Best distortion pedal?

nero120

nero120

nero120

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Joined
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Hey guys,

I'm looking for a distortion pedal for gigs when I can't be assed to lug my triamp to it. I need something that can be plugged into a miked up amp on clean channel. I play rock/metal style so it's got to give me enough gain for soloing and good harmonics etc.

Any recommendations?
 
what's your budget? i ask because you can get REALLY REALLY good distortion pedals but you have to pay upto £300 for them...

or you can have a £10 behringer :)

Obviously with you having a triamp you won't be after a berry or that kinda junk but still, budget is paramount here :)
 
I got a second hand Boss DS-1 pedal for £20. Has a big muff - esque tone on my basses but on guitar, has a really got rocky distortion. I believe Steve Vai has the same pedal on his pedal board
 
My lead guitarist has a little Big Muff and it sounds great but I've got a mate who uses a Rat in his band and swears by it.
 
Docaroo said:
what's your budget? i ask because you can get REALLY REALLY good distortion pedals but you have to pay upto £300 for them...

or you can have a £10 behringer :)

Obviously with you having a triamp you won't be after a berry or that kinda junk but still, budget is paramount here :)
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I'd be prepared to pay more for a good one, so lets say money is no object! To be honest, I've never really used effects or stomp boxes before, I've always gone clean into my amp, so I'm really clueless about this.

My main priority is to get something (stomp box/preamp/etc) that can go into a **** amp on clean channel and give me distortion with great tone. I tried my mate's bad monkey and to be honest I found it quite weak, but it had good tone.

so, please hit me with your best suggestions! :)
 
You can't go wrong with a good bit of DS-1, but people often rave about the custom 'Keeley DS-1', which is the original with a slight tinkering.

Apparently the Bee's knees and if money was no object I wouldn't hesitate to try one out. Unfortunately its around three times the price (Although a quick search revealed it should be available at less than one hundred of your hard earned pounds). Heres some reviews:

Click
 
I wouldn't recommend a DS-1 without a mod, either by analogman or keeley, on they're own their the most tinny pieces of crap I've ever heard (I have one).

Look into some fulltone overdrive pedals :)
 
nero120 said:
I'd be prepared to pay more for a good one, so lets say money is no object!
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Here's a list of what pedals I would be looking at:

Damage Control Demonizer - Top drawer $$$ pedal, but wow @ the sounds.

Keeley Mod Boss DS-1 - already suggested, can't go wrong, not suited to everything though.

Krank Distortus Maximus - If you wanna go super heavy metal distortion.

H7K Warp Factor - Some ppl I know swear blind by this pedal but I haven't tried it myself.

Tech 21 Tri. Amp - Again, heard good things about this.

Digitech Distortion Factory - At least worth a look.

I myself hate the sound of the Muff/Fuzz/Rat pedals... they are good for grungey fuzzy crap but nothing else...
 
Docaroo said:
Agreed, this actually goes for all Boss distortion pedals.. especially the downright DREADFUL Metal Zone...
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I've not played for a while, but when I did, I had someone's old MT-2 and it was an awesome pedal! and I really liked the DS-1 as well.
 
Sic said:
I've not played for a while, but when I did, I had someone's old MT-2 and it was an awesome pedal! and I really liked the DS-1 as well.
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The fact that I think MT-2 is horrible and the DS-1 is great just reflects how much of this is about taste.
 
Try an MXR Distortion+.

I got one yesterday and I'm loving it.

I've got it running into a Vox AC30 and I can get Marshall-esque sounds now.

I'm thinking about getting an EQ pedal to go after it to enhance the bass a bit. But other than that I think it sounds brilliant.
 
Docaroo said:
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Wow the demonizer looks awesome and perfect for what I want! However, I don't know if any shops in London would stock one for me to try and £250 is a lot to spend on a pedal without even trying it out! What to do!

Thanks for all the suggestions people! :)
 
Basically dude you REALLY need to try out pedals for yourself... and I just can't stress this enough... you MUST try in this case because all the above posts should show you how much personal taste in involved!
 
Docaroo said:
Basically dude you REALLY need to try out pedals for yourself... and I just can't stress this enough... you MUST try in this case because all the above posts should show you how much personal taste in involved!
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Yeah it certainly seems that way! Sound control sell the demonizer so hopefully they'll have one in their oxford st store. I'll pay em a visit on tuesday and give it a try along with the boss and any others they have. Thanks again! :)
 
Docaroo said:
Basically dude you REALLY need to try out pedals for yourself... and I just can't stress this enough... you MUST try in this case because all the above posts should show you how much personal taste in involved!
Click to expand...

now that I'll agree with - at least you've got a pretty decent range of stuff to bear in mind - get yourself to a big music shop and try a bunch out :) good luck!
 
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