Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Fonzie

Fonzie

New member
Looking to get a nice high gain sound for cheap (something Mesa-Boogie-esque, Rectifier, etc. you get the idea :smokin:) Max price of maybe like 70 or 80 dollars. Some sounds that come to mind are the tone in "Mother" by Danzig, "Dammit" by Blink, and "Say it 'Aint So" by Weezer. Somethin tight and nice, and does palm mutes well and cuts through. I hope I gave enough information, any help is appreciated, thanks in advance! :laugh2:
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Fonzie said:
Looking to get a nice high gain sound for cheap (something Mesa-Boogie-esque, Rectifier, etc. you get the idea :smokin:) Max price of maybe like 70 or 80 dollars. Some sounds that come to mind are the tone in "Mother" by Danzig, "Dammit" by Blink, and "Say it 'Aint So" by Weezer. Somethin tight and nice, and does palm mutes well and cuts through. I hope I gave enough information, any help is appreciated, thanks in advance! :laugh2:
Click to expand...
For 120 you could get a fulltone ocd and i believe that would be just what your looking for. If you are on a tighter budget i would recommend a boss metalizer as they are very easy to use.

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Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

EHX OD Glove, cheap OCD clone.


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Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Joyo US Dream with the gain knob at or below 12 o'clock. Trust me. Tighter than OCD. And you can find one for $30 or less used.
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Nickmag01 said:
For 120 you could get a fulltone ocd and i believe that would be just what your looking for. If you are on a tighter budget i would recommend a boss metalizer as they are very easy to use.

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Click to expand...

Thanks alot for the suggestion man, but 120 is a little out of my price range. I'll check out the metalizer. ;)
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Fonzie said:
The backline amps at the shows I play, so usually a Fender Bassbreaker or Twin Reverb.
Click to expand...

Ah, headroom...

Some options that work well in front of clean

Paul Cochrane Timmy
Barber Direct Drive
Fulltone OCD
Tube Screamer
MXR Distortion II
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

I might look at some of the Digitech Hardwire pedals. They seem to be well made and versatile, and used prices are under your budget.

And there is always the ubiquitous Boss DS-1.

Bill
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

You can't go wrong with a DS-2. It's a good beginner pedal and can be found for about $50ish on Reverb.com.
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Fonzie said:
Looking to get a nice high gain sound for cheap (something Mesa-Boogie-esque, Rectifier, etc. you get the idea :smokin:) Max price of maybe like 70 or 80 dollars. Some sounds that come to mind are the tone in "Mother" by Danzig, "Dammit" by Blink, and "Say it 'Aint So" by Weezer. Somethin tight and nice, and does palm mutes well and cuts through. I hope I gave enough information, any help is appreciated, thanks in advance! :laugh2:
Click to expand...

Mesa-Boogie-esque? Rectifier? 70 or 80 dollars? How ‘bout a used Tech 21 U.S. Steel / U.S. Metal?
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

US Dream! I have tried out a dozen different OD and distortion pedals in the last year or two and that thing sounds like what you describe as long as you keep the gain down to half or less, Very Mesa even though it is supposed to be very Marshall.

Fwiw, the DOD Boneshaker is currently on sale NEW for $35:

https://www.harmanaudio.com/DOD-BON...jrOS579uy8StA3MRFhrYwk6t7uODEYyhoCZ0IQAvD_BwE

I am guessing they will sell out soon. All the guys who paid over $100 gotta be pi$$ed!
 
Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Laugh all you want, but I'll vouch for the Boss Metal Core on this one.
Just listen to the tone Rob Chapman gets out of it. I've set the link with the exact moment he plays it:


That's heavy, definitely a worthy Recto sounding pedal.
I had a US Dream and IMO it was a bit too warm and nice for an angry Recto tone. It lacks a bit of sizzle and "good" fizz on top.
 
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Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Just purchased a US Dream and Vox Stomplab2 looking for crunch tones. Got the Us for 30 and vox for 70.

2 completely different approaches, both good, and bottom line is what works for you...

Summary...
US has a great out of the box overdrive. Perfect for crunch rhythm or lightly crunched leads. However, when increasing crunch aiming for sustain and singing tone, it gets one deminsional very fast... Like a fuzz thats not in a great eq band. I think this pedal makes sense within a bigger pedal board environment where compression and delay can expand on that simple core crunch.


Vox... Just about any crunch u can imagine out of the box... Built like a tank. I have the minifoot pedal and it's great for fx, but you can get the same sounds around $60 without pedal.

The vox sounds are amazing and it's all there standalone.

Planning on doing a shootoff one of these days... Amazing what's out there at such low cost.

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Re: Looking for a decent inexpensive distortion pedal

Little Pigbacon said:
Mesa-Boogie-esque? Rectifier? 70 or 80 dollars? How ‘bout a used Tech 21 U.S. Steel / U.S. Metal?
Click to expand...

I defer to LPB's deep knowledge of such tones from pedals. Knew you'd have the correct answer....
 
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