Favorite distortion pedal as outboard?

riantide · Post by **riantide** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:57 pm

Hey folks, I've been breaking out of the box and using a lot more outboard gear while mixing than I had been previously and just loving it. In that spirit, I got one of them fancy reamp boxes and am starting to use the myriad stompboxes that have piled up over the years as outboard effects.

Let me also mention that I LOVE distortion. Whether it be bitey tape saturation on my favorite recording from yesteryear or blown out distortion a la Dave Fridmann, I can't get enough. Vocals, drums, bass, horns, piano, synths... everything.

I used to have this plugin by Antares called "Tube" that was wonderful, it went from smooth, light overdrive to all-out crunch and seemed to apply a very pleasing EQ curve as well. Due to an upgrade in software I no longer have it. Bummer.

The Thermionic Culture Vulture seems to do exactly what I'm looking for, but I really can't justify $1,700 on one box when I'm still building up a respectable mic locker.

I was wondering if any of you fine folks have favorite stompboxes that you use for distortion. I've already tried a handful, but just looking for other ones to check out.

And then, of course, if you have any other recommendations for bitchin distortion, please send them my way.

Thanks in advance, TapeOppers.

rian

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:02 pm

The original Sans Amp is still my favorite. Works great on everything but guitar.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:59 pm

I recently found one of these for thirty bucks:

It's the Roland SIP-300 guitar preamp...it sounds kinda like a boss overdrive with EQ and locut and hicut switches. Pretty tweakable and really cheap if you can find one. And it fits in your rack, though I don't have the rack ears unfortunately.

kingtoad · Post by **kingtoad** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:47 pm

If you can run AU plugins, check out a little plugin called "Warp Drive" by Andrew Garber. It's my first port of call if I want to dirty something up a little, and it's free. I know this is a plugin and not a stompbox but I wanted to give this plug some publicity as I think it's great.

newfuturevintage · Post by **newfuturevintage** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:54 pm

DOD's american metal sounds great on vocals.

weatherbox · Post by **weatherbox** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:01 pm

I bought a lot of expensive stuff this past year but I think the Radial X-Amp reamp-er may outshine them all in terms of how much I enjoy using it. I really need another one. A lot of my favorite distortion comes not from distortion pedals, but overdriving the inputs on things. My Lexicon Vortex sounds great into clipping on synth parts. Effectron on drums and vocals. A seriously smashed low-passed Dynacomp can be the nastiest drum parallel distortion imaginable. A Memory Man set to just have one super fast repeat, no trails, mildly overdriven can be fun.

Corey Y · Post by **Corey Y** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:36 pm

For just obliterating a signal, especially for a really lo-fi vocal part, I like my D*A*M Meathead. One knob boutique silicone fuzz. Not something I would use a lot.

Babaluma · Post by **Babaluma** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:54 am

i use a maxon od-9 pro+, which is basically a glorified tube screamer with all the most common mods already fitted. it will work with either line level or guitar level signals without a problem, so you don't even need to use the reamp/d.i. combo. sounds great too! i run it via effects sends and returns on my mixer.

darjama · Post by **darjama** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:08 am

Another vote for the sansamp classic.

You can get some cool tones by driving the ART VLA hard too.

Sean Sullivan · Post by **Sean Sullivan** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:57 am

What sucks is that the SansAmp classic is $200-$250 on eBay.

Recycled_Brains · Post by **Recycled_Brains** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:20 am

I just got a Sansamp Paradriver, and I'm liking it so far. It worked well for bass, synths, and kick drum so far. I also used it's EQ section for reamping vocals with solid results.

The Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive pedal is fun. It has a wet/dry control that is handy for parallel type processing.

I also like to use my Voodoo Labs Microvibe pedal at really low intensity settings. It has a nice mellow and slightly distorted character if you feed it a hot signal. My MXR Carbon Copy analog delay is good for the same reasons.

My Fulltone OCD overdrive got used on some spooky backup vocals that were sung through a vintage Ampeg combo. amp. I love that pedal. Very responsive to dynamics.

Reamping stuff through low watt tube amps is awesome.

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:28 am

it's totally worth that, though.
I use it for multed bass tracks all the time.

linus · Post by **linus** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:48 pm

Prescription Electronics "Experience" Pedal is way cool.
Most of the tracks on Garbage's debut album passed through my Experience pedal at one point or another in the mix sessions. I got a 'thank you' on the album credit because they had borrowed a bunch of my stomp boxes for tracking and mixing. "Linus thanks for the experience" is in the credits. Apparently LOTS of stuff passed through it on a very clean setting just to fatten up the tracks. It's been a few years since then so my memory is a little hazy about it.

I've used the "Dirty F*cker" boost/distortion pedal by John Charrette (in Brooklyn) a bunch to give stuff a little wool.

riantide · Post by **riantide** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:17 pm

Oh man, you guys are great! I've been meaning to pick a sansamp for years, but this seals the deal: I need one.

+1 on the sparkledrive, good god damn I love that pedal. So nice to have a blend control on stuff like vocals and synths.

Thanks so much for the input, I'll definitely check some of those out.

Also: For any pedal nerds out there, you HAVE to check out the Ibanez ToneLok FZ-7. It streets for $40 and just kicks ass. I honestly prefer it to a Fuzz Factory.

Thanks again, and keep 'em coming!

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:37 pm

Rat pedal! gets used on an aux a lot, vox, bass, this or that... Been using a Rockman Instrumetnt Equalizer to drive and trash as well.

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Favorite distortion pedal as outboard?

Favorite distortion pedal as outboard?

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