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Your Favorite Distortion Unit


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A vintage model MXR Distortion+ is a wondrous thing. No tone knob and it tends to be a bit trebly, so that may or may not be an issue. I love mine though. I'm currently using a Blues Driver for a kinda-fuzzy overdrive, the Dist+. and a vintage Big Muff for fuzz. Pretty good trio of gain pedals, I'd say.

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I would have to concur with the votes for the Big Muff. I love mine. Plus it is just fun to say.

Take a Les Paul through a Big Muff into a Marshall or a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I think I just made a mess of myself. :guitar

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I keep several distortion-type pedals on my board. I'd rank them in this order:

 

1. Crowther Hot Cake. I can't imagine playing a gig without this pedal. It's great as a volume boost, mild overdrive, warm tweed Fender overdrive, to screaming overdrive. Extremely versatile.

 

2. Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet Edition. This one is like having two pedals in one. I keep the toggle switches on "Vintage" and "Mosfet". It's easy to get rich Marshall-like tones when you turn this on. Then, kick on the "boost" and you can make your guitar sound like it's crying while on the verge of feedback.

 

3. Fulltone '69. This is basically a fuzzface. Much different texture than a straight distortion or overdrive pedal. I don't use this a whole lot, but when you want a fuzz tone nothing else will do.

 

4. Fulltone OCD. I was so excited to get this pedal. Frankly, it's almost obsolete now that I have the Fulldrive Mosfet. However, I keep it on my board and set to a different tone than the Fulldrive just so I have some other colors to paint with.

 

5. Crowther Prunes & Custard. This is one f'ed up pedal. The other guys in the band get nervous and start to sweat when they see me turn this pedal on. It's difficult to describe the sound because it can do so many things. All at once it can sound like your amp is dying a tortured death to the shrill of dropping razor blades into a garbage disposal. Probably best used in a controlled setting, such as recording, than in a live situation.

 

There are lots of great pedals on the market to choose from. I've done the Boss and Ibanez route but have moved on. They are great pedals, but tend to give you tone that's predictable and comfortable. It's been a lot of fun to experiment with other brands. Speaking of, I hope to add a ZVexx and a Klon in the near future.

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If you're looking at tube-based distortion pedals, the Ibanez Tube King is another possibility. I had one for a long time (Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth used one around the same time, so therefore I had to as well), but sold it, which I now regret. The vintage EH Hot Tubes seems to get a lot of love on the Internets, but I don't know about the new version. The Hot Cake is a great pedal as well.

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5. Crowther Prunes & Custard. This is one f'ed up pedal. The other guys in the band get nervous and start to sweat when they see me turn this pedal on. It's difficult to describe the sound because it can do so many things. All at once it can sound like your amp is dying a tortured death to the shrill of dropping razor blades into a garbage disposal. Probably best used in a controlled setting, such as recording, than in a live situation.

 

 

:thumbup

 

 

jobu

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If you're looking at tube-based distortion pedals, the Ibanez Tube King is another possibility. I had one for a long time (Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth used one around the same time, so therefore I had to as well), but sold it, which I now regret. The vintage EH Hot Tubes seems to get a lot of love on the Internets, but I don't know about the new version. The Hot Cake is a great pedal as well.

 

i had an EH english muff'n for all of two days...the 2 tubes going into an all tube amp compressed the signal substantially...I couldnt stand it, so off to return land...

 

 

 

 

jobu

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personally i use a Big Muff and a Boss DS1. Both are simple and reliable, although with some of my guitars they have volume issues (being too quiet). But i like em anyway.

 

for overdrive, I have a Tube Screamer, which is pretty standard and good for classic-rock tones.

 

I also have a Visual Sound Route 66 American Overdrive, which is like my secret weapon. It's got a whole bunch of tonal options, from smooth to crunchy as hell to agressive to heavy. And it's got a Compression switch to boot.

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i had an EH english muff'n for all of two days...the 2 tubes going into an all tube amp compressed the signal substantially...I couldnt stand it, so off to return land..

 

good to know. I wouldn't have thought about compression due to stacking tubes.

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  • 2 months later...
I also have a Visual Sound Route 66 American Overdrive, which is like my secret weapon. It's got a whole bunch of tonal options, from smooth to crunchy as hell to agressive to heavy. And it's got a Compression switch to boot.

I've been using this pedal for three years now and am still yet to find the exact sweet spot as far as settings. How are you dialed in with this? Favorite settings?

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This thread is still alive? Well, after much deliberation I bit the bullet and contacted Jason at Freakshow Effects ... he is putting together a custom Brown Rabbit unit for me with some additional clipping and mid filter options. Hopefully it will be sweeeet since I paid quite a bit for the build. I won't be buying another distortion unit for quite a while ... for the record, the BR is based on the ProCo Rat.

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This thread is still alive? Well, after much deliberation I bit the bullet and contacted Jason at Freakshow Effects ... he is putting together a custom Brown Rabbit unit for me with some additional clipping and mid filter options. Hopefully it will be sweeeet since I paid quite a bit for the build. I won't be buying another distortion unit for quite a while ... for the record, the BR is based on the ProCo Rat.

 

Sounds like a dream pedal. That's all I have used and all I will ever use is the RAT. Let me know how your pedal turns out.. I may want one too. :thumbup

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My fav distortion unit is the BJFE Emerald Green Distortion and the Honey Bee isn't bad also. I also use the Red Rooster Booster and the Sea Blue EQ. I'm also hoping to get his compressor and other goodies.

 

His pedals are seriously like adding extra channels to your amp. So responsive to anything you throw at them and melt into any amp/guitar combo.

 

www.bjfelectronics.com

 

or

www.mpamp.com

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