Best distortion pedal for a metal tone!

[El Dunco]

buddy if you want GAIN an HM2 is right up your alley. the waza version is a BEAST

Otherwise, I would recommend building an Aion FX Solstice (Shredmaster clone with extra options) and boost it with something when you need MORE

How about a Dr Boogie? Recto preamp with JFets in place of tubes boosted with an overdrive if you need fast, death metal note tracking? They sell already assembled versions online. A won a pcb as a prize on this very forum. Running into the real recto power amo compared to the real thing, it’s damn close.

[Phantasmagoria]

Of all the metal distortion pedals I've tried ..nothing compares

Apparently it's a tweaked DOD Death Metal pedal...Ilove those as well, but they're an acquried taste

[marcello252]

don't understimate the power of a equalizer after a distortion pedal, for example you can have a RAT and you can put a classic Boss GE7 after to taylor the sound, I can assure you is way more effective than a one trick pony single 'metal' pedal (a classic eq for metal tone is the V shaped eq of the bands).

it works for solo parts either, just use your distortion at the solo moment engage the equalizer with a slight bump on 800 Hz, you will instantly pop yourself out the band mix without compromizing your sound, try it and thank me later

[El Dunco]

don't understimate the power of a equalizer after a distortion pedal, for example you can have a RAT and you can put a classic Boss GE7 after to taylor the sound, I can assure you is way more effective than a one trick pony single 'metal' pedal (a classic eq for metal tone is the V shaped eq of the bands).

it works for solo parts either, just use your distortion at the solo moment engage the equalizer with a slight bump on 800 Hz, you will instantly pop yourself out the band mix without compromizing your sound, try it and thank me later

Works with any source of distortion. One of my favourite pedal based sounds like I mentioned earlier is the HT-Blackfire fine-tuned with an MXR 10 band straight to a power amp. The ultimate would be a 4 band parametric with selectable frequencies and bandwidth.

[RanchManSandy]

How about a Dr Boogie? Recto preamp with JFets in place of tubes boosted with an overdrive if you need fast, death metal note tracking?

never played it, so I dunno, but it's probably fine. I'm sticking to my HM2 waza recommendation

[El Dunco]

never played it, so I dunno, but it's probably fine. I'm sticking to my HM2 waza recommendation

Depends if he wants Swedish Chainsaw/Sunlight sound (yes I am aware you can reign in fhe EQ knobs). Maybe the HM-2 plus a graphic into the FX return. Then he could have it all, from smooth to rude to crude.

[RanchManSandy]

I love boss pedals and just remembered another one that is oft overlooked, the mz-2 metalizer

[NotDemanic]

I've just been using compression into a boost, straight in.
!2DW7 into 12AX7 into one KT-77. 12" Eminence C-Rex in a (currently) open back cab. Running at 2W. Sounds incredible without destroying your hearing or pissing off the neighbors.
I have other rigs for that.

[8eezrule]

I sold my ehx metal muff w/tb. Wasn't my cup-o-tea. I'm more into 80s hairmetal and neo classical shred with some 80s thrash and southern/classic rock thrown in. Kept my mt2 to run through my vox ac10, with some delay, rev, chorus to thicken it up and compression, 80s all day man.

[Seashore]

I sold my ehx metal muff w/tb. Wasn't my cup-o-tea. I'm more into 80s hairmetal and neo classical shred with some 80s thrash and southern/classic rock thrown in. Kept my mt2 to run through my vox ac10, with some delay, rev, chorus to thicken it up and compression, 80s all day man.

I never liked it either. Maybe my least favorite distortion pedal, I tried it a lot of times and it never stayed in use.

____

This question has become less academic to me now though, because my VHT roasted a power tube yesterday, the nearest tube amp tech I know of is nearly a 2 hr drive from here, and I'm rehearsing with the bassist tomorrow. HX Effects through my old Traynor head to the rescue for now.

I've always gotten best results stacking pedals into those old Traynor tube heads, rather than trying to get all the sound from one pedal or cranking it and using an OD. I have to say I'm impressed with the way these HX models stack. Best combo for me is the Hedgehog D9 (Maxon SD9) running into the KWB (Kowloon Walled Bunny). KWB is interesting - it's a model of a real pedal that was built by a Line6 designer, which itself was based on an MXR Distortion+ that had a broken diode. I'm running it at unity with very little gain, and its EQ and various clipping options are great for taming the tone of the D9 and adding some more interesting saturation. I'm getting just a little bit of midrange warmth from the head and it's enough to make this sound and feel totally natural to me. I even tried this setting in front of a bass head that I EQd to mimic the old Traynor and it was usable and pretty darn close to being fun to play.

