So, what high gain pedals are the real deal?

[Spaceboy]

I am 100% an amplifier guy when it comes to high gain. I want everything from the tubes, and generally prefer not even using a boost unless it's a more oldschool flavored Marshall or something. But, what if you can only carry a pedalboard and use an unpredictable backline? What pedal would you grab for modern high gain that seems to meld well into the front of any clean signal? I generally prefer tones that are more '90s-'00s thrash than hyper modern, more Marshall-ish than Recitifier or 5150. Sounding great with single coils is a huge plus. I have literally no experience with actual distortion pedals though. Amptweaker seems popular, those new Friedman pedals are too.

There's also plenty of preamp pedals out there, but I'm looking for something to go into the front of whatever amp is available, because honestly you can't always depend on even having an effects loop to plug a preamp into.

 

[mdc1mdc11]

check out Lovepedal Purple Plexi or Menatone "The King". great marshall variability across their sweep. Match with a clean boost or frequency boost and you have a really good level of control over preamp voicing that fits you. Good for crunchy amps and clean backends when you moving amp heads are not possible.

 

[Spaceboy]

I've had a couple Menatone pedals before, and always regretted selling my Red Snapper. Does The King get into that hotrodded JCM800 territory? I never fully checked it out, assumed it was more vintage-flavored.

I've been checking out demos of the Amptweaker pedals. They all seem to have this certain buzz to them. The BigRock Pro looks incredible, but still has that character in everything I've heard. It certainly seems amp-like and with a 3-band EQ could probably do well with any clean channel. The BE-OD seems cool, but needs more mids, and has less tweakability than the Amptweaker.

 

[chondroguitars]

Wamplers Triple Wreck, and Dracarys are killer good high gain pedals. Bogner Red and Blue, as well as the Diezel VH4 pedal. The Bogner and the Diezel are very amp like.

 

[harddriver]

I was initially very taken with the Bogner Red pedal but as time progressed it became less impressive. I mean sonically for a gig the audience wouldn't tell the difference. I like the BEOD from the clips I've heard but it would probably be sold just like the Bogner Red I had. Just my epxerience your's might be different.

 

[stratjacket]

Man, there’s so many. I mainly go with OD pedals to push the high gain channel of my amp, so I haven’t gone with many straight laced distortion pedals. But about a week ago I got the Strymon Riverside, it can do it all. Can get hard straight over a clean channel and just sounds amazing, very tweakable too.

I did a lot of research before buying. I thought this was a pretty good demo comparing a Wampler, a Keeley and the Riverside:

 

[paulyc]

Try the MXR/EVH 5150, I love mine. Pete Thorn has a couple of cool video clips of it.

 

[Oblivion DC]

I think you might really like the Atomic Amps Ampli-Firebox. It’s a small sized pedal that holds 9 amp types and will let you load IR’s. Also has multiple boosts, delay, reverb, eq, multiple outs - xlr for FOH and 1/4” to send out to an amp loop return. Allows you to include the IR to the xlr out only, or to the 1/4” out only or both. Sounds pretty damn good.

 

[SpiderWars]

For what you described I like the BE-OD. And dialed back it does a good cranked plexi tone. And can be stacked, a little Koko boost in front works too.

 

[Spaceboy]

I think you might really like the Atomic Amps Ampli-Firebox. It’s a small sized pedal that holds 9 amp types and will let you load IR’s. Also has multiple boosts, delay, reverb, eq, multiple outs - xlr for FOH and 1/4” to send out to an amp loop return. Allows you to include the IR to the xlr out only, or to the 1/4” out only or both. Sounds pretty damn good.

I typed out a dumb response about how I have learned that I'm not a modeler guy, and owned all the big boys in that field, before realizing this Amplifier-Firebox was totally different product than the Amplifier. I am a neanderthal and with modelers, I will lose myself in endless tweaking even after I had something sounding great. This little box looks like it has some limitations compared to the big Amplifier, which is a good thing, because I can find the preset or two that I need and just play the damn thing instead of diving into software parameters. I will check this out, I've heard good things from the Amplifier and I assume it's based on the same modeling software.

Thanks!

 

[Spaceboy]

For what you described I like the BE-OD. And dialed back it does a good cranked plexi tone. And can be stacked, a little Koko boost in front works too.

I just played one of these today because I didn't realize Friedman was being distributed at GC. The BE-OD just did not scratch the itch for me. I played the Dirty Shirley pedal and liked it more, but it didn't get too metal or whatever. I could maybe hit it with an 808 and get there though. I didn't really get to crank it in a GC either. All pedals kind of sound bad with quiet amps.

 

[chondroguitars]

For what you described I like the BE-OD. And dialed back it does a good cranked plexi tone. And can be stacked, a little Koko boost in front works too.

