I am currently rocking a Dave Hall Amps two channel valve overdrive thingy...I used to love it through my old SS amp, but now I've upgraded to a big 70s valve head I find it gets a bit mushy when I have both channels ont he overdrive on and my amp overdriving (which on its own sounds hella good)...So I'm thinking of selling it and getting myself a Double Muff to go at the beginning and a Micro Amp to go at the end, does this sound like a good idea to people?

Jose Luis Perales wrote:i need a quicke suggestion for a dist. pedal. It´s mostly for boosting my pro junior but also to use as a good overdrive when i dont use my amp.
i have a ds-1 but i lend it to my other guitar player... and i was searching perhaps for somethign better. plus i´m on a budget so no weird boutique stuff..

i was thinking about a mxr distortion+, or a rat, any other suggestions?

Based on that and what you wrote in the thread about the line6 pod, you might want to check it out a boss blues driver (BD-2). With the level set at 12 and the gain at 9, I used it in the last band I was in to make one guitar (an old strat) sound as loud and as slightly distorted as another guitar (old old cheap surf rock guitar) and it worked really well. What I like about the blues driver is that it doesn't really fuzz out or cover up your tone even if you really crank it. It sounds more like a clipping sound than a fuzz to begin with, and the clipping sounds kind of artificial and really interesting to my ear. Also, you can turn the gain nob pretty far and the amount of clipping sound stays pretty much constant from 9 oclock on - your guitar sound just becomes more saturated with more sustain. It should be less than $100 too. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Jose Luis Perales wrote:Dod 250 same as mxr distortion? that´s very interesting.

How Dirty? mmm.. a lot. Jesus and Mary Chain (not the fuzz in the first album) would be a good example of what i might wanting to achieve, or Yo La Tengo.

I love my EHX Hot Tubes:


lot's of variety from light boosty distortion to raging big muff creamy fuzz.

the tubes may be great when you're not using an amp, too. I love this pedal over all other distortions I've used. I got mine for $150 US, which isn't super expensive (I've spent as much as $400 b/c I'm stupid) over and above those other stompboxes (some fo the Boss ones go for $80 new) I can't recommend this pedal enough, but I may be tough for you to get one/out of your price range.

dunno.


hth.

On the expensive but worth it end are the G, P and NG series of distortion pedals made by Pete Cornish in the U.K. I bought one of his NG Fuzz pedals about 15 years ago not knowing anything about the man or his legacy (was building custom gear for Brian May in 1972). The most unique and wonderful distortion I have ever played through. I am ordering another one when he gets to making it (great work but slow turnaround). I will let the man himself describe what he was after when desiging the pedal:

On the NG-2

The first stage is a Linear DRIVE with up to +26dB of gain feeding the second stage; a stabilized “Germanium” preamp which overloads smoothly when overdriven. The third stage is where the NG magic takes place; it simulates a tube amp that has been over biased or has suffered serious tube or output transformer failure (The sound just before the fuse blows). The SUSTAIN control adjusts the signal level into the third section and can be adjusted from ‘Tired Output Tubes’ to ‘Melted Tubes and Shorted Output Transformer’.

Visit his web site and look at some of the amazing custom built work he has done or his standalone products.

http://www.petecornish.co.uk/

the distortion pedals i own...

a old dod compressor
ds1
double muff
big muff (usa reissue)
jacques batfuzz
danelectro - daddyo overdrive

to be honest, i haven't quite found the "perfect" sound, hence probably why i chop and change so much.

the "perfect" sound might only exist in my head as well..

recently though i have been using just a amp and a guitar as i always ending up forgetting to take leads to connect pedals!

I'm getting rid of the Dave Hall valve overdrive I was using, so PM me if you're interested in owning it...

I'm currently messing about with some homemade versions of a TS808, Big Muff and Green Ringer...Sounding pretty good...

Boss DS-1. I've been using them since I was in 8th grade. Everything else I've tried just bugs me.

For better or worse I tend to go for a Rudolph Schenker/Glen Tipton tone. I can't reccommend it but that's just how it seems to end up.

I've learned to live with the conflict.

Anyone know of any good pedals that are cheap and don't drain 9-volts within a week? I made the mistake of buying a used Danelectro Pastrami Overdrive for $20 months ago - maybe it's even a year by now - and it's almost comically shitty...the first third of the overdrive range is barely noticeable and then, after a certain point, the thing abruptly veers into different gradations of toneless radio static. It kills 9-volt batteries within a matter of days. Awful, horrendous sound through the shoebox I call an amp. (It's a Vox Pathfinder and it's not that good...nice clean sound, though.) I only use the natural boost on my amp now.

wow, in both my distrotions (rat and big muff) batteries last for months and months.

h8 m0dems wrote:wow, in both my distrotions (rat and big muff) batteries last for months and months.

I guess that's one of the differences between a decent pedal and a thrown-together plastic chunk of shit.