Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

barbarianbrute

barbarianbrute

New member
what are the best distortion pedals that can go from blazing metal to smooth blues? i've got a jeckle and hyde pedal which seems to almost be there, but lacks just enough gain to go into real metal territory. what are your favorites?
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

Damage Control Demonizer. It will go from jazzy cleans to raging metal tones and everything in between. I can't think of a distortion sound that it can't approximate and it's warm & tubey also because it runs off two 12AX7's.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

You're probably have already heard of it but I hear the MI-Audio TubeZone can cover the ground you're after.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

Boss DS-1 and a soldering iron and a few schematics from the net. Huge range of tones you can get out of those things.

It can take you anywhere you want to go, though maybe not at the flick of a switch LOL
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

1. Damage Control Demonizer and Womanizer
2. Seymour Duncan SFX-03 Twin Tube Classic
3. Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer
(All IMHO).
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

MI Audio has two: Tube Zone, and Crunch Box. The latter is british all the way.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

pstarove said:
1. Damage Control Demonizer and Womanizer
2. Seymour Duncan SFX-03 Twin Tube Classic
3. Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer
(All IMHO).
Click to expand...

i had a jackhammer and it sounded very good, but i immediately got rid of it because it sounded really compressed or muffled. it made my amp sound like it was in a closet with the door closed. i like the govner pedal, but i would have preferred the jackhammer. tell me how to get rid of that muffled tone and i'll get one.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

The funny thing is that I really like this compression, but I wouldn't call the sound muffled. I normally set the knobs like this: OD mode, gain on 4 o'clock, bass on 9o'clock, treble at noon, contour disabled (full CCW). I either use the pedal in conjunction with my PC and WARP speakersimulator for recording, or connect the pedal directly to the poweramp input in my combo.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

Iron Horse said:
MI Audio has two: Tube Zone, and Crunch Box. The latter is british all the way.
Click to expand...

i tried the tube zone, but am looking into the crunch box right now. i have a metal muff and that's probably my most versatile pedal in terms of being able to go from metal to blues, but i have to use a tube screamer with it to get nice smooth overdriven sounds.

after wahwah's post, i'm seriously considering it.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

To me, a good pedal should be able to cover a lot of ground.

I'm working on a new pedal for myself to fill this need. The only knobs are gain and volume. As the gain knob is turned up, the signal goes from clean, to saturation (including even harmonics), then finally to a metal-worthy crunch. I have most of the circuit figured out, and I've ordered the parts I need to start prototyping it. I'll post a schematic of it to the board eventually.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

I'm definatly in the market for a Crunch Box too, seems that most dealers are out of stock on them however. I'll look forward to your assesment of that provided you get one before me.

Are the Damage Control boxes really worth the price though ? They are $399 right ? I've bought tube heads for less money than that so while they sound tempting, I just have an issue with the price.


I could buy a ts808, a crunch box and a tonebone hot british all for the price of a single Damage Control pedal. Does it really have the range and tone to be the end all distoriton box and warrent the price ?
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

You can't get enough out of a Jekyll & Hyde to do metal????? You must be using some extreme levels of distortion there!! :D
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

the jeckle and hyde does very well, but you're not really going to get lamb of god or shadows fall with it.
 
Re: Best Most Versatile Distortion Pedals

millsart said:
I'm definatly in the market for a Crunch Box too, seems that most dealers are out of stock on them however. I'll look forward to your assesment of that provided you get one before me.

Are the Damage Control boxes really worth the price though ? They are $399 right ? I've bought tube heads for less money than that so while they sound tempting, I just have an issue with the price.


I could buy a ts808, a crunch box and a tonebone hot british all for the price of a single Damage Control pedal. Does it really have the range and tone to be the end all distoriton box and warrent the price ?
Click to expand...

They are $299:
http://musictoyz.com/guitar/pedals/damage.php
and they are worth every penny.
 
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