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Post subject: distortion pedal
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:58 pm
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Can anyone recommend a good, versatile distortion pedal? I have a Standard Strat HSS and a solid state Marshall amp


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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:25 am
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Damage Control's "Womanizer" has dual tubes and sounds great :

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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:22 am
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Burford electronics. Their pedals sound better than anything else, are also cheaper, designed to respond to your playing technique and are not a clone of everything else and can be built to your specifications. My mosquito is arriving this week.

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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:34 am
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The answer your looking for will be different from almost everyone you ask. It depends on the sound you are looking for. I love my Analog Man modded Ibanez Tube Screamer but my tastes and yours may differ. Hope I could help.

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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:41 am
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cu_jarrett wrote:
The answer your looking for will be different from almost everyone you ask. It depends on the sound you are looking for. I love my Analog Man modded Ibanez Tube Screamer but my tastes and yours may differ. Hope I could help.


I hear he does some good mods on ts-9s & 808s Just beware of people saying they are him on ebay !


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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:48 am
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fhopkins wrote:
cu_jarrett wrote:
The answer your looking for will be different from almost everyone you ask. It depends on the sound you are looking for. I love my Analog Man modded Ibanez Tube Screamer but my tastes and yours may differ. Hope I could help.


I hear he does some good mods on ts-9s & 808s Just beware of people saying they are him on ebay !


I agree with that. Mine is signed and stamped. My TS9/808 has the maxon board and his stamp on that as well.

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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:57 am
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Everyone will have a different answer. My answer is: Blackstar HT-Dual pedal:

http://www.blackstaramps.co.uk/products/ht/htdual.html

That's a twin channel high voltage tube / valve powered drive / distortion pedal, offering boost to crunch on one side, crunch to way out distortion on the other. Many nicely set up controls, including a "shape" knob that lets you configure the pedal for British, American or somewhere in between amp sounds. There's also an emulated line out for DI-ing it. With the tube running hot that distortion is creamy!

You asked for versatile and there you have it. But take a look at the rest of the range. To my ears, the search for the ultimate drive pedal ends with the Blackstar HT-Drive:

http://www.blackstaramps.co.uk/products/ht/index.html

The pedals range between $150 and $200 US. Best bang since the big one!

Cheers - C


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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:08 am
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Here's what I have at the moment
[img][img]http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r459/fhopkins_photos/boss50.jpg[/img][/img]


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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:21 am
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Of its kind I think that Boss ME-50 is the best value in town. I have one, and use it in preference to my old GT-3, because I don't care for the amp sims.

The drive section of that ME-50 alone is worth the money. 22 drive pedal emulations: no doubt they wouldn't survive A/B-ing against the real thing - but then how much would all of those cost individually? Personally, I find the OD-2 setting very satisfactory.

If it's the way you want to go, it's a no-brainer done deal. A great recommendation.

By the way, if you just want a drive pedal emulator without all the other features of the ME-50, then a DigiTech Distortion Factory is worth a look. I have one of those, as well. Fits the versatility factor the OP was asking for...

...But try the Blackstar pedals too, why not? You may never look back!

Cheers - C


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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:38 am
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I'll give the blackstar a try along with all the above. What do I have to loose? If it's not what I want I always have the ME-50 to fall back on, or use them all in line. What a setup that would be. :wink:


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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:39 pm
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Thanks for the replies. Are there tubes in all pedals or just that one? what about the Boss ds-1 or the Rat. Ive heard good things about those


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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:01 pm
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The Boss OD2 was a tremendous totaly underrated pedal. I used one for ages playing in a glam rock band. I always found the DS series of pedals along with the proco rats too harsh sounding. Whether valve pedals have better tone is debatable. I just dont hear one or two ecc83's surrounded by resistors and transformers sounding much different from a 100 valve amp set low to push out 3 watts. They always seem to sound fizzy and thin, something you dont get with conventional chip/resistor distortion pedals unless you dial it in.
That being said my last experience of valve pedals was the mesa attempt in the mid 90's, which i ignored after 90 seconds because of the above reasons.

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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:08 pm
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guitardudemd wrote:
Thanks for the replies. Are there tubes in all pedals or just that one? what about the Boss ds-1 or the Rat. Ive heard good things about those


Neither of those pedals have tubes or valves in them.

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Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:36 am
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nikininja wrote:
The Boss OD2 was a tremendous totaly underrated pedal. I used one for ages playing in a glam rock band. I always found the DS series of pedals along with the proco rats too harsh sounding. Whether valve pedals have better tone is debatable. I just dont hear one or two ecc83's surrounded by resistors and transformers sounding much different from a 100 valve amp set low to push out 3 watts. They always seem to sound fizzy and thin, something you dont get with conventional chip/resistor distortion pedals unless you dial it in.
That being said my last experience of valve pedals was the mesa attempt in the mid 90's, which i ignored after 90 seconds because of the above reasons.


Two things: I agree entirely with what you say about Boss DS versus OD pedals. I too have plenty of time for the OD-2, and even their emulation of it in that ME-50 unit (above), as I mentioned.

I also know what you are talking about regarding tubes/valves in pedals. Which is why I am surprised to find myself singing loud praises for those Blackstars. Apparently, what they are doing differently is running the valve at high voltages, as opposed to the low voltage that most pedals put through it. I'm an electronics dunce and have at best a shallow idea of what that really means. But the proof of the pudding is right there in the eating - they sound amazing, and not for the silliest prices, either.

...Or the OP could just forget about drive pedals all together and get to know the crunch and lead channels on my Marshall TSL - but that's a whole other thread!

There: more than enough from me...

Cheers - C


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Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:06 am
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I know nothing about this one, but just found out it is only $40 like the Bad Monkey, DS-1 and SD-1. For the price, one of those might be worth a shot.

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