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Best Distortion Pedal for me?


Andrew Riggs

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I have an Epiphone Les Paul and a Vox ac15, and I want to buy my first distortion pedal! I don't need anything to distorted and I want the sound to be distorted while the clarity of the notes is still clear. I would like to stay under $150 dollars. What is the difference between overdrive and distortion?

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There's a thread about OD vs Distortion.......For your Vox you might want an OD.....The Way Huge Green Rhino sells for $129.00 before

 

using a coupon; It's a great pedal.....Look into both Wampler and CaitlinBread overdrives......Getting a OD should mean getting a GOOD one of you can only

 

afford one.........( I collect ODs and Distortions, so, I own many of the buggers )..........

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The Way Huge Green Rhino is a fabulous overdrive pedal and can even take you into distortion territory but you can still get very good articulation of every note.My usual music store had then on sale for $60 about a month ago and I bought it without even trying it out-at a price like that I could hardly loose,plus I had read very enthusiastic reviews of it-which all turned out to be true.

 

Another pedal worth a serious look-see is the Big Muff Pi,if you can find a very old one in good working condition that would be your best bet because the first few years they used Germanium components in their circuitry.The beauty of the old style Muff was you could dial a very subtle boost/overdrive or have a full on raging fuzz that will take you right into Hendrix territory-although the technical skill isn't included-lol.I believe they have recently come out with a reissue of the original with The Germanium transistors or resistors that the first models had.

 

I would steer as far away as possible from any Behringer products-especially their pedals because the have a very very poor reliability rating,in fact it was so bad here that every dealer in area stopped dealing with them as they couldn't keep up with the returns and repairs.One guy actually advertised a year old Behringer Mixing board in the local Buy & Sell Magazine that he had paid $700 for at a give-away price of $100-or whatever you figured it was worth and then went on with a lengthy list of what was wrong with it.I don't think that he put much faith into anyone buying it and more or less put in the ad to show his disgust with Behringer products.

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Visual Sound makes several good overdrive units.

 

The Route 808 is basically a Tubescreamer clone with a few modifications, then there's the Open Road. They also have a couple of others in their less expensive Garagetone series that are getting a lot of good feedback from people in a few users groups I'm in for VS.

 

There is also the Son Of Hyde, which is more of a distortion than an OD.

 

I have the Son Of Hyde and a Double Trouble (double pedal with 2 Route 808's, and an Angry Fuzz on my pedalboard and I love them all.

 

The quality of these pedals is quite good for the price.

 

pedalboard.jpg

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Fulltone OCD!

 

I am also a fan of the Barber Direct Drive!

 

Excellent! Go from bluesy dirt to Brown Sound!

 

They go for around $130. And they're handmade with military grade components in Pennsylvania!

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Well, you described the sound you're after, but a bit more help would still get better answers. Can you name a band or some songs whose sound is what you're after?

 

For Overdrive, one of the industry's most popular is the Ibanez TS 9 Tube Screamer. A lot of other overdrives are just trying to emulate that. These go for $99.99 at Musician's friend with free shipping. I've got two of these, great pedals.

 

Two more great options are the Fulltone OCD ($135.15) and the Ibanez TS 808 Tube Screamer ($179.99). To get back in your price range, if you shop and bid carefully, you can get the TS 808 used in great condition (like new or near mint) for around $105), or brand new for around $150 on eBay.

 

 

Distortion, my top pics are the Proco Rat (MF lists 3 models from $89.99 to $99.99, try them out at the local Guitar Center). For a great Plexi type sound, the MXR Custom Badass '78 Distortion. MF sells at $79.99, but you can get a new one on eBay for about $65.00 shipped. The MXR Distortion II is another good pedal, great for a more 80's rock and beyond sound. Prices on eBay and MF are about the same as the other MXR I quoted.

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