manual crush zone

Distortion…..the food processor of the guitar world, distortion pedals take your guitar signal and shred them into a complex mixture of analog coleslaw…..usually adding a pile of harmonics and inter-modulation products along the way. From the early Maestro Fuzz boxes in 1964 right up to today, the history of distortion follows the history of rock music, used by virtually every guitar player on virtually every rock album.

The Carl Martin Crush Zone breaks this effect into three controls…..Level, which controls the volume of the pedal (ie for solos); Tone which controls the brightness of your signal and Distortion, which controls the amount of (you guessed it) distortion you require in your signal. The Crush Zone is a ‘distortion’ pedal and you will increase that effect quickly as you turn the Distortion knob clockwise….adding a healthy amount of compression as you pass 12 oclock….

Below are some examples of setting you might use, and remember, Distortion usually comes after volume (amplitude) and compression pedals, and before eq’s, delays and flangers……although there is no harm in experimenting. If you have an amplifier with a Master Volume, use the Master for your overall volume, and set the Gain/Volume as high as possible while maintaining a clean signal. This will keep your tone’s warmth, with a better top end and more natural depth and sustain, with and without the Crush Zone effect!

SOFT BLUES
Turn the Level knob up to provide the ‘boosted’ signal you require, adjust the Tone knob to match your pickups (usually brighter for humbucking pickups) and add just a touch of Distortion to give your guitar signal an ‘edge’. For blues, this setting will seem to react to your playing style….when you are ‘digging in’ on your solo, your tone will seem to become thicker and rounder.

CLASSIC ROCK
Classic rock for many is a small output amplifier on ten….and for some, a large output amplifier on ten! So whether you are after that Southern Rock tone, ACDC or The Stones, follow the same basic formula as above but bump your Distortion knob up to about 25-30% (9 or ten oclock).

HARD ROCK
For most Hard Rock, you will find yourself in Humbucker territory….at least what we consider hard rock today (remember Jimmy Page used a Fender Telecaster on Led Zep I & II) so once you increase your Distortion knob to 11 or 12 oclock, you may want to add some tone or if you are using humbucking pickups to brighten them up, or reduce your tone slightly to keep your single coils warm.

SINGING LEAD
When using the Crush Zone for those beautiful blues and rock-ballad solos, turn down the Tone control a bit to keep it warm, and turn up the Distortion control past 12 oclock, where your signal will become slightly compressed, and will sustain much longer."

METAL/HEAVY METAL
Ladies and Gentlemen, crank your Distortion knobs, either scoop the mids on your amp or add a bit of bass and treble, turn your Tone knob to ten, adjust your Level to stun, fasten your seatbelts and hang on to your butts! So this is what it’s like to play at Mach I.