cool distortions from stompboxes....

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goodbyebluesky

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I need some advice on good stompbox distortions. I just bought an Epiphone Valve Special and while I like its clean sounds and raunchy sounds and everything in between, at some point I know I am going to miss the high gain sounds I used to get when I played solid state amps and modelers. (long story but at the moment the only amp I have is the valve special)

I went storage-hunting and found my collection of stompboxes. At the moment I have:
DOD Juice Box- which might be good for slightly boosting my signal before hitting the amp and I can get some extra sustain- worth keeping in my opinion.
Snarling Dogs Black Dog- supposed to be "bristish tube" sound, I'll have to dust that off and try it out, but I'm not counting on it being super high gain.
Boss Heavy Metal- don't care for this one too much. Its distortion for sure but not that cool cascading gainy sound I would like to have.
DOD Grunge- can't remember what this one sounds like.
E-Harmonix Big Muff Fuzz (reissue)- never played this one but I imagine fuzz is not my thing unless I was trying to nail a Melvins or possibly Hendrix vibe. I'm thinking selling it to raise cash.

Anyone reccomend something fairly affordable (no boutique pedals) so I can get a high gain/super high gain sound just putting it in front of current amp??
DOD Death Metal, DOD American Metal, etc?
Should I just fork out the money to get my Crate combo to work again?
ALSO, what phaser do many here prefer? The MXR phase 90 is an invariable classic and Halen's choice, any others worth hyping??
 
The Morrison Big Fluff gives an excellent tone - it's essentially a Muff clone - it's not a Fuzz pedal though. It's quite cheap at AUS$80.
 
Boss Metalzone did the trick for me before I got my GT8. You can get almost whatever high-gain tone you want out of it.
 
Well to update.... I tried out a bunch of my boxes this afternoon.

I actually got some really crunchy high gain sounds I was looking for from the DOD Grunge.... which suprised me. I'm definitely keeping it. I got everything from punk rock power chords to detuned metal palm-muting. It put a huge grin on my face.

The DOD Juice Box however- sucked tone big time. Grainy and harsh. Probably gonna ebay it.

Snarling Dogs Black Dog- Really cool and raunchy, has two seperate voicings on it "snarl" and "bite" along with gain/volume knobs and I was able to dial in a cool AC/DC sound, as well as some mellow rock sounds by backing off on the gain.

Boss Heavy Metal- turns out I didnt have one anymore, I opened the box only to find a TS9 TUBE SCREAMER in it that I forgot I even owned!! Got some very gainy but smooth lead sounds.

The Big Muff reissue didn''t have an A/C adapter input so I couldn't try it out.

So it looks like I've got most of the gain sounds I'm after covered. Although I would love to get the indie rock/Orange tube amp sound. They have a distinctive voice. And it looks like I'm gonna have to build a pedal board!!
 
For a tube amp like the EVJ I'd reccomend an OD rather than a distortion. Since it's single channel, the OD would be buffing up the already distorted sound, whereas a dist. pedal would probably just cause alot of feedback, unless you aren't cranking the amp.

Look into the Ibanez Tubescreamer, Ibanez Tubescreamer reissue, and the Boss SD-1.

If you're set on the distortion pedal route, the Big Muff and the other Muffs are great, along with MXRs stuff. Personally, I don't find Boss' distortion pedals to be very good, nor just about any pedal that puts "Metal" in the name. If you plan on modding, that's a whole 'nother story.
 
i use a boss metal zone but the best distortion comes straight from the amp rather than any external effects.
 
killzone2k3 said:
i use a boss metal zone but the best distortion comes straight from the amp rather than any external effects.
Click to expand...

Did you not read the original post? This amp doesn't "distort" at all on its own. I can max out the gain and master volume and get only mild overdrive at best.

I'm actually suprised at how much I like the DOD Grunge with the amp set fairly clean. Its a good high gain sound. I've used digitech and Line 6 modelers, and something as simple and good sounding as this setup is very satisfying. The other pedals I have (ts9 tubescreamer, snarling dogs) sound good going into the amp clean, or to push the amp into natural breakup.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I probably won't be buying anything with "metal" in the title, cus its probably overkill for me.
 
Check out the Line6 DM4 (it's the golden one). I don't like Line6 when it comes to Pods etc but this thing is great for a stompbox. Has everything from fuzz to overdrive to blues to burning lead (ala Ibanez tube screamer) to full on death metal. I still prefer a more 'boutique' sound but of all of the pedals I have bought over the years, this one has been the most flexible.
 
MoogerFooger MF-107. Audio-driven oscillator with envelope control and FM.

It gets weird fast. Like the nastiest 4th oscillator ever on the Voyager.
 
I always thought the Metal Muff was bad to the bone. It's funny how many people don't actually read the original post. Like Guitarer, he recommended a tubescreamer which the OP clearly stated he already had. On another note I found in my short time with the VJ that it takes most pedals really well. In fact if you do a search you'll find the really long VJ thread that contains a song I recorded for a band featuring the MetalZone in front of the VJ going thru a 4x12 cab.
 
jonnyc said:
I always thought the Metal Muff was bad to the bone. It's funny how many people don't actually read the original post. Like Guitarer, he recommended a tubescreamer which the OP clearly stated he already had. On another note I found in my short time with the VJ that it takes most pedals really well. In fact if you do a search you'll find the really long VJ thread that contains a song I recorded for a band featuring the MetalZone in front of the VJ going thru a 4x12 cab.
Click to expand...

I'll have to check out the metal muff, just 'cus the name intrigues me.
Yea, I'm actually digging the tube screamer, it really smooths out and gives a great distorted tone from thie Valve Special. I think with a compressor on the front end for more sustain I'll nab some santana licks sometime soon.

And now that I think I can cover a lot of what I'm after with the pedals I already have...... maybe I'll ebay the ones I'm not digging so much and look into a higher-end pedal for a boutique sound for kicks. Any suggestions?
Anyone know of a stompbox that can give that vintage Orange amp vibe?
 
Pedals and amps

Not all pedals perform the same with all amps. I was about ready to sell a Tech 21 XXL because I found the sound to be too harsh and thin on my Crate V16. I tried plugging it into my Sovtek Mig 50 and it CAME ALIVE. Ballsy and rich. I tried using a modded Boss OD-3 Overdrive on my Sovtek and found it to be dark but on the Crate it is pure blues bliss. You just have to find what works for you. It amazes me how people like Eric Clapton would still give their right nut to sound like Robert Johnson. Those old guys took what they had and created something from nothing and it still carries weight because it came from the heart. That's what we gotta do too. Ain't life grand.

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"
-W.C. Fields: :eek:
 
Funny, I was just about to recommend an XXL. I have the original version and it is a monster with huge waves of washing distortion.
 
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