Distortion Pedals
- Thread starter destrukto
- Start date
Re: Distortion Pedals
Lol...I know and agree. I can't believe more here haven't tried it. It really is the best I've tried. If it already had the extra foot switches to replace the toggles and I didn't have all my other pedals, it could be the only distortion pedal I need.
Every single setting is great and unique, with great variety. And while I ofetn harp on the need for separate bass/mid/treble on every dirt box (to get around making a pedal work its best with any setup), he managed to make one tone knob work in every setting and over different amp voicings.
Such a great pedal.
Lol...I know and agree. I can't believe more here haven't tried it. It really is the best I've tried. If it already had the extra foot switches to replace the toggles and I didn't have all my other pedals, it could be the only distortion pedal I need.
Every single setting is great and unique, with great variety. And while I ofetn harp on the need for separate bass/mid/treble on every dirt box (to get around making a pedal work its best with any setup), he managed to make one tone knob work in every setting and over different amp voicings.
Such a great pedal.
Lewguitar
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
Me too.
Over the years, the only pedals I've kept have been:
ProCo Rat
TS808
Fulltone 69 (Fuzzface clone)
Loving my King of Tone, but it's still new.
Plan to get a Wampler Ecstasy - loved the one I had on loan.
Had planned to get the reissue Klon Centaur but now they've raised the price to high.
Me too.
Over the years, the only pedals I've kept have been:
ProCo Rat
TS808
Fulltone 69 (Fuzzface clone)
Loving my King of Tone, but it's still new.
Plan to get a Wampler Ecstasy - loved the one I had on loan.
Had planned to get the reissue Klon Centaur but now they've raised the price to high.
hermetico
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
That's because you didn't tried the Sovereign, Lew!.
The RAT WF was my all-times preferred one before the Sovereign.
The Sovereign is to Distortion same as the Euphoria is to Overdrive.
Da Bomb!
Highly Recommended. I don't need any other distortion pedal (even that I am running 4 different overdrives!).
That's because you didn't tried the Sovereign, Lew!.
The RAT WF was my all-times preferred one before the Sovereign.
The Sovereign is to Distortion same as the Euphoria is to Overdrive.
Da Bomb!
Highly Recommended. I don't need any other distortion pedal (even that I am running 4 different overdrives!).
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Agileguy_101
Master of his Domain
Re: Distortion Pedals
Fuzz>distortion
That said, I had a Landgraff Mo'D that was pretty kickass.
They've got more coming. Just keep an eye out and you'll be able to get one for MSRP.
Fuzz>distortion
That said, I had a Landgraff Mo'D that was pretty kickass.
They've got more coming. Just keep an eye out and you'll be able to get one for MSRP.
Lewguitar
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
I don't really need pedals to get my tone and I rarely use them.
Besides, TGWIF would shoot me if I bought another pedal before tweaking the King of Tone's factory settings first.
I am very curious about the EP-3 pedal that Brent Mason uses though. You have one too, right?
I don't really need pedals to get my tone and I rarely use them.
Besides, TGWIF would shoot me if I bought another pedal before tweaking the King of Tone's factory settings first.
I am very curious about the EP-3 pedal that Brent Mason uses though. You have one too, right?
Lewguitar
New member
hermetico
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
I know you don't need pedals for your tone but you still love to push that RAT from time to time. Just wanted to push you to try a Sovereign, by curiosity.
I have the poor's EP take, the Xotic EP Booster, not that EP-3. Same concept and, I think the maker of EP-3 was raving against Xotic.
In EP-3's maker page, I remember to read about this pre-amp and, the magic was related to some kind of phase-stuff. Interesting, anyway.
I dunno who copied who but, IMHO both pedals are awesome.
I always have it ON.
I know you don't need pedals for your tone but you still love to push that RAT from time to time. Just wanted to push you to try a Sovereign, by curiosity.
I have the poor's EP take, the Xotic EP Booster, not that EP-3. Same concept and, I think the maker of EP-3 was raving against Xotic.
In EP-3's maker page, I remember to read about this pre-amp and, the magic was related to some kind of phase-stuff. Interesting, anyway.
I dunno who copied who but, IMHO both pedals are awesome.
I always have it ON.
Re: Distortion Pedals
The double trouble is on my list for when I finally complete my pedal board to work with my dual amp switching setup. I'll be using the hyde side of jeckyl/hyde, which is basically the same TS808 circuit as the double trouble, to feed the marshall style amp and the double trouble to feed the fender style amp, after the split from the a/b box. Having bass boost switches is nice addition.
