Distortion Pedals

So, you want a killer Metal sound or something? Which bands, style or Genre are you most trying to capture? I personally like the Marshall distortion thru my amp, it is what I use most. I am about to get a Boss Me-50 multi-effects in the mail and it is supposed to have a lot of variety of distortion, plus other effects. That may be out of your price range, but I'll let everybody know what I think of it. One of those Marshall pedals may be great. What amp are you playing thru, also? That info may help.

gjbrake

I love Danelectro pedals. I have the Fab Tone Distortion, Daddy-O Overdrive, Pepperoni Phase, Peanut Butter & Jelly Delay (gotta love these names) Milkshake Chorus and the Fish & Chips 7-Band EQ. I have had some of these pedals for about 7 or 8 years now, and they ALL work as good as the day I bought them.

The Fab Tone is a good Modern sounding distortion pedal. You can get the Grunge (like Smashing Pumpkins) or Metal (Metallica) type distortion with it. It has Bass and Treble controls. It is all distortion. If you turn gain all the way down its still pretty radical.

Anyway, I personally like Danelectro. They are good dependable pedals for a great price.

With so many pedals on the market it would be hard to say anyone is better than another. It comes down to personal taste. Unlike most I don't use distrotion pedals to create distortion. I use tube amps, equalizers, and attenuators. over time I have tried many distortion pedals and always come back to creating it the way I do.

Joe

Joe, I understand how the attenuator can work to enhance the overdriven tube sound at lower volumes, but how does the equalizer affect distortion? Or are you using it more generally to get a variety of tones from the tube/attenuator setup?
Thanks,

The Equalizers allow better control of the signal giving me a thicker signal. When you add certain units to your signal chain they can cause you to lose important frequency's. The Eq's help bring the tone I want back or used to add extra punch.

I use Eq's before, after and in-between all of the individual pieces of equipment.

Joe

SD has a new booster pedal which might be usefull if you're good overdrive is from an tube amp. Boosting an overdriven SS amp usually results in mediocre sounds. If it is SS, take a look at the Line6 distortion modeler pedal. Lots of variety without the nasty plastic nonsense the cheaper Line6 amps have. Carl Martin and MXR have some awesome pedals, but they run around $150.

If you are in for a risk you might try the new Behringer pedals. They haven't arrived here yet, but for the price they might be worth a shot, although I doubt the $19 Boss clones would even come close to the pedals mentioned above... (check out the $19 EQ pedal, might be a nice way to find out how it can help you)

Hey guys, thanks for getting back to me!

Well, I had band practise last night and suffice to say, if I thought I actually might have broken it I would have stamped very hard on my MD-2 on a number of occasions!

Half my problem is that I don't quite know what sound I'm looking for. I know what it is in my head, but not how to describe that to anyone!
I have an old Korg MultiFX pedal and I have just what I am looking for dialed in on that, but since using that for just my modulation effects I have never quite replaced that Distortion sound.
I can get by playing palm mutes with it, it sounds great for solos and the like but still sounds good when I strum a whole chord, which is where my Boss fails me most. With the MD-2 even a power chord sounds ugly if I let it ring.

I am (typically enough!) using a Fender HRDx - one of the tweed ones. Love the clean, love the drive (& the MORE drive) - but there's no real distortion there at all.

97reb - incidentally, that ME-30 looks interesting - like 3 stomps in a box! Do tell all once you've got it.

Wes - I have one of those Dany EQs too - best piece of kit I own. Plus that Black Coffee did sound great - similar to that sound I am trying to describe above but higher gain (which is no bad thing).

Arjen, I'd really much rather just have one stomp, rather than all those options things like that Line6 or the Boss OD-20 give you. I only want one distortion sound really, I just can't find it!!!

Anyway, after some more research, my list of possibles currently is:
Danelectro Fab Tone Distortion
- love Danelectro, and blatantly the cheapest one
DigiTech Hot Rod Rock Distortion
- the Morph knob looks interesting, but maybe a little unneccessary
Marshall Shredmaster
Zoom Tri-Metal
- both these have been generally given good reviews, but both are discontinued, so finding one may be an issue
Akai G-Drive
- still leaning towards this one, but might be a little too complicated! That would certainly get close to Joe's idea of having EQs before and after anyway.

If anyone has any more to say about any of those, that'd be great! Otherwise I shall be back to update everyone once I've made a choice (or 3!).

Cheers!
G

gjbrake

You might try a multi-effects pedal.

I purchased the Zoom GFX-1 about 6 months ago.

