The Best Distortion Pedal Under $150 - What have you used.

[Joe Pinnavaia]

The best distortion that I've used inder $150 is the Boss DS-1. I paid $30 for a new one and sent it to Keeley Electronics to have it modded for $75. The most versatile pedal I have. You could use it in front of a solid state amp, a tube amp clean, crunch, use as a boost as well. I've used it on my recordings in the digital realm as well with great results.

Check out: http://www.myspace.com/testtuberhino for how it sounds in the recordings.

Interested in hearing what you guys have used.

All the best,
Joe Pinnavaia
http://www.guitarlessonsbuffalony.com

[PerpetualBlaze]

I'd say DigiTech Grunge. I play mostly neo-classical and progressive and it sounds really good with soloing. =]

[drf46]

Nice playing Joe!
Doug

[Joe Pinnavaia]

Thanks for the feedback! There are so many options for pedals. I also have aBK Butler Tube Driver that's pretty sweet as well. Works well in digital moments and in front of a tube amp.

[Superhuman]

Ibanez Tube Screamer or the old reliable Boss DS1 - they are the easiest ones to get a nice tone with from the word go. You could get the two of those and still have change left over from $150. Or you could try and pick up a second hand Line6 DM4 Distortion Modeler. It's got pretty much every one of the big pedals modeled onto it, it's rock solid and sits on the floor like a regular stomp box with 4 different settings.

[Lordathestrings]

Check out the DigiTech Bad Monkey. You could buy 4 of 'em for $150, but they're a very good pedal.

Best feature is the tone controls that eliminate the need for an extra EQ pedal after the distortion pedal.

[viniljf]

Hi Everybody !
My name's Vinicius and I'm from Brazil.

I used to use pedals from Boss, Sansamp. Recently I'm, using some boutique pedals (handmades). They're modifications of the best pedals of the world. The price is very cheap and the sound is really amazing. Two of the best boutique pedals creators in Brazil are :

http://www.mroxy.com.br
http://www.efxpedais.com

Enjoy !

[Ben Lindholm]

I guess it depends on what style of music I'm playing... I'm currently using a Fulltone OCD as my main distortion pedal, which is really nice. However, I can't really get the ultra hi-gain scooped sound (Pantera, Metallica, death metal...etc.) with that pedal, so I use a Line 6 Über Metal for that sort of stuff. A pretty nice pedal with a built-in noise gate that works for that really heavy metal stuff.

[Douglas Showalter]

I use an Epicenter Audio Valve Boy distortion pedal. You can read about it here (http://www.guitarcheology.com/pedals/valveBoy.html)

[drf46]

I run a Tech 21 "Randy Bachman" pedal through my sligoverb amp. IMO you can't beat it for the price.

[Nosral]

The best distortion pedal I ever had was an Ibanez Tube King. Sadly I got rid of it because I was thinking of getting something that had effects and all that in one unit.. I recently found out they are making them again, so I plan on getting one soon. They are about 150 bucks now.

[RickBlacker]

I did the Robert Keeley Ultra Mod to my DS1.

[metal iz good]

Hi!
I have an Ibanez Tubescreamer TS7. It's great but it doesnt get heavy enough for my taste. It's good at lead guitar in general though.

[Ben Lindholm]

The Tubescreamer is great! I used it in combination with my OCD pedal before to get a heavier sound.

[Joe Pinnavaia]

anything Keeley modded is awesome! DS-1 is the simplest to use on it's own or in front of an amp, Tube Screamers are great as well for pushing amps over the edge. I haven't tried an OCD pedal but it would be cool to try one. I'm a gear nut! I can't stand it!

J.P.