What's the go to distortion pedal nowadays?

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spawn802

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I have a Krank Chadwick I want to run a high gain pedal into. I had a Mesa Mark V and I miss that sound. I've had the bogner blue and red and those were fine, but I'm wondering if there's something better that's come out. I thought about the soldano pedal or maybe a Friedman be deluxe.
You guys are full of good ideas so help me spend some money! Let's say $250 or less... preferably less.
 
Im getting one of the tc ampworx pedals from sweetwater today to try. Ill let ya know if its cool. I dont own one but every time I’ve played a be pedal at guitar center ive been surprised how much i like it.
Im not a big pedal guy but im trying to build a small stereo pedalboard rig using a distortion or preamp pedal tight now.
 
Depends what you’re looking to sound like really. There’s pedals like my Ibanez smashbox i got for $40 that does a pretty great recto kind of thing.
 
"Im getting one of the tc ampworx pedals from sweetwater today to try."
I look forward to hearing the report on it. I'll check it out. Good to hear the be pedal doesn't sound bad
 
I tried to get something blisteringly high gain and tried the Mesa ThrottleBox and the Friedman BE-OD. I didn't like either one of them. Two of my favorite "by themselves" dirt boxes are the OCD and the Angry Charlie. Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe can throw some heat as well.
 
My current favorite is the Wampler Gearbox. A Pinnacle and a Tumnus in one box.

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"I tried to get something blisteringly high gain and tried the Mesa ThrottleBox and the Friedman BE-OD"
I was hoping the Mesa throttlebox was decent. Disappointed to hear that but I'm not surprised. I have an OCD and like it for somethings, I will check out the angry Charlie and pinnacle deluxe. Thanks!
 
You might wanna try a Blackstar HT-Dual or the H&K Tubefactor.
I'm a longtime user of the Hughes and Kettner Tubefactor when it comes to a boostable tube overdrive/distortion into a clean amp and had the HT-Dual for a while too. The Dual has more range in terms of gain and volume for high-gain stuff...the Tubefactor sounds a bit more organic. More along the lines of the Bogner Blue, but 'bolder' and bigger/wider.
The nice thing is, while it tops out at medium gain (think classic metal), it takes boost pedals really well.

Whenever I'm playing a Roland Jazz Chorus (does it get any cleaner?) the Tubefactor comes out. I had the Bogner Blue, Red and the AMT SS-30 as well...the Tubefactor survived them all. The Bogner Blue was nice and organic too, but lacked the extra gain and it felt a tad small sounding compared to a pedal that has 290V plate voltage internally.
 
The Hardwire SC-2 Valve Distortion is a sleeper. Used to see them cheap, now, (like most Hardwire pedals), prices have gone up. Their RV-7 Reverb was an awesome pedal too, now they're fetching over $200, and some are paying close to $300.

I personally didn't care for the BE-OD. Over the top gain, even with the internal gain pot backed off. The MXR 5150 is decent.
 
The BE OD gets good reviews by most players. I had Griff here build me a clone; and instead of the smooth/darker BE thing it's raw/jagged/open sounding with my 72 Marshalls.
The coolest thing though, is the fact that I now have a master volume effect with the volume knob on the pedal. Raising/lowering it doesn't affect the saturation at all; unlike an OD pedal. Works amazingly well.

Griff does great work; he can build you one or clone another pedal you have in mind; for a lower cost probably.
 
spawn802 said:
"Im getting one of the tc ampworx pedals from sweetwater today to try."
I look forward to hearing the report on it. I'll check it out. Good to hear the be pedal doesn't sound bad
Click to expand...
I got the dual wreck tc pedal and its friggin great! Ill try to make a decent sounding clip of it in the room. I cant wait to try it out at practice tomorrow through the power section of my heads to give it a proper test.
Ive been experimenting trying to build a cheap pedalboard rig and this might work.
 
napalmdeath said:
The Hardwire SC-2 Valve Distortion is a sleeper. Used to see them cheap, now, (like most Hardwire pedals), prices have gone up. Their RV-7 Reverb was an awesome pedal too, now they're fetching over $200, and some are paying close to $300.

I personally didn't care for the BE-OD. Over the top gain, even with the internal gain pot backed off. The MXR 5150 is decent.
Click to expand...
I forgot about the 5150 distortion. I wonder how that compares to the bogner stuff. I might pick up the hardwire valve distortion if I find one cheap enough just to mess around with. Thanks!
 
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