I'm curious about some of those Wampler dual overdrives. Pinnacle, Pantheon, some signature models. I guess with the HX Effects I don't need anything else, but I'm still interested.

[misterwhizzy]

I'm curious about some of those Wampler dual overdrives. Pinnacle, Pantheon, some signature models.

I'm right there with you. I've been seriously contemplating buying a Pinnacle v2 Deluxe as the core of my drive sound, but I get a little confused by the product line. How does it fit in and compare to the Sovereign, the Phenom, Pantheon, etc.?

[zizyphus]

Hey Nathan80, mind telling us a little bit more about what you're going for? Sorry man, but you're talking to a bunch of tone nerds who live off of abstract and imprecise verbal descriptions of sonic texture

I agree with Coma that the much-maligned metal zone actually sounds pretty killer direct into the FX loop. Ola Englund has a great video demonstrating this.

I'm partial to the Wampler Dracarys for high gain tones. The 3-band EQ section and switchable "open / tight" gain structure, as well as the option to run up to 18v, gives you a lot of variety in what you can get out of it.

misterwhizzy mentioned the Revv pedals, which are widely acclaimed. I've tried one and was impressed, but have have never owned one. I could say the same thing about the Boss HM-2, which is less revered than it should be because it's Boss and not boutique.

For those, you want say a Marshall in a box boosted with a tube screamer style pedal, so maybe a JHS Angry Charlie pushed by a TS 808

This is the JHS AT-2 - an excellent 2-in-1 pedal!
__PRESENT

[Hsb]

Hey Nathan80, mind telling us a little bit more about what you're going for? Sorry man, but you're talking to a bunch of tone nerds who live off of abstract and imprecise verbal descriptions of sonic texture

I agree with Coma that the much-maligned metal zone actually sounds pretty killer direct into the FX loop. Ola Englund has a great video demonstrating this.

I'm partial to the Wampler Dracarys for high gain tones. The 3-band EQ section and switchable "open / tight" gain structure, as well as the option to run up to 18v, gives you a lot of variety in what you can get out of it.

misterwhizzy mentioned the Revv pedals, which are widely acclaimed. I've tried one and was impressed, but have have never owned one. I could say the same thing about the Boss HM-2, which is less revered than it should be because it's Boss and not boutique.



This is the JHS AT-2 - an excellent 2-in-1 pedal!
__PRESENT

Or the Wampler Pinnacle

[El Dunco]

I’m really getting into blending pedal preamps with a 2-3 channel mine mixer (with polarity switches because sometimes there can be phase issues but haven’t had problems so far) combining a really tight, surgical hi-gain like the Fury channel on my HT-Blackfire with the hugeness of the literal recto-in-a-box Dr. Boogie.

The only downside is that it’s a lot of pedals, especially if I want to boost the DrB. What I wouldn’t give to have the guts of this whole setup in a 1U rack. If I can figure out how, I might even build one with swappable preamp “modules” (like the Randall MTS) had and a “pan” knob for each pre to use in stereo as well as stack in mono.

I’d also really love a fuzz channel I can progressively bring in and out with an expression pedal.

[zizyphus]

I’m really getting into blending pedal preamps with a 2-3 channel mine mixer (with polarity switches because sometimes there can be phase issues but haven’t had problems so far) combining a really tight, surgical hi-gain like the Fury channel on my HT-Blackfire with the hugeness of the literal recto-in-a-box Dr. Boogie.

The only downside is that it’s a lot of pedals, especially if I want to boost the DrB. What I wouldn’t give to have the guts of this whole setup in a 1U rack. If I can figure out how, I might even build one with swappable preamp “modules” (like the Randall MTS) had and a “pan” knob for each pre to use in stereo as well as stack in mono.

I’d also really love a fuzz channel I can progressively bring in and out with an expression pedal.

wow, that sounds awesome!

Now I know exactly how I'm going to go broke this year!