Best distortion / boost pedals?

[Humbuck]

Let's hear it. Best distortion and/or OD pedals. Also, "best for the money" cause some of 'em are getting rediculously expensive. Let's just say you were gonna use it in front of a modded '72 Marshall 100w and 4x12 for lead boosts. And please don't say "With a modded '72 Marshall you shouldn't need a distortion pedal" cause that's not the question.

 

[Shovelhead]

I really like the Fulltone Fulldrive II. It has a nice clean boost or overdrive, 2 channels, and just sounds good. I bought it for 175 bucks.

For cheap, the Marshall Jackhammer pedal is pretty versatile. It also has a clean boost, and can add tons of volume. I picked one of those up at a mega-chain (GC) for 79 bucks.

 

[Ken]

OD

My favorite OD these days is a Pearl OD-05. They can be had for around $150 if you can find one. I have a TS-9, a Klon, and a Marshall Guv'nor and a few fuzz pedals too but don't use them as much as the Pearl for OD duties. Alot depends alot on what amp and when I am usingit. I'll use the OD with a fuzz sometimes (usually a Lovetone Big Cheese, a Zvex, or a '70's Ibanez Fuzz Machine) and other stuff to dirty it up with a clean non-master Fender when I can't crank the volume to 7 or higher. With my TopHat, I dime the Master vol and the preamp overdrive sounds so great so I just use a clean boost pedal ( a TopHat Xpressor) to control the input signal and Drive.

 

[SeanT]

Marshall

I hear Marshall used to put out pretty good OD pedals. Opinions? Anybody?

Thanx

SeanT

 

[plaintop]

Original Sans Amp Tech 21

Original Sans Amp Tech 21. It sounds incredible through any hand wired non MV head.

You can still get them for around $150. Cheaper than a new reissue. But slowly rising.

I like my TS808 as well. It has a unique harmonic range although I haven't been using it at all it still has a vibe that I can't let go of.

 

[SpeedeMetal]

Distortion Pedals mean:Your AMP Sucks

This is a serious reply.
IF You need a Distortion/Boost/overdrive/Fuzz pedal in the front end of your amp(fill in the name of the clunker you bought here) you have either 1 of several scenarios happening:

You bought the WRONG amp for your needs/wants/or could afford
Your amp is anemic.
You need new tubes in it.
You are using the Wrong pick-ups to help overdrive the amp.
The amp wasn't designed for the type of Gain YOU need or want.
Your amp isnt working right.
You couldn't afford or didn't buy a channel switching High Gain amp to begin with.

In this day & age of High Gain,Properly Designed Tube amplifiers from several Dozen Manufacturers you find you need a solid state box of some sort to "boost" the amp.....you bought the WRONG amp fella!

Bogner,VHT,Bradshaw(Custom Audio Amplifiers)Mesa Boogie,Budda,Egnater,Fuchs,Trainwreck,Guytron,THD,Orange and a few more that escape me at the moment....ALL have Great overdrives,pure tube signal paths,Girth,Definition,and TONE!

If you have a Marshall,Fender,or similar amp(too many to list) then I can see why you need a box to juice it.
They weren't designed to achieve overdrive or Saturation that a Box(which NO Matter which one you choose it sounds Cheesy) can get.
Yer gonna ram the front end with a solid state signal after you went and bought an amp that sounded good till you got home with it?
Overdrives/fuzzomatic/death ray distortion,and Rocket Boostomatics are all cheesy and fake.
Hot-Rod your amp with components that achieve YOUR sound and dont buy some box crammed full of $35.00 worth of op-amps and chips that create distortion.
You really think(for example) a Fulldrive sounds good? Gimme a fukkin break Dude! $200.00 for that hunk of tin and chips is a LAUGH!
From My little 18 Watt budda Verbmaster I can Crush that or any other anemic amp with a fuzzbox thru it for GOOD,Defined Distortion.
The box in your amp scenario is LAME and silly.Buy a GOOD amp that performs on its own without cheesy box's...then you'll be happy.
Oh Yeah...I dont give a FUCK that Eric Johnson,SRV,or Hendrix use distortion boxes....2 of em are dead and the last is Brain Dead!

 

[Ken]

Yeah, whatever....

SeanT, Might you be referring to the Marshall Guv'nor? That's a pretty decent pedal too. I don't care much for the new Marshall pedals at all.

 

[Phil M]

Speedmetal, I respect your opinion, but some people LIKE the sound of a boost pedal in front of their amp. I understand that this is not your preference (or mine for that matter), but you make it sound like a person is an idiot or doesn't know what they're doing if they don't see things your way. To them, it sounds good. I DO agree that certain people should've looked harder for a different amp.

If you put something in front of an amp, I like the Sansamp GT-2. It can do a clean boost and OD/dist. I have a FD II that pretty much collects dust since I got my Rivera amp, but it does sound decent when I plug it in.

My personal preference is the Rivera K-55 that has built in boosts on each channel.

 

[cocheese]

One word. HOTCAKE. I have all the OD/Boost pedals out there and this one really (pardon the pun) "Takes the Cake".

 

[Humbuck]

dist. pedals

Off-base response, Speedemetal. I wasn't asking opinions on what amp I should own. I simply asked about what distortion boxes any forum members tried and liked. How do you know what sound I'm after or what I define as good? I even put a clause in my post asking members not to bother to tell me not to use a distortion pedal. That's a response to a different question. Of course anyone can post whatever the hell they want, that's the nature of internet message boards.

If Marshalls and distortion boxes are universally no good, than there are a lot of great recordings and live performances that will have to be erased or forgotten about because of that opinion.

Personally, I prefer directly plugging into all-tube amps. I regularly use a single and a dual Rectifier and a few different recent Marshall heads. I also have a Marshall JMP-1 preamp and a 9200 power amp. I'm sure in your opinion that's crap too. I've used it for years and I love the sound, for certain applications. My point is, use whatever you want to get the sound and feel you need and if you think you might benefit from a distortion pedal ( or a stupid hat...whatever!), it's silly to think you're breaking some kind of purist code by using one. If you don't like 'em, don't use 'em. Keep the faith you need to keep. I don't really like any pedals except a wah myself but I've found myself in a situation where I thought I MIGHT be able to benefit from one since there seems to be a rise in high quality, well made units lately. Figured I'd ask anyhow.

Your response is simply not what I asked about. Thanks for the advice though.

 

[Ed Rafalko]

FOr rhythm, no pedal is needed, in my opinion.
I ahve not heard a good distortion pedal through my amp- I've heard the Fulltone II, the Klon Centaur, and one or two others, and honestly, I like the dry amp tone much better. I do think a good lead boost would be nice, but i have yet to hear a good one.

 

[Phil M]

Humbuck and Ed,

Also, there's a newer pedal out called the Fulltone Fat Boost that just gives you a clean boost, but it is $$$. It sounds good and would probably work well for my particular taste in sound, but I don't own it, I've only tried it (through a Rivera amp set to lower gain OD sound).

Ed, I agree about the rhythm not needing a pedal (for my uses).

There's a lot of good shit out there, have fun!

 

[Ed Rafalko]

Teh Fat boost colors the sound too much for my tastes. I just want a CLEAN treble boost, not a mid or bass or gain boost. I want TREBLE boost.

 

[Phil M]

Hmmmmmmm....

Did you play with it much, Ed? I thought it was pretty transparent and had good treble response. I want to HELP YOU, ED!

Alright, maybe I got carried away. Anyway, I liked it, your mileage may vary. What else you got these day, Ed? Goldtop still in the picture, or are you over it now?

 

[Ed Rafalko]

Goldtop and '58 01 are probably in my future, but we'll see.

 

[DOSE!]

I love the FDII, I use it for a mid od sound and the #1 channel on the amp for over the top od. I have a Rivera which has plenty of over drive but I don't want to have to tweak a couple knobs every time I want to change the level of gain. I keep the amps gain at about 7 and thats as much as I'll need.
I also use the Fat Boost and I think its very transparent, it does just what the name says very fat.:f1:

 

[Phil M]

I've been liking the looks of those '58s because of the lighter finish colors. But I can't afford a $1500 guitar right now, let alone a $3000 one. Maybe someday though. Got the R7 last year and that should really be enough (but it never is). It's all I ever wanted in a guitar.

Back to boost pedals, for cheapness' sake, the yellow Boss 3-knobber isn't bad either. They're only about $60 and I know a lot of guys that use them with good results. Hey, if you can't afford a $1500 amp, they can help until you can...

 

[Snags]

If you are JUST looking for a boost, don't dismiss an EQ pedal with an adjustable output. You get the additional volume boost, and you can tailor the tone to your liking. I messed with this some time ago with some decent results.

 

[Humbuck]

eq

I was actually just thinking that might be a good idea.

 

[Snags]

EQ

It works really well. Slight boost in the upper mids (around 4K-6K), slight cut in the highs and lows. I was actually using a Rockman rackmount eq, but a pedal will do the same thing. It's not really cheating, because the tubes are still producing the tone, you're just hitting them a little harder with a slightly more focused signal.