How can I get a good distorted guitar sound?

NYN

I owned a couple of Zoom pedals, and they are all very similar, so this might help.

As far as Overdrive selection, I love Marshall of course, I think the Zoom model is excellent, my favorite for sure. But try Fuzz as well.

I myself do not like too much Gain, it turns the tone into mush. Try around 21. You may like more, but I like to keep Gain anywhere from 15-21. You get more bite and crunch with a little lower settings.

The EQ setting is important, try between 45-50. This is the "grunge zone" to me.

If you have Contour, try about -3.

You might like a little Compression as well, maybe C3.

Joe Forrok Star had some favorite settings awhile back for Zoom pedals, do a search in Amplification.

Here's a page with 500 Zoom patches, you can find some great stuff here.

http://www.classicrockstars.net/zoompatchfile.html

I don't think you even need the Zoom to get a nice grunge sound out of that amp, although the Zoom should have no problems with it either. If you decide to use the zoom, make sure you plug it into the slave-in at the back of the amp, not the main input.

If you go for the amp, just plug into the main input, set the channel to British-HiGain-US, fairly neutral EQ, somewhat boosted presence, light reverb and a truckload of volume. Gain can be around 7 or so, fairly high but nothing too absurd. Use your bridge pup with both tone and volume at max.

Wes, that site is EXACTLY what I was looking for last night, thats perfect, thanks so much. That will keep me busy for HOURS.

Also, I have been plugging my pedal into the main input, I always knew this was sorta bad, but does it really make much difference?

Thanks LOADS!!
NYN.

If you plug it into the main input, you get a combination of the Zoom pedal + the amp models; if you plug into to the power amp input, basically you are getting a very clean amp, and all the modeling is done with the pedal. You can try both and see which one you like better.