I like the idea of setting the second side of the double trouble, set to higher gain, with the first side, set to lower gain. I use the hyde now to push other pedals and the gain sides of my amps. I never understood why VS put the hyde after the jeckyl side; together like this has enevr sounded good to me. they shoulda reversed the order.
You don't hear too many reviews of the double trouble, but it sounds like you like it.
The concept behind the dual amp setup is to be able to instantly switch between a fender voice and marshall voice, such as fender cleans for chords/verse and marshall leads for solos. While I love lots of dirt pedals for variety, I haven't found a pedal that makes one amp sound far enough away from it's base tone on it's own. I already have a lot of dirt pedals, just not quite where I want to be (and won't be until my son is outta school...lol).
When I hear people say they don't use pedals to get their tone, my thoughts are that's fine, whatever works for you. But just because others use pedals doesn't mean their tone is any worse, nor does it mean they necessarily only rely on pedals for their sound (but if you do that's fine too, whatever works). I like both, and I like a large variety of tones, and only pedals will offer that (with ease & cheaply, vs several different amps).
And to me, dirt pedals run through a tube amp still sound like a tube amp in the end, just with a little different attack, eq, tone, etc, so I don't buy the amp gain is any better than pedal gain. They're both great and similar, yet different enough, imo. In the end it's all circuits running through tubes; just different ways of getting there.
Man I hope I'm not starting anything on this, not my intention at all! I know there's already a billion threads on the subject; just blabbing cause I'm home sick today.
The double trouble is on my list for when I finally complete my pedal board to work with my dual amp switching setup. I'll be using the hyde side of jeckyl/hyde, which is basically the same TS808 circuit as the double trouble, to feed the marshall style amp and the double trouble to feed the fender style amp, after the split from the a/b box. Having bass boost switches is nice addition.
I like the idea of setting the second side of the double trouble, set to higher gain, with the first side, set to lower gain. I use the hyde now to push other pedals and the gain sides of my amps. I never understood why VS put the hyde after the jeckyl side; together like this has enevr sounded good to me. they shoulda reversed the order.
You don't hear too many reviews of the double trouble, but it sounds like you like it.
The concept behind the dual amp setup is to be able to instantly switch between a fender voice and marshall voice, such as fender cleans for chords/verse and marshall leads for solos. While I love lots of dirt pedals for variety, I haven't found a pedal that makes one amp sound far enough away from it's base tone on it's own. I already have a lot of dirt pedals, just not quite where I want to be (and won't be until my son is outta school...lol).
When I hear people say they don't use pedals to get their tone, my thoughts are that's fine, whatever works for you. But just because others use pedals doesn't mean their tone is any worse, nor does it mean they necessarily only rely on pedals for their sound (but if you do that's fine too, whatever works). I like both, and I like a large variety of tones, and only pedals will offer that (with ease & cheaply, vs several different amps).
And to me, dirt pedals run through a tube amp still sound like a tube amp in the end, just with a little different attack, eq, tone, etc, so I don't buy the amp gain is any better than pedal gain. They're both great and similar, yet different enough, imo. In the end it's all circuits running through tubes; just different ways of getting there.
Man I hope I'm not starting anything on this, not my intention at all! I know there's already a billion threads on the subject; just blabbing cause I'm home sick today.
Inkstained
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
It varies -- a sign that I probably have too many dirt pedals.
Right now, I'm digging an MXR Classic 108 Fuzz in front of my Blues Jr. Last month, I had a Boss BD-2 in front of my Princeton. But it could easily have been an MXR 78 Distortion or even a Boss FBM-1 Bassman pedal.
And sometimes, I just turn the amp up.:banana:
It varies -- a sign that I probably have too many dirt pedals.
Right now, I'm digging an MXR Classic 108 Fuzz in front of my Blues Jr. Last month, I had a Boss BD-2 in front of my Princeton. But it could easily have been an MXR 78 Distortion or even a Boss FBM-1 Bassman pedal.
And sometimes, I just turn the amp up.:banana:
Dr. Vegetable
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
I had gotten away from pedal distortion to using tube amp gain for all my hair. But I just recently grabbed an MXR Classic Distortion and put it in front of my Blues Jr., and was pleasantly surprised at how good it sounded. It's making me wish I had grabbed the MXR '78 that I saw recently. It's a nice setup because it means I can leave the BJr set for a tastier mild gain and step on the pedal when I want some crunch. Without it I tend to keep the amp driven harder, which then means I don't often get back to that edge-of-breakup sweet spot on the amp.
