Distortion pedals

D

dogbiscuit

New member
Hey,
My bro says he would like a good distortion pedal for christmas. I'm also thinking I would like to get a nice one sometime too as I've had enough of digital distortion. What are good ones to look out for. Personally speaking I'd like a good dookie or foo fighters sound, maybe even pumpkins. Is there a good all round one?
Without going into what my entire rig should consist of to acheive these sounds! Just looking for a good pedal, to perhaps build a board around.
 
There's an old DOD distortion pedal that is bright flourescent pink, can't remember which one it is, that gets a good pumpkins sound when you run it through a tube amp. You'd have to find it on Ebay though, I think I paid about $10.00 for mine, don't have the model though it's been in storage with all of my other pedals since I moved into my apartment...:(

Other than that, I have heard awesome things out of one of the classic (or re-issue) tube screamers... Pretty versatile little pedal but, again, you gotta make sure you put it through a tube amp to get the most out of them.
 
ZVex "Super-HardOn". It's a killer pedal but it's on the spendy side. Not so much for metal-like material but it's a sweet pedal for classic rock and over-driven blooze
 
Ibanez Tube Screamer

get yourself an older tube screamer that's been modified by Keeley or Analogman. You will love it! Not cheap, but they are worth every red cent!!


MY $.02

JasonBird
 
dogbiscuit said:
Hey,
My bro says he would like a good distortion pedal for christmas. I'm also thinking I would like to get a nice one sometime too as I've had enough of digital distortion. What are good ones to look out for. Personally speaking I'd like a good dookie or foo fighters sound, maybe even pumpkins. Is there a good all round one?
Without going into what my entire rig should consist of to acheive these sounds! Just looking for a good pedal, to perhaps build a board around.
Click to expand...


Where have you been getting digital distortion from?

Even though you've demurred, answers are meaningless without knowing what your current rig is. Distortion pedals (generally) work with the amp. An asstactular amp with a good pedal will sound a fuzzier asstacular.
 
punkin said:
ZVex "Super-HardOn". It's a killer pedal but it's on the spendy side. Not so much for metal-like material but it's a sweet pedal for classic rock and over-driven blooze
Click to expand...


Priced out of the stratosphere - Super Hard On pedal: 9 (or is it 8?) components on a piece of veroboard, a couple of jack sockets and a switch in a Hammond case. $25 of parts and 90 minutes of soldering.
 
If this helps at all , Smashing Pumpkin's front man Billy Corgan was a Big Muff guy.

Electro Harmonix Big Muff pedals are anywhere from $50 to $100, depending on which one.

(New York, Mini, Russion, Double Muff, etc.)
 
that DOD pedal was called "Big Pig" right?

those distortion tones you mentioned mostly came from Marshall amps in combination with a Big Muff or ProCo Rat. You might also try a Marshall distortion like the Gov'nor or Jackhammer.
 
I absolutely love my Digitech Distortion Factory. I'm sure all the original pedals it models sound better, but for me, having access to 7 different distortion models on one pedal for $100 is a pretty sweet deal. Regardless of how well it models the original pedals, it still sounds absolutely phenomenal.
 
ermghoti said:
Where have you been getting digital distortion from?

Even though you've demurred, answers are meaningless without knowing what your current rig is. Distortion pedals (generally) work with the amp. An asstactular amp with a good pedal will sound a fuzzier asstacular.
Click to expand...

The reason I haven't metioned my current rig is because I haven't gigged for some time and have been mainly recording on my pc using a V-amp2 and Pod XT. So I don't have a gigging rig. But when I get gigging again I'd like to build from scratch, get a new amp and build a pedal board. So for now, I'm just trying to establish what a good distortion pedal is.
Cheers for the tips so far. I like the sound of the Rat!
 
dogbiscuit said:
The reason I haven't metioned my current rig is because I haven't gigged for some time and have been mainly recording on my pc using a V-amp2 and Pod XT. So I don't have a gigging rig. But when I get gigging again I'd like to build from scratch, get a new amp and build a pedal board. So for now, I'm just trying to establish what a good distortion pedal is.
Cheers for the tips so far. I like the sound of the Rat!
Click to expand...

Ah. Not to over-elaborate, but I suspect running a pedal into a modeler won't do much for you. I'd worry about the amp first, and then play around with pedals until you find a combo you like. The old Rats are cool, as are the TS types, the Muff is it's own thing, then you can go to the boutiquey stuff, millions of options.
 
Kevin Deschwazi said:
You could build a clone of the DOD 250 overdrive or the MXR distoriton+.

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/250.html

They do fuzz and shredmaster clones too.
Click to expand...

If you go the DIY route I highly recommend the Thunderchief.
http://www.runoffgroove.com/thunderchief.html

I built this one and find it very nice. I added switches for some of the mods listed at the bottom of the page as well as a switch to change the input impedance. While I usually use this pedal on synthesizers I have played with it using my wife's Epiphone and got a really nice range of styles from it. As advertised it will give you that VH tone too.
Note, they have a new version of this pedal now called Thor.

About the Rat, I used to have a very old one, looked like it went through WWII. Not sure how different the new ones sound but I have seen the schematics and there are a few minor differences. I modded my old Rat by swapping the original plastic LM308 for a metal can version. This noticeably reduced the annoying hiss my pedal made.
 
I've never had a problem with my Little Big Muff Pi by Electro-Harmonix. I play experimental synthsizers through it. It is a fuzz more than a distortion. So, less pure square wave, and more chaotic, but it's a nice pedal and it is very versatile. I can get many tones/timbres from it.

Sounds great on guitar and bass too!
 
JasonBird said:
get yourself an older tube screamer that's been modified by Keeley or Analogman. You will love it! Not cheap, but they are worth every red cent!!


MY $.02

JasonBird
Click to expand...

Yep, a Keeley 808 into a nice tube amp is a wonderful thing........:D
 
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