Need your opinions of dist. pedals

[Bierschinken]

Hey guys,

I got myself a Champ amp for practice at home and I really like that small thing but It´s missing an overdrivechannel so I think Im gonna get me a good pedal.
The question is which one to buy, since there are tons of pedals I´m quite unsure what is the right thing.

I play from classic rock to heavy metal, so the pedal should give me a good amount of gain.
What do you guys think I should look for?

I played a Fulltone OCD a while ago and I really liked it. Is there anyone who has an OCD?

Thx!
Swen

 

[pauldogx]

try a Visual sound Jekyll and Hyde pedal---its kinda like a Boss DS-1 and a Ibanez Tr-808 tube screamer in the same box--they can be used indepenently or in series. I use it with a Blues Jr for practice and it gives you 3 channels---clean, marshally distorted and a lead tone.

 

[JohnnyD19]

Radial Tonebone Plexitube. best dist pedal I've used it has more of a classic British character to its sound its really nice

 

[TNT]

Boss Metal Zone!! For a $80.00 pedal can't get ANY better! Goes from Marshall classic rock EL34 medium gain to Mesa Boogie Dual Rect 6L6 gain.

(It's not mean't to relpace or even come close to the real thing!) For set-ups like yours it does fine! Great pedal for the money!

 

[grekoo]

in your case is better to buy a v-amp
it sounds good and has almost all in one and is not expensive if you expend a some time whit it you achieve "ALMOST" the tone you want!

 

[Sub1 Zero]

Check out the AMT pedals from pedalgeek.com

Those seem to be very solid. Lots of people love the Boss and MXR's too. I have a POS digitech, the distortion is really pretty good once you get it dialed in, but most of the other effects are complete trash

 

[Rossie]

Do check out some of the MI Audio stuff, mainly the Crunch Box and the Tube Zone.
The Crunch Box is basically a Marshall in a box.

M I   A U D I O

And the Tube Zone is a 4 stage gain overdrive pedal that can get pretty heavy.

M I   A U D I O

 

[Nulph]

I gotta agree with Rossie. The Crunch Box is my favorite distortion pedal so far.

 

[robelinda2]

MI stuff rocks.

Radial stuff rocks also!

 

[fbecir]

Hello

Personally, I own quite a lot of pedals (Jacques Stompboxes like the Mercer Box, the Fuse Blower, the Tube Blower, Ibanez pedal OD9, Wasabi, Vox, ...).
Some pedals are really good (Jacques), some are good but noisy (my old OD9 from Ibanez), some are craps (Wasabi ...).
But in your case, I think it is useless to buy an expensive analog pedal. Indeed, if you play at room level with a small amp, you will not really enjoy the pedal. In your case, I would buy a small multi-effect like the Zoom G2.1u or a Digitech. Personally when I play at low level with a small 15W amp (when the kids are sleeping), I prefer to use my Zoom G2.1u because you can add some reverb and delay. It allows to find a sweet tone.
Of course when I play at full power with my Marshall, I use my analog pedal. In this case, you do not need reverb or delay : just the basic amp sound and the pedals when you need them ...
If you do not have a drum machine, the multi-effects like the Zoom or Digitech come with a integrated drum machine. A drum machine is a great tool for improving your playing.

But, the best thing you can do is to go in a shop to try some gears (take your guitar and take an amp similar to yours because in the shop if you try the gear with a great amp, everything will sound great ...). In a shop, I ask always to try the gear on a crappy amp : if the gear sounds good, it means that it is very good indeed !

 

[mikeller]

MI Crunchbox is the only distortion pedal I have every bonded with....

 

[matty]

Digitech Bad Monkey

Probably the best $40 I ever spent on a pedal.

Matt

 

[Ricman]

I would go down the multi-fx route too for home practice. POD, Vamp, Zoom....I've owned units from all three and they were all great.

 

[Colin]

The MI Tube Zone is a cool unit, you can also get a custom version which is the same one use by Brett Garsed. But you'll have to wait awhile. I also like the Tech 21 double drive

 

[rlarino]

Boss Metal Zone!! For a $80.00 pedal can't get ANY better! Goes from Marshall classic rock EL34 medium gain to Mesa Boogie Dual Rect 6L6 gain.

(It's not mean't to relpace or even come close to the real thing!) For set-ups like yours it does fine! Great pedal for the money!

ugh are you kidding? the metal zone has to be one of the worst sounding pedals ever

 

[Colin]

ugh are you kidding? the metal zone has to be one of the worst sounding pedals ever

the metal zone is not my cup of tea, but the term distortion means different things to different people. TNT is a good player btw with an even cooler haircut

 

[ivanmihaljevic]

+1 on MI Crunch Box!!!

 

[dwells]

tone bone hot british ivan

 

[TNT]

Thanks Colin, next time you're up here, I'm going to have my hairstylist (daughter or wife, who ever happens to be in the house at the time) give you a "free" haircut!!! So make sure your hair is nice and long!! LOL

And, guys, on the pedal; yeah, I said "for the money" (@80.00 or less) the Metal Zone was the best pedal out there. Most of the other pedals mentioned in the thread are MORE expensive, and I agree most ARE better!!

But one thing for sure, I personally am no fan of ANY of them nor do I use ANY of them - EVER!! Pure Valves all the way!!!!!!!

Rock on!!

 

[Spudmurphy]

Go buy yourself one of the cheap pedals from Thomann in your country
HARLEY BENTON SD-100 - U.K. International Cyberstore
For that kinda money you can't go wrong !! then 4 that kind of money, go and buy some more of their pedals!!

Cheap music gear in Europe !!!!!