Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

M

Maximusgordon 2.0

New member
Hey guys,
I must admit generally speaking, i hate overdrive and distortion pedals. They can be a lot of fun sometimes but when it comes to tone, i really am not much of a fan of them. Granted most of the pedals ive tried werent boutique quality, but even the ones that lots of people swear by, i just dont like. High gain distortion always seem to totally color my sound and have no dynamics, and pedals like the Tube Screamer etc. have a pretty good tone, but is still very one dimensional and fake when compared to a good amps distortion, plus most of them cut the bass and have that annoying nasaly mid hump (no disrespect to OD lovers). However, some pedals, despite there shortcomings, do have benifits that i am looking for. I prefer my amps to stay nice and open and uncompressed. I love the way amps like that jump right out at you. But i am looking for a pedal for when i want a fat, ballsy, tubey sound with some nice smooth compression with a harmonically rich sound, that still stays true to the guitar and amp. Most importantly i needs to not have a "pedalish" sound, a real sound. Also what is the best pedal for getting a great punchy thrash metal sound that once again, truly doesnt have that pedal sounding quality? One with a dynamic and versatile sound, that has a great low end chunk and doesnt have that harsh, ****ed wah, trebly sound.

Thanks GUYS!!!
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

One that might be worth trying if you can find it is an MI Audio Blue Boy Overdrive. There made in Australia and its the best investment ive made recently. Its cool cause you can open it up and theres 3 pot on the inside which can shape the character of the pedal not just the tone of it. I have mine set at completely clean which means when its engaged it doesnt colour my tone just add drive to it. I always leave mine on when i play cause i think it just makes my tone sound better overall. Its based around the 808 model tubescreamer but has 3 times as much gain as it and has less gain at the lowest levels of drive which i think makes it quite versatile.
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

I don't know if you are running your amps clean or dirty, but a really good pedal for really cheap is the Digitech Bad Monkey pedal. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE this pedal please. It is ALL ANALOG. So please no comments about it being digital crap because it's not. The bad monkey is a tube screamer clone without the nasal mid hump with treble and bass controls. This pedal is becoming legendary. I bet you a Keeley mod for this pedal is just around the corner. The guys at The Gear Page can't seem to get enough of this pedal. Go to here and here for reviews of the pedal. The guys there are tone snobs and bootique fanatics, yet even they can't deny the bad monkey's tone. Some are even going so far as to replacing their fulldrives and sparkle drives with these.

These pedals are best used as clean boosts or as an overdrive to really push an already cranked amp into high gain. Master Volume Marshalls sound really good with this pedal set with a slight dirty boost. Now if you need this pedal to distort a clean amp, then the pedal is lacking. You would use this pedal like you would a tube screamer. The treble and bass controls are responsive and the tone is very balanced and even and transparent. Does not have the nasal mid hump that most tube screamer clones have. The downside to the pedal is that it is not true bypass. Best thing about this pedal is that it's $40. Cheap enough for anybody to try.

Supposedly theres a boutique manufacturer already working on making a clone of this pedal with true bypass. Bet they'll sell it for $150 once it goes out for retail.

You can also try the voodoo labs sparkle drive. The pedal has 2 channels and you mix the clean boost channel with the OD channel to get your tone. It is also true bypass and is only $125. The fulltone OCD might also be a good pick. Another sick sounding pedal for high gain is the lovepedal COT50. Go to www.lovepedal.com for soundclips of the COT50. Another pedal worth mentioning is the Xotic AC boost. Xotic has one of the best clean boost pedals out there call the RC Boost. It's also like $250 heh. The AC boost is like the RC boost in that it's transparent and has treble and bass controls. The AC boost, however, has more gain.

