Ok, I recently bought a Fender Blues Jr., which I couldn't be happier with. However, I still crave those heavier sounds now and then, so I'd like to get an overdrive pedal to use with it. Couple of questions...first, what is the difference between fuzz, overdrive and distortion pedals? Are they basically the same things?
Second...I'd like to achieve a couple of different sounds in particular, so please throw out some ideas on pedals that may help me get these sounds. I'd like chunky, somewhat metal distortion, maybe along the lines of older Metallica, High on Fire or even Zakk Wylde's rythm tone. I do realize that running my SG through a pedal and into my Blues Jr won't give me a dead-on Wylde sound, but I would like to get in the ballpark. In addition to the metal chunk, I'd also like to be able to call up a more classic rock sound.
What are the must-have distortion pedals, everyone? Thanks.
Dan
Technically they are all "distortion", but I'm using distortion to mean the specific types of pedals. Overdrive pedals give you a sound similar to turning a tube amp up to high volumes, it's "crunchy". Fuzz pedals originally simulated an overdriven amp w/ torn speakers. Ray Davies of The Kinks cut his speaker cone to get that sound. Distortion is the heavier, thicker sound. Usually distortion is paired w/ higher gain.
I have a Boss Super Overdrive (SD-1). It's great for classic rock and can get fairly distorted. But even if I turn everything all the way up, it doesn't get as heavy as your talking. My son has the Boss Distortion DS-1 and it is heavier than the SD-1 (the model numbers are hell if you are dyslexic). Boss also has a Metal Zone MT-2 that is supposed to be heavier (they have a couple even heavier ones, but it doesn't sound like you need to go that extreme). I'd look at the DS-1 and the MT-2. If you have a GuitarCenter or Sam Ash around you, they'll hook you up so you can test them and see how they sound. Also, MXR makes a Zakk Wyld overdrive pedal, that might be exactly what you want. I've heard good stuff about MXR as well.
And, no I don't work for Boss, but I love their pedals. They have a great sound and they are built like freakin' tanks.
One piece of advice, don't skimp and not buy the AC adapter. One thing you don't want to do is worry about battery life in your pedal.
an overdrive pedal will not give you metal. try as I could with my od pedals I cannot get there. however, if you want warm dirty tones like the old overdriven amps make then an overdrive pedal is the answer. the yellow OD1 is a classic. so is tubescreamer.
there are many others.
JWMartin, thanks for the description of the different types of distortion pedals and the MXR recommendation. I may go to Guitar Center and try a bunch out. Thanks for the input, Dogbite. The Tubescreamer seems to be loved by everyone, so I'm definitely going to check that out. You said you've tried to get a metal sound with your OD pedals, but couldn't - have you found a pedal that gives you a pretty reasonable metal sound?
One of my problems is that I love so many different guitar sounds. I love Billy Corgan's guitar tone on the Siamese Dream cd, so that may steer me in the direction of a Big Muff. I love the classic rock tone (I always think of the opening riff of Mountain's Mississippi Queen when I say classic rock tone). And I'm drawn to that metal chunk. I guess I have to start building my pedal collection now!
Dan
These guys are expensive but their boxes are a little more versatile than your average overdrive or distortion:
http://www.tonebone.com/tb-plexitube.htm
http://www.tonebone.com/tb-plexitube-sounds.htm
http://www.tonebone.com/tb-hotbritish.htm
http://www.tonebone.com/tb-hotbritish-sounds.htm
http://www.tonebone.com/tb-trimode.htm
http://www.tonebone.com/tb-trimode-sounds.htm
Mind you for the price you could probably get yourself a decent amp modeler like a line 6 pod. You'd get a lot more mileage out of something like that.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--LINPOCKETPOD
http://www.zzounds.com/item--LINFLOORPODPL
pedals like Big Muff and Tubescreamer and Boss OD-1 are classics. they go well with older rock and blues.
metal requires hi gain or distortion. I have an old DOD Distortion pedal. evn at the lowest setting it makes huge noise and endless sustain. so I would think a pedal marked 'distortion' as opposed to 'overdrive' would steer you right.
I don't think DOD is around any longer. I bet Boss has something.
