The thing is most high gain riggs are half stacks. Thier that way for a reason. Satch only uses a DS1 but he runs it into a clean marshall half-stack. If you run his same setup into a Twin it wont sound the same. Im not saying it wont sound good. Just that people consider high gain rigs to sound thier best as a head and closed-back cab setup. High gain combo's arent as popular. Thier more for convenience. Just becouse your using a
distortion pedal doesnt change the fact that you have alot of gain and it would sound great with a closed back 4x12.
What you end up with is a choice. Better clean sound or dirty sound. A twin is an extremely clean amp. Its tone is darker then a vox or marshall clean tone but it does have a very bitey sparkle in the top. Thats not good for distortion. Im not a fan of pedals into Fenders. Especially a twin. A twin was made to be loud and clean. If you prefer having a great clean sound then maybe the twin is a good choice. But your gonna be sacrificing on the high gain sound. Anyone who says otherwise never played thier pedal-based rig through anything that would give them the chance to see otherwise. So thats your choice basically.
Just dont think you can focus on a great clean amp, and then just buy a great distortion pedal and it will sound the same. Pedals sound very different depending on the amps and cabs thier powered through.
Its not a "bad" idea to use a pedal for distortion. Its not done nearly as much on recordings as people think. You really have to try it at a store. I can get Satches exact tone and I never liked it. However I like listening to it. I find it most likely that if your used to
amp distortion you wont like the sound of a pedal. Especially as harsh as it will sound through a twin. But you have to try it. Probably every guitar player has gone though a phase where they thought they could get a great clean amp, then a good distortion pedal and be set with a great rig. Many were dissappointed.
