i need one good distortion pedal

[D]

i am absolutely fed up with my multi effects pedals

i need a distortion pedal

something where my lows growl and my solo's absolutely scream

anyone have any suggestions?

what type of distortion/multi effects boards do u all use?

im fed up with my Digitech300A i hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pewing33ny]

if you have a tube amp and want a little more edge to the overdrive go with the

Bad Monkey Pedal. 

I was originally turned off by a bright green pedal that was called bad monkey but i tried it as a boost and it's better then the sd-1.  at only $40 it's a really good deal. 

i'm serious about this, it's not a joke. somehow they made a sweet pedal that is marketed very poorly

[Darkburst]

i am absolutely fed up with my multi effects pedals

i need a distortion pedal

something where my lows growl and my solo's absolutely scream

anyone have any suggestions?

what type of distortion/multi effects boards do u all use?

im fed up with my Digitech300A i hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What kind of amp do you have? If you don't have a decent tube amp you're not gonna get good sounding distortion IMO.

[D]

well i need a distortion to use with my 8 track digital studio

i have a shitty PA system but i run it straight through my studio to record.

i wish i had great equipment, im tryin to make a great cd but my guitar sucks, my amp sucks,my pedal board sucks

all told my guitar is about a 250 dollar guitar my amp is bout a 150.00 PA and my effects board is 200.00

my studio is about 800.00 and has great quality but my tone sucks

i also have like a 60 dollar mic

so anyhow sorry im venting but i have great songs but my equipment doesnt allow them to sound like they should.

[journey]

I saw one at Target for $234.00. You should give it a glance when you're out that way. They only have like two left, so you better not waste any time. Because this price is insane!!!!!!!! Happy shopping. 

[D]

I saw one at Target for $234.00. You should give it a glance when you're out that way. They only have like two left, so you better not waste any time. Because this price is insane!!!!!!!! Happy shopping.?

have u been sniffing glue in the parking lot?

[Miz]

Blackstone Mosfet II Overdrive.

http://www.mindspring.com/~j.blackstone/

The best sounding distortion pedal on the market.  It's quite expensive but there really is nothing better.  It would be perfect for DI-ing into a PA because unlike almost every other pedal on the market, it doesn't rely on driving a valve amp's power stage harder, it's designed to use over a perfectly clean amp.  And it works brilliantly.

[BP]

Hi D..

Yea dude.... throw away that effects processor.  Like Darkburst said, it depends on what amp you have. Also, are you playing with a clean amp?  or does it have distortion channels?  Very important because many distortion pedals won't work with those dirty channels. but if you want to simply Boost your dirty channels with a little sparkle.......  I'd look for a used TS9 by Ibanez.  or scratch that for now.....  what amp you using? & are you using clean channels or Dirt?

-BP

if you have a tube amp and want a little more edge to the overdrive go with the

Bad Monkey Pedal.

I was originally turned off by a bright green pedal that was called bad monkey but i tried it as a boost and it's better then the sd-1. at only $40 it's a really good deal.

i'm serious about this, it's not a joke. somehow they made a sweet pedal that is marketed very poorly

I've also heard & read good reviews on this. exactly what you said.  but I havent tried that thang, so I can't recommend.

[D]

clean amp and imgonna research that pedal Miz.

thanks alot!!!

id love to be able to afford a nice stack, but im poor and have no means to probably ever afford something like that.

im gonna work on getting a great guitar first and then hopefully save for a nice amp.

[Darkburst]

clean amp and imgonna research that pedal Miz.

thanks alot!!!

id love to be able to afford a nice stack, but im poor and have no means to probably ever afford something like that.

im gonna work on getting a great guitar first and then hopefully save for a nice amp.

As long as your guitar plays and sounds halfway decent, it's best to get a good amp first. Even a great guitar will have shitty tone through a bad amp. You don't have to spend a fortune and don't rule out used gear. You can get quality equipment for a lot less that way. For amps I strongly suggest getting a 30 watt or higher tube amp. You can't achieve that rock n roll crunch without one. Modellers are okay for practice but I find them too harsh too cold sounding overall.

