What is your favorite distortion pedal?

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 17 May 2019 8:25 am

For perfect subtle overdrive I use an Earth Drive. I use it for country gigs when I want a vintage swing sound.

For fuzz, overdrive, distortion and all combinations and levels I use a Chase Bliss Brothers.

My favorite for way too much and ridiculous is the Durham Crazy Horse. It goes all the way to a sputtering, blowed up smoke coming out of the top dead amp sound.

Thomas Sabatini · Post by **Thomas Sabatini** » 22 May 2019 5:43 am

Jeff Mead wrote:Without wanting to go off topic, one of the reasons I went for the Buzz Tone/Boss Tone is because it plugs into the guitar and therefore goes before the volume pedal.

With the more traditional floor pedals, are you still connecting so the distortion is before volume? If not, then as you swell the pedal, doesn't the sound get more distorted rather than stay the same in distortion level and get louder (which presumably is what we usually want?).

Jeff, I think you are absolutely correct. As a user of a BuzzTone variant, I'm guessing we have similar tastes in dirt. As a guitar player planning my plunge into a pedal steel, this is a question close to my heart.

I play std 6-string guitar with a fuzz pedal always on, using the instruments Vol and Tone to shape the dirt. On my board I have a volume pedal to control output volume into a clean amp. This gives infinitely variable shades of dirt -- clean to nuts, fat to bright -- all from the instrument and at any volume.

For PSG, I'm thinking of connecting first to a simple passive though box with 250k Vol and Tone pots (placed near my right hand) feeding an always on fuzz. After the fuzz would be the active volume pedal under PSG feeding my guitar's pedal board for master volume and FX.

Has anyone tried this? Am I missing an obvious problem?

EDIT: To answer the OP's questions, Paul Trombetta fuzzes are great. I also love FuzzFace pedals. As for overdrives, I've only gotten along with Menatone's amp-in-a-box pedals and a ToneFactor Mule (identical to a Way Huge Red Llama). I have no experience with any of these with a PSG, so feel free to disregard completely this post.

Maleek Evans · Post by **Maleek Evans** » 13 Jun 2019 1:32 pm

The green Russian big muff does it for me! You can have that mild distortion and then turn the sustain up a little to get that nice cut through fuzz distortion my settings are quite low.

Ed Boyd · Post by **Ed Boyd** » 15 Jun 2019 9:53 am

Tony Prior wrote:

Thanks Tony I need a dirt box for steel and I'm not playing Electric Guitar. I have one of those on my guitar board. I'll give that a try.

Charlie Thompson · Post by **Charlie Thompson** » 16 Jun 2019 5:15 am

Earth Drive.. my favorite pedal

Michael Deering · Post by **Michael Deering** » 16 Jun 2019 7:00 am

I stick with ANALOGMAN PRODUCTS for great service and top end electronics.

Tommy Shown · Post by **Tommy Shown** » 22 Jun 2019 7:36 pm

Don't use it all. The steel guitar is too beautiful an instrument to ruin the lush, beautiful tone with distortion.

George Redmon · Post by **George Redmon** » 27 Jun 2019 11:35 pm

LOL.... For Distortion", which is mandatory for authentic 70's, 80's, rock especially when you don't have a lead guitar player. I love Brad Sarno's "Solar Flare" Pedal. For heavy rock, violin bow draws, and Sacred Steel, i use Lawrence Petross's "68 Drive". Designed after the 1968 Marshall Plexi 12,000 Series Amplifier. Both are top shelf. The Lawrence Petross 68 Drive, i also use for a nice violin, viola, cello simulation. It has a sweet singing sustain to it, much like doing a long fiddle bow draw. I own and regularly use both of Brad Sarno's fuzz/distortion pedals. The "Earth Drive" and the "Solar Flare". Either one are great pedals. I think one can most definitely play the steel guitar beautifully with, and without distortion. Distortion is like any other tool we can use, such as echo, reverb, string effect...on and on, it's not to be over used, or used in every song. But beautiful none the less.

Hal Braun · Post by **Hal Braun** » 3 Jul 2019 7:03 am

I have the Wren and Cuff Caprid fuzz, which is very flexible, reacts to volume well and just sounds great for that distorted tone on the William with the Alumitone.. for just overdrive I have an older Timmy pedal that works just right..

