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A few "budget" Distortion (not OD) Pedal recommendations??


Bluedano1

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Hey Guitar and Effects Lovers, Special Shout out to 11 Gauge!

 

I'm Joe (aka Bluedano1) first time here!

 

Just looking for a few (under $100) ideas for a distortion pedal that has more Gain than a TS, Dano TOD, Blues Driver (I won all of these) or even Dano Drive that I can use for some old '70's classic rock lead from time to time. It needs to have nice sustain/crunch w/o the "modded" high-gain Marshall/Metal sound. More fusion-like perhaps? Is the DigiTech Hardwire Distortion a possible? Or the MXR Badass '78 or are these too modern sounding? Thanks!

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You can probably still get a Boss DS-1 for less than $40.00 somewhere.

 

 

Yeah, I know thanks! Just don't care for their tone! But that's (well a little more$$ ) is the budget- I bet a used Rat or cheap Rat clone would do the trick- I should demo one as it does seem to have the smooth dist, but with a rounder EQ that a DS-1

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the rat is a great choice. my personal favorite (one of the first pedals i've ever owned so its special to me) is my beloved orange Boss DS-2. i like it more than the DS-1. the DS-2 has PLENTY of gain on tap and sounds like a proper distortion without breaking the bank at all.

 

also, i just got the '78 custom badass about a month ago. didnt really gel with it at first and wanted to sell it, but have been playing with it more and more in the last week and took it off CL and decided to keep it. nothing modern about that, quite a nice vintagey rock tone from it. strongly recommend it. I play it through a single coil strat, and find it sounds better with a little bit of a volume boost from my line driver in front of it. for humbuckers this may not be necessary

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Used Crunch Box, they're going for $65ish on the Gear Page these days.

 

 

Wow, if that's the case, then this is definitely a great choice. These have a ton of volume and gain on tap, and the flavor is like a JCM800 Marshall.

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Or the MXR Badass '78 or are these too modern sounding? Thanks!

 

 

The Badass 78, by all accounts, is the equivalent of a DS-1 with the Keeley Ultra/SEM stuff built in.

 

So no desire for a Boss Metal Zone? Hah!

 

I have to admit that those mid gain crunch tones are a bit hard to find something that satisfies, especially if you're thinking fusion-ish.

 

I'd have to repeat (actually first time stating on this board) that I've had the most luck stacking stuff. It's almost always the result of experimentation. I just built a silicon "multi-booster" not too long ago, and I added both a treble booster switch, as well as a "this is probably too much of a good thing" switch. It was really just an experiment, but the daggone thing works best when slammed into something with a moderate amount of grind. But it also works great into a Fuzz Face, because it negates all of the wooliness and flub. It kinda makes sense, since it's sort of a hillbilly-ish cobbled version of a Skreddy Screwdriver (which is a GREAT pedal).

 

I really like my old Reverend Drivetrain II for those medium gain tones, but they obviously don't make those any longer. Visual Sound makes the new Garage Tone version, but I'm fairly certain that it has a bit less grind than the old Rev DT II does.

 

I'm obviously a Rat fan too, but at the point of distortion you seek, it might be a bit wooly or un-tamed for a good fusion-ish sound. GREAT at high settings for nutty gonzo tones, and GREAT for low gain Scofield/Frisell stuff, too. I like it for low to moderate, personally. Rats just have this cool "looseness" to them, but it drives some players nuts at the amount of distortion that they want.

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