what distortion pedal do you use?

[Stephen]

An immitation of what?

Of an amplifier being overdriven/ distorted. Though there are obviously so many variables that having different pedals is much for economical than having 5-10 different amps to take with you and plug in for a show or recording.

I'm going to veer off topic, sort of, but while I agree that the best overdriven guitar tone is most often coming from a guitar straight into an amp (and you know how much I love pedals) I also understand electronics enough to know that a lot of those amps with heavy distortion tones are basically just putting a distortion pedal circuit, solid state or tube, into the preamp. Circuit-wise, it's really similar to having a pedal circuit plopped right there on the board.

I'm referring to amps with channel switching hi-gain channels. They may be tube-based, but they're still just a distortion circuit.

Now, if you're talking about plugging into an AC30 or a Deluxe and cranking it up, that's another story

Roger

Or a V-4?

Pax, Steve

[Stephen]

I use a Boss DS-1 , modified by one Roger Lavallee. If you ask him nicely he might tell ya which diode to swap out , that will make it have more guss.
Pax, Steve

[the_riff]

jcm 800's sound great. running a marshall shredmaster pedal through one is even better. I like eq pedals, pushing all the faders to the top. This drives the head more, so you are getting real distortion as opposed to pedal distortion...

While Nirvana are one of the greatest bands of the last 20 years, I always thought Kurt had one of the worst live tones.....

[jspartz]

I have a Fulltone - Fulldrive II and an Ibanez TS9-DX. I love them both with my telecaster. I am looking at getting a G2D Creamtone when I can get some extra cash. Anyone have a used one to sell?

Jason

[twitchmonitor]

I just went back to using a Ross Compressor...the original grey one. It basically acts as a boost in front of my Marshall 2555, which already sounds great in an almost-breaking-up way. The ross really does a bit more than just kick the Marshall in the ass....it adds some detail, sustain, and what sounds like extra tube sag. Luckily I ended up with one for free (it was broken....and I fixed it, but I just sent it to analogman to bring it back to lift since it's been limping along for a while now). He makes his own version, the compROSSer, and if it sounds the same (which I bet it does), it's well worth what he's asking. Of course, it's only good if your amps is good and just needs some extra push.

[marqueemoon]

I have an old small box RAT (no LED), and a newer reissue "vintage" RAT.

[Eric Rottmayer]

I like my danelectro daddy-o. they're cheap on ebay (<30).

that's a great distortion pedal...the older one. i remember seeing Doug Martsch from
BTS play and use that pedal for solos, and i had to have one. i used that for a while
then i got a Fulldrive 2 which i really like for me.

i use an older RAT for alot of distortion on recordings. that filter knob is the key.

eric

[nacho459]

Boss DF-2 Super Distortion / Feedbacker

I put this in front of my Soldano and watch out!

http://guitargeek.com/gearview/55/

[lutopia]

Boss SD-1 (Super Overdrive). I love that pedal!

[DryCounty]

Rat II on occasion but nothing brings out pure bliss than my TS-808 reissue in conjunction with an old Ibanez compressor. I also highly recommend the Arion Tubulator for those on a budget. Great pedal to be had for $20 or less via MF.

[jajjguy]

For a long time i assumed it was impossible. I wanted to be able to get the sound of my amp, with just "a bit more", in terms of presence, break-up, cranky-snarliness...

For me, the Klon Centaur does it. It is a very "clean" distortion pedal (overdrive, really), in that it doesn't really have a sound of its own, it just drives your amp into its natural freakout zone. Can go from simple lead boost to moderately dirty distortion. I like its brighter settings best, as the treble boost is very aggressive and pleasing, but it can be dark too. Really great for adding clean bite as well as a little breakup.

I could see pairing this with a dirtier distortion pedal, but for me it's always been enough.

[Telecastr]

Tele-> Boss CS3-> Vox Valvetone-> Ibanez UE 400 Overdrive first then Compressor-> Fender Twin. most of the time in the studio i just crank my 1950 National Sportsman and plug in. if i want to break it up even more i'll throw a compressor in the chain and use it as a volume boost.

[Dan Phelps]

I don't have anything different to say as far as what you should check out...I've got a stack of pedals and they all sound intersting in different ways.

There's a few things I did want to mention, tho:

I like to break them into three different catagories:
Overdrive: Tube Screamer, Fulldrive, Sparkledrive, your smoother, more natural, less hyped sounds.
Distortion: Fulltone DP-1, DS-1, these are more saturated, extreme kinda sounds.
Fuzz: Big Muff, Z.Vex Fuzz Factory, Fulltone 69...more hair, gooshier bottom, way extreme.
I don't think of stuff as strict, but there are definitely families of sound.

Another thing is: When you kick on your OD/Dist/Fuzz box, can you still tell what chords your playing? Can you play somehting more complicated than power chords without it turning into noise? I guess you would call this "note definition." Some pedals like the Big Muff work with chords even at fairly gainy settings. However, the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory kind turns into a cloud of noise when I hit it with more that some root-fifth stuff. And that's a cool component of it's sound...I just don't use it for the same stuff as the Big Muff. Also, the Fuzz Factory is just seriously messed up.

Plus...how distorted your amp is makes a huge different on the amount of color. Cleaner settings give you a more honest idea of what the pedal is doing. With dirtier settings on the amp...or the pedal driving the input of the amp hard, you get the sound of the pedal and the amp messing with each other. Both are cool. Completely different.

Of course...this doesn't even begin to get into how different guitars change the sounds, or how the impeadances of different pedals interact, depending on what order you have them wired up...

All that to say, I guess the best thing to do is to listen to a lot of combinations, with lots of different settings. Use your ears and follow your taste!

Peace,
Dan