Again, Yes, distortion pedal's

[dvscool]

I’m looking for a distortion pedal for a tube amp (ycv80). The distortion on the amp isn’t bad, I’m really just chasing tone more than anything. Right now, I’m thinking the uber distortion or maybe the metal Muff. I’ve Googled like a motha on this. Listened to tons of clips but really I think its almost useless. Untill I hear the pedal through my gear at REAL volumes. I'll never really know. It seems like everyone likes something different. Obviously, I can’t try every pedal. I’m just wondering what you guys think of the 2 I mentioned or could suggest something better…..

thanks dudes...

[Hellbat]

The new Bogner Uberschall pedal looks interesting. The Wampler pedals are well built and sound good as well. The MXR Fullbore Metal has some cool features but I've never played one to be able to give proper feedback.

[dvscool]

The new Bogner Uberschall pedal looks interesting. The Wampler pedals are well built and sound good as well. The MXR Fullbore Metal has some cool features but I've never played one to be able to give proper feedback.

The full bore was on the list , but I hate how the noisegate is controlled. You have to take the bottom cover off it and use a screw driver to adjust the gate....Never heard of the other 2, cool I WILL check them out.....

[VitaminG]

how much distortion are you looking for? The MI Audio Crunchbox does the Marshall-stack-in-a-box thing really nicely

[emperor_black]

First off you don't put distortion pedals in front of tube amps. Most tube amps will reach distortion heaven with an Overdrive pedal. so, stop looking for distortion pedals and look for OD pedals. The most famous of 'em all, the Tubescreamer should do, but if you want do go on the down-low, you can't go wrong with the Digitech Bad Monkey. for $30 its an amazing pedal and its analog as well.

distortion pedals go in front of solid state amps set to a clean channel. but they will never sound as thick as an Overdriven tube amp.

[VitaminG]

Really? man, I'm gonna have to pull mine off my pedalboard. All these years it seemed to be working fine in front of a tube amp. Particularly on occasions when I don't like the sound of the amp's drive channel. Or for turning a 3 channel amp into a 4 channel one.

Of course, when the amp's drive channel sounds great but you want a bit more drive/compression/saturation/tighten things up, it's nice having an overdrive pedal on my board too.

[warlok]

I just fell in re-love with my MXR Classic Overdrive. Put an external switch for GT-OD/ZW-44 (Basically Tubescreamer/SD-1) and loving it with my RM100. Reacts different with different modules as I'm sure it would with other amps but really enjoying the tightness and sustain with it kicked in.. Both sides kick ass. Pretty cheap to try out.

[toddstaples]

The Bogner Ecstasy Red sounds Delicious......

[emperor_black]

Gary, sure it'll sound good, but it'll usually sound thin. And then you'll need an EQ pedal or use the amp's eq to boost the mids/lows. Also, you'll lose the "feel" of the tube amp. In a distortion pedal the clipping occurs inside the pedal and its solid state. It'll feel like playing through a SS amp. But in a tube amp the clipping occurs in the preamp circuit and using tubes, it'll be touch responsive, organic and all the goodness.

Also, the best way to use the OD pedal is to keep drive to minimum and level boosted.

But hey, its been years since I played through distortion pedals, what do I know?

Really? man, I'm gonna have to pull mine off my pedalboard. All these years it seemed to be working fine in front of a tube amp. Particularly on occasions when I don't like the sound of the amp's drive channel. Or for turning a 3 channel amp into a 4 channel one.

Of course, when the amp's drive channel sounds great but you want a bit more drive/compression/saturation/tighten things up, it's nice having an overdrive pedal on my board too.

[emperor_black]

And the last distortion pedals I tried were the hardwire TL-2 and the barber distortion. they were both really good.

[dannyr]

The new Bogner pedals are getting rave reviews. Also check out the Barber Dirty Bomb.

[DonP]

I'm with Sam. I never really got into pedals. I prefer the tube amp tone and the simplicity of just one cord into the amp. I've had a DSL100 for ages that I love, but recently picked up an RM100 Lynchbox with 10 modules. I see some of my MTS brothers are in this thread. I don't see the need to hit the amp with a pedal, but who knows.

Being a Lynch fanboy, I have had a TS10 from decades ago, an MT-2 for over the top distortion, and I bought a DS-1 to get 1 year same as cash on a $500 Model 6 I bought at GC. I still haven't taken the DS-1 out of the box yet

[VitaminG]

Gary, sure it'll sound good, but it'll usually sound thin. And then you'll need an EQ pedal or use the amp's eq to boost the mids/lows. Also, you'll lose the "feel" of the tube amp. In a distortion pedal the clipping occurs inside the pedal and its solid state. It'll feel like playing through a SS amp. But in a tube amp the clipping occurs in the preamp circuit and using tubes, it'll be touch responsive, organic and all the goodness.

Also, the best way to use the OD pedal is to keep drive to minimum and level boosted.

But hey, its been years since I played through distortion pedals, what do I know?

man, I am such an asshole. Please take anything I say in that facetious tone with a grain of salt. They say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and I'm only half of one.

But seriously, nothing thin about the Crunchbox into a tube amp. I don't use it into a drive channel, but on a clean channel it can be glorious. It's also quite touch responsive. Back off the volume or pick attack & it will respond.

Having said that, I rarely use it live. Sometimes I'll set it up for a volume boost to use for solos off-a my clean channel. Saves changing channels AND stepping on my volume pedal for a dirty 4 bar solo in an otherwise clean tune. Otherwise all crunchy & heavy tones are the Randall.

Where I mainly use the distortion pedal is at rehearsal. To lighten my load, I'll take a tube combo, pedal board & one guitar, use the clean channel only because I don't like the drive on this particular amp (NEVER an issue with the RM100 at a gig) and use the Crunchbox for all of my distorted tones. And then you can always poke it in the ass with a TS-type pedal for fun.

ps. if you're talking about some of the old classic distortions like a DS1 or what have you, I'd largely agree. I could never get a satisfying tone out of that orange Boss, regardless of amp. Buzzy unpleasing mess.

[Mazrim]

If you like the distortion on your amp and want an extra push, go with an Overdrive as has been said. Although you can use distortion pedals too if you set them up with your amp well. For instance if you have your drive channel on your amp backed off to crunchy and then come in with a distortion pedal with the drive backed off a bit.

Anyway, the last distortion pedal I thought was great was the Suhr Riot. I also used a Keeley modded Metal Zone too with great results.
All depends on what sound you're after but a Suhr Riot will give you very natural, thick and juicy sounding distortion but with good transparency and seperation.
In other words it has similar voicing to a good overdriven hi gain tube amp.

[dvscool]

Wow...thanks for all the input. As I mentioned I'm really just chasing tone. I just bought his amp. I don't hate my tone, I just know it can be better. So I guess, I'm looking for a pedal that is going to have lots of control and flexibility so that I can constantly be fuckin with it rather then actually rehearsing and trying to get tunes down...haha.....

This is kinda why I like the uber metal. It looks like its got lots of control and different tones, and a gate ta boot.....although I have been doing this long enough to know the gate will likely suck ass and I should just go buy a real gate and take the "built in gate" off the list.....

I don't really know how much distortion I need. Lots. I will know when I hear.....