I need some help with guitar equipment. I'm thinking about buying a new head. Currently I just use a shitty Crate GNX130C with a bitchin' Behringer BG412 Cab, but the distortion on the head sucks, so I have to use a pedal. However, with that, I get a lot of string noise when moving around on the neck and going from string to string. I was wondering what I can do, with a new head I hear, to get good distortion and a cleaner sound. Any help would be appreciated. If more convenient, hit me up on AIM: SlavonicIdentity
Thanks in advance for any help.

A new head would be the best thing to do, but you have other options:

1. NOISE REDUCTION!!!! I cant stress enough how much a NR unit helps distorted sound.
It seems obvious, but not enough ppl use them. I'd suggest a Decimator, but a Boss nr2 will suffice.

2. Monster Cables!!! They will clean up/ quiet down alot of your signal noise.

3. buy a Pod, or similar modeler unit. ( Theyre are many out, nowadays, but I stand by Pod being one of the best.)
They are alot quieter than a Distortion pedal, have many more options, and sounds 1000% better than any distortion pedal.

I would suggest getting rid of the Crate AND the Behringer cab, but if you cant afford to, then one or all of these options will GREATLY help your sound.

I don't know too much about equipment. If I bought a Noise reducer, I probably wouldn't know what the hell to do with it. And I do use Monster cables already. And I don't really know what a Pod is. I'm retarded, yeah, I know. I don't have the money to get rid of the cab, I can do without the head.

well, it depends on how much money you have to spend.

if youre budget is very low, your #1 option is like kok said, get a noise reduction pedal. itll keep you quiet when you want.

if you have a decent budget, start looking for a new head and even a new cabinet.

regardless, you practically cant play metal without a noise suppressor.

and make sure you're using a speaker cable between your head and your cab, and the impedance (ohms) are matched up.

My budget may be on the decent level.

What are some good head recommendations? I play thrash.

Also some cab recommendations may work too, since I'll probably end up getting a new one of those as well. Thanks for the help. Greatly appreciated.

I am generally not a Marshall fan, but a JCM 800 is pretty much the sound I associate with thrash. Good attack, clear yet potent gain.

Weather or not you get a new head, you should pick up a noise supressor pedal anyway.

second on my priority list would be a new head. I'm sure sure if you're into tubes or not.

IMO pods are crap. I would avoid digital distortion unless I had no other financial choices.

I have a noise suppressor pedal and it does help, quite a bit, but I still get some noise, unlike local bands I've seen live who seem to have a great sound. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

probably. What are the settings on your pedal? is it a boss ns?

what are the settings and EQ on your amp?

what kindof guitar are you running and what pickups are in it?

It's not a Boss. It's an MXR Smartgate. The settings on it are Trigger Level all the way up and the gate on Full.

For my amp settings, I run it through the clean channe: High all the way up, mid halfway, low all the way. This is the only way it sounds good. The distortion on it just sucks and sounds way too muddy and noisy.