[D]

thats a good idea darkburst


so when u record what do u do? mic the amp? is that how they do it?

u play through your amp and just mic it?

im no where near as knowlegeable as i should be on these things.

could i get a good amp for 400 to 500 bucks u think?

[BP]

ahh

I love clean amps... when I use them, I use an Electro Harmonix Big Muff for sustaining leads (wow) & then the TS9 is kool for riffing but thats more of a overdrive 'tube screamer' with more sparkle than bottom end but ya can get it to break up nice. Then again I'm trying to stay with true-bypass effects

I never had a DS1 .... may be worth checking out at a local store. you can get all of the pedals I just mentioned pretty cheap used. Built like tanks. Rumor has it the black Big Muff is made from the scrappings of Rusian Tanks.


I think you can get a Peavey Classic 30 for that much. They are pretty sweet.    All Tube

-BP

[Darkburst]

thats a good idea darkburst


so when u record what do u do? mic the amp? is that how they do it?

u play through your amp and just mic it?

im no where near as knowlegeable as i should be on these things.

could i get a good amp for 400 to 500 bucks u think?

Most recordings are done by mic'ing the amp. The Shure SM57 is a popular mic for doing this.

Do  a search on Ebay of these:

Marshall TSL Combo

Marshall JCM 800 Combo

I've also heard the new Crate V Series or Traynor Amps are good for the money. If you want something that will deliver rock/hard rock distortion make sure it has EL34 power tubes. Most Marshalls and Marshall-esque amps will have them.

Good luck!

[D]

in musician's friend they have a kick as 100W marshall for 425.00 bucks brand new, i could definitely afford that.

i use to have a Carvin Stack with speakers and the head but i sold it like an idiot.


sounds like a great idea

my guitar is a yamaha, my mom bought it for me for christmas, its probably about a 350.00 dollar guitar but i replaced the factory humbuckers with some Steve Vai model Dimarzio humbuckers which ran about 70 bucks and have improved my guitar tremendously.

so im gonna get that marshall and that should hopefully do the trick.

[Miz]

Isn't that a solid state head?

There is no point in paying for 100W of solid state power because,
a) Marshall solid states are shit
and b) it won't even be that loud.  A 20 Watt tube amp would probably be louder.

[D]

thanks Miz!!!!

see thats why im not making any quick buys


so *excuse me i am illiterate when it comes to this shit*

so the amp will specify that its a tube amp correct?

thanks guys!!!

[Darkburst]

Isn't that a solid state head?

There is no point in paying for 100W of solid state power because,
a) Marshall solid states are shit
and b) it won't even be that loud.? A 20 Watt tube amp would probably be louder.

Miz is correct. Most amps that are 'all tube' will say so. Just be careful because there are a lot of crappy Marshall, Fender and Vox solid state amps as well as good tubes ones.

D, your guitar sounds good to me. I'd spend the money on an good tube amp and buy a new guitar sometime in the future if you feel you have outgrown the Yamaha.

[RnT]

Hey D
I use the POD 6.0 Line 6
is pretty good in my opinion
 
you can check the sound in some mp3 of my band at - www.nutshell.com.br
 
c-ya

[D]

Hey D
I use the POD 6.0 Line 6
is pretty good in my opinion
 
you can check the sound in some mp3 of my band at - www.nutshell.com.br
 
c-ya

dude i read abut that POD and i am gonna order that!

its 400 bucks though but it sounds like it is the shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im gonna find a good tube amp and buy that POD hopefully that will do the trick

im not gonna record anymore till i get a tube amp and get my sound justl ike i want it

RNT i will listen to your stuff here in a little bit and tell u what i think

what us musicians on the board need to realize is, we may get one shot, so we better take the Axl approach and make the best record we can cause u never know if u will get a 2nd chance

thanks a lot guys for all the pointers!

