distortion pedals

Rolsen · Post by **Rolsen** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:33 am

I just got the new tech 21 sansamp 'liverpool' pedal/speaker sim and must say that it is the only 'dirt' pedal that has blown my mind. Beside dirt, it does Vox clean pretty darn well, too. It has the most tones inside than any box I've played with. I normally stay away from dirt boxes but wanted one for my home setup.

If you can get past the cheesey name, the Digitech 'Bad Monkey' is actually pretty awesome for $40. I use it as a not-so-clean boost on my overdriven vox ac30. I wouldn't have considered it if not for the zillion of posts praising it on other 'wanker' music forums.

FBH · Post by **FBH** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:44 pm

I picked up a used Boss DS1, which had been modded by Steve McKinley with his "Hottie Blond" mod: this one.

It covers lots of the same low-gain territory that my Sparkledrive covers, plus it provides a more satisfying crunch for playing chords, etc. I nabbed mine for $40, which I think was a steal. Nice pedal.

Edit: Concerning the ProCo Rat, I love my Rat II, but I would not call it subtle.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:16 pm

Rolsen wrote: If you can get past the cheesey name, the Digitech 'Bad Monkey' is actually pretty awesome for $40.

I have a DOD version called the Juice box which is a tube screamer type pedal. It can do subtle well and sounds awesome.

Also yeah the RAT rules, but definitely not subtle.

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:00 pm

rogercollege wrote: I think I'm going with the Fulltone Full Drive 2.

I've been really, really impressed with my FD2. Keep in mind that, in my experience at least, while it's hard to get a "bad" sound out of it, it reacts way differently to different pickups, amps, other pedals, and more than anything, guitar and amp volume levels. I can't praise it enough, but bear in mind you may need to experiment a little bit to get the most out of it. Which, to me at least, is half the fun! But yeah...it's awesome. I think you'll be pleased.

E-Rock · Post by **E-Rock** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:01 pm

Lot's of good suggestions, I'd like to add one.
The Xotic RC Booster. VERY low gain OD. I have like 20 OD pedals, and this one rules of you don't want to mess with your tone at ALL, but just put some hair on it.
Into a good amp, it can take your sound from good to great.
Zvex Box of Rock is killer but I find it has a pretty big low end boost.
OCD is also killer, but it does change your tone, not in a TubeScreamer/mid-boost way, but more of a scoop-y way

Those 3 OD's are my workhorses for recording.
Oh, and a Skreddy Mayo for serious wall o' fuzz!

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:41 am

The Proco Duecetone has a good "clean rat" mode. When I still had it I used to get great results from the DOD OD1? (the yellow one I forget the exact model). Sparkle drive is good. But usually when I want just a little drive I am getting it from an amp. An amp being driven into clipping is just so much more fun.

swingdoc · Post by **swingdoc** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:30 am

save up a little extra money and get Kendricks new Cactus Juice.

GREGL · Post by **GREGL** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:36 pm

Another vote for the FD2. The more I use it the more I like it.

If you want some extra coloration and grind a RAT works great and its stupidly cheap compared to other stuff. But my experience is that its virtues are found not in running the distortion up high but adding just a pinch of grind and set for enough output to overdrive the amp a little more than usual. Adjust tone control to taste. Some amps just love this thing (which might explain why they are so popular).

Truthfully, there are a lot of great overdrive pedals out there, some for very reasonable dinero....

thieves · Post by **thieves** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:29 am

for the longest time i used a DOD "juice box" pedal, which was just a tube emulating overdrive. of course it had terrible parts, so it eventually died. i recently replaced it with the digitech "bad monkey" which is very similar but has more range with the gain. i know it's not a fancy boutique pedal or anything, but it's pretty versatile, especially since my three guitars have a big range in their output signal, the big range in gain really helps.

thieves · Post by **thieves** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:31 am

*braces self for talking up dod/digitech*

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:39 am

thieves wrote:*braces self for talking up dod/digitech*

older DOD is fine.

jakeao · Post by **jakeao** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:34 am

I've always been a huge fan of the Balckbox Music FX Inferno.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:20 am

*gets $20 YJM-308 modded by AnalogMan*

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:27 am

the most subtle pedal I have is the blackbox xray bass..it's a fuzz/drive pedal..the bass version is super full range and it adds a very subtle drive/fuzz and sounds cool on guitar..try one out..

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distortion pedals

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