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The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

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  • The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

    Maybe this is a stupid question, but I'm genuinely curious about why distortion pedals continue to be so popular with so many players. There are probably enough different models of dirt box out there to equal every other model of every other kind of effect pedal combined, and they sell in similarly lopsided numbers.

    I understand why they were invented and became popular. I know how back in the day, all amps were essentially clean amps that you had to turn up to 11 before they'd start breaking up. And even when amp companies realized people wanted that sound, building those tones into an amp was a slow evolution. Meanwhile, effects pedal companies moved swiftly to make relatively inexpensive dirt pedals that people could buy and use to get the overdriven tones they wanted for far less coin than buying a new amp. It makes sense.

    But that all really kind of changed in the late '80s / early '90s. You had Mesa Boogie releasing amps like the Mark IIc+ and Dual Rectifier. VHT emerged in 1992. Bogner and Soldano had just gotten started a couple of years prior. And this trend has continued on an upward trajectory ever since.

    These days, there are more super mega fire breather overdrive amps out there than almost any other type. Mesa, Marshall, Peavey, Engl, Orange, Fryette, Splawn, Diamond, Rhodes, Bogner, Soldano, Budda, Engnater, Rivera, Friedman, Wizard, Bad Cat, EVH, Fender, Hughes & Kettner, Randall, Blackstar, Diezel, Madison, Jet City, the list goes on and on. And for every one of those amps, there's a $300 Bugera knocking it off for the budget buyer, or a modeler with a themed preset. Amp distortion is no longer difficult or expensive to obtain.

    So I ask - why are there still so many people buying distortion pedals? Enough to remain the most popular effect by a ridiculous margin.


    And real head-scratcher for me is that the "best" distortion pedals are generally considered to be the ones that are the most "transparent," or "sound just like an overdriven amp." ?????? Just get an amp capable of overdrive! They're everywhere! Why chase that sound with a pedal?

    Please note that I'm not making a value statement here - I'm not saying people are wrong or stupid to use distortion pedals. I know lots of people have excellent reasons to use them. I don't even think anybody needs to justify it. I'm just wondering why they're still so incredibly popular, given how the reason they were invented has been all but negated by the emergence of so many high-gain amplifiers.
    -Adam

    Hear or Follow my music:

  • #2
    Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

    1 - They sound different than the amp's gain channel
    2 - They serve as a boost to the gain channel.

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    • #3
      Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

      3 - You can get the sound you want at a lower volume than on most amps.


      For me personally, I use them as preamps going into the computer, and they require much less electricity than using a head as a preamp.

      Director of Arizona Young Voters Initiative

      https://www.azyoungvoters.org


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      • #4
        Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

        Probably because so many of those classic sounds people got used an overdrive pedal. I mean, you can probably get close with a deluxe reverb, but to really nail that SRV tone you should probably use a tubescreamer of some sort.

        Likewise, there are some sounds that you can only get with a proco rat, and still more sounds that you can only get with a germanium-powered treble booster.

        Additionally, it seems like there's something to juicing the front end of the sound before it gets to the amplifier - for some reason a hotter sound going into the preamp feels different than a hot sound coming out the the preamp. It's like having a little "active pickup" box for your passive-equipped guitar. There are subtle and magic things an echoplex booster and dan armstrong orange squeezer can do to a sound, that you can't really replicate with another gain stage in your preamp.

        Also, I've heard the best way to get high-gain sounds that retain clarity out of a preamp is to have a lot of mildly overdriven stages, whereas you can get a really good heavy sound with a simple preamp and a distortion pedal slamming the front.

        Those are just theories though. I suspect there's something psychological at play as well, that I can't really explain but kind of understand being a pedal head myself.
        Originally posted by ImmortalSix
        I wouldn't pay more than $300 for a BJ.

