Distortion Pedals!

Malik

I'm looking into getting a distortion pedal. I was going to go with the DS-1 but I'm getting a lot of "OMGZZZZ DS-1 IS SUCK" from you guys, but then again there's a lot of anti-Kurts and metalheads too, so it's hard to tell what you don't really like about it. I also here the DS-2s alright, and there are some other names coming up that I don't really know of.

So what's a good distortion pedal? What's wrong with the DS-1 and what's good about the DS-2? And price! I'm not rich so something pretty cheap would be best. 😉

jellybelly

Boss distortions arent as bad as everyone says but you can do better! A rat2 is cool, probably get a new one for $100 mark. Lots of other options though, what music you into?

Malik

Well, first and foremost I'm into grunge music. I still listen to Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and of course Nirvana, but I like a bit of everything really. Alternative stuff like QOTSA, RATM, Audioslave, RHCP, and I'm getting into British indie recently now, Arctic Monkeys and such. I have a huge musical pallette, but I like to make my own music when I play, I like experimenting with sounds, making new sounds, trying new techniques. The one thing I lack though is a decent distortion sound.

I was under the impression that the DS-1 was used on Nevermind, and I really like some of the sounds from that album, and I even heard a demo of it on MusiciansFriend and it sounded alright on three settings, but Echelon's demo and a lot of responses have made it sound pretty crappy...

The DS-1 looks pretty cheap, but if the DS-2 is that much better I'd be happy to go that extra tenner for it. I'll check out the Rat2 too now.

Lou

I still like the Jekyll hyde

Malik

After looking around for the DS-1 for cheap on the web, I'm pretty confused as to why the exchange rate between American $ and British

jellybelly

they dont mate, Ive tried in the past but its part of their agreement, you might get some luck on ebay though. personally im into a lot of the same stuff and a boss ds-1 isnt a wise investment in the long run, a rat would be a great pedal for you on the other hand and would give you everything from light overdrive to full on shred. And yeah a boss ds-1 was used on some of nevermind. but other things used were:

expensive rack gear

big, nice vintage fender amps

(some) big muffs

studio magic

butch vig

Nevermind is a very highly polished album so i wouldnt take the sounds on their as a demo of the pedal. In utero is a good impresion of a ds-2 with a fender tube amp though. Sonic youth use rats for most all things in the goo/dirty era so check out those recordings for rat-ness. Personally I think they get great tone with them.

echelon

dude, try the Danelectro Fab Distortion - only

Malik

I just remembered one of my local music shops has a special room, and on the wall they have a huge daisy chain of just about every Boss FX pedal, as shown here:

I've never bothered to try out the pedals before, but as you can see they have the DS-1 and DS-2 so I might take my Jag-Stang down and give it a try. Hopefully their prices are pretty decent just in case I do want to get it...

But if I don't like it, that Fab Distortion looks pretty fab, I can get it for

echelon

Malik said: I just remembered one of my local music shops has a special room, and on the wall they have a huge daisy chain of just about every Boss FX pedal, as shown here:

I've never bothered to try out the pedals before, but as you can see they have the DS-1 and DS-2 so I might take my Jag-Stang down and give it a try. Hopefully their prices are pretty decent just in case I do want to get it...
But if I don't like it, that Fab Distortion looks pretty fab, I can get it for

Doog

I love my modded RAT2. It's not the most flexible of distortions, but I just love the way it works with single coils.

LIFE

The OS-2 is a really good pedal. I used one for about two years, then sold it for pot. I use a Tube Screamer now. Both are really good, the OS-2 is probably more grungy though. Think Pixies and Sublime for the OS-2.

SawaotheBuster

Doog, is it keeley?

Doog

Nah, I modded it myself.

This Ruetz RAT mod takes out one of the two cap/resistor pairs to smooth the gain out a little bit and improve low end reponse. I just put a little pushswitch in to put the pair back into the circuit when I want a more biting high gain sound.

None too pretty, but I'm a very impatient guy so did it with the first switch I found!

Fran

malik said: Alternative stuff like QOTSA, RATM, Audioslave, RHCP, and I'm getting into British indie recently now, Arctic Monkeys and such. I have a huge musical pallette,

JEKYLL AND HYDE, its an O/D and distortion like the OS-2 but better range.

A lot of british indie bands use a feeble amount of o/d where as some of the others you mentioned you'll need full on distortion.

jagstangowner

LIFE said: The OS-2 is a really good pedal. I used one for about two years, then sold it for pot. I use a Tube Screamer now. Both are really good, the OS-2 is probably more grungy though. Think Pixies and Sublime for the OS-2.

im down with the OS-2...i love sublime so i probably will get it

as for that daisy chain of pedals....id get: Ds-2, Os-2, Compression Sustainer, delay, and one of those JAM MAN like looper pedals

SawaotheBuster

don't know about that Compression sustainer...Gives a hella noise when you put the sustain thingy up....that was with Single coils though so maybe on a humbucker it'll do better.

BanditGuitarist1

go with a Humbucker!!!! Or get a Les Paul sustain man sustain!!!!!!!

dinosaur

actually the ds1 itself is quite boring, when you #### around with tone knobs and switches its quite fun cause i made some really cool fuzz despite the ds1 being a dist. pedal.

greenlee

SawaotheBuster said: don't know about that Compression sustainer...Gives a hella noise when you put the sustain thingy up....that was with Single coils though so maybe on a humbucker it'll do better.

compressors usually dont make much on their own, but they amplify existing noise.ive found using one when playing clean to sound nice.using one for strumming open cords works good also,although i never crank mine.personally i dont care to use it with dirt boxes,only clean.

SawaotheBuster

makes sense