Wolfman, Distortion pedals run from "Overdrive" to "Fuzz". My definitions: Overdrive pedal - tries to emulate the sound of a cranked tube amp and produces a creamy, full sound that increases sustain but doesn't cover-up the tone of your guitar or amplifier. Fuzz pedal - produces a harsher sound than an overdrive, usually by clipping the signal, producing a rectangular wave which has huge harmonic content. You can get models that do both or either. Distortion pedals usually have a drive control, which controls the amount of distortion, a tone control and a level control that lets you set the volume to match your amp. There are many good pedals (and quite a few bad pedals) out there. Boss makes a wide range of reasonably-priced distortion (and many other) pedals and publishes a "Guitar Effects Guide Book" which describes all of their effects. The booklet is free - see if your Boss dealer has one. I use an Ibanez TS9 Tuber Screamer reissue. The TS9 is a bit more expensive than one of the Boss Pedals, but came highly recommended. The TS9 is an overdrive pedal. It doesn't produce "shred-metal" sounds and can be very subtle depending upon your amp and guitar settings. You might also consider one of the multi-effectors like the Zoom 505. The Zoom is a lot of fun, although I found it too noisy to use through my Fender Super Reverb. The Zoom does a lot more than distortion - it also has compressor, limiter, reverbs, delay, chorus, and other effects for $100 or so (add $30 or $40 for the expression pedal and power adapter).