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        • #5
          Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

          Most of my work involves interstate air travel, and I gave up long ago on the inconsistency of hired back line, so stuff needs to be compact but good. I need a very good clean foundation in a small package, and many multi channel amps simply fail at providing that whilst trying to cover all the bases. With three gain stages in pedal form and a clean boost, all of which play nicely with each other, I can conjure up about a dozen permutations of gain from that system. In the course of a 75 minute set, I use all of them. I don't know of any amp that can do that.

          Plus, they're colourful and cute.



          Cheers.......................................... wahwah
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          Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
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          Cause We Ended As Lovers
          Go ahead...check out my solo album @ http://geoffwells.bandcamp.com/


          Originally posted by JOLLY
          Strats are better than Les Pauls.

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          • #6
            Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

            Among other reasons, as long as Fender amps are still popular so will dirt pedals.
            Custom neck-thru strat
            1989 MIJ 1962 RI Strat
            1995 PRS CE24
            D'avanzo #8
            Breedlove Solo Concert
            1996 USA Dean Baby Z
            1991 40th Anniversary Les Paul
            1968 Fender Bassman, Egnater SW45, Mesa Mark IIB Coliseum, Mesa ElectraDyne 1x12 Combo, Avatar 4x12, Mesa half back 4x12 Earcandy 2x12
            Roland RE-201 Space Echo, 70's Fender Reverb Unit

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            • #7
              Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

              A crunch box through a small tube amp is a different flavor than a modeller with a Marshall setting or a real Marshall. Might as well have all 3 types if you like all the sounds. For $50-60 it's not a huge investment. Most of the amps you list are too big or too expensive for what they're worth for a bedroom player like me. My personal ceiling price for an amp is around $400 used.

              Having said that I'm not exactly keeping the industry moving with my one used pedal every 5 years approach.
              Last edited by DankStar; 04-11-2014, 09:44 AM.

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              • #8
                Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                Originally posted by DankStar View Post
                Having said that I'm not exactly keeping the industry moving with my one used pedal every 5 years approach.
                That's what I'm here for.
                Custom neck-thru strat
                1989 MIJ 1962 RI Strat
                1995 PRS CE24
                D'avanzo #8
                Breedlove Solo Concert
                1996 USA Dean Baby Z
                1991 40th Anniversary Les Paul
                1968 Fender Bassman, Egnater SW45, Mesa Mark IIB Coliseum, Mesa ElectraDyne 1x12 Combo, Avatar 4x12, Mesa half back 4x12 Earcandy 2x12
                Roland RE-201 Space Echo, 70's Fender Reverb Unit

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                • #9
                  Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                  It's an interesting question, for sure. It's a little more philosophical than it might seem; do you vie for the ultimate tone amp with the space to play it at proper RPMs, or do you find a suitable gain stage that'll fit in a lunch bag? Personally, I'm steadily going in the opposite direction; Why do people use amps anymore?

                  New designs in stompboxes allow for some very good sound coloring now. They've done a good job of extrapolating the major coloration of popular and famous amps and wedged them into 1590b boxes. In conjunction with a cab sim you can get functionally as close to the amp as you need running through a PA speaker. Digital units can do way more than that. There's an argument that the tone is disgustingly lifeless, and that tube amps are the only things that will make a good amp sound, but I disagree with that. Everything can be calculated out and emulated, including the clumsy power that tube amps put out. If you approach the problem in a modular way, the main thing that colors an amp's output is the tube at saturation and the speakers. Emulate the power tube saturation with either an array of passive components or a minitube putting out something like line level, then put that signal into a class D amp and into a guitar speaker like Vox does.

                  But getting back to the question at hand, I think at least 3/4s of the reason why people buy those low-gain, "transparent" pedals is that they think they need it and they don't particularly like the tone of the amp they spent a lot of money on at room volumes. Either that, or they're like me and like a gain that no amp offers which is either very heavy fuzz or the HM2 Swedish Murder Machine sound. Having said that, the Orange Dark Terror fizzes up pretty good, and Hovercraft amps made a 50 watt amp with a preamp specifically to sound like an HM2...so it's all possible.

