Jump to content
Why become a member? ×
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt

Overdrive/Distortion Pedals. Recommendations?


spud19870
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello,

I am after a new distortion pedal to replace my MXR Blowtorch (it finally died after being on life support for 2 years!)

I have looked at the Xotic BB Bass Preamp/Distortion and the Aguilar Argo Pedal. Both sound pretty good.

Any other suggestions or experiences with these pedals would be great!

Thanks
:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Lomenzo is a surprisingly good piece of kit. I've had the Aguilar tone hammer and there was a noticeable dip in volume with the drive circuit engaged (sounded good though).

These days (and for a couple of years now) I've used a Dave Hall VT1 EQ pretty much exclusively - it'll do everything from a little bit of fur around the notes through 'proper mucky', right up to 'dirty protest'. Not strictly distortion, as it's an overdrive pedal, but a really versatile unit.

http://www.davehallamps.co.uk/page29.html

Edited by paul_5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use the BB emulation on my Zoom B3 as find that this seems to colour the tone much less than other drives, so it`s the same sound, just driven a bit (only have a little to add some hair to the sound) though it will drive a lot. So if I were looking for an actual all-out drive pedal, this is the one I would buy.

Another great range of pedals is the Dave Hall Amps (DHA). They are amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The James Lomenzo Drive is a surprisingly good pedal for the price for rock/metal.

I would recommend the VT-Bass (version 2), it covers a very wide range of tones with a powerful EQ section. I like it so much, I have two, for low gain and higher gain sounds.

The Xotic BB is very cool for low gain fat gnarrly sounds, but I found it a bit limited.
The Darkglass Vintage is a little too dark, but it is smooth. I sold mine to get the second VT-Bass just last week... I think it's overpriced for what it does.
The Darkglass BK3 is a very interesting pedal. If I were in a metal band, I would have probably kept mine. The James Lomenzo is a decent substitute if the Darkglass seems too expensive.
The Aguilar Agro... I haven't made up my mind about that one yet. I find it takes too much bottom end from my tone and I cannot really restore it. It also gets far too fizzy with the saturation past half way... But you can get a couple of really really good tones out of it if you tweak it enough. Still, not too happy about the bottom end loss. If you want to leave it on all the time for a song, it's ok, as you can compensate in other ways, but to switch on and off I found it hard to get it right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been through four overdrive/distortion pedals in the last year or so, finally settled on the Rodenberg 809B Drive (thanks Ryan, if you're reading this you were mad to sell it!) Three selections of distortion from the 808 and 809 switches and super fat distortion from the 909 switch, turn up the drive and beautiful sustained distortion leaps out of the cabs. Tone control lets you dial in any bottom end that's lacking, easy to set up. Gigged it for the first time last night, sounded awesome in the mix.

Prior to this I was using the Source Audio Soundblox Distortion Pro, which has more settings than you could possibly need imo, and most sound a little on the artificial side if that makes any sense. But a great feature the pedal has is the ability to save sounds as presets! Two banks, A and B, with three preset buttons to each. If you're prepared to spend some time setting this pedal up it will do the job, I just didn't like the sounds.

Before the Soundblox I was using a Microtubes B7K by Darkglass. Never really got on with this pedal, nothing wrong with it, well made, bags of tone control with the 4 band EQ and all the distortion you could wish for but, it was always on the edge of being out of control, a metal pedal basically. I always felt I was spending my time trying to reign the damn thing in rather than get a sound out it.

And finally (sorry for the long post/review, it's Sunday, it's pissing down outside, and I have a hangover to work off,) I still use a Farndurk BGX2 for subtle, warm overdrive tones on bluesy type songs. Simple to set up, it has one volume and one tone control and a three way toggle switch to engage different levels of drive. It is also a thing of beauty, hence the pic.

I think the overriding issue I have with distortion/overdrive pedals is there is no one-box solution. If, like me, you're in a covers band, the set up you have for bands like RATM or Muse are not going to work for adding a little warm tube sound to a ZZ Top track. Does this make any sense?

Anyway, for now it's the Rodenberg… but that might change. :)

Edited by Mark Dyer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I love my B3K, goes right before my sansamp. I have the gain at about 4 o clock, blend at 10 o clock, attack switch on, and the grunt setting to 'thin'. That way you get a great filthy attack but really nice clear warm low end.

I thought the darkglass would replace my lomenzo but the truth is that it's also an incredible pedal, and different enough to justify keeping it. When I need to be really offensive I use all three!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1383351111' post='2263624']
There's a Demon King AND a Demon (smaller version) for sale over in the 'effects for sale' forum at the mo :)
[/quote]
+1 to that. I just got a used Demon (with 2nd gain) here a few weeks ago and I love it!


[quote name='Mark Dyer' timestamp='1383479993' post='2264807']
It is also a thing of beauty, hence the pic.


[/quote]
Damn, that's a nice looking pedal.

Edited by ratman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...