Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

[Diego]

In the next months I'll start gigging around after more than 3 years off the stages, so I'd like to build a small, spartan pedalboard that I can throw in front of whatever clean amp the house has, if I feel lazy/can't take my own gear,
and designed NOT to go through an FX loop for obvious reasons.

The chain will probably go like this:

Guitar -> Joyo Tuner Pedal-> Boss CE-2 -> [insert distortion pedal here] -> EHX Memory Toy -> Boss GE-7 -> [insert amp here]

I might put an overdrive pedal before the distortion pedal to get some extra juice when needed.
The thing is... what distortion pedal?

In the past I've had:

Marshall Jackhammer: Sounded OK, but a bit sterile and cold in the mids. Great EQ though and cleaned up pretty good from the guitar.
Joyo Us Dream: Great warm tone, but the lack of EQ control ruins it.
"Diezel-mod" Boss Metal Zone: Ferocious and thick as hell, but too saturated and not transparent enough. Squished and congested, sounds exactly like a pedal, if a pretty damn brutal one.

So what I'd like is:

• MID CONTROL IS A MUST, 3-band being ideal. Parametric mids would be extremely awesome.
• No overdrive pedals, since I won't be pushing a crunchy amp, but dealing with a boring clean template to do my thing.
• For obvious reasons, flexible. I need to be able to adjust it to whatever amp I'll deal with.
• Dynamic. I do not want a squished out sounding pedal like my Metal Zone. On this aspect the Jackhammer was excellent. It responded really well to different guitars.
• More of a Hard Rock pedal than a Metal pedal.

Budget? I don't know. Reasonable. I'd love a Palladium or something but that's crazy expensive this side of the world. Let's say $150 as a reference, willing to stretch it for a killer unit.

I'm looking at the following units, never having tried them:

• TC Electronics Dark Matter (no mid knob, but the "Voice" switch seems good)
• TC Electronics MojoMojo
• MXR Super Badass Distortion

Anything I might be forgetting? Feel free to add ideas.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

If you are looking for Marshall flavor, I'm a huge fan of the Wampler Plexidrive Deluxe (lower gain) and Pinnacle Deluxe V2 (higher gain). You'd have to go used for that price, but Wamplers are built like the proverbial tank. Another set of super cool pedals that are just starting to touch that price used are the Bogner Blue, Red and La Grange. Again, awesome tones that are super versatile and will plug straight into a clean amp. The Wamplers have a dedicated overdrive circuit as a second footswitch (and works awesome) and the Bogners have a boost footswitch. (Mitigating need for additional OD pedal)

Edit - I see your location now. Are these way out of the price realm used where you are?

 

[Diego]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

If you are looking for Marshall flavor, I'm a huge fan of the Wampler Plexidrive Deluxe (lower gain) and Pinnacle Deluxe V2 (higher gain). You'd have to go used for that price, but Wamplers are built like the proverbial tank. Another set of super cool pedals that are just starting to touch that price used are the Bogner Blue, Red and La Grange. Again, awesome tones that are super versatile and will plug straight into a clean amp. The Wamplers have a dedicated overdrive circuit as a second footswitch (and works awesome) and the Bogners have a boost footswitch. (Mitigating need for additional OD pedal)

Edit - I see your location now. Are these way out of the price realm used where you are?

Hey good Sir. Not so much out of our price realm, as out of our used market!
We do have Wampler and Bogner dealerships here, but they're extremely expensive and used they're so rare, they don't go that much cheaper than new.
That's why I'm thinking of more common brands like MXR and TC.

With that said, I'll keep an eye for those pedals used!

Also, I'm not really looking for a Marshall flavor, but that's what most pedals do, so I can settle for that if it's good.
I'd love something that sounded like a Mesa Mark IIC+ or something, but that's not gonna happen with a box in front of a Fender combo, right?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Dunno if you can find a Dirty Deed down there, but it is an excellent pedal that stacks well.

 

[Diego]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Dunno if you can find a Dirty Deed down there, but it is an excellent pedal that stacks well.

I'd love to, but...

 

[stupendous silly]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Thomann.de is shipping stuff to most parts of the world I believe, I am getting them shipped to Turkey with no issues.

 

[milohodges]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

In the next months I'll start gigging around after more than 3 years off the stages, so I'd like to build a small, spartan pedalboard that I can throw in front of whatever clean amp the house has, if I feel lazy/can't take my own gear,
and designed NOT to go through an FX loop for obvious reasons.

The chain will probably go like this:

Guitar -> Joyo Tuner Pedal-> Boss CE-2 -> [insert distortion pedal here] -> EHX Memory Toy -> Boss GE-7 -> [insert amp here]

I might put an overdrive pedal before the distortion pedal to get some extra juice when needed.
The thing is... what distortion pedal?

