I have the boss metal zone and love the thing dont let the name fool you you can get just about any distortion possible.
That said whats your favorite?

ibanez tube screamer ts9.
I have 5 . some modded some not..
i like my old school one best!

I dont have one fav distortion pedal but when i put my stock Ds-1 next to my Bad monkey its heaven. I can get vintage tube screamer tone from the Bad Monkey and rectified lead if i kick in the DS-1 with it. Very easy to get tones ranging from ZZ top,SRV to Van halen to Steve vai from the roth era.

nothing beats a DS-1 imo. I love the origional Tubescreamer 808 (not the reissue) but thats more of an overdrive than distortion

I love my Keeley modded DS-1. It really brings an edge to my playing whenever I kick it in. I've used it with several amps and it interacts really well with all of them.

I also recently purchased a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde pedal. It has 2 channels: a TS clone circuit and a heavier distortion side (I've read it's somewhat like an old Marshall Shredmaster pedal). You can use either channel on its own or together. You can cover lots of ground with this pedal and it's a bargain for ~USD$140. I highly recommend it.

my fave distortion is no longer made and i can't find one anywhere :(

it was made by Frontline (probably another name used by John Hornby Skewes aka JHS)... what i loved about it was it didn't change my sound - it just added distortion... i've still to find a pedal that does the same thing, and i've tried tons of them

the closest match was an MXR Distortion+, it sounded GREAT but it still wasn't as good to my ears...

and this was a UKP30 pedal that i bought nearly 20 years ago! :o

crowther hotcake. used by bands such as Oasis and Stevie Ray Vaughan (just before his death) i've heard they run rings around the ibanez tubescreamers (the green ugly old ones) although i can't compare myself, only having a hotcake

I use a DS-1 to give my Peavey XXX a boost when needed.

My favourite distortion is the combination I use in my Line 6 Vetta: 2 Soldanos will slightly different settings. I use a Tube Screaming for additional gain. That's my standard setup I use about 50-75% of the time.

Channel 3 Vintage in my Mesa Nomad- really good amp distortion owns, IMO.

Brisdaddy, waaaaay back in the day I used a Metal Zone. It's about three times as versatile as most people give it credit for being.

That's a good pedal, I used to own one and I loved it, I now use a Digitech distortion through a a DSL 100 and I also use a Boss DS-1, I sold the Metal Zone to a friend but I could easily get it back from him as he is no longer using it, I might get it back from him. :lol:

Hmmmm so this extra distortion pedal thing? Are they being used as well as the amp's own distortion? IE a double hit of distortion?

Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi, the best bar none. It has to be the Russian one though, the transistors in it are virtually indestructable. If you can't get one of those, get a Pro-Co Rat or Hendrix's favourite, an Arbiter FuzzFace. You'll get a rich creamy distortion that'll do whatever you want it to without making the sound too muddy

DS-1 for me.Its easy to setup and sounds good with less coloration on tone...

DS-1 & cranked tube amp

My Fulltone OCD just KILLS anything else I've ever used. It's one of those rare "sound-in-my-head" pedals. I love it!!!

JSX for now. Have a Rocktron Vooduvalve straight into the computer for rehersals, and it´s nice for playing with, but recording is noisy.

A DS-1 for boosting and a q535 is on the wishlist :)

Wah Pedal Morley the model before Steve Vai's Model...

I used my Zoom 505 for a long time which worked ok into the computer.
I have a Boss MT-2 and it's great but I just got a DS-1 and for lead It just rocks. My highs seem to be brighter without making my ears bleed ;)
The next one will be a modded DS-1 I think.

I don't really use Distortion pedals but I do have a Boss DS1 which I've used in the past.I perfer the distortion from my Amp because I find that with Distortion pedals the sound is too thin even with the gain all the way up to 10...I have a vintage Peavey amp...it's a mono amp and I also have a Stereo Chorus Peavey 250watts amo which has 2 distortion channels.With these amps I can't get the DS1 to work in conjunction with my Distortion as I have to compromise my Clean Channel...I find pedals too thin sounding with a loss of sound on the Bottom...

I kind of agree, but if you were using a stock DS-1 I'm not sure that's any basis for assuming all distortion pedals sound thin. The stock DS-1 is a very basic pedal. many distortion pedals today offer a solid bottom end and warm tones. but I have to say that amp distortion is in general superior to pedal distortion, especially for high gain sounds.

There are so many overdrive pedals out there that do a really good overdriven sound, but not many pedals that do a really good high gain sound. Boutique manufacturers seem to favour making overdrive pedals for some reason.

I myself am in the search for a good pedal that can produce good heavy tones that rival an amp's distortion channel. any recommendations?

How bout a Landmine pedal for really high gain sounds or even a Damage Control Demonizer. I prefer using two overdrive pedals and shaping the sound as i like. I can get really singing sustain even without using an amp as an output.

Boss DS-1 in combination with my Ibanez Tubescreamer TS9. Just cool....

D.

I've had a Digitech HOTROD, a Digitech RP50, and a BOSS DS-1, and I will have to agree with others, there is nothing that can compete with the amp distortion. The crunch and ultra channels on my JSX are just awesome. The distortion pedals do work good though in conjunction with the amp distortion to fatten up the tone.

To be honest in all my years playing guitar I've never found a Pedal that could rival an amps distortion.There's just something really spin tingling hearing the overdrive Channel being distorted but that's just my opinion.A friend of mine really likes the Blues Driver pedal...as that's the type of distortion that he likes but I hate it.The only pedal I would recomment would be the Boss DS-1.I use that on a couple of songs from my Album that I'm recording right now as it gives me a different sound to my Amp...I do love using the Boss DS-1 with my Whammy pedal as the DS-1 is a little cleaner than my amps Distortion...also I use it for Harmony parts because if you use the same sound for melody and harmony parts it's a nightmare to mix and then you spend ages re-EQ'ing either the melody or harmony guitar parts.
Really what I'm trying to say that it's whatever you ear likes that is importanat...someone likes Boss DS-1 and you'll find someone else that doesn't like my friend.My Advise is to go to your nearest Musicstore and try out a load of pedals but make sure that you use your own guitar use a amp that is similar to that you own...

Also can some tell me how to up load songs in the show Off section....so that ye guys can hear a track or 2 that I'm working on.... :rock2: :banana: :clap: :rock2: :banana: :party3: :party3:

good advice, but many music stores don't stock the rarer pedals I'm looking for, hence I'm trying to get some good opinions.

at the end of the day, it's definitely up to my ears to decide, but I find that input from others is helpful nonetheless. my issue with not being able to find a good high gain pedal is common and I know many others have found solutions. I'm just interested in knowing what my options are.

sridhar11, the Landmine pedal probably won't work cos you can't adjust the gain on it!! LOL I'd rather have more flexibility. Also, I'd rather not have a tube-driven pedal cos of size, maintenance, etc issues.

right now, I'm aiming for the Tube Zone, by MI Audio. link to MI Audio website

appreciate the comments, thanks guys!

You might also want to check out the Fulltone Distortion Pro, though i have'nt tried it you might wanna give it a look.

my Digitech RP50 has a distortion/amp effect called"Hot Rod", its great distortion. it has a clear tone while having the distortion effect :clap: :banana:

My favorite is the first pedal I bought over 25 years ago. An original MXR Distortion+. I had it modded with a true by-pass switch a couple of years ago. I have yet to find a better dist sound.

I prefer tube amp distortion, but use a DS-1 to add a little colour to the tone now and again.
As far as pedals go, I have never found one that came close to amp distortion. That is until I recentally had a jam with this guy who hooked up a Line 6 Ubermetal pedal through the clean channel on my Peavey XXX. Fuck! This things good, imho by far the best distortion pedal I have heard. It has a number of different tones available and it's got lots of crunch! Seriously guys, try one out for yourselves ;)

If the naming conventions are anything like Johnson's, well, "Hot Rod" is what they call their Mesa Mark IIC+ model (though, to my ears, it sounds way more like a MKI).

A Mark-series Mesa is arguably the best lead guitar sound I've EVER heard.

as an aside, maybe we should create a new topic, favourite recorded lead sound

cos every time i think of Mesa-Boogie i think of Vernon Reid and Luke, and i strongly dislike both their sounds!

what say you folks?

James Hetfield's (metallica) MkIV rhythm sound was STUNNING

-Rich-

Jimmy Page at Knebworth (1979) is nice. :)

hahaha, perhaps.

For me, the Mesa sound is more like G3-era John Petrucci, although the bluesier side of that amp is VERY "Friends"-ish.

The bitch of the MK-IV's is, there are SO many knobs on the thing, and how you set one can completely change how everything else works. I've heard of guys spending years dialing in their tone before they got it 100% right, lol.

Anyone here know what amps Metallica used on AJFA? Probably Mesas, but you never know!

Green12M yeah pages tone and distortion was the best out! it was just so amazing

then this guy called joe satriani came along, supposedly hes a bit good and has some kinda amazing tone :D :D :D :D :D

ha ha satch rules for dist so that makes it the
DS-1 with a few mods ;)

I believe that was actually a Mk2 C+. AJFA is a Mk2 C+. I have yet to hear a better recorded distortion than that, and it's been many years.

Personally I like the MXR Blue Box :devil:

DS-1 :Mad(e) in Japan :)

Research Triangle, want a bet? ;)
Satch Boogie, check out my good friend Monty's site :)
http://www.freewebs.com/montyjay/metgear.html

-Rich-