Again, Yes, distortion pedal's

[dvscool]

I'll likely just start buying and selling untill I find one I like....fml...

[j2379]

a tech 21 XXL. does everything from light OD to sludge

[emperor_black]

I should have realized that, but didn't. Couldn't hold back shoving further my own shoe in the mouth.

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.

[toejam]

If you're using your amp's distortion, use an OD pedal to boost it. If using your amp's clean channel, then use a distortion pedal.
Although, the guys from Cannibal Corpse play with Mesa Dual Rectos and boost their amps with a Boss Metal Zone pedal... turning the volume up and keeping the drive down, and using the pedal's parametric EQ to refine the sound.

[dvscool]

If you're using your amp's distortion, use an OD pedal to boost it. If using your amp's clean channel, then use a distortion pedal.
Although, the guys from Cannibal Corpse play with Mesa Dual Rectos and boost their amps with a Boss Metal Zone pedal... turning the volume up and keeping the drive down, and using the pedal's parametric EQ to refine the sound.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, Ideally, I would like to try both (boasting my amps distortion, and using the clean channel with distortion)....man theres a SHIT load of pedals out there....Alot of peeps be talking about the Boss Metal Zone and they are cheap.....I may start there....a see a tube screamer in the future as well. I'm going to have to try all this shit its really just what I try first.....

[emperor_black]

First, try to use the amp's distortion by boosting with a OD pedal. get the bad monkey. You won't be sorry. And its dirt cheap. Set the amp to dirt and use OD pedal with gain almost all the way down and level all the way up (or suit to taste). If you don't like this setup, you can go looking for a distortion pedal.

I have the Boss Metal zone modified by Allums mod. Its a great mod and takes away most of the sterile fizz. But I have not used the pedal in years.

[dvscool]

First, try to use the amp's distortion by boosting with a OD pedal. get the bad monkey. You won't be sorry. And its dirt cheap. Set the amp to dirt and use OD pedal with gain almost all the way down and level all the way up (or suit to taste). If you don't like this setup, you can go looking for a distortion pedal.

I have the Boss Metal zone modified by Allums mod. Its a great mod and takes away most of the sterile fizz. But I have not used the pedal in years.

Oddly enough, thats how I get VERY good tones out of GR4. Using the EVH with gain and then adding OD....I think I will try that they are cheap as you said....pick up a gate at the same time...

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

I've used a couple of stock Boss MZ's for years and liked them, with my 800. Marshall VM and Plexi didn't like them as much. I also use a Wampler Pinnacle and Boss SD1. Both sound very similar to me, and sound good. The Boss was $50 new and the Pinnacle four times that. The SD1 sounds just as good with all my amps, it's a keeper.

[dvscool]

What I do know is this. I'm going to start cheap. There’s no questioning that. Going to the local L n M to see if they have bad monkey as emp has suggested. It makes sense to try that. If that doesn't work I'll start fuckin with low end distortion pedals and work my way up. In my opinion, it’s really just one big crap shoot as to if any pedal sounds good, depending on amp, settings, room, pickups, volumes....I mean there’s so many fuckin variables and so many pedals. I’m not going to go out and start dropping cash on boutique pedals. Yet. This place + Google is always awesome to figure shit out……If ALL else fails...I will sell my amp and start from scratch again....but I think what I have will work.

Chasing tone, could be a full time career. I’m DEEPLY regretting selling my RIG about 10 years ago. Thinking I was never going to gig again, never be in a serious band. All that shit. It was paid for, I really didn’t get any real money for it. I would KILL for my tone I once had. Meh….

[roodyrocker]

A couple years ago I was going through a bunch of distortion pedals just to experiment. I still have pretty much all of them but a few stand out from the crowd for me and I still use them. The ones I still use are the Fulltone OCD, Retro-Sonic 808, and for a commonly found pedal, the MXR Zakk Wilde OD. I have used these on Marshall style amps including my Randy Rhoads 1/2 stack and gig with them.

[6string40]

I've tried many a distortion pedal and never really found one that did anything for me from a good tone perspective. That's not to say it won't work for you or anyone else.

As far as overdrive pedals...

Bad Monkey - super cheap and super good
Wylde Overdrive - forget the name/endorsement, whether you like Zakk or not, this pedal is good all around
Boss SD1 - stock is okay, but I liked the Keely modded one
OCD - personally haven't tried this one, but rarely find a bad review of it and most online clips back up those good reviews
BB Preamp - not mentioned yet, but this is my favorite...does what it should and doesn't color your tone

[Hellbat]

What I do know is this. I'm going to start cheap. There’s no questioning that. Going to the local L n M to see if they have bad monkey as emp has suggested.

A good one to try from L&M is the Danelectro Cool Cat V2. It's cheap @ around $40 IIRC and is suppossed to be a very close clone to a Fulltone OCD.

http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/9145/Guitars/Guitar_Effects/Danelectro/D-CO-2_-_Cool_Cat_Drive_Version_2.htm

[dvscool]

Well, I just came from L n M and tried a whole shit load of pedals. I was lucky to be able to try through a Trayner similar to mine. I tried several overdrive pedals WITH the amps native distortion. I did get some decent tones, but found it really noisy. They didn’t have the Bad Monkey or the Cool Cat V2, but they DID have an anniversary Tube Screamer. I have to say it sounded pretty fukin good, but again, was noisy and WAY overpriced. The point was really, to see how adding OD to the amps distortion would sound.

So then I decided to add distortion to the clean channel. I tried a bunch of distortion boxes, like too many to name. Then I saw they had the M116 (Fullbore Metal) and asked to try it. This is the one I said at the beginning of this post I didn’t like due to the way the noise gate was controlled. Well fuk me. After playing for 10 minutes I boxed it up. SO much gain. I could get smoking tones with the gain about half. SO much control over the overall tone and contour of the sound and it has a scoop button too. It was very quiet even without the noise gate on. Now, of course, we are all smart enough to know this is all going to change when the volumes start rising. But I feel like, there’s SO much control with this pedal, I’m going to find a sweet spot. Oh it was 99 bucks. Hopefully with the tubes smokin hot and this pedal, I become god. Ok. How about I just hope I don't hate it.

I think to be fair, I’ll buy the Bad Monkey when I can get my hands on it, just so I can fuck with both scenarios at high volumes. So, basically I’m doing exactly what I said I wasn’t going to do. lol...Awesome.

Maybe I’ll post some kind of real review on this pedal after I hear it at rehearsal REALLY loud.

Thanks for all the input dudes….

EDIT: I want to add as a side note, Long & Mcquade have a great return policy. So its not like this is a complete waste of money. If I hate it. I'll return it.

[emperor_black]

Oh yeah, this is a new addition to their lineup. Most of us on this forum are big MXR Fans. It must be good! Congrats!!

[VitaminG]

the Bad Monkey is a good one to have in your arsenal. Great cheap little box.

I haven't tried any of the MXR stuff, but I do like the look (and sound) of their 78 Distortion. If I was in the market for a distortion, I'd totally consider that.