What kinds of distortion pedals do you like?

whatchamachicken · Post by **whatchamachicken** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 4:27 pm

I'm looking to get a new distortion pedal and would like some opinions on pedals you have used. So far I've mostly been looking at different Boss models, the Marshall Bluesbreaker, and Big Muff. Mostly for straight up rock type music. Not metal.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 5:02 pm

My favorites:
zvex fuzz factory
baja tech da moaf - big muff-ish
phoenix custom electronics lady stardust - tonebender-ish
smart people factory red threat - jcm-ish
boss od-1 / ibanez ts808/9

And on the cheap: a used Carl Martin rock drive can be cheap and very useable; same goes for a used proco rat

spankenstein · Post by **spankenstein** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 5:37 pm

Boss Blues Driver. Very smooth. A little bright.

ProCo Rat. My favorite fuzzy distortion.

kingnimrod · Post by **kingnimrod** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 5:37 pm

Here's what's residing in my music room right now:

MXR Blue Box - weirdo muffly octave fuzz - sounds awesome and really heavy when coupled with another distortion or a high gain amp

DOD Buzz Box - a reimagining of the above pedal, with more of a hard edge distortion introduced

DOD Classic Fuzz - really underrated fuzz pedal - gives nice breakup at one end and retro nasally fuzz at the other

Proco Vintage Rat - Nice Distortion, pretty versatile, plays well with other pedals

Zvex Fuzz Factory - Awesome swiss army knife of fuzz, but would be difficult to use live unless you leave it at one setting

EH Big Muff - Nice and thick - I love it for bass.

Recycled_Brains · Post by **Recycled_Brains** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 6:47 pm

i like the Boss DS-1. simple and effective. sounds awesome when you crank your amp and apply turn the distortion knob up to around the 1 o'clock position.

LOVE the old Ibanez tube screamers too. those things are the tits.

ataraxia · Post by **ataraxia** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:07 pm

ds-1 or big muff

rolandk · Post by **rolandk** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:29 pm

MXR Distortion +

Boss Super Overdrive SD-1

Marshall Guv'nor (Bonus- everytime you use it, you get to say "Evenin', Guvnor!" Never gets old)

Not a big fan of the Rat pedals, they sound kinda thin and shrill, IMO.

What I'm really into these days is not using a distortion box. I have a Marshall 2204 head and a Mesa Rectoverb that get crunchy on their own and for a more vintage crunchy sound I have a couple Fenders and crank them up.

Cyan421 · Post by **Cyan421** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:35 pm

I modded a Boss MT-2 metal zone with info from Guitartone.net. I know you said not metal but mods he give you acctually make it way more versatile. It is still kind of mesa bogner like but its not too crazy. I think i spend about 5 bucks at radio shack to do the mod.

virtualguthrie · Post by **virtualguthrie** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:37 pm

I don't know if you're after distortion or more of an overdrive sound but I love the Fulltone Fulldrive 2. High quality, tough and it sounds great.

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:12 pm

Maxon OD-9(TS-9 reissue w/ true bypass), Full Drive II Custom Cream, Nuance Razor Back, Chander Tube Driver

maxadocious · Post by **maxadocious** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:06 am

The Big Muff is pretty awesome, but sometimes that's not really what you want. The Line 6 Distortion pedal is awesome although very pricey. Boss MT-2 I think sounds good, but a lot of people don't. I think it has a very crisp feeling to it. The ibanez Tubescreamers are really good too. I wouldn't make my decision until I've tried them out because a lot of people think that they're the bombest.

DaViDB112 · Post by **DaViDB112** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:56 am

my Favorites:

Ibanez TS-9
Rat

I have used many distortions through the years and those two really stand out.
Any tube distortion I get through the amp.

Meriphew · Post by **Meriphew** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:12 am

A couple of my favs:
MJM Blues Devil
Marshall Guv'nor (original black one)

??????? · Post by **???????** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 8:14 am

For regular overdrive sounds I get along very well with a Maxon OD-808 (TS-808 clone) that I have made one small mod to. In the tone stack there is a .047 uf capacitor. I replaced it with a .1 and to my ears (and the ears of many others) that's a more natural sound for this pedal. Tames the excessive midrange a lil bit and gives a slight fatter low-end. Instead of going from "too dark" to "extremely nasal," the tone control now goes from "really fat" to "more definition." It's an easy/cheap mod to do.

Pedal sounds fine stock, as well.

I also like to get a Zvex SHO and crank it to overdrive v1 of a good tube amp.

For fuzz sounds the Zvex fuzz factory is quite good (no i'm not affiliated with them haha). For a heavier/metal type distortion sound I don't know. I don't get much call to do that kind of work and haven't really figured out what 'really gets it' for that sound.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:01 am

brad347 wrote:I also like to get a Zvex SHO and crank it to overdrive v1 of a good tube amp.

Totally agree - I like this as much, if not better, than any distortion pedal I've used.

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What kinds of distortion pedals do you like?

What kinds of distortion pedals do you like?

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