In the past I've had:

Marshall Jackhammer: Sounded OK, but a bit sterile and cold in the mids. Great EQ though and cleaned up pretty good from the guitar.
Joyo Us Dream: Great warm tone, but the lack of EQ control ruins it.
"Diezel-mod" Boss Metal Zone: Ferocious and thick as hell, but too saturated and not transparent enough. Squished and congested, sounds exactly like a pedal, if a pretty damn brutal one.

So what I'd like is:

• MID CONTROL IS A MUST, 3-band being ideal. Parametric mids would be extremely awesome.
• No overdrive pedals, since I won't be pushing a crunchy amp, but dealing with a boring clean template to do my thing.
• For obvious reasons, flexible. I need to be able to adjust it to whatever amp I'll deal with.
• Dynamic. I do not want a squished out sounding pedal like my Metal Zone. On this aspect the Jackhammer was excellent. It responded really well to different guitars.
• More of a Hard Rock pedal than a Metal pedal.

Budget? I don't know. Reasonable. I'd love a Palladium or something but that's crazy expensive this side of the world. Let's say $150 as a reference, willing to stretch it for a killer unit.

I'm looking at the following units, never having tried them:

• TC Electronics Dark Matter (no mid knob, but the "Voice" switch seems good)
• TC Electronics MojoMojo
• MXR Super Badass Distortion

Anything I might be forgetting? Feel free to add ideas.

Another great Marshall sounding distortion pedal is the Angry Charlie-it's an all red box I just forget who makes it but is really great

 

[Diego]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Another great Marshall sounding distortion pedal is the Angry Charlie-it's an all red box I just forget who makes it but is really great

That's a JHS. Beautiful sounding thing but I'd rather not go that expensive. Used, it could be.
There's a Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe for sale in my town. I'll wait a bit because I'm paying for a new neck (more on that in another thread) but I like what I'm hearing so far.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Just a heads up, if it's a V1 Deluxe, there no three band EQ (the Contour is similar to a Mid, but it shifts frequencies as you turn it up) and the Boost is a simple gain boost, not a standalone OD circuit Boost.
Still a great pedal, I have the non deluxe version and it's a staple on my board.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

The Mojomojo is an OD pedal, not a distortion.
For what you describe the dark matter would be almost perfect. It's cheap and it sounds good. I dig it.

Maybe the DoD boneshaker?

All the really high-end pedals like the triple wreck, catapulp, throttlebox, ubershall, etc are just insanely priced. 300 for a pedal? lol

Maybe ehx has a knockoff version of an existing populair pedal?

 

[Demanic]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

I'm a fan of Keeley. Don't know if you can get them shipped down there.

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[6stringerguy]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

DOD Boneshaker is a affordable distortion with a 3 band parametric EQ


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[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Can't beat this one for the money...

..$50 on ebay with free shipping from PRC :laugh2:

I have the "Metal End KING" version (Same thing with supposedly better component quality...ie switches, jacks & stuff..) . It's actually a really killer pedal :bigthumb:

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

DOD Boneshaker is a affordable distortion with a 3 band parametric EQ


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That looks like a cool pedal with a very flexible EQ, but it's actually semi-parametric as it lacks a Q (bandwidth) control for each band.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

The Blackstar HT-Dual is phenominal. Distortion and OD in one pedal.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Another fave :bigthumb:

They were a limited custom run from Alter Ego effects...but are basically a stock Artec "Crazy Metal" pedal minus the killer \m/ paint-job. Incredible sounding pedal, not just for the price..

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

If I were you I'd go with a "Amp In A Box" type distortion (I.E.-Bogner, Wampler, Ect.) & stick a OverDrive before it in your chain. They are kinda pricey but well worth the money IMHO & many of them let you boost the dirt with a O.D. while still keeping all the amp like characteristics of said Distortion pedal, even when running into a S.S. amp....

Obviously this works even better if you are playing into a cleanish valve amp, but in a pinch they'll usually sound pretty fantastic running into just about everything!!!

 

[6stringerguy]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

The Blackstar HT-Dual is phenominal. Distortion and OD in one pedal.

I've got the ht dual metal and it's very versatile and was my main sound when I first started out


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[Nightburst]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

I can sell you my dark matter pedal if you want.

 

[The JEM Ghost]

Re: Recommend me a nice distortion pedal.

Can't beat this one for the money...

..$50 on ebay with free shipping from PRC :laugh2:

I have the "Metal End KING" version (Same thing with supposedly better component quality...ie switches, jacks & stuff..) . It's actually a really killer pedal :bigthumb:

I can't agree more, that's the very best metal distortion pedal I've ever came across. It truly is an amazing pedal, at such a low price!! Highly recommended!!