Is the Redbox output better than speakers? Maybe there is another way to go!

bordonbert wrote:Now interestingly you are using the DI there to get such a good sound.  That was the idea of my original question, is it better to use the DI into a clean flat featureless "hifi" style amp and speaker to allow only the H&K to set the tone and just amplify that up to the correct level.  That way you don't have any issues with speaker matching or driving them hard to a good non-linear level to get them to sing as well.

I agree you have that Steppenwolf sound nailed but that is still a pretty high gain version of 'classic', maybe the original was relying on 'pedals' which were around at the time.  I used the quotes because not all of them were pedals in fact.  As an aside, I do remember buying one of the earliest distortion units which came out, the Vox Distortion Booster which you can see below.  Actually it was outright fuzz and, from what I remember, it just gave you a squarewave output without any real character no matter how you used it.  It was a small metal box with a fixed jack sticking out one of end which plugged straight into the guitar input socket.  The guitar itself then plugged into that and off you went.  Stomping was done with a slide switch on the side!  You youngsters are so-o-o-o spoiled nowadays!

I'm not discounting that sound, the amp certainly does that magnificently and you can definitely say you nailed it but it still isn't the lower gain type of overdrive/distortion that I have in my head which is just more creamy and with a lower high frequency content.  (Maybe that is the limiting factor here, my head?)  I think I need to go back and do a reappraisal of the whole issue.  Maybe if I get a couple of reference sounds to chase and play the GM36 DI through my hifi I might learn something here.  I might just be remembering the GM sound through my experimental speaker selections.