User profile for user: Logiciswhyicame
Logiciswhyicame Author
User level: Level 1
31 points

Distortion peddles, clipping, over loaded, cutting out and horrible sounding

I'm getting a horrible almost digital clipping sound from many of the distortion pedals like the Monster peddle where the sound is cutting out and clipping with a horrible digital gain type sound. This is a basic project I have not added anything else but one track, and my line levels are all perfect, -12 to -10. I've checked my levels in my RME UCX II Total Mix inputs and they're all perfect. When I turn the peddles off, the dry signal is clean. There are also issues with the gain knobs, especially in the Monster distortion, when I turn the gain up to 50 it get crazy loud and over loads and clips, and then when you go even higher it starts to attenuate the gain down. Makes no sense. It's like there is some kind of internal issue with the gain levels in Logic that are not showing up on the meters. The distortions all sound so bad and uneven like there are phasing issues.

Also, what is with the levels on your amps, when I load them the gain and the volume is up to 100% on both dials. And even many of the software midi instruments the outputs are not balanced, they're clipping the meters when you first load them. I've called support about this a few times now. If there is anything I can do to assist, please reach out to me.

Mac mini, macOS 15.6

Posted on Sep 8, 2025 6:16 AM

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User profile for user: Logiciswhyicame
Logiciswhyicame Author
User level: Level 1
31 points

Posted on Sep 13, 2025 3:39 AM

Everything is fine now, Thanks guys.


Amp speakers naturally filter the high harmonic frequencies from distortion pedals because of their natural dip in the high frequency response. But when dealing with a DAW, your speakers will out put all these nasty frequencies when the pedals are placed after the amp in the FX channel. Someone at SOS explained it this way.


================================

This is the frequency response plot (from the Celestion website) of a Vintage 30 guitar speaker (image below)

"You can see that it's reasonably flat between 200Hz and 4.7kHz, after which the output falls off rapidly and is 15dB down at 6kHz and roughly 20-25dB down above 10kHz.


So you should be able to realize what a lot of high end the speaker removes from the signal.


A standard Strat single coil pickup doesn't output much above 4kHz in its basic signal, so you barely notice any difference if playing clean through either a guitar speaker or full-range monitors (humbuckers will have slightly less treble than this).


But start to distort the guitar signal and you are adding in a lot of extra harmonics above those frequencies. You'll get a bit of a brighter sound through a guitar speaker as it can reproduce frequencies up to the point that the response falls off, but it curtails all those extra high frequencies produced when you start to clip the signal.


Your monitor speakers will reproduce up to 20kHz and beyond, so without the filtering a speaker cab sim provides, you hear all those extra frequencies. Hearing all those extra upper frequencies isn't nice; they can be at a very similar amplitude to the main guitar signal, so tend to take over and make it very unpleasant to listen to."



[Edited by Moderator]

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User profile for user: Logiciswhyicame
Logiciswhyicame Author
User level: Level 1
31 points

Sep 13, 2025 3:39 AM in response to Logiciswhyicame

Everything is fine now, Thanks guys.


Amp speakers naturally filter the high harmonic frequencies from distortion pedals because of their natural dip in the high frequency response. But when dealing with a DAW, your speakers will out put all these nasty frequencies when the pedals are placed after the amp in the FX channel. Someone at SOS explained it this way.


================================

This is the frequency response plot (from the Celestion website) of a Vintage 30 guitar speaker (image below)

"You can see that it's reasonably flat between 200Hz and 4.7kHz, after which the output falls off rapidly and is 15dB down at 6kHz and roughly 20-25dB down above 10kHz.


So you should be able to realize what a lot of high end the speaker removes from the signal.


A standard Strat single coil pickup doesn't output much above 4kHz in its basic signal, so you barely notice any difference if playing clean through either a guitar speaker or full-range monitors (humbuckers will have slightly less treble than this).


But start to distort the guitar signal and you are adding in a lot of extra harmonics above those frequencies. You'll get a bit of a brighter sound through a guitar speaker as it can reproduce frequencies up to the point that the response falls off, but it curtails all those extra high frequencies produced when you start to clip the signal.


Your monitor speakers will reproduce up to 20kHz and beyond, so without the filtering a speaker cab sim provides, you hear all those extra frequencies. Hearing all those extra upper frequencies isn't nice; they can be at a very similar amplitude to the main guitar signal, so tend to take over and make it very unpleasant to listen to."



[Edited by Moderator]

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User profile for user: Logiciswhyicame
Logiciswhyicame Author
User level: Level 1
31 points

Sep 9, 2025 3:32 AM in response to Logiciswhyicame

Still looking into this but.


Someone else pointed out an issue with the order I'm placing the pedals.


I know in the real world you insert pedals before an amp usually, but I

was thinking, that because the amp-designer was mono, that the pedals

need to go after the amp since most of them are effects.


So correct me if I'm wrong:

---

Distortion pedals go before amps?

And is this the same for the FX pedals also? Or can they be placed after the amp if they are stereo?




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User profile for user: Johne154
Johne154
User level: Level 2
339 points

Sep 13, 2025 3:15 AM in response to Logiciswhyicame

I had this same problem years ago when connecting a pedalboard to my audio interface.

High gain pedals will always give the results you're experiencing.


The inexpensive solution I used, which worked very well, was to use a passive DI Box with 2 -20db Pads.

Those -20db pads will knock down the signal and clean it up. You may only need to use 1, depending on the gain.

I plugged my pedalboard into a Behringer Ultra-DI DI100 box.

I ran an XLR cable from the DI box to my audio interface and turned on Phantom Power to run the box.

Why the phantom power if it's passive? I believe that's for the 4x12 cabinet emulation.


Forget trying to power it with a 9V battery—no good. Phantom Power is the way to go.

This box is inexpensive, quiet, and does the job.


ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

  1. It has a 1/4" link jack to connect your amp, so your guitar or keyboard can go to BOTH your audio interface and an external amp. But beware of an out-of-phase signal if you try to record both simultaneously.
  2. A ground loop on/off, should your guitar rig be on a different circuit from your audio interface.
  3. This DI box has a switch for 4x12 cabinet emulation.
  4. Great for recording Bass guitars and Keyboards, as well. A passive DI box protects keyboards from electrical surges.
  5. A great backup tool to have at gigs, should an amp fail, then go to the PA system.


I strongly recommend the ULTRA-DI DI100 box over Behringer's Red guitar DI box. The generic DI100 is more versatile with its high and low impedance input jacks. Plus, the ULTRA-DI DI100 has great reviews everywhere. The same cannot be said for the red guitar version.


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Distortion peddles, clipping, over loaded, cutting out and horrible sounding

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