RNT i shall get back to u

im gonna check around and post before i buy anything, cause i dont wanna spend big dollars on a piece of shit

i wasted 200 bucks on that DIGI tech 300a multi effects board and it just wasnt worth it especially when i consider with 200 more bucks i couldve got the POD line 6 i mean holy shit that thing looks impressive!

[Darkburst]

Modelers are good for recording but you can't play them with a band like a tube amp! I also recommend you check out the Vox Tonelab if you go the modeler route because it sounds and feels more like a real tube amp. That may be because it uses a real 12AX7 tube to simulate the sound and feel of power tubes. If you can go to a well stocked guitar store and try this stuff out.

[D]

i am going to have too

only thing is we dont have a music store here, well we do but its shitty and they dont sell stuff

when i go see my GF *she lives in a big city* im gonna have to make her take me to a music store
if i get a great tube amp and that POD 6.0, i should be set
i can play through the tube amp, mic it and hopefully get an amazing guitar tone.

do u write and record songs Darkburst?
id beinterested in hearing some stuff if u do!

[Darkburst]

i am going to have too

only thing is we dont have a music store here, well we do but its shitty and they dont sell stuff

when i go see my GF *she lives in a big city* im gonna have to make her take me to a music store
if i get a great tube amp and that POD 6.0, i should be set
i can play through the tube amp, mic it and hopefully get an amazing guitar tone.

do u write and record songs Darkburst?
id beinterested in hearing some stuff if u do!

Here's two demo / song sketches I have right now:

http://brianromero.com/audio/rock_song_02a.mp3

http://brianromero.com/audio/rock-song-05b.mp3

[D]

i believe im gonna pick this up, what do u all think?


http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/s=effects/search/detail/base_pid/150389/



and im gonna go witha  classic crybaby wah pedal and hopefully ill be ready to go

[BP]

did you ever play it? 


yea I picked up a cry baby for $30 on eBay....  works good as new

-BP

[D]

shit 30 bucks?

maybe i should check on there before i buy brand new

ive owned 2 Wah pedals in my life but they always fuck up on me for some reason, i cant figure it out.

im gonna order that distortion pedal, cause its a Line 6 but just the distortion, i figure RNT has a line 6 and his distortion is amazing sounding, so ill get the individual Line 6 distortion


musican's friend is cool as fuck, 45 days from the time u receive your merchandise if u dont like it, u can call get a send back number, mail the shit back and get a full refund

ill order it, if i dont like it, the shit will go back and ill try somethin else.

[BP]

yes I like MF for certain stuff & they always price match.


anyways...  IMO I wouldnt get that pedal.  line6 is sort of crap.

there are many other options & for the price of that one, you can pick up a couple or a few off of ebay.  damn the Russian Muff is cheaper  for flying warm leads & you can get ds1 cheap which later can be modded nicely.  Even a RAT is pretty kool... I really want one.

/bp

[D]

thats interesting

i want a pedal where my solo's sound great and the fuckin thing doesnt buzz like a motherfucker

i want something that really crunches on the riffs but the solo's scream and wail


i dont like ebay cause if something is messed up or sounds shitty u are just stuck. if i order it off MF and it sucks i can get a refund and try something else.

[BP]

on a clean amp... the Muff sounds awesome with some Delay or reverb for leads. just smooth distortion sustain... but it's noisy if not done right. U might not like it who knows....? not for crunch.? Ibanez TS9 can do it all but its not brutal or on the warm smooth side for leads ....? so then I'd just get a beat up DS1 from Boss. Boss Pedals don't break even though most suck?

but I'm probably just jumping all all over from overdrives to "distortion".? ? which I am ....

