Distortion and Pedals

Pedals have many effects, but I assume you are only interested in getting a fatter, more distorted, sound. There are four pedals that can significantly add to it, I'll put some models behind it.

-Distortion pedal (Boss DS1, Proco Rat)
-Booster (Ibanez Tubescreamer, Seymour Duncann Booster)
-Compressor (Boss CS3)
-EQ (Boss GE7, Danelectro Fish&chips)

I checked out these models, they seem good. But I have two questions about them

1) How do they hook up? I assume its Guitar->Pedal->Amp

2) Does it always distort the sound or it is only if I step on it?

Yes it's guitar pedal amp, you'll need a second cable.
They only distort when you step on them.

What amp do you have? Have you tried turning the 'gain' up? And what sound do you want? There's probably someone here who can suggest where to start looking.

I found one article on how to do distortions, they suggested turning the gain up. Which made it louder but didn't seem to make it dirty. They also suggested turning the high and low up on the equalizer and turn the mid all the way down. That made it sound harder but it still wasn't what I was after.

How far did you turn the gain up?

What kind of amp do you have?

What kind of distortion are you looking for? (Like what band/song/ type of music)

Answering those will help us to better answer you.

Not sure what the make is, it says Samick on the back and LA10 on the front and its 22 Watts. And I've tried various levels of gain. None, half-way up, 3/4 up, all the way up. The sound got louder but didn't seem to get dirtier

And I am looking for something like what most lead guitars sound like in modern rock. Something like the guitar in Smells Like Teen Spirit, or Van Halen - You Really Got Me Now

Description of said amp at Harmoney central...
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Samick/LA10-1.html

So I think that leaves us with the option of pedal or if you have any money, new amp.

There are a couple of cheap distortion pedals like Danelectro or Behringer if money's tight.

Alright, thanks for the help. I think I'll go for the pedal first, my wallet likes that idea. Then the amp later.

onewingedangel,

Just want to make sure: Have you looked for a button that allows you to switch to the distortion channel

I just spent some time digging through pages of search results on your amp.
General concensus is that you wont be getting any sound like you want out of that amp. But it will survive a direct nulear hit.
The very view places I found any stats listed it as a 13 watt practice amp.
For the same (or about the same) price of a distortion peddle you can pick up a better used amp from a hock shop or Ebay. (avoid the Fender frontman if you are after good distortion, I have one) I have heard the low end Peavy amps are pretty good.

I think all it has is clean and overdrive. I see a button to switch between those but no distortion.

Edit: 13-Watts? Odd, its says 22 on it.

I borrowed it once from a friend when starting out: blame your amp, not yourself. No way to get a proper distorted tone out of it. Distortion pedals are between the amp and guitar, and usually early on in the chain.

The reviews agree with you. Though one guy says he uses it with his pedal and it sounds pretty good. I'd really prefer to go with a new amp(with distortion) but the pedal is more feasable.

Question, with amps with distortions channels..........is there any way to go from clean to dirty mid-song?

Yeah, using a pedal (called 'footswitch') that changes the amp from channel1 to 2, or the other way around. Some amps (Behringer) come with free footswitches (check out the GM110), others (Vox, Line6) charge extra for it.