Do you remember the first time you made an overdriven sound with your guitar?

[Jahn]

I played acoustic for a long time before getting into electric, so just imagine playing guitar for years without making even one power chord distort. Oh my.

Then I got a 1976 Gibson LP Custom, and a silverface Fender Bassman 100 with a monster 4X12 cab, the one with the slanted baffles. I played clean for a YEAR because I couldn't crank that Bassman past 1.5 on the dial without making my mother cry.

I stopped by a pawn shop one day, and of all things, decided to get a Pignose, just because I wanted to practice with my Paul in places I couldn't lug my rig to - like anywhere that wasn't the basement.

I cranked the Pignose and...what was that? WOW OVERDRIVEN AMP TONE! Yeah, solid state angry buzzing bees from a coaster-sized speaker, but still...hold on what am I missing with the Big Rig?

So I went back to that pawn shop, picked up an Ibanez TS-10 Tube Screamer for $25, plugged that into the Bassman and OH MAN.

End of story, I was sticking with Electric Guitar for life.

How about you all? Do you remember your first power chord?

[Scott Auld]

Sitting around in the music store, 15 years old, waiting for my dad to pick me up after my lessons. Plugged into a MV Marshall ... CRUUUUNCH!!!

I told the store owner behind the counter, "Hey, it's impossible to sound BAD with this thing!"

I don't think he believed me on that one. He just smiled.

[eronson]

i plugged an epiphone sg into a karaoke machine and turned it to 10. it was dirty.

[lpfella]

Was given a sears Sliver tone guitar with the amp in the case. That thing did not distort. Played that for a long while and never understood how all the bands made their guitar sound so great.

then I got a Fender Squire 15 amp and realized I could turn the volume all the way up and the gain as a master volume. The rest is history.

[Ed DeGenaro]

My first distorted sound was when as a kid (I guess I was in my early teens); my old man soldered me a cable to go from my crap Les paul copy (which had the fingerboard come unglues after I had it 3 weeks) into his old tube radio..anyway for some reason I decided to stick a knife into the speakers...sure was distorting.
Then I got a job during my vacation and got a Super Bass with a 4x12... :0

[Nergalled]

Geez, this is hard to remember. My buddys awful Memphis EVH striped guitar into an early 80's Carvin combo cranked in an apartment complex till the cops showed up. Iron Man for 2 hours straight with my buddy playing drums. Man were we bad, but I was in heaven. Never looked back.

[DF1]

It was a 1964 Fender Jaguar into an MXR Distortion + into an Ampeg 2 x 12 Combo that weighed about 80 lbs.

[Jay Mitchell]

Back in 1967, the bass player in the garage band I played in bought a Boss Tone fuzz box, and the other guitar player used it (with his Gretsch Country Gentleman and Vox Berkeley!) when we played "Heart Full of Soul." I wanted one, but I was broke.

My brother's portable tape recorder had a 1/4" mic input, and I plugged my guitar into it one day. Wow! It made the coolest, fuzziest sound I had ever heard from its internal speaker. With my bro's permission, I added a 1/4" switching output jack that I connected to the speaker output. This enabled me to use the tape recorder into my amp, but it still worked as a recorder as well. My mom couldn't stand that sound, to the point that she would stop us when we were rehearsing and tell me to turn off that damn stupid gadget.

[Jman60]

When I first started playing I had a small, cheap practice amp that would overdrive a little and didn't sound that good, bought a MXR Microamp which helped for O.D., but, still didn't sound that good.

Then I bought myself my first good amp, a 65 Fender Dual Showman. A short time after buying that amp I picked up a MXR Disrortion+ pedal. Still have the amp and the pedals.

[cvansickle]

I was taking lessons with my Sears electric, which came with a crappy amp, in 1979. I tried out a Stage 210 combo that had a "clipping" knob on it....

TARNATION!!!!!

No more clean playing for me after that!

[Bobby D]

yes.....1974......my parents had gone against my wishes and had bought me a used martin d-18, instead of an electric guitar.

was walking to my friend's house, and saw a yard sale. there was a tiesco del ray guitar, amp, sekova fuzz, and wah pedal.

i promptly (and stupidly) traded my nice acoustic for the whole rig. guy who owned the stuff seemed to be real happy.

didn't own another acoustic for nearly 20 years after that......and my parents were so mad they never even bought me ONE more guitar string

but the sound of that FUZZ is what DID IT to me.....it was THE FUZZ....

[diego]

Mesa Boogie Mark I. A revelation.

[unoguitar]

~1974, Can't remember the guitar make, it was a semi-hollow plastic feeling thing, probably ~$100 new, the amp was a Rickenbacker TR-25 SS cheapie with a distortion knob. Plugged in, secure in the notion that the name-brand amp would get me those sounds I heard from Page, Iommi and Duane,

and phfttfttphffttthbb.... farty electronic fizzle.....

Thank goodness I stuck it out despite my rude awakening.

[Festus]

Yea, I was about 14 years old, and I was playing a Teisco guitar through my brother's Sears Silvertone stereo system. I was playing through his ear phones, and it was overdrive heaven. Then the ear phones blew up. Then my brother blew up. Ah, to be young again.

[ImmortalSix]

I remember it well --- I cranked the pre gain on my dad's old Peavey bass amp, with a Strat --- it sounded terrible I'm sure, but that day, I was playin "Gimme Three Steps" like never before!