Distortion pedal?

[BloodRose]

Been busy with moving and kid problems and not been around much lately and dont have much time to do a proper search, so Im gonna just ask. sorry, Im sure the info is out there.. but.... (plus, there maybe something new and better out now)

Anyhow, looking for a distortion pedal. Back when I was in the loop and really gearwho#eing, the top dogs seemed to be the OCD and box of rock. Those still the top ones?? If so, which is better and why?
I know its subjective...

I have and like my ftl drive and swapped out my tube screamer for a green rhino. Im looking for something diff. Love me 80's metal and hotrodded marshall tones. But need versatility too. The GR and tubescreamers are great with my bigger amps for leads, but Im mostly playing a PV classic 30 these days due to space right now.

if the ones I mentioned are still top dogs, how are they better? (with a clean tone, or boosting a drive channel?)
Thanks!!

 

[LLL]

Re: Distortion pedal?

I got rid of all my od and dists (OCD, MXR Dist+, etc) a while back. I am strictly a preamp/EQ into the amp head kinda
guy now; let the amp do the work.

But I kept one.

A Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe.

It is very good plugged into the front of a clean tube amp (I use my '67 Deluxe in this case).

In fact, plugged into the front of a clean tube amp is the only way I would use it (not for boosting a drive channel).

I would say Hotrodded Marshall tones / 80s metal is it's thing.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Distortion pedal?

THIS is still my go-to Distortion box.

OD - Dist - Fuzz . . . all in one box !

 

[dominus]

Re: Distortion pedal?

AMT M1.



If you need to push it a little harder, stick an overdrive in front, but it should do 80s Marshall metal straight up.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Distortion pedal?

Great bang for the buck is the old style Duncan Power Grid.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Distortion pedal?

AMT M1.



If you need to push it a little harder, stick an overdrive in front, but it should do 80s Marshall metal straight up.

i keep forgetting about the amts.. thanks

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Distortion pedal?

A Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe.

I really like my Pinnacle as well. The brand new Plexi Drive Deluxe looks great as well. The OCD is a classic choice as well, any obe of them would be a great compliment to the Green Rhino. Add in a Big Muff style and you are covered!

 

[jimijames]

Re: Distortion pedal?

I want to say rat, but I can't because I haven't finished building mine yet. But intuitively it sounds like this is the type of thing it should do.

There's one pedal that should be mentioned... The analogman king of tone. But, I can't justify to myself spending the money so I'm building one with a charge pump (rullywow queen of bone fwiw)

Its also going to be running on 24-30v internally (lm833 op amps) so there won't be a ton of distortion but it will have good headroom at least lol.

But I digress. The reason I suggested the king of tone is because it has a distortion mode which sounds excellent. Any two red 3mm LED (dirt cheap too) run to ground after the second stage in a bluesbreaker type circuit sounds delicious as far as I'm concerned...

For amp enhancers, there's nothing like a high input impedance EP boost. High input impedance because it sounds better, EP because I like it more than the SHO circuit in this application.

And now that I'm done ranting lol, let me recommend the brootz... Mxr doubleshot distortion remains to this day my favorite dual channel ass kicker.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Distortion pedal?

I would say the ProCo Rat 2 pedal...cheap price but awesome tone! Mine does not have any "noise" when not playing, clearly cuts through any mix I've pushed it through, and doesn't seem to lose any power when alternating between power chords and single notes (an issue I had with my other gain pedals–both ODs and Distortions.)

 

[Demanic]

Re: Distortion pedal?

How about this? A pair of Twins.

 

[LatsMcGee]

Re: Distortion pedal?

Marshall? Purple Plexi!

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Distortion pedal?

Ocd is still a great dirt box. Its cutting and defined and gives you gobs of sustain.
The box of rock is not quite as dirty but it sounds a lot more natural.
The ocd is better as the single dirt source (ie thru a clean fender amp) but the BOR suits a boosting function into a crunchier amp better.
perhaps you could say the ocd sounds more 80s and the bor sounds more 70s

 

[Spudman]

Re: Distortion pedal?

I picked up a Donner Morpher and am happily surprised at how much I like it. Only thing that could be considered a negative is that it is only ac powered, no battery. Otherwise, I'm 100% happy with it.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Distortion pedal?

M.I. Audio Crunchbox is a solid pedal.