I just played one of these today because I didn't realize Friedman was being distributed at GC. The BE-OD just did not scratch the itch for me. I played the Dirty Shirley pedal and liked it more, but it didn't get too metal or whatever. I could maybe hit it with an 808 and get there though. I didn't really get to crank it in a GC either. All pedals kind of sound bad with quiet amps.

You can bust open the DS and crank the gain on that pedal. They should allow you to adjust it.

 

[Manxmofo]

Have a look at the Egnater silversmith. An interesting pedal with some great features and also has a second boost channel on it.

 

[SpiderWars]

For what you described I like the BE-OD. And dialed back it does a good cranked plexi tone. And can be stacked, a little Koko boost in front works too.

I just played one of these today because I didn't realize Friedman was being distributed at GC. The BE-OD just did not scratch the itch for me. I played the Dirty Shirley pedal and liked it more, but it didn't get too metal or whatever. I could maybe hit it with an 808 and get there though. I didn't really get to crank it in a GC either. All pedals kind of sound bad with quiet amps.

You can bust open the DS and crank the gain on that pedal. They should allow you to adjust it.

That is a great point. The BE-OD has an internal gain trimmer as well. I dialed mine way back. Now I need to go try the Dirty Shirley pedal.

 

[Racerxrated]

For what you described I like the BE-OD. And dialed back it does a good cranked plexi tone. And can be stacked, a little Koko boost in front works too.

I just played one of these today because I didn't realize Friedman was being distributed at GC. The BE-OD just did not scratch the itch for me. I played the Dirty Shirley pedal and liked it more, but it didn't get too metal or whatever. I could maybe hit it with an 808 and get there though. I didn't really get to crank it in a GC either. All pedals kind of sound bad with quiet amps.

Try the DS1X. I run it into the low input of an 86 2203, gets at least into 80s metal with a decent mid bump. They're cheap enough used, think I got mine for 60 bucks. Way better than the original DS1. And it has a low end boost that stays tight up till noon or so...very quiet pedal too. I also have had both Bogner Red/Blue, some Wamplers, and currently have a Savage Drive for reference. No need to piggyback another pedal with the DS1X.

 

[Spaceboy]

For what you described I like the BE-OD. And dialed back it does a good cranked plexi tone. And can be stacked, a little Koko boost in front works too.

I just played one of these today because I didn't realize Friedman was being distributed at GC. The BE-OD just did not scratch the itch for me. I played the Dirty Shirley pedal and liked it more, but it didn't get too metal or whatever. I could maybe hit it with an 808 and get there though. I didn't really get to crank it in a GC either. All pedals kind of sound bad with quiet amps.

You can bust open the DS and crank the gain on that pedal. They should allow you to adjust it.

That is a great point. The BE-OD has an internal gain trimmer as well. I dialed mine way back. Now I need to go try the Dirty Shirley pedal.

I had no idea these pedals had internal trimmers. The DS had enough gain, but it was not voiced for what I wanted. It covers 80% of things I need, and it has a mids knob where the BE-OD didn't. I am the kind of person who cranks mid knobs to the max on Marshalls, so that's important for me. An 808 would just maybe give a DS that little bit of bite and low-end cut it needs, assuming it responds like a proper Marshall-style amp would. I'll give them another look, maybe bring it home with a return policy to get it cranked.

 

[nigelpkay]

ISP Theta preamp pedal (not the newer digital DSP one)
It’s an actual preamp so you put it in the Fx return of whatever amp you are using. It’s definitly 80’s thrash flavour with a ton of gain and built in Decimator noise gate.
(Sorry just read the bottom of your post again... I don’t find it that great in front of an amp. Although if you get the ISP Stealth poweramp as well, you have all you need to plug into a cab with these two small boxes. )

 

[jdel77]

What you have to bear in mind is that distortion pedals really all do the same thing - they clip/saturate/compress the signal and push certain frequencies.
You just have to try a shitload before you find what works for your amp and speaker setup.
Generally, the cleaner the amp, the more you'll want to use distortion pedals.
The dirtier your amp, the more you'll want to use a boost.

I've only found a handful of pedals that can be setup to do both distortion and boost depending on how you set the controls on the pedal (either gain up and vol down a bit for distortion or vol up and gain down for boost).

Of all them, my favourite dirt of all time is a vintage 80's USA made Proco Rat. Once you get the volume up and pushing the speakers with that pedal, it sounds fucking glorious.

 

[psychodave]

The Friedman BE-OD is pretty cool. It can go from good to poop really quickly if your underlay by amp has too much gain.

I like the Cusack Screamer for an amp with a little gain. I like the Timmy too. The Timmy can really drive a low to mid gain amp.

 

[motorboy1]

Fulltone OCD Very amp like and cheap. Get it from GC used $90-100