                  There's another interesting question. Are amps emulating pedals now?
                  Originally posted by Funkfingers
                  Music is for life. Without parole.

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                  • #10
                    Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                    Originally posted by wahwah View Post
                    Most of my work involves interstate air travel, and I gave up long ago on the inconsistency of hired back line, so stuff needs to be compact but good. I need a very good clean foundation in a small package, and many multi channel amps simply fail at providing that whilst trying to cover all the bases. With three gain stages in pedal form and a clean boost, all of which play nicely with each other, I can conjure up about a dozen permutations of gain from that system. In the course of a 75 minute set, I use all of them. I don't know of any amp that can do that.

                    Plus, they're colourful and cute.



                    Cheers.......................................... wahwah
                    Even though I dont play the type of gigs that wahwah is talking about here, I have a similar philosophy. I have 3-5 gain pedals + a clean boost on my board and I combine them in many different ways to achieve a huge variety of tones. I love this set up with a single channel amp, its increadibly verastile.
                    Go Packers!

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                    • #11
                      Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                      Originally posted by Matt42 View Post
                      Even though I dont play the type of gigs that wahwah is talking about here, I have a similar philosophy. I have 3-5 gain pedals + a clean boost on my board and I combine them in many different ways to achieve a huge variety of tones. I love this set up with a single channel amp, its increadibly verastile.
                      Same here, pretty much. Although one day I would like to get a nice high end amp with a solid clean channel and a great high gain channel, so that I don't always have to rely on pedals. Just not in my budget yet.

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                      • #12
                        Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                        Thanks for all the responses, guys. You're providing me with some great insight here.

                        I'm personally just not much of a pedal guy. I've tried boosted setups and such, but nothing feels as good to me as pure amp tone.. granted I use a VHT pittbull and Splawn, so my experience is probably atypical of your average player when you factor in all the people who don't gig in a heavy metal band.

                        This is why I asked!
                        -Adam

                        Hear or Follow my music:

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                        • #13
                          Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                          I've never actually played a quality high gain amp, so I can only refer to you tube clips. Many times I can hear more dynamics and clarity with the amps, versus pedals, but there seem to be more and more high gain pedals getting closer, or just sounding badass regardless.

                          After all the distortion pedals I've been through (I was about to give up), I can't say enough good things about the empress heavy. It's just brutal, with many tonal options, and, as long as the gain not too far past 10:00, it has great dynamics. And tone and responsiveness that sounds real, not like so many high pedals that sound too extreme. Set the gain on 9:00 on the lower gain channel and then run a TS type pedal through and it;s just huge.

                          Still want a high end amp though. If anything just to compare.

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                          • #14
                            Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                            The only amps I've seen that deliver on both clean and dirt would be

                            Blackstar Series One 200
                            Rhodes Colossus 100
                            Fryette Sig:X
                            Fortin Meat head

                            I would say the Bogner Shiva and XTC might be up their but the gain can't get as aggressive as the other 4.

                            Also maybe the EVH 5153 as well but never really heard a decent demo of the clean channel.


                            Mind you all these amps need NO type of dirt pedals in front IMO to sound great.
                            Originally posted by KBliss
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                            • #15
                              Re: The distortion pedal - why are they still so popular?

                              For me, it's just about different flavors. My Randall RM50 has the XTC module on the lead side, with more gain than I could ever use, but my Green Screamer, or other od pedals into the Blackface module are just other flavors for me to use. I don't really use them except at shows and rehearsals, so for me an od matters more how it boosts the amp, rather than as a stand alone distortion source.

                              I run my amp's clean side with enough od to crunch when needed, and the lead side so that the od pedal makes for a third channel. The od pedal on the amp's clean side is an alternate lead or crunch voice. That voice is usually kind of low fi comapred to the amp's od, and that is cool for dynamics.
                              Last edited by guitfiddle; 04-11-2014, 08:43 PM.
                              - Tom

                              Originally posted by Frankly
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