blackstar distortion quality

terjag

Has anyone tried the blackstar distortion pedal with the little tube in it?

Would the quality of sound be better than a Boss distortion unit? Does

the tiny tube give a real tube sound or is it mixed with transistors?

foxyloxy

terjag said:
Has anyone tried the blackstar distortion pedal with the little tube in it?
Would the quality of sound be better than a Boss distortion unit? Does
the tiny tube give a real tube sound or is it mixed with transistors?

I Love blackstar stuff, but it all depends on what you want out of the pedal. I hate most boss dirts because they sound generic and awful but it's all subjective. why only blackstar or boss? what sort of dirt are you looking for? what amp/s do you use? guitars?

I don't think you should limit yourself to just two pedal companys But blackstar are much better at sounding like a valve amp than boss imo.

take a look into...

Catalinbread DSL

Fulltone OCD

Or if you are after a "alternative" dirt sound (sonic youth etc.)

brandonwinmill

I like the idea of adding a tube. There is some misconceptions though. If it has a 12ax7 or whatever tube it is like adding a preamp tube. The point i think is heating the tubes and you can do that without having an extra tube. I think the greatest distortion overdrive ever was the mesa vtwin. It had tubes, but it was an advanced piece of equipment with 2 separate channels and a unique circuit. for me it's the best preamp boost you can get is adding another preamp tube if that makes sense. It keeps the sound warm and i bet you get quite a boost and nice real overdrive sound. If you want some wild distortion i don't know if this is what you would want. I personally like my boss pedal but i will by no means say it's better than a blackstar. It isn't. It is, however, the one i have used for 10 or 15 years so i know it. That is why foxy said subjective. He is right on all accounts. I can't tell you what you like. You need to rip through some youtube videos and try and find some demos where they use the same equipment and add only the different effects. I hate comparing the way a ds-1 sounds through a triple rectifier using an 8 string schecter and then comparing it to the sound of a blackstar using a tele through a ac30 top boost, see what i mean? If you can say some tones on records that excited you or even a song that you said wow i like that sound i think with the experts who occasionally pass through here you will get your answer. I'm sorry to say i am not one of them. ha I do think you are comparing apples to oranges. If that blackstar pedal is high find a mesa vtwin and be done with that forever. I think my favorite Australian ever, Justin Sandercoe did a demo i say years back. Search for justinguitar in youtube and see what you find. Good luck