Best Guitar Pedal For "Heavy Metal" distortion???

[3waytie4last]

Originally Posted by django

i've only really given one a go on bass, it did a pretty rat like sound which was okay. Things don't have to be boutique to be good. Alot of those "guitar legends" use things like ds-1's.

k...so why not get an actual Rat instead of something Rat-like? I guarantee you a big-box Rat sounds infinitely better than a DS-1, and it is perhaps the very best sounding disto ever.

I don't focus on boutique stuff, but instead buy the real-deal vintage pedals. Most boutique pedals are made to replicate what the vintage pedals sounded like. Why not just buy the vintage one in the first place? With the prices of some boutique stuff, you might not pay a whole lot more for the real thing.

[Faderjockey]

Originally Posted by 3waytie4last

k...so why not get an actual Rat instead of something Rat-like? I guarantee you a big-box Rat sounds infinitely better than a DS-1, and it is perhaps the very best sounding disto ever.

I don't focus on boutique stuff, but instead buy the real-deal vintage pedals. Most boutique pedals are made to replicate what the vintage pedals sounded like. Why not just buy the vintage one in the first place? With the prices of some boutique stuff, you might not pay a whole lot more for the real thing.

Really?
Ours are all original designs.. and have there own original flavour.

[3waytie4last]

Originally Posted by Faderjockey

Really?
Ours are all original designs.. and have there own original flavour.

Funny, seems like I purposely used the adjective "most" to avoid being accused of typecasting all boutique pedals.

I'm sure yours are fine...but you might want to bone up on your reading comprehension.

[ant_mcbane]

It is a real shame the JCA20H doesn't have an fx loop. They can be added quite easily with a little technical know-how and if you did put one in you could just throw an EQ pedal in there and get as scooped as you want, as others have said, you probably don't need as much distortion as you think you do, but yes, the jet city isn't going to get you a "metal" tone unless you give it some encouragement.
Try using a tubescreamer, ie a boss super overdrive is cheap and works well, the digitech hardwire distortion is also quite good in my experience for an all out distortion, aside from it I've never really been able to bond with any "distortion" pedals in my time.

[enghell666]

The handbuilt OKKO Dominator is a brutal beast and something I can recommend.

[EmuChicken]

The most heavy guitars I hear are mostly hooked up to H+K Triamp heads- or Diezel heads. That said, I'd say youd need:

1. decent humbucking pickups (single coil guitars will give the sound a loss of definition)

2. a nice, decent cable - thin ones will make the guitar sound really thin and crap

3a. > guitar > direct up to a Triamp / Diezel amp

3b. > guitar > sansamp GT-2 pedal > FX return on a headamp (post pre)... boom! - note, this acts as a preamp, so if you have it hooked up to a standard amp input it sounds CACK.

3c. > guitar > random distortion pedal > normal input to the amp... lots of searching for a decent combination though!

[Emwolb]

Originally Posted by enghell666

The handbuilt OKKO Dominator is a brutal beast and something I can recommend.

At least one poster with a clue...

There are 3 for high gain- (I have no idea what Heavy Metal is as the 80s ended over 20 years ago)

Toneczar Openhaus
OKKO Dominator
Wampler Triple Wreck

Closest youll get to an amp. An actual amp can be the best but if your rig is gain staged properly, these pedals can kill.

These 3 are also expensive so buyer beware...

[Swamp Thing]

ProCo RAT. I can get both Celtic Frost-overdrive and pure black metal hellfire a la Watain from mine.

[Mario-C.]

Suhr Riot. Just tried one in my studio, it rocks.

[darkhorse]

One word Wampler.
Triple Wreck combines intense uber gain distortion with a switchable fuzz circuit boost. Intense, articulate without washout of the guitar itself. It is the most intense distortion in a pedal you are going to find that has a sense of quality and build about it.

