Guitar Distortion Boxes? help with suggestions..

i'm looking into getting a distortion box dealie, rather using my amp distortion, i was wondering if any "real playas" had any suggestions, ill need something reliable for playing live and recording....my band is pretty heavy, its "spacy, alternative hardcore with a dash of metal"...yeah....

i just got a rickenbacker dakota, and im playing it through a marshall head head and cabinet...so if anyone has any ideas....

are the MXR'S ANY GOOD?

hit me up....thanks.
james.

this is metro..
thecrimescene.itgo.com

Boss Mega-Distortion has a good meaty sound that will sound nice with your rig.

although...

I prefer the old stand-by: the Rat II. awesome pedal that you can usually pick up on e-bay for around 20-40 bucks...

i personally wouldn;t go with an MXR unless it's their phaser pedal...all others are shit, from what i've heard.

This is my fave.

My favorite has always been the Chandler Tube Driver.



Unfortunately, they don't make 'em anymore and are kind of pricey when you find one. Worth trying it out if you see one at your local used instrument store.

[Edited on Oct 25, 2004 by DrNecessitor]

oh man, no hyper fuzz!!! haha, i used to fuck around with one of those back in the day..haah...that Chandler Tube Driver lukes pretty sexy though...keep the suggestions coming....

james..

e

More faithful then any band member I have ever played with.....


[Edited on Oct 25, 2004 by coldenginelogic]

yes to the big muff.

I've heard that Boss' Metal Zone stompbox makes people who play through Marshalls very happy.

That tech 21 is awesome if you need a pedal. I played shows with it and recorded.
It can go from a half ass fuzz to full on thrash with a twist of the knob. Tech 21 is one of the best companies in the world

i have a pile of pedals and synth boxes laying in the corner, but this is all i use now.

well, from my (limited) experience with marshalls, i've been really happy with the distortion they give, but if you disagree or just want some variation, a stompbox could be a good idea. I have two big muffs, the russian and the american, and although i enjoy them, i find them slightly overrated for a general purpose pedal. they are good smooth fuzz for some kinds of lead work, but they lack the ability to get low and chunky that i like for my rhythm playing. the favorite pedal i ever used was a Boss Metal-Zone, which really shines because of it's mid frequencey adjustment. you can get it to do just about anything. I use it's outdated little cousin, the "Hyper Metal" which i got on ebay for pretty cheap a few years back. I enjoy it for it's general rhythm / lead applications. it's relatively versitile for the small price i managed to get it for.

They guy from Converge uses these ...

http://www.pacifix-ltd.com/product/stanpede/index_e.html

I'm not much of a guitar player, I'm a bass player, but this kid I used to jam with had one and it sounded awesome.

I really like my RP-7. I really don't like my metal zone (it sounds like bees!).

metal zone is wack. if your marshall is a tube, you're crazy for wanting anything than a switch pedal.

i'll grant that marshall tube distortion is about 400 times better than most stomp boxes you could get in my opinion as well, but if one does insist on using a stomp box, then i really do have to get behind the metal zone. It's pretty versitile.

arrgh! i stick by my Boss Mega Dist. it has that all-range adjustment too and doesn't sound like a buzz-saw, just a deep throaty crunch...

Distortion pedals almost universally suck, IMO. Which Marshall head are you using? My favorite technique is to use micro-amp type pedals to overdrive the head's pre-amps. I use the MXR Micro-Amp through a MusicMan HD130, which is a damned-near unbeatable tone, IMO - but it depends on what you're going for. Ted Leo uses the same technique. A variation on this technique is to use Parametric EQ and Graphic EQ pedals to do a similar thing, but to accentuate a particular frequency - you'll hear this technique all over Smashing Pumpkins recordings, fwiw.

The Boss OD2-R Turbo Overdrive is the only one I ever used. I don't play much anymore, I'll sell it to you reasonable cheap.

Boss HM2

http://www.effector13.com

My favorite distortion box:

One word

Superfuzz

i run this through a marshall fifty watt joubilee when i want dirty and a marshall valvestate preamp when i want more clarity. it models all the classic distortion pedals, sixteen amps and cabs, tape delays, etc. and has a really cool tube pre of it's own that emulates the push/pull of voltage going to speakers... sick!

[Edited on Oct 26, 2004 by wakeangel]