'Metal Zone' from Boss has good feedback & I seen pro's using them.? I'm just thinking of an all round good distortion box.   so my vote goes to Metal Zone or DS1 or Rat PROCO

/bp

[D]

ive actually heard a whole lot about the boss metal zone

i had a boss pedal when i was younger and it was the raddest fuckin pedal ever, i ended up selling it for like 15 bucks, what  a stupid fuck i was

the distortion was amazing and u could hold the pedal in and it would feedback like hell.

i think ill go with a boss metalzone first, then if i dont like it try the line 6

[BP]

http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/MT-2/demos.html   Here is a demo on that thing.  I haven't played one but sound pretty kool.

http://guitargeek.com/gearview/67/


& its true its not just for metal....  for my man Warren Haynes uses one. I love this guy & he isn't big on effects ....   simply talant



Good luck!  & for me....    I just bought myself a 1985 Rat Proco WOOT

-BP

[D]

ok i know its hard to believe i am a musician with how little i know aboutshit

but do u hook your crybaby up first and then run it to your distortion pedal? or your distortion then your wah?


if u were me *which would suck for u cause then u'd have to love bon jovi * would u get that boss metalzone for 80.00 bucks or go with the Boss ds-1 for 40 bucks?

[Slashly]

but do u hook your crybaby up first and then run it to your distortion pedal? or your distortion then your wah?

It depends.If you put the distortion pedal first, when you use the wha wha with distortion, the wha wha will sound more agresive, cause when the signal gets to the wha, its already dsitortioned.And If you put the wha wha first...well....the contrary to what I?ve just said will hapen.









Baby Slash//

[BP]

just put the wah first, plus when its off the bypass is truely passive = no tone suck

I dunno D without having them side by side....  the metal zone might be too much if you want blues rock sounds like AFD.

DS1 got over 500 responses at this site:

http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Boss/DS_1_Distortion-01.html

can't go wrong for owning one.

-bp

[D]

that does sound great and for 40 bucks? cant really go wrong


thanks guys!

[Darkburst]

Wah-wah before distortion. The DS1 is a decent pedal but doesn't sound good unless it's run into a tube amp IMO.

[D]

im just gonna go with the metal zone, i need the heaviest distortion i can get, cause i am writing heavy shit to go with all my sappy ballads so i have to have something that rocks.

[Miz]

If you're going to buy a Boss pedal, either get a second hand one and send it to Robert Keeley, or buy one through http://www.robertkeeley.com/  (alternativley he often has a small selection of stuff on ebay, username: keeleyelectronics).

I own one if his modified pedals and I can vouch for the quality.  And they are a lot quieter than the stock pedals.  However, unless you have a good amp, I think you'll still sound like crap with one of these pedals (i've only ever tried one of them admittedly), because these types of pedals only mimic pre-amp distortion, and ther is almost no even order harmonic distortion from them.  That means that for a really decent distortion tone, you need to overdrive your power tubes.  And if you're doing that, then you can't just turn you're pedal off for a clean tone.  Keeley's pedals are great if you have a $2000 amp setup, but if you don't they're only ok. Much better than stock, but still only ok.

I've said it before, and I will say it again, the single best distortion/overdrive unit on the market is the Blackstone II.

If you still want the metal zone, buy one from Keeley.

[D]

those blackstone II cost around 230 bucks though dont they?

i dont need a pedal to play live with, i just need something to record with

i put the acoustic stuff down first

and then on a seperate track i use the distortion, so i dont need a good clean with the pedal.

im hopefully gonna be getting a pretty good job in a few weeks, so if i do, ill save up and get the blackstone, a marshall stack, a kick ass guitar and all sorts of cool equipment
so i got my fingers crossed that i get it.

[AdZ]

The best distortion pedal ever made - Hot Cake.


Without a doubt, it's phenomenal.


Edit to add: http://harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Crowther_Audio/Hotcake-01.html

[BP]

If you're going to buy a Boss pedal, either get a second hand one and send it to Robert Keeley, or buy one through http://www.robertkeeley.com/ (alternativley he often has a small selection of stuff on ebay, username: keeleyelectronics).

