i have a maxon clone and it sounds killer even before john lay his hands on it. from the clips i heard, i think barber's direct drive would be a keeper as well. i have heard good things about voodoo labs sparkle drive.
Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde. 2 distortions for the price of 1! 1 side is kind of tube-screamer like, and the other can crush skulls at 50 paces. Plus you can select both distortions individually or both together. I love mine, using the Jekyll as a booster and the Hyde side as a differently voiced distortion from my amp.
For medium grind rock and blues it's hard to go wrong with a TS9. I've also liked the Boss Super Overdrive. It has a similar sound/feel but has a bit more gain and grind to be had and it's also pretty cheap these days. (about 50 bucks compared to about 100 for the TS9)
My rig goes like this PRS Custom 22 w/ trem ---->Ibanez TS9----->Boss Chours (CE--some number...it's a newer model)----->Boss Delay (can't remeber the model # either)----->Boss GT6 (one of those all in one fx/amp modeler things)-----> Clean channel of a Carvin X-100B------>Carvin 2x12 open back cab. I never get the master volume much past 2.
Hughes/Kettner Tube Factor - 12ax7 tube, 2 switches, one for straight tube overdrive and one to add diode clipping for more "modern" distortion. True bypass, tone setting. It rocks.
I'd like to try the maxon OD08 also. I liked the clips that I heard from Curly. It did not sound fuzzy or cheap, like most SS pedals
The Boogie V-Twin pedal is pretty versatile with great rock tone. I might have to get one of those too :laugh2:
I think the true test for a distortion pedal is in a band situation. See if it cuts the mix and see if the tone holds up when you play with some volume. It's tricky to put it to the test in a music store.
I really love my Lovetone brown source for very light overdrive
My Spina DS-1 kicks lots of ass!
You will have to pry my Pro Co rat from my cold dead hands
I am getting a Fulltone fulldrive 2 soon...played one the other day and have to have it
I want another Expandora real bad, I just keep putting it off!!!
Big Muff's are very cool one trick pnoy units...if you want to make your guitar sounds like a hair dryer get a muff!
My Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz is my fav fuzz box to date (but I will be getting a tweak fuzz very soon!!!)
all that said...nothing in the world beats an old Marshallk or Tweed fender turned up to till the knob stops moving!!!
My favorires are my own modded TS9 or TS808 and I'll now put the Sparkle Drive right up there with these 2....The TS are my most used pedals on my board...I use 2,1 for overdrive and one as a slight boost..I don't normally require alot of metal type gain when I play..
The main Overdrive and Distortion pedals I use are a Stratdeluxer modified TS9 Tubescreamer, BOSS SD1 (as a gain boost to the TS9) and a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster as a clean boost to either my Amps Overdrive or to boost the volume of clean guitar parts if I need to.
I also have a G2D Custom Overdrive that I prefer the sound of when I use my Strat, and I also have a Russian EH Big Muff that U use when I want a bit of filth
I'm planning on buying a Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz when I go to NYC in June too
My own FET equipped plexitone od, along with two other od's, one is a HDB mk1 with FET's as well, the other is my Rockdrive that has some slight changes as well.