distortion pedal for MY setup?

[suffian1]

Hi,

i know your choices will be different depending on amps, pups, music taste etc.. but the thing is I can only purchase my stuff online, no way to test it live so here goes. oh and choices are limited cos ordering from overseas is quite expensive (i'm somewhere in the jungles of Borneo).

looking for a distortion pedal for my setup as below:
- RG550 with stock V7/S1/V8 pups, basswood body, rosewood fingerboard.
- Marshall MG15FX amp (distortion are a bit all over the place, like the delay & other fx though)

music played:
- right now playing lots of maiden stuff.
- other times: Lamb of God, metallica, hendrix, gary moore, ac/dc, nirvana

some shortlist:
- MXR fullbore metal/78 custom badass/dist III
- Barber Dirty Bomb
- Analogman Boss DS-1
- EHX Metal Muff
- Rocktron Zombie/Metal Planet
- Proco RAT

so if you guys have any other suggestions or comments, please feel free. just 1 dist pedal versatile enough to last me years and can give me range of tones.

Cheers!

[LonePhantom]

MI Effects Crunch Box and Megalith Delta are brilliant pedals. As are the Goosoniqueworx Seventh Heaven and Kvlt. Australian and Singaporean made respectively so made close-ish to you, and good value excellent quality pedals.

[suffian1]

thanks LonePhantom! and they have an upgraded version..definitely one to check out

[suffian1]

Originally Posted by suffian1

thanks LonePhantom! and they have an upgraded version..definitely one to check out

i mean the 7th heaven & kult

[doriangrey]

With over 100 reviews Lone Phantom is the man so I have the utmost respect for his opinions on gear - with that said, I always feel compelled to offer my 2 cents when someone asks about distortion pedals because I have gone through so many in my many years of playing...

I have quite a few fave distortion pedals for different reasons but I often go back to my Keeley DS-1 (which is probably similar to the Analogman DS-1 on your list) because I like how it compresses for leads but lately my fave gain pedal is this one:

http://visualsound.net/jekyll-hyde/

Your list of music played covers quite a range but I am confident the jekyl & hyde will cover everything on your list...the other reasons I think it is a really great pedal:

1. super quiet - possibly the quietest gain pedal I have ever owned
2. excellent distortion sounds ranging from high gain to smooth OD
3. it has a built in OD section that you can use at the same time as the distortion side to give you the needed mid-boost to cut through the mix when soloing
4. reasonably priced - I got mine off of Craigslist for $80

Again, I have tried many distortion pedals over the years and this pedal delivers the goods, is very versatile and won't burn you with a boutique price tag...

my 2 cents...

good luck in your search

[Furegious]

I'd recommend checking out Blackstar's series of pedals. Particularly, the HT-Dual or the HT-Blackfire. They are both valve based pedals.

The HT-Dual is more of a jack of all trades, covering all popular clean, rock and moderate metal sounds. You'll be able to get a good Metallica, Nirvana, AC/DC sound from it, due to its ISF feature. It's for shaping the sound to a more British or American tone.

The HT-Blackfire is similar to the HT-Dual and I suppose you can achieve similar results, but there's a Fury channel which totally kicks in the overdrive for a more heavily distorted sound (perfect for cutting leads).

I own the HT-Blackfire, as having a Blackstar HT guitar amp basically allows you to achieve the sounds from the HT-Dual pedal. It's a great combination to cover all bases for different styles of music.

I did a fair bit of research before going with this setup, though the other pedal I was interested in at the time was the TC Electronic Nova Drive. This pedal has the ability to overlay two different types of overdrive/clean sounds on top of one another. Great for getting that heavily distorted sound, yet with a slightly cleaning sound for note definition. It's versatile, like the HT-Dual, allowing yourself to tune in the sound and style you want.

To hear them in action, there are good demonstrations of these pedals on YouTube.

Here are links to the actual websites:
HT-DUAL
http://www.blackstaramps.com/products/ht-dual/
HT-Blackfire
http://www.blackstaramps.com/products/ht-blackfire/
TC Electronic Nova Drive
http://www.tcelectronic.com/ndr-1-nova-drive/

[suffian1]

wow..thanks guys..
the jekyll/hyde is on my shortlist also..at first i was going for the son of hyde but then i was thinking of getting just one pedal (i'm not a gigging musician) to cover all the od/dist sound then jekyll/hyde combo would be the perfect choice..as with the 7th heaven, TC, HT range...

but then again I forgot to mention that i'm a little strap for cash (hehehh) so those HT/7th heaven/visual sound/TC pedal would be too much (for a non gigging player)..so analogman ds-1 is probably within my range (barely as the price here is for all pedals basically 50% or more than the msrp..wtf )..or hopefully i can find some great pedals used. i cant shop at craiglist/ebay/online shop from overseas as the shipping charges & tax which is 10% in my country would shoot the price even higher.

[GUITARMAGEDDON]

Boss Power Stack. hands down

[LonePhantom]

Originally Posted by suffian1

wow..thanks guys..
the jekyll/hyde is on my shortlist also..at first i was going for the son of hyde but then i was thinking of getting just one pedal (i'm not a gigging musician) to cover all the od/dist sound then jekyll/hyde combo would be the perfect choice..as with the 7th heaven, TC, HT range...

but then again I forgot to mention that i'm a little strap for cash (hehehh) so those HT/7th heaven/visual sound/TC pedal would be too much (for a non gigging player)..so analogman ds-1 is probably within my range (barely as the price here is for all pedals basically 50% or more than the msrp..wtf )..or hopefully i can find some great pedals used. i cant shop at craiglist/ebay/online shop from overseas as the shipping charges & tax which is 10% in my country would shoot the price even higher.

If you are short on cash a modified Boss pedal might be the perfect solution for you. Don't buy an overpriced analog man or similar pedal. Buy a stock Metal Zone and do some mods for to it. Ive got an awesome mod that makes a Metal Zone very versatile. If you are not familiar with soldering yourself I can probably help you out. Pm me and we can work something out. I can send you sound samples and the details from my blog about the mod.