If you liked Billy Corgan's distortion, then definitely look at the Electro Harmonix Big Muff, that was Billy's favorite pedal. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdgj0cSgPLo
That is the Big Muff on Rocket. The Big Muff is more of a "fuzz" than distortion. The ProCo Rat can also get this high gain fuzz tone and is one of the most popular distortion pedals. Check that out.
I own and really like the Marshall Guv'nor Plus 2. This pedal can get great overdrive tones at lower gain settings, and get pretty heavy Metal tones at higher gain settings (think early Metallica). If you love the classic tone of Marshall amps this pedal is awesome.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Hueseph, I checked out those ToneBone links and theyre some very impressive and versatile pedals. Thanks for the heads-up. As for your modeler suggestion, I've mulled that around a bit. Even though I haven't been very impressed with the modeling amps I've messed with, I do wonder if running a unit like the Line 6 Pod or another processor through my tube amp may sound more convincing than an actual modeling amp or a processor through a solid-state amp.
Wes, I love the Pumpkins and Billy's tone. His earlier stuff still ranks him up there as one of my favorite songwriters, even though he kind of lost me for while when thought he was Trent Reznor and put his guitar down. But I digress. I really think a Big Muff may be my next pedal, because I love some of the spongy, thick sounding tones on the Pumpkins songs (Mayonaise springs to mind). Thanks for the info on that Marshall pedal. I need to put that on the test list as well.
Dan
GuitarHack
I am a big fan of Billy Corgan too, great player and songwriter. That song Mayonaise is very odd, I forget the tuning, used to know it. The other effect used on that song is the red Digitech Whammy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgnWzcUww0
This song is one of the best applications of this pedal ever. You can also hear heavy Phase on this song. The Smashing Pumpkins were pedal junkies. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
GuitarHack
I am a big fan of Billy Corgan too, great player and songwriter. That song Mayonaise is very odd, I forget the tuning, used to know it. The other effect used on that song is the red Digitech Whammy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgnWzcUww0
This song is one of the best applications of this pedal ever. You can also hear heavy Phase on this song. The Smashing Pumpkins were pedal junkies. :D
I'm going to have to pop the cd in when I get home tonight and listen for the whammy pedal. I'd like to experiment with that a little bit as well. Yes, the Pumpkins used lots of effects to...well, great effect. But, oddly enough, one of the best shows I've ever seen was a Pumpkins acoustic set at Tower Records in Chicago. They played the show as kind of a release party for Siamese Dream. I was quite surprised at not only how great Billy's voice sounded, but how wonderfully their normally effect laden songs translated to a bare-bones acoustic set.
Sorry, I know I'm going off on a tangent, considering I was originally looking for opinions on distortion pedals!
Dan
As for your modeler suggestion, I've mulled that around a bit. Even though I haven't been very impressed with the modeling amps I've messed with, I do wonder if running a unit like the Line 6 Pod or another processor through my tube amp may sound more convincing than an actual modeling amp or a processor through a solid-state amp.
I have the Line 6 Floor Pod and love it. For recording on the computer and when using headphones, that is. I do not like it when playing thru my Peavey Bandit amp. When I play thru the amp, I use my Boss SD-1 or the built in lead or hi-gain channels on the amp. The Pod just has a "fake" sound when played thru the amp. It doesn't sound horrible or anything, it's just has a tinge of mechanical sound.
I've been looking for something like this too; I have used a DOD Hard Rock Distortion & an Arion Metal Master, & neither sounded good to me. Both created a "muddy", noisy sound, not crisp clear distortion. You could achieve warmer fuzz tones with them, however.
For me what has worked best is my Behringer V-Ampire Mod. Amp. It has a ton of modeling amp settings, & I can definantly get the metal crunch out of it that you are referring to.
As for a stomp box, I just have not found one yet that is not "muddy". I'm sure there is one out there...
I have & love my Bad Monkey.
Really adds to the OD I already have.
I love my naughty monkey also :wink:
#4491....
If you can, check the Fulltone OCD. It is an overdrive but it has a lot of gain, it is not metal. I was checking it two weeks ago and it is cool, it isn't I'm looking for but it is very versatile. The webpage has several audio clips and also a list of users:
