Hi i currently use a Boss Metal Zone pedal and although it sounds sterile and i don't generally like it, it is the best i have heard or used.

What are the best distortion pedals out there? i am talking about pedals in the same price range as the boss.

I just want some nice toneful distortion. thanks

You get a nice set of metal distortions from the Death Metal by Digitech. That's the pedal I use. You can only really get hi-gain (super-) sounds but the EQs have quite a range on them. Don't go looking for a nice boost for your cleans or anything. For soloes, it's irreplacable though.

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ALL PEDALS SUCK, believe me

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A 'toneful' distortion pedal is going to be a 300$ boutique pedal, and given that, you're better off selling what amp you have now, putting 300$ together with it and getting something with the tone you need.

Not everyone wants their gear looking like this:

http://www.chemistrylive.com/images/FX%20Rack.jpg

so??

1 good tube amp will to plenty for the sound, compared to pedals
im not saying he should buy rack gear, i presonaly have had it with rack gear, to much crap that comes along, also to much costs that come along

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The metalzone sucks, and even then it's one of the better distortion pedals...
your much better of getting a nice amp, especialy if you plan to play in a band..

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K thanks for the answer

Oh god!! I have heard and owned some good setups with pedals! I think the metal Zone sounds o.k but it depends on what you are running it through. All pedals will sound different with different setups. So even if you think your metal zone doesnt sound good with the setup you have now...it will sound better if you take it out and try it with different heads of all sorts.
The best pedal I have found so far is the Line 6 Uber Metal pedal!! On the Pulverize distortion setting it sounds very good. Personally I would rather just plug straight in to a head and get good natural distortion!!

Are you kidding? You must be. I'm going to allow myself to think that you are kidding.

Once you get away from cranking the pre-gain knob to 10 to keeping it on 4, 5, 6, or 7, you realize how much of a raw deal a 'metal master from hell' distortion pedal is. Here's how it works :

Your guitar signal is only so big in the sound spectrum, and it takes only so much to evenly 'distort' the signal, giving it a pleasing sound ( to us, anyway ). Distorting more than is necessary will help give it a grainy, undesirable texture, making everything unclear, because you're distorting EVERYTHING, not just the notes you're playing, but the sonic space around them. Sort of.

A distortion pedal like the Metal Master or the Death Metal pedal has no gain knob, because in the manufacturer's mind, they've just blindly assumed that everyone who has a distortion level knob will just dime it, so they already dimed it themselves ( how thoughtful ). So for start-stop palm mutes and clean leads, a distortion pedal does'nt do very well. For me, a mid-gain tube amp and a boost pedal will yield you whatever you'd like.

The Boss DS-1 is a decent pedal. It gives my Peavey XXX a nice boost.

maybe it's just me, but i tend to avoid pedals that have the word "metal" on them... because they all seem to have a scooped voicing, too much sloppy gain(and sometimes with no way to dial it out) really sterile sounds, brittle high end, ect... just bad.

i generally use amps distortion, but i have a maxon od808 lying around in case i get stuck with a low/medium gain amp and i need to boost it.

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The guyatone metal monster is decent,even with the lame name.

What I need to add to my previous post is that putting a distortion pedal between the guitar and the amp is basically letting one signal assrape another. And 97% of guitarists who use distortion pedals do this. Which is sad.

it's alright... i'm pointing fingers at the cheapo death metal, metal zone, ubermetal, metal master, ect...

if you've got money... there are pedals out there that sound great.

i'm mostly into just using the amps distortion, and the maxon can go in there if need be.

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i heard krank's coming out with a distortion pedal. If it's like the Krankenstein then it'll be decent...if it's based on their other heads (ESPECIALLY the revolution series)...then ugh.

"Metal" distortion pedals dont really work...there are low-to-mid gain ones out there I love (ibanez tubescreamers, Boss DS-1, SD-1...i havent heard any of the boutique-y ones yet, but if you count the proco rat as one, then theres one i dont like...)

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-1
you know that the krankenstein is just a hot rodded revolution right?

krank hasnt put anything out yet that hasnt been completely mediocre imo.

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Stay away from any pedal that says METAL on it (Metal Zone, Deathmetal etc.) What your gonna have to do is if you dont want to buy a Mesa dual or triple rectifier or you are gonna have to shell out a little more dough buy a higher end processer where you can create any distortion you want. Im talking about Boss GT-8, Digitech valve Rp20 or 21 & Line 6 which they go for between $500-$600 but you can get them cheaper on Ebay. Also stay away from the junk ZOOM 505's or the Digitech Rp 50-300's. Some people say get a good amp or pedal but in my opinion & testing the only amp worthwhile is the Mesa rectifiers, but they can be costly, & why people are bias against processed distortion is beyond me because you can create the most wicked sounding distortions you can imagine with these pedals. People listen to albums or live performances & see that their guitar god is playing a Marshall or Randell or just whatever amp & they automaticlly think that they are gonna get that sound if the buy that same amp, but what they fail to realize is that those amps are so heavily modded & fucked with that getting that sound out of the same amp is next to impossible for the common musician.

you'd be suprised how many of those amps are pretty much stock.... and that unique tone is in the fingers of an experienced player. i've sat back and listened to players play my very own rig, and sound completely different than me...

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I would be surprised because they are not stock by any means, & ive sat back & let players play my rig & although their style is different the same tone is there.

I hate you and you aren't invited to my birthday party. Oh, and what xdislexicx said is absolutely true, stock amps and experienced fingers produce many a fine tone in metal today.

dude, dime even said it. tone is in the fingers.

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Im not about to even argue about this because there is just no point.

Dude, if Dime said it, it MUST be true!!!!1!1

Kidding. I agree actually, tone comes just as much from the player as it does from the gear.

there is no point because i am right... an experienced player will have his/her own tone... take evh for example... everybody wants the "brown sound" and you'd be suprised how many of his marshalls were completely STOCK.

i guess if you consider something like throwing el34's in a recto "modding" then you'd have some sort of case. tube changing is common and everybody can do it.

i'd love to see your ass play thrrough someone like steve vai's exact rig and get the same tone.

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Whatever dude, id like to see Steve Vai play through a Gorilla practice amp & acheive the same fuckin tone.

but see, now you're not even on the same page... we're talking same amp different players, now you're trying to say same player different amp. which is totally fucking different, though you'd be suprised how much of a "vai tone" he could probably get out of it.

i gauran-fuckin-tee... if vai played through a gorilla practice amp, and then me or you played through it with the same settings, guitar, room, ect... the tone would be much different.

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Im not being a dick but try to help me understand what we are talking about here in the thread? I thought we were talking about amp tones not the tone of the player. So why wouldnt anyone who plugged into the same amp get the same amp tone?

we're talking about players tone now, because you seem to think that every pro player gets great tone simply because their amps are modded to hell, which the majority of the time they arent. a mesa recto, sounds like a mesa recto, but does that mean that a punk ass kid playing a recto is going to sound the same as his guitar idol that plays a recto? hell no... and it's not because the pro has a modded recto.

a huge amount of a players tone is in his fingers.

your pick attack, your hand size, texture, every little thing your fingers do, the way you fret that cord... everything, affects the sound... and that is why two DIFFERENT people playing the exact same amp, exact same guitar, all variables aside, can have completely different tone.

i notice a difference in my sound, if say, my hands are cold, as apposed to warm... after a while i get more consistant on my technique... giving me "my tone" and i can get "my tone" out of a number of amps.

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I cant stand playing with cold hands!!I feel fucking retarted.

Right on,
I agree dude , Clapton sounds like clapton on a strat or a gibson ,
Hendrix sounds like hendrix on a strat or V which he used on occasion

It also hurts
But I would totally have to agree that when someone else plays my setup it can sound so completely different. Most of the time there is some tweeking after a bit because it doesn't sound as good because the amp is set up to compliment my style.

that was beautifull

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I always hear people insulting Mt-2 in this site but so many people seem to use it. So is the reason that all pedals suck but the MT-2 is the best distortion pedal? Are there any other single effect distortion pedal better than the Mt-2 other the digi tech??

yes there are but they cost a shitload.

I always like the mesa bottle rocket. But that's more of an overdrive pedal

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well, I do have to say with the sweepable mids the MT-2 can get a wide variety of tones. It's just that the high-end is so shrill, and the bottom end is very flabby.

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Its not that we all use an MT-2, its just that we all have one

this seems very true.... i admit to having one in my basement right now. it's my old drummers, he left it here one day... so now i jam it with a little vox peacemaker amp with no drive channel. i also used to own one myself when i was starting out, because it was cheap and had enough gain to cover anything i played. after a while i started noticing all it's weaknesses.

i was able to get a decent sound out of one through the old jcm 900... i had the gain dimed on the clean channel to make it a crunch channel, then i had the eq set straight up at noon for everything, and the gain turned way down. it sounded pretty tight, but sucked at really high levels because it was noisey as hell. i just preffered the amps distortion anyways.

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