Tom
 
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Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

Tonebone hot british or classic distortion? I hear they are some of the best (not cheap).
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

I have to agree - I come from the old school of plug in and wail, and I have a dislike for pedals. Most of them have the midrange hump you described and seem to cut out the bass almost altogether. Admittedly, I have heard recordings of Keeley modded pedals and I must say I am impressed. However, with a 5150 head, I am unlikely to need any more gain than I already have!!!
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

Another vote for the Digitech Bad Monkey and anything from Lovepedal!
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

I generally dont like OD pedals... I tried :

- SD-1,
- DS-1,
- OD-1
- DirectDrive

Im now the PROUD owner of a J.Everman FuzzDrive Original, and this thing has TONE!!!
It doesnt color the tone *at all*, as the ad says "The Fuzz Drive sounds like it comes from inside your amp....." and that's the truth. No bull**** here. You can leave it ON all the time and use your guitar volume to clean up the tone, and that clean tone is fuller than straight thru amp. Fantastic unit. And moreover, it can do both thing : Fuzz and Drive separatly, or together! The Fuzz dial on mine is set at 85% and Drive at 20%. Real nice blend.
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

Stand alone distortion??? Tone Bone Hot British, hands down.
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

aestus said:
I don't know if you are running your amps clean or dirty, but a really good pedal for really cheap is the Digitech Bad Monkey pedal. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE this pedal please. It is ALL ANALOG. So please no comments about it being digital crap because it's not. The bad monkey is a tube screamer clone without the nasal mid hump with treble and bass controls. This pedal is becoming legendary. I bet you a Keeley mod for this pedal is just around the corner. The guys at The Gear Page can't seem to get enough of this pedal. Go to here and here for reviews of the pedal. The guys there are tone snobs and bootique fanatics, yet even they can't deny the bad monkey's tone. Some are even going so far as to replacing their fulldrives and sparkle drives with these.

These pedals are best used as clean boosts or as an overdrive to really push an already cranked amp into high gain. Master Volume Marshalls sound really good with this pedal set with a slight dirty boost. Now if you need this pedal to distort a clean amp, then the pedal is lacking. You would use this pedal like you would a tube screamer. The treble and bass controls are responsive and the tone is very balanced and even and transparent. Does not have the nasal mid hump that most tube screamer clones have. The downside to the pedal is that it is not true bypass. Best thing about this pedal is that it's $40. Cheap enough for anybody to try.

Supposedly theres a boutique manufacturer already working on making a clone of this pedal with true bypass. Bet they'll sell it for $150 once it goes out for retail.

You can also try the voodoo labs sparkle drive. The pedal has 2 channels and you mix the clean boost channel with the OD channel to get your tone. It is also true bypass and is only $125. The fulltone OCD might also be a good pick. Another sick sounding pedal for high gain is the lovepedal COT50. Go to www.lovepedal.com for soundclips of the COT50. Another pedal worth mentioning is the Xotic AC boost. Xotic has one of the best clean boost pedals out there call the RC Boost. It's also like $250 heh. The AC boost is like the RC boost in that it's transparent and has treble and bass controls. The AC boost, however, has more gain.

Tom
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Now I gotta go get a Bad Monkey. For $40 it's worth a try. I'm hoping to add some grit at low volumes.
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

I guess ill need to try the Bad Monkey since it is only 40$, ill have to check out some of those boutique pedals too. Ive heard the radial tonebone and did like the hot british one quite a bit, but there were a lot of clips that were just terrible too, really overdone and to much presence, im hopeing that its just because of the way it was set on the pedal. The guy who playson the clips has some good chops, but my God was his playing annoying as hell, i felt like shooting myself during some clips were he would play a insanely fast lick on the high frets with a really overdone lead sound and instead of impressing me kind of blinded me to what seems to be a great pedal.

I also just heard the clips of the G2D Morpheus, all i can say is WOW, that is a easily one of the best modern heavy sounding tones ive ever heard from a pedal. Ill definently need to look into that one more...
 
Re: Great distortion pedals for the guy who hates distortion pedals....:)

the_Chris said:
Stand alone distortion??? Tone Bone Hot British, hands down.
Click to expand...

I'll 2nd that. I don't know what kind of guitar and amp you are using, but I like the sound I get with mine thru my Classic30 and with my... (believe it or not).....Telecaster. Funny thing is I struggled to the point of giving up trying to get a good tone using the Hot British with humbuckers but with my Tele, well, I'm STILL surprised at the end result. It's amazing how the one wrong thing can throw it all off. But when you do find the right combination it's just YEAH!!
 
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