Recommended distortion pedal <$150?

[Zenzo]

Hey all,

I'm planning to get myself a stand-alone distortion pedal that is versatile and would need your help in recommending me some.
I play mostly alternative/rock/punk music.

Also,I'm looking at the modtone speedbox and the vox satchurator and it would be great if you guys could give me your views on these two pedals.

Thanks in advance

 

[wck]

What kind of guitar and amp are you using?

The satchurator should do pretty well into a clean amp, if I'm not wrong its based on a DS-1. I feel that its capable of only 1 sound tho, so its not that versatile.

Theres also the Hi-gain monster by Maxz, it can go from a crunch to distortion with its 2 channels and has individual gain and vol control plus it has a mid boost!
The goose mangojuice is also pretty good with its 3 band eq and lots of volume on tap. (I'm selling one heh)

 

[Zenzo]

I'm using a timbre strat with 3 single coils and a sound drive 15w amp.
wow,the hi-gain monster looks quite confusing to use since it has so many switches.haha

 

[wck]

Hmm, then you might find that the gain and bass is lacking even when using high gain pedals. So don't expect to get a satch sound with the vox or a big wall of sound thing with pedals alone.

The switches are just for voicing, brightness and mid boost. Depends what you want lor, if you want as versatile as possible then be prepared to have more switches and knobs. If not, a simple 3 knob distortion will do but they're not as flexible. I think the HGM is above your budget brand new but 2nd hand it'll fit.

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

Modded DS-1. Or Shark pedals, secondhand.

 

[3hree6ixty]

Or if you're fickle-minded like me and cant decide which to use, I'd recommend getting Muza FD55. it models after 10 of some of the most popular distortion/overdrive pedals out there. and the sounds are spot on. And has some great reviews too.
Personally, after 3 years of heavy usage, mine still works perfectly and I'm happy with it.

site:
http://www.muzasound.com/guitareffects_fd55.html

Here's a 1-on-1 comparison for the Fuzzface and Vintage ProcoRat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvF1yNkeokM

You can go to Davis or Zen to try it out.

 

[jop]

i remembered the cool cat distortion sounds pretty decent on my sound drive amp 15watt.
u might want to check that out.

 

[Godspeed64]

site:
http://www.muzasound.com/guitareffects_fd55.html

Here's a 1-on-1 comparison for the Fuzzface and Vintage ProcoRat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvF1yNkeokM

Actually most of the tone of the fuzz face and a Rat is in the dynamics. The Muza replicated the core tone well, but not the feel of it. Plus there's some hiss on the pedal which can be intolerable for some.

The Satchurator is similar to a DS-1, just with a few tweaks and swaps.

For $150, you can get the Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff with both OD and Drive options.
Otherwise, I'd seriously recommend finding a second hand Crunchbox for punk/alternative/rock.

 

[carboxymoron]

If you're on a budget, my recommendation is to get 2 (or even 3) Danelectro Cool Cat pedals e.g. an Overdrive and Distortion. At $20 to $30 each, they sound great, and you're not likely to get a lot more out of a 15-watt solid state amp by spending $100 on a Boss / Vox / Digitech / Modtone / Ibanez pedal. This way you get a lot more variety and you can save the rest for next time when you have a clearer idea of the specific flavour of distortion you want.

 

[Zenzo]

Thanks for the replies guys

If i get the cool cat transparent overdrive and distortion pedal,i can use the overdrive pedal to boost my distortion pedal if i need heavier distortion right?

 

[Godspeed64]

I prefer the Drive to the Distortion model. But do try all of them out, they're a bang for the buck. The fuzz is nice too!

 

[carboxymoron]

If i get the cool cat transparent overdrive and distortion pedal,i can use the overdrive pedal to boost my distortion pedal if i need heavier distortion right?

Yup definitely, stacking different drives is a great way to get more and varied distortion tones. If you want some searing leads you might consider the Metal or Fuzz too, so you could get something like:

Transparent OD > Distortion or Drive > Metal or Fuzz

Huge variety for less than $100

 

[Zenzo]

I think i'll be trying out the cool cat pedals soon
Only davis is selling the cool cat pedals right?