br]Volume 4 out of 10[br]Gain 1[br]Tone 1[br]no FX

Vid1[br]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U_51L5TVIG493r8HvRmS-w9YIb2UWCJy/view?usp=sharing

Vid2 (im sorry)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qB582JCicEuyUKjj-cd0YQWXTErqq5Ej/view?usp=sharing

Is this normal? its the normal behaivor of an electric guitar? is every guitar player in the world (including the amateurs you see everywhere) as delicated and skilled as member of the bomb defusing squad?

I really like to know if its the Amp, the guitar, me... or all 3 as a whole ball of failure

Will try to make the Orange C3 cable to work and may post the other test

Thank you all

from what I hear in the video is that you pick ups ( PU's ) are way to short to the strings capturing even the least bit of sound and the magnets in the PU's pulling on the strings, they are way to loud to for Gain 1. Lower them and you will see a big difference.

Herman

Originally Posted by: KLZ39

The other thing im sure now is that everything is too loud and too sensitive...[/quote][p]I agree. So now it's a singal chain question. What is your signal chain in these videos?

Earlier you mentioned both a Vox Amplug & an Orange Micro Crush amp. What order are you plugging in your equipment? Are you plugging the Vox into the Orange? If not, then what are you plugging the Vox into? [br][br]If you are only plugging the Vox in, then whatever you are plugging it into might be turned up too loud. For example a computer & you need to turn the out of the Vox down, or the input of the computer down.

Also, I'm not sure the Vox metal version is the best for beginner material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X58p-QgK3vY

Originally Posted by: KLZ39having the action high, it need to go really down to sound right, and pressing the string fast to travel that distance on the rythm will make it smash into the fret making a tapping sound.[br]im aware that is kinda normal to have little noises like that that are covered by the picked note but still i dont think is normal to be so loud[/quote]

Early in the vids when you are just touching, grazing the strings that actually sounds pretty normal for an electric guitar. And it sounds like you need to mute the strings to stop unwanted noises.

But then later when you start strumming chords it's way to overdriven, the signal is too hot from that Vox metal amplug. And, or you also have the amplug plugged into the Orange amp with the gain turn on, or up too high.

If you have an Orange Micro Crush amp, then just plug straight into it, turn it down low on a clean setting. Watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ym7BGobYPY

There are apparently 2 kinds of Orange Crush Mini amps. Both are in this video. This thing can get a wide variety of tones. At the beginning of the video are a lot of overdriven tones. That sounds a lot like what you have going on. Trying to play simple basic chords with way too much gain.

At 2:32 of the video are a bunch of beautiful clean tones & you can see the settings on the amps. See if you can just plug your guitar into the amp. Try those settings, turn your guitar volume on like 5. Make sure the overdrive button is OFF.

[quote=KLZ39]

VoxAmplug settings:[br]Volume 4 out of 10[br]Gain 1[br]Tone 1[br]no FX

That's good to know. But if it's the metal one, then it's probably going to be to loud & overdriven for ANY and ALL beginner material.

[quote=KLZ39]Is this normal? its the normal behaivor of an electric guitar?

At the beginning of your video, yes. All electric guitars plugged into amps (especially with overdrive) are somewhat to extremely sensitive & you have to do a lot of work muting with both hands to stop unwanted noise until you can just make the notes sound that you want.

Do you watch my muting tutorial?

Originally Posted by: hsnoeckx

from what I hear in the video is that you pick ups ( PU's ) are way to short to the strings capturing even the least bit of sound and the magnets in the PU's pulling on the strings, they are way to loud to for Gain 1. Lower them and you will see a big difference.

[/quote]

Jut asking... how do you know how low or up they need to be?

this is how they look now... btw the bridge one seems to have a little inclination (ignore the ripped paper, it wasnt me)

https://imgur.com/5larBK1

https://imgur.com/JzYEGKt

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

So now it's a singal chain question. What is your signal chain in these videos?

[/quote]

Nothing? I plugged an Aux cable from the headphone jack to the computer line-in

The settings on the computer have the audio in volume somewhere over the middle, its louder but honestlyI didnt hear really that different than putting the headphones right in the AmPlug

Im not using the Orange because it produces a lot of interference when I connect the guitar, i think its related to the power supply or something because it way cleaner running with bateries

[quote=ChristopherSchlegel]

At 2:32 of the video are a bunch of beautiful clean tones & you can see the settings on the amps. See if you can just plug your guitar into the amp. Try those settings, turn your guitar volume on like 5. Make sure the overdrive button is OFF

Its the old Orange Crush 3, gonna try those settings as soon as i get it to work

[quote=ChristopherSchlegel]

That's good to know. But if it's the metal one, then it's probably going to be to loud & overdriven for ANY and ALL beginner material.

Yeah but got me thinking... there must be something else wrong here, isnt it? i mean this is all dials on 1

I did watch the muting tutorial (many times) but even when its part of the same, it kinda look like a different case, i mean even when you are showing how is not muted you still dont get the cat concert i get every time i go near the strings or like when you just move your hand like around 3:25... (ofcourse you are waaay ahead and i may not be getting what you are doing or not doing )

Btw, just wondering where in the program is this lesson located? i mean, how long after fundamentals you are supposed to get there? or is a separated thing? im a little lost here and this seems like very important info for the people who start with an electric

Definetly way to short, small rule of thumb since cheap guitars don't come with specs; press the strings down at the last fret and check the free space between bottom string and top magnet from PU's 6th string should be about 3 mm and 1st string 2 mm free space.

Herman