Chris Walke · Post by **Chris Walke** » 3 Jul 2019 10:05 am

Jeff Mead wrote: With the more traditional floor pedals, are you still connecting so the distortion is before volume? If not, then as you swell the pedal, doesn't the sound get more distorted rather than stay the same in distortion level and get louder (which presumably is what we usually want?).

I like the effect of the volume pedal changing how much signal is pushed into the OD/Dist/Fuzz pedal(s). That's how it works for lead guitarists, it is part of how we manipulate our tone. More gain into the pedal for higher saturation, less gain to ease it off and just add a bit of dirt to the sound.

Hal Braun · Post by **Hal Braun** » 3 Jul 2019 7:41 pm

Chris Walke wrote:
Jeff Mead wrote: With the more traditional floor pedals, are you still connecting so the distortion is before volume? If not, then as you swell the pedal, doesn't the sound get more distorted rather than stay the same in distortion level and get louder (which presumably is what we usually want?).
I like the effect of the volume pedal changing how much signal is pushed into the OD/Dist/Fuzz pedal(s). That's how it works for lead guitarists, it is part of how we manipulate our tone. More gain into the pedal for higher saturation, less gain to ease it off and just add a bit of dirt to the sound.

^ this! Itâ€™s when the tone cleans up at lower volume and then gets nasty with more.. some pedals are better than others and is one of the reasons I got the Caprid. Same with the overdrive pedals.. Chuck Campbell uses this to great effect when he is out playing on the Hendrix tour..

Brandon Mills · Post by **Brandon Mills** » 5 Jul 2019 9:14 pm

Heavy Electronics HWY 77

Devon Teran · Post by **Devon Teran** » 8 Jul 2019 7:16 am

I've got a germanium Fuzz Face clone from a hobby builder. I flipped it on in rehearsal one day as a joke, but it just worked too perfectly. Now I'm chasing that tone in an easier format to gig with. I recently got an old steel driver II, and I love the distortion on guitar, but not as much for steel because it seems to only use one side or the other, so I don't get the tone control before the distortion.

Others that work well:
Analogman KOT
JHS Super Bolt
Rat style pedals

My favorite, by far is the Fuzz Face though. It responds so beautifully to the volume pedal and distorts in a beautiful fat, but cutting way. I dare say, it's actually a lot nicer for steel than it is for guitar.

Devon Teran · Post by **Devon Teran** » 11 Jul 2019 11:20 am

I've got a germanium Fuzz Face clone from a hobby builder. I flipped it on in rehearsal one day as a joke, but it just worked too perfectly. Now I'm chasing that tone in an easier format to gig with. I recently got an old steel driver II, and I love the distortion on guitar, but not as much for steel because it seems to only use one side or the other, so I don't get the tone control before the distortion.

Others that work well:
Analogman KOT
JHS Super Bolt
Rat style pedals

My favorite, by far is the Fuzz Face though. It responds so beautifully to the volume pedal and distorts in a beautiful fat, but cutting way. I dare say, it's actually a lot nicer for steel than it is for guitar.

GaryL · Post by **GaryL** » 11 Jul 2019 4:09 pm

#1 Pro-Co Rat
#2 Voodoo Lab Fuzz
#3 Fuzz-Face

The Rat is what I use now. But the other two are good.

Gabriel Edell · Post by **Gabriel Edell** » 12 Jul 2019 3:08 pm

I just started using overdrive on my steel. The pedals I use for my regular guitar didn't work that well IMHO. I have an old TubeWorks RealTube that I've had kicking around for 20 years or so that I have never been that happy with. I tried it on my steel and it sounds great - way better than the other units. Go figure. Of course it's AC-powered and it's big and heavy.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 12 Jul 2019 8:13 pm

Tommy Shown said:

Don't use it all. The steel guitar is too beautiful an instrument to ruin the lush, beautiful tone with distortion.

You must be playing pedal steel as a "style" - which it's not.

It's a musical instrument with a wide range of stylistic applications - and a ton of tonal options available, to fit the song and the style of music.

Sure, you could play clean country and.or jazz on pedal steel. As has been done for decades. but adding the right type and level of "distortion" can allow you to play stacked horn sections, or strings, or unique. warm/round sounds that aren't available on any other instrument.

Certainly nothing to complain about. So what *IS* the problem with stretching the envelope of musical capabilities?

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What is your favorite distortion pedal?

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