Amp gain and pedals both have their place.
Cool blog - bookmarked! The schematics are handy, but could be improved. For example, the pots and switches should be labeled by function on the schematic. I also found the wiring of battery-to-9V-jack to be a bit of a head-scratcher, as the jack symbol used is nonstandard. Nothing we can't figure out, but it might improve the usefulness of these resources to standardize the schematics a bit.
Thanks for the link. Keep up the great work!
I had gotten away from pedal distortion to using tube amp gain for all my hair. But I just recently grabbed an MXR Classic Distortion and put it in front of my Blues Jr., and was pleasantly surprised at how good it sounded. It's making me wish I had grabbed the MXR '78 that I saw recently. It's a nice setup because it means I can leave the BJr set for a tastier mild gain and step on the pedal when I want some crunch. Without it I tend to keep the amp driven harder, which then means I don't often get back to that edge-of-breakup sweet spot on the amp.
Amp gain and pedals both have their place.
Cool blog - bookmarked! The schematics are handy, but could be improved. For example, the pots and switches should be labeled by function on the schematic. I also found the wiring of battery-to-9V-jack to be a bit of a head-scratcher, as the jack symbol used is nonstandard. Nothing we can't figure out, but it might improve the usefulness of these resources to standardize the schematics a bit.
Thanks for the link. Keep up the great work!
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
Re: Distortion Pedals
Interesting where we all draw the line regarding "distortion" vs "overdrive etc...
I'm sticking with Metal Muff with Top Boost.
I also dig my Catalinbread Supercharged Overdrive, which, IMO, is a distortion box.
Also an old school fan of the Boss HM-2, but that's a matter of personal taste.
Interesting where we all draw the line regarding "distortion" vs "overdrive etc...
I'm sticking with Metal Muff with Top Boost.
I also dig my Catalinbread Supercharged Overdrive, which, IMO, is a distortion box.
Also an old school fan of the Boss HM-2, but that's a matter of personal taste.
AudioWonderland
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
Go get the 78 Badass. If you like the Classic Distortion I think you will love the 78. I have both and definitely like the 78 better
Go get the 78 Badass. If you like the Classic Distortion I think you will love the 78. I have both and definitely like the 78 better
Inkstained
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
Another 'thumbs up' for the '78. It's the sound that came out of your radio in the late 70s/early 80s. :cool2:
Another 'thumbs up' for the '78. It's the sound that came out of your radio in the late 70s/early 80s. :cool2:
Scott Marceau
SD Artist Relations / Sales
Re: Distortion Pedals
Whoa! Great blog.
Don't forget the mighty (and sorely overlooked) Twin Tube Classic. Also check out some pedals made by Earthquaker Devices!
Whoa! Great blog.
Don't forget the mighty (and sorely overlooked) Twin Tube Classic. Also check out some pedals made by Earthquaker Devices!
Dr. Vegetable
New member
Re: Distortion Pedals
Yes, I find it difficult to tell the difference (by ear) between overdrive and distortion, even though I know diode signal clipping is an entirely different beast from tube overdrive clipping, which is entirely different again from overdriving solid state. They all introduce a lot of high-frequency harmonic noise, but in each case the character of the resulting signal is quite different. I'll probably develop an ear for it as I play with a few pedals in my current setup, but I have not generally mixed tube gear with solid state.
Ok, two recommendations is enough. '78 acquired; I'll crank it up this weekend. Thanks for pushing me past the tipping point!
The SD Twin Tube Classic is another great pedal, but as Aceman points out it is an overdrive not a distortion, FWIW.
Yes, I find it difficult to tell the difference (by ear) between overdrive and distortion, even though I know diode signal clipping is an entirely different beast from tube overdrive clipping, which is entirely different again from overdriving solid state. They all introduce a lot of high-frequency harmonic noise, but in each case the character of the resulting signal is quite different. I'll probably develop an ear for it as I play with a few pedals in my current setup, but I have not generally mixed tube gear with solid state.
Ok, two recommendations is enough. '78 acquired; I'll crank it up this weekend. Thanks for pushing me past the tipping point!
The SD Twin Tube Classic is another great pedal, but as Aceman points out it is an overdrive not a distortion, FWIW.
Scott Marceau
SD Artist Relations / Sales
Re: Distortion Pedals
Hmm, the Lead channel of the Twin Tube Classic can give a real distorted sound. Twin Tube Mayhem then for sure.
Hmm, the Lead channel of the Twin Tube Classic can give a real distorted sound. Twin Tube Mayhem then for sure.