Zoom GFX-1

I really couldn't be happier with this pedal. You can get just about any type of distortion with it. If you like dirty-blues overdrive, you can get it. It you like metal, you can get it. If you like thrash, you can get it. It also has great cleans.

If I had to say anything bad about this pedal it would be the EQ. It has 50 "curves". Now they aren't bad, but it does take quite a bit of tweaking. But I have had much more success with this pedal using my Danelectro 7-Band EQ after it. With this pedal in combination with the EQ I am getting just awesome tones whether it be through my Hot Rod Deluxe or Marshall DSL401.

On the GFX-1 I pretty much use #25 setting on EQ. This is neutral. It is how your guitar tone would sound straight into you amp. I have pretty much found a setting on the EQ in combination with my amps EQ that sounds great on any preset.

This pedal has a wide variety of distortions. It has a FDR (Fender clean), BL (Blues amp simulation), MS (Marshall amp simulation), BG (Vox amp simulation), PVY (Peavey 505 simulation). It also has Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Lead, Punk, and Acoustic settings.

In addition to all these types of distortions it has just about every effect you would ever want, Chorus, Phase, Tremelo, Double (sounds like two guitars) Step, Whammy, I can't even remember them all.

I only use about 4 or 5 presets that I tweaked to my likings, but they sound great.

So, for maybe $20 or $30 more than a single effect you can get a multi-effects pedal like the GFX-1. You are SURE to find tones you like.

There are other good pedals similar to this like Behringer and Digitech. But I would recommend this Zoom to anyone. You WILL have to sit down and tweak it. It might take you awhile. But you can get awesome tones out of it. It is super easy to tweak.

Wes

Wes,

Interesting you suggest that particular pedal. I am currently running that Korg MultiFX I was talking about through the Loop for phase, chorus, tremolo and delay. However, it's getting on a bit and I want to be able to control things like trem speed with an expression pedal, which isn't possible on it.

So I have been looking around for a decent Multi that I can just use for the Modulation FX, and the Zoom GFX-1 is WAY cheaper than all others with similar features. It beats those of a similar price hands down.

How do the Modulation FX sound on the Zoom?
And can you control things like tremolo speed with the foot pedal? I know you have to buy the pedal seperately, but it's still great value.

Hell, I could get two!!! One for distortions in front of the amp and one in the FX Loop!!! :roll:

This one looks like it may be worth a look. Allows for you to connect to USB or L & R outs to amps ( 0dBm/1 kOhm ). Has some of the digital effects from their SPX units. Yamaha Magic stomp website

Joe

If it's just for the modulation you might want to look at the $59 X V-amp. Comes with an expression pedal that can modify most effect paramters.

gjbrake

Arjen might be right on this one. I have read lots of good reviews on that Behringer pedal. And the price is unbelieveable.

The expression pedal on the GFX-1 costs another $50. I own it, but don't use it much. I pretty much play rhythm 95% of the time in my band now. If I was playing lead I would use it. It works well.

I will have to look at it to see if the pedal adjusts Tremelo speed. I am very certain that it does, but I will have to take a look to be absolutely sure.

What is amazingly great about the GFX-1 used in combination with the expression pedal is the Wah. You wouldn't believe it. You can get an absolute fabulous Wah with this thing. I'm serious. And it sounds great with clean and distortion. It is super.

I like all the modulation effects except the AutoWah. But who needs that when you can get great Wah with the pedal?

I don't know if I am the best judge on modulation. I use effects like this very sparingly. I like just a touch of Chorus, Phase, or Tremelo. I don't use effects like this heavy. It is distracting to me. I mostly like to get a thick rich tone. I like the real guitar sound.

But I think Zoom's distortions are the best. Just my opinion, but I have owned Boss, Digitech, Arion, DOD and others. I'm sure others will disagree.

gjbrake

I dug out the manual, and yes, the expression pedal controls the speed of tremelo.

Wes

Hey guys!

The thing is that the GFX-1 is on a special deal in one of the internet shops here in the UK currently, so it's only a little more expensive than the X V-Amp, and I'd rather have a bank with four sounds in than just the up and down buttons! I've owned the Zoom 505 and 504II in my time, and I hated that.

The pedal being seperate does make it more expensive though. I'll keep an eye on eBay to see how much they are going for there.

Thanks for checking that out Wes! Not being able to use the exp. pedal to control the modulation EFX is the main problem with my current multi. Well, problem isn't the word, but I want to be able to!!!

Anyway, that one requires more thought. As to the Distortion pedal, please see the other post I am about to write!

Cheers everyone!
G