Gypsy guitar...distorted?

ShivaSage · September 2009

Call me crazy, but I was wondering how it would sound to purposefully overdrive a gypsy guitar/pickup/tube amp combination. I know that on some of Django's later recordings he used distortion a little bit, but that was mainly when notes bled into each other during his solo; a single note would not sound distorted. Now I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject, and I assume there's some limitations on distorting an acoustic guitar, i.e. feedback. But could it be done? Could one even attempt to introduce some effects pedals? (I know, call me crazy, but hey.)

To clarify, I'm not talking about playing heavy metal here. The goal would be to retain the awesome acoustic sound of a gypsy guitar, but somehow combine it with more electric sounds.

Maybe it's just too late and I need to get some sleep.

pinkgary · September 2009

One word... Stimer

HCQ · October 2009

Well..............I don't think your crazy.

I use my Dell Arte with a K&K floating bridge pickup and it sounded pretty good. I used various delays, reverse reverb, an envelope follower, wha wha, distortion, ring modulator, flanger and phaser, arppegiator and octave pedals.

It all sounded OK. But that's just my opinion.

I really like the idea of using a Sel/Mac this way since I've physically gotten very comforatble playing one. At this point, I have to expend more effort playing other guitar types since the necks, string spacings and fret distances now feel very tiny.

I just played at a somewhat loud living room volume.

ShivaSage · October 2009

HCQ, would it be possible for you to post some recordings of your setup, using a wah-wah clean and/or distorted, or just the guitar distorted without the wah?

noahfuture · February 2011

I love distorting my Peche la Mouche pickup! Sounds ridiculously cool! I love the electric recordings of Django like the '47 version of Bellville (i think). His tone is magnificent. I'm working on a record that kind of mixes Django and Tom Waits and used a really small Ampeg amp from the early 60's cranked to 10. It was probably only about 8 watts and the result was a terrific crunchy yet zingy tone. SO yeah... rock that shit! Django sure did!
n

Jeff Moore · February 2011

After you get some sleep, I think you'll realize that your question is 60 years to late. As with so many ideas, that crazy gypsy got there first.
Even without an amp, the "crunch", so often referred to in Selmacs, is acoustic "overdrive". Something like the dynamics of a tube - coil setup, are in the sound of the best gypsy guitars IMO.
Djangos electric era sound is, as has been noted, quite distorted in the way folks usually think of distortion. The recordings on "Djangology" are done on acoustic, but to my ear are the effect both of the heavy acoustic distortion of a Selmac and the sound of a overdriven mic and or recording circuit. The result is amazing.
I'm wondering how much Django you've heard?

Stackabones · February 2011

Thomas Dutronc gets a great sound on September Song. Not sure what he's using but it sure sounds like a Stimer. Love it when he digs into the chords or a low note. Gets all gritty and growly.

N.B., random vid with SS as the backing track.