Looking for a good Distortion pedal

StillLearnin'

StillLearnin'

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I'm recording some stuff for someone that needs uber-metal distortion - beyond the capabilities of my Marshalls. Anyone have any suggestions for a good low noise metal pedal?

Thanks
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

Any of the Metal Muff series from EH should do the trick.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

I know this is gonna be unpopular but...I really like my Boss Metal Zone. With the distortion at 9:00 and the level above unity into a cleanish tube amp it hits with a ton of bricks. Higher distortion settings are too saturated for my tastes. There isn't a lot of love for these pedals out there; it may just be the way they are being used. It seems to really like an amp thats biased a little on the cold side to bring out the percussive qualities of the pedal.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

I like the Boss Metal Zone and the Mega Distortion. On each of those, a good starting point is keeping all the knobs around 10:00.

I have a Metal Muff With Top Boost, but this thing sounds better with solid state amps to me. But in the category of metal distortions, it is a popular option at these forums.

The RockTron Zombie is another one I like. The description sounds kind of gimmicky, but it is pretty accurate. There are not really any calm settings on that, but if you crank up the bass and trim the treble you can experiment with the symmetry knob for some cool sounds.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

i like stacking a couple low drive pedals for a metal sound. the cool thing the pedals i use are cheap! i use a slightly modded SD-1 into an mxr classic distortion. the SD-1 is kinda grainy, and the mxr is really smooth-but-raunchy. with the levels set high and drives set mildly into a slightly overdriven amp it's a great metal-type sound.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

I have a BOSS MT-2, I heard it uses a "dual gain" circut, which means playing on '10' is really playing on '20'. The MT-2 has the most powerful EQ I've heard on any pedal.

Also try the EHX Micro Metal Muff.

The other one I recommend that you wouldnt expect is the BOSS OS-2 with the blend knob all the way to the right. Its a more compressed fuzzy sound, and still has the midrange scooped.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

have you tried a normal OD pedal (boss super OD, tube screamer) through a gain-maxed marshall? frosty as dave thomas can deliver. if that doesn't work, might as well take the sunlight studios path: boss HM pedal w/all knobs maxed.
 
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Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

DankStar said:
have you tried a normal OD pedal (boss super OD, tube screamer) through a gain-maxed marshall? frosty as dave thomas can deliver. if that doesn't work, might as well take the sunlight studios path: boss HM pedal w/all knobs maxed.
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Thanks for the replies - I haven't tried anything yet as I've never owned a distortion pedal :-) - not even an OD pedal. I've always worked off amp distortion only. I checked out some YouTube samples of the Metal Muff and it does sound pretty cool - I like the tone controls. Guess I'll look on eBay and see what I can find based on some of the recommendations above.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

DankStar said:
have you tried a normal OD pedal (boss super OD, tube screamer) through a gain-maxed marshall? frosty as dave thomas can deliver. if that doesn't work, might as well take the sunlight studios path: boss HM pedal w/all knobs maxed.
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+1!! A cranked Marshall boosted with a OD like those listed above will sound far better than any distrotion pedal on it's own.

Cheers,

CJ
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

Here are some cheap and cheafull modern metal boxes :

EHX Metal Muff
Rocktron Silver Dragon
Rocktron Metal Planet
MXR Fullbore Metal
Tech21 XXL
Barber Dirty Bomb
AMT Extreme III
BBE Crucher


Hope this can help.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

SirJackdeFuzz said:
Here are some cheap and cheafull modern metal boxes :

EHX Metal Muff
Rocktron Silver Dragon
Rocktron Metal Planet
MXR Fullbore Metal
Tech21 XXL
Barber Dirty Bomb
AMT Extreme III
BBE Crucher


Hope this can help.
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Awesome - Thanks! Haven't heard of several of those.
 
Re: Looking for a good Distortion pedal

MI Audio Tube Zone running at 18V or a Barber Dirty Bomb. I have the Barber Dirty Bomb, and it can deliver heavy distortion without getting noisy. Also, try to look at the Wampler Triple Wreck, G2D Morpheus and Fuchs Noxious.
 
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