The "Best" Distortion pedal

[Panamark]

I would rather buy a Plexi and destroy my hearing until "8" sounds
like a nice practice level.

[BrownSound1]

Me too Mark.

I would never spend 200 bucks on an overdrive pedal....hell, you might as well save the money towards an amp that has some balls. I mean really, with today's high gain amps you really don't need fuzzboxes anymore (and yes, no matter how you slice it they are ALL fuzzboxes). For that matter, you could buy a THD Hotplate and crank the shit out of your old Marshall and sound better than most of the new amps.

Let's face it, the FUZZBOX was designed to sound like an overdriven tube amp....so why not just overdrive the tube amp and get the tone they were trying to recreate.

[SweetSecrets]

Best destortion....

Ha! A Les Paul and a Marshall stack turned to "eleven"

[SweetSecrets]

Other than that....Boss pedals and Tube Screamer (Ibanez)!!

[SweetSecrets]

Re: The "Best" Distortion pedal

Originally posted by Panamark

My faves, Boss DS-1 Boss Heavy Metal -2 and the Ibanez Tube
screamer...

Am I meant for you or what?

[Panamark]

YES !

[BrownSound1]

Geezus....after reading the last two posts I just had "Made for Loving You" by KISS pop into my head. Thanks a fuckin' lot.


BTW, the Boss HM-2 is my personal fav....along with a Tube Screamer. Wonder if there is such a thing as a Tube Moaner.

[Coyote]

Re: The "Best" Distortion pedal

Originally posted by Panamark
Discounting AMP modelling,
what do you think are the best Distortion pedals out there.

As the distortion pedal is probaly the most important effect in
the chain. (For us Hard Rockin MoFo's)

My faves, Boss DS-1 Boss Heavy Metal -2 and the Ibanez Tube
screamer...

Never needed one, I have a Marshall.

[kentuckyklira]

If you get the opportunity, check out the Okko Diablo.

If I didn´t already have a rack full of 19" gear I´d get one of those!

[Big Troubles]

Re: The "Best" Distortion pedal

Originally posted by Panamark
Discounting AMP modelling,
what do you think are the best Distortion pedals out there.

As the distortion pedal is probaly the most important effect in
the chain. (For us Hard Rockin MoFo's)

My faves, Boss DS-1 Boss Heavy Metal -2 and the Ibanez Tube
screamer...

I have not been playing long enough to have a prof. opinion, but in the year I have been playing, I use the Boss MT. It packs a punch, kick in the high's and low's and voila.

But I also just tend to crank my drive and reverb to get a pretty good "distortion" sound. Its cleaner, but still turns it up some what.

Pedals I barely use are the DD6, Stereo Chorus and MXR 90 shifter. (prob because my amp has all those channels)

I was told a good overdrive beats out any distortion pedal anyways...I guess epending on the sound you are trying to get.

[Terry]

Pro-Co Rat always caught my ear. Useful when living in an apartment and want some distortion without creating a noise ordinance. Still use it.

Had an MXR Distortion + years ago and remembered digging it, so went down and checked out some of the new ones. Had a mind-fuck and didn't bring my amp and axe with me, so I tried out the pedal with a store guitar and amp. Sounded ok. Got it home, messed around with it a few times and it's been gathering dust ever since. Works fine, but just doesn't sound that great.

Best distortion to my ears was always obtained by cranked amps, but can't be bothered playing that loud anymore. Used to have a little Marshall 50-Watt that had the best natural distortion, even better than my 100 watts.

[Hardrock69]

One of the best Marshall amps I ever heard was a 2 X 12 50-watt JCM 800 combo amp I had about 1986. Had to sell it cause I needed money.

Wish I still had it....

[houseofpain]

Dude, I had a 1995 Fender Blues Deluxe Custom. Man the cream from that amp just dripped out. Now I know it's not exactly a gigging amp, but the sweet tones from those orange glowing thingys was pure heaven. But like a dumbass in 1995, the band that actually supported my music addiction was a grunge band, and I needed something that was just dirtier than this nice creamy sounding bluesy amp with the tweed cabinet. That and the pre-amp blew. So I traded it back to the music store and got a (gulp, dare I say this) Fender Stage (read as Solid State piece of crap). I suppose that for a SS amp, it sounds decent. It definitely sounds better than a Peavey Bandit and it will produce some distortion sounds that aren't exactly unpleasant to hear. It has the contour knob on it, which helps the distortion not suck as bad. But I hear what your laying down brother...once you've had your hands on the piece of equiptment by which you judge all others, everything elose makes you cry. Especially if you were stupid enough to let it get away.

I find those Fender Blues Deluxes on Ebay every now and then. One of these days, I'm going to get the balls to ask my wife to let me buy one!

[houseofpain]

oh shit, this is a pedal thread...
Um...I have a Marshall Guv'Nor which I rarely play with, but sounds decent enough. And I like the MXR Wylde Overdrive. I'm like you guys though, the best distortion is your amp's lead channel.

[Matt White]

When not using my jcm 900's lead channel, I use a Rat pedal. I've had it for forever and a day, and I still dig its tone.