I own one if his modified pedals and I can vouch for the quality. And they are a lot quieter than the stock pedals. However, unless you have a good amp, I think you'll still sound like crap with one of these pedals (i've only ever tried one of them admittedly), because these types of pedals only mimic pre-amp distortion, and ther is almost no even order harmonic distortion from them. That means that for a really decent distortion tone, you need to overdrive your power tubes. And if you're doing that, then you can't just turn you're pedal off for a clean tone. Keeley's pedals are great if you have a $2000 amp setup, but if you don't they're only ok. Much better than stock, but still only ok.

I've said it before, and I will say it again, the single best distortion/overdrive unit on the market is the Blackstone II.

If you still want the metal zone, buy one from Keeley.

this is exactly why I suggested a DS1 for now, so when he starts to later upgrade, he'll have the option to have that pedal MODDED if he'd like.  I'd really like to try that Super MOd whatever its called for the DS1....  & it looks pretty phat eheh.


BTW I love my Rat Proco that I mentioned above ------  awesome with chords & sweet high end resonse = sizzle my shizzzle.  TS9 >> Rat >> Muff >> EQ =  I'm happy with my distortion section of my board & I just took off a popular fuzz that I won't be needing.

bp

[Miz]

this is exactly why I suggested a DS1 for now, so when he starts to later upgrade, he'll have the option to have that pedal MODDED if he'd like.  I'd really like to try that Super MOd whatever its called for the DS1....  & it looks pretty phat eheh.


BTW I love my Rat Proco that I mentioned above ------  awesome with chords & sweet high end resonse = sizzle my shizzzle.  TS9 >> Rat >> Muff >> EQ =  I'm happy with my distortion section of my board & I just took off a popular fuzz that I won't be needing.

bp

Trouble with the DS-1 is that for it to sound awesome, you need to be overdriving a valve power amp as well.  The Blackstone imitates the even order harmonic distortion that the power tubes give you, so it's perfect for DI-ing which is what you want if you're in a studio and strapped for cash.

In response the the Hot Cake:

Sound Quality: 10
in my humble opinion this is the best tone pedal you can get. what i mean by this is it sounds awful when using it to make a clean sound distorted as it is too thick when you crank the drive, and i think as a solo boost its ok but does sap tone when disengaged as it isnt true bypass. now where this pedal comes into its own is when you use it with an already cranked amp not a modern hi gain amp but a cranked power tube amp tone. the hot cake in my opinion has one good setting, level 3o clock, mid to suit and drive at 9 o clock

from harmony-central.com

You'll still need a tupe power amp for this pedal to sound amazing, whereas with the Blackstone you don't.

[BP]

werd on that Miz -
I just dont know about blackstone & with my thinking....  I think I'm just dumping in $$ to a start of a good rig instead of pedaling SS or TransTube or crap effects that later he won't need.

[Saul]

I gotta say that you CANT go wrong with the Line 6 POD 2.0 .. forget the newer XT .. look for a used POD 2.0 - 2.3 on ebay! It's the BEST rig for direct recording and despite what anyone says it CAN be used for live playing.

I run my POD thru my mixer and out into my P.A system and can live anywhere I want with it.

It has KILLER tone , can run mono or stereo , 32 amps , 16 cabs , slew of effects. All right at your finger tips. I have a behringer fcb1010 midi foot controller connected to mine so I can change any sound I want with one touch of a button with my foot. like turning a stomp box off and on.

I can set up a patch for screaming crunch with delay , then click .. delay is off , click , clean sound with tremelo , click and I got a heavy sound with chorus ... anything .. it's all there. Plus the FCB gives me 2 expression pedals so I also have a wah wah and volume pedal at my feet. It's VERY versatile!! Want slashes tone? Dial it in .. JCM800 Marshall. Voila!

And since you're talking about sick distortion I'll say this and leave it at this .. once you hear the amp model called "line 6 INSANE" thats built in the POD , you'll never go back!

If you wanna hear some POD clips I've posted a thread here with some of my clips. Most were done as I was just getting used to recording on the PC but it gives a rough impression of what you can get out of it.