I’m going to spill the beans right away here… Is there really such a thing as the best distortion pedal? Well, the short answer is NO. The long answer would be: There are a number of VERY good, if not incredibly awesome distortion pedals out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ever since the first distortion boxes where invented (we\u2019re talking about the early fuzz boxes; the stuff made AFTER guitarists started liking the sound of overdriven amps and speakers) guitarists have been going mad making new ones & modifying old ones. The fact is that what today is the perfect tone for somebody, a few weeks, months or years later that same person might want something different. For this very reason, and the fact that the distortion pedal is one of the most important effects in any guitar pedal board<\/a>, there are more distortion pedal models that any other type of effects pedal. Hands down. Not every company makes a pitch-shifter or an analog delay unit. But I could risk myself and suggest that every single serious guitar effects company out there has made a distortion pedal at some point. Since tone is something so subjective to opinion, there is no perfect distortion box. There are just good ones, OK ones, and truly no-so-good ones. This also means that whatever I\u2019m talking about here is a matter of personal opinion based on my own experiences and what I\u2019ve learned from others. In other words, this might all ring true to you, while it might also ring like true crap. It\u2019s up to you to decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of focusing on specific models (although I will mention some favorites below) let\u2019s just point out some of the qualities of a good distortion pedal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fulltone OCD<\/strong> \u2013 Yep! Fulltone! I love those things. Right now, I have a version 4 OCD on my board. It sits right before my other favorite pedal, the Ibanez TS-808. What I really like about it is the fact that I can easily tune it to my mood. I usually run it really gritty, with the HP switch on. Every once in a while, a less dirty overdriven tone is required and that\u2019s when the LP switch comes into play. This pedal has great range and it works really well when paired with an already overdriven amp. I own a Mesa Boogie Lonestar that is well known for awesome cleans yet less than stellar grit, but paired with the OCD it becomes quite satisfying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Update in 2023: Fulltone stopped production recently, so now you can only find OCD in the second hand market and likely extremely overpriced.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, my favorite distortion pedal of everything I’ve tried in the last few years is the Friedman BE-OD. The reason I love it is because it offer TRUE high-gain distortion… not just low to mid distortion. Secondly, I love the Marshall voicing in its sound. I think that it’s one of the best you can get right now if you want right high gain chuggy distortion that’s great for metal or punk rock. It’s also very good for lead playing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can buy the Friedman BE-OD from Amazon here:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat makes a good distortion pedal, umm, good?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Below are some favorites:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n