Off Topic Distortion Pedal

[Johnny Guitar]

I'm in the market for a distortion pedal for my Luke and have come down to a couple of choices but would love to hear some other Luke owner's opinions on distortion pedals they use or they have on their wish list. I'm pretty much looking for a ch. 3 distortion that I can use for both rhythm and lead.

I'm really leaning towards the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic since I like the sound of it and it has a rhythm and lead channel but I'm also considering an MI Audio Tube Zone.

Thanks in advance!

 

[universe777]

What amp are you running it into? I've found that different classes of amps have characteristics that are surprizingly unique and respond different ways to different pedals.

Let us know what your setup is and it'll help us narrow down the almost endless brands of pedals to a few "choice" ones to check out...also, what's some of your favorite players/tones/recordings, etc?

 

[Johnny Guitar]

I'm gigging with a Blackheart Little Giant (5w) but I also play into a dual rectifier every week in a church I play at that does mostly modern gospel stuff.

As far as tones that I like... for lead tones I love Luke's sound. I'm also a fan of Andy Timmons' tone. For rhythm I'm looking for an open, organic "tubey" sound but that can also get tight when I'm palm muting.

 

[Johnny Guitar]

oh and I'm running the dual recto into a 2x12 mesa cab

 

[Astrofreq]

Personally, I've been wanting to try out the AMT SS-20. It's supposed to be amazing. Does anyone have that pedal?

 

[universe777]

Those little class A's are great! One of the things I love about them is that 12ax7's are pretty affordable as is, on top of the fact that you only need 1, hooray! If your looking for a really organic tone I might try swapping the ax7 for a lower gain in the "12" family like a 12at7 or ay7.

I'm all about value...I'm totally into the 15 dollar danelectro pedals...the orange dist/od one being my favorite..so...they aren't road worthy, but if you close your eyes I think anyone would be hard pressed to tell them apart from "the real pedal" that their voicings are based on.

 

[leftyguitarblue]

ive been using a Krank distortion pedal with my Luke and its got a great punchy tone and sounds great when palm muting. Every note is clear.

 

[floyd99]

What do you want?

MI Audio Tube Zone is NOT a distortion pedal. It's an overdrive pedal. There's a difference. The Tube Zone won't get you the serious crunchy distorted sound.

I own an MI Audio Tube Zone, Blues Pro and the Crunchbox. The Crunchbox took a leave of absense from my pedal board but since putting EMG pickups into my silhouette special (same set that comes in the LUKE), the crunchbox has made it back. It sounds really good with the humbucker. If you're purchasing the Crunchbox new, then you'll be fine, but if it's second hand, make sure it's the Mark II version as the original version was really muddy and unusable.

I use the Blues Pro for mild overdrive (mild breakup I guess you'd say), the Tube Zone for heavy overdrive, and the Crunchbox for distortion. I use a totally clean amp that has no overdrive channels at all.

Cheers
Dave

 

[robelinda2]

I use a MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe, its awesome. It can do distortion pretty well, more than the Tube Zone, and has some unreal overdrive too. I found with my Luke's that I tended to favour distortion over overdrive, I didnt like the clean breakup tone with EMG's, the stock Silo Special pickups are a bit more authentic in that regard, so too is the AL.

 

[Spudman]

I use a Radial Tonebone Hot British and a Fulldrive 2.
That combo gives me 3 channels..actually 6 because I run into a clean amp. The FD2 has 2 buttons on it for different sounds. 1 regular and 1 boosted level. The Hot British (HB) has an insane amount of gain and tonal shaping available but neither of these are cheap.

You could get similar results with less expensive pedals too.

Sounds: 6
HB>clean amp
HB>FD2
HB>FD2 boosted
FD2>clean amp
FD2 Boosted
Clean amp

 

[Johnny Guitar]

Thanks for the replies guys. Keep 'em coming! I don't really have a spending limit on this since I have time to save up for it so just throw your ideas at me.

Personally, I've been wanting to try out the AMT SS-20. It's supposed to be amazing. Does anyone have that pedal?

This looks like an interesting pedal. I really wanna check it out.

 

[Johnny Guitar]

Those little class A's are great! One of the things I love about them is that 12ax7's are pretty affordable as is, on top of the fact that you only need 1, hooray! If your looking for a really organic tone I might try swapping the ax7 for a lower gain in the "12" family like a 12at7 or ay7.

I'm all about value...I'm totally into the 15 dollar danelectro pedals...the orange dist/od one being my favorite..so...they aren't road worthy, but if you close your eyes I think anyone would be hard pressed to tell them apart from "the real pedal" that their voicings are based on.

yeah man, it's a great little amp and I got it at a steal. It's really showing me I have to step it up gear-wise, too.

 

[Antunes]

You can try a fulltone ocd, that´s works fine!

 

[Mikey]

If you're after luke's sound try a tonebone trimode because that's what he uses for lead sounds.
Tonebone Trimode tube distortion - introduction

 

[Nemesys]

Another one you might try is a Barber Small Fry. I tried one not too long ago based on a suggestion from the guy at the music store, and bought it on the spot. It's a really nice, warm drive, and it sounds great with every guitar and amp I've tried it with -- it's very transparent, so it lets the character of your guitar and amp come through in a really nice way.

 

[Sasquatch]

I purchased a UBERMETAL the other day, and it is unreal.
It is the best distortion pedal I have ever owned.

If you are interested, I have a BOSS DS1 that is brand new (purchased about 3 weeks ago), I'll sell you if you are interested.

 

[RocketRalf]

I have a Damage Control Solid Metal distortion pedal. It's sick for palm muting and can get an interesting and different sound for leads. Very harmonic rich and tubey (2 tubes in there). But it might be heavier than what you're looking for. Also it doesn't compress much so it might not be the best for leads, but it may be worth trying it out. I think it would work well with the Recto and give you a different sound than what you have in the amp channels. You can hear a few sound samples on damagecontrolusa.com although they are hardly representative of what this thing can do. Their other pedals are also worth checking out.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

I have always found the bog standard Boss Super Overdrive to be a superb pedal.

 

[seahwk51]

I use a 20 year old Ibanez tube screamer .....awsome. There are usually a few floating around ebay even though they are pretty sought after.

 

[TonyEVH5150]

I've been happy with BBE's overdrive/distortion pedals. The Green Screamer is a great clone of the Tubescreamer, and the Crusher is an awesome insane Metal-shredding pedal.