You could not give me a Boss pedal unless it was mod'd by Keeley. Metal Zone and so many just get washout distortion. I had a Keeley Zone mod it was pretty intense. The Hardwire Metal is pretty good too.

Do not attempt to get uber gain metal out of your head, just dial in a good clean sound with some depth and get a good pedal. That is not a bad amp at all, I was looking at getting a 50 or 100 watt model. A TS is not going to take you into metal land, you can overdrive the hell out of that amp to destruction and it is not going to please you. Just use a good pedal and presto instant metal, and click back to a nice tone. I do recommend Wampler, a lot of vids by "bugerman666" on youtube of Wampler pedals do check out the Triple Wreck Wampler you will like it.

[shawnT]

danelectro coolcat pedals. Their metal pedal sounds pretty cool. I personally dont use pedals but I listened to some clips and thought their metal pedal sounded pretty rip ass.

[David_Kessler]

Originally Posted by 3waytie4last

Boss HM-2
Wow! Brutal. Worst pedal ever, but I'll sell you one for $50 + shipping if you want one (actually, I may have given that one away, I'll have to look to see if I still have it).In virtually all instances, replace the "BO" in Boss with "A" and you'll be correct. There is literally no circumstance when there is not a better pedal than a Boss.

One of the most iconic metal guitar sounds stems from this pedal. Ever hear of Entombed?

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

One word Wampler.
Triple Wreck combines intense uber gain distortion with a switchable fuzz circuit boost. Intense, articulate without washout of the guitar itself. It is the most intense distortion in a pedal you are going to find that has a sense of quality and build about it.

You could not give me a Boss pedal unless it was mod'd by Keeley. Metal Zone and so many just get washout distortion. I had a Keeley Zone mod it was pretty intense. The Hardwire Metal is pretty good too.

Do not attempt to get uber gain metal out of your head, just dial in a good clean sound with some depth and get a good pedal. That is not a bad amp at all, I was looking at getting a 50 or 100 watt model. A TS is not going to take you into metal land, you can overdrive the hell out of that amp to destruction and it is not going to please you. Just use a good pedal and presto instant metal, and click back to a nice tone. I do recommend Wampler, a lot of vids by "bugerman666" on youtube of Wampler pedals do check out the Triple Wreck Wampler you will like it.

Wampler just released a new distortion high gainer called the SLOtortion. It also has an independent boost switch circuit. Ii is based on the Soldano SLO 100 tone. Their Plextortion, Slotortion, Triple Wreck and Pinnacle are all great high gain distortion pedals that retain note articulation without complete washout fizzy gain that so many of the "metal" pedals have.

I currently do not have a real intense high gainer at the moment but they are nice to have for a little fun now and then. I've had a few intense ones in the past had a Metal Zone both stock and a Keeley mod, which was better but still just gets that wash out distortion. I also had their Metal Core which sort of had the tone I adjusted for on the Zone. I also had at one time an HM-2 pedal which I did get at the time a decent sound it has a lot to do with how you adjust it. Much less the current level of your playing development. Plus much like our previous friend I sort of migrated away from all Boss pedals. I have about a dozen on my board at the moment and no Boss. Cool pedals for younger players but I am always amazed at seeing some of these on boards of players who can afford better and should know better. Maybe it is the case of them having a unique sound unlike others. I thought that with Frusciante's continual cling to his Boss Fuzz or Dist I forget which one at the moment.

Some of these pedals are fun to mess with at times. Most players with a few years under their belts prefer not to use such extreme pedal gains. They can be a lot of fun and I like to have fun playing. At this time I have a Red box Ibanez Tube King which I like a lot although I would not call that uber metal like some others are but it has great tones for the higher gain stuff I like when I am not using my gained up tube channels. I think you can adjust the Tube King in that direction but it is more that high end tinny fizz gain I do not like. I like more low end body and depth to the tone but not an extreme mid scoop EQ.

All of these are made for a clean amp not any sort of dirty amp tone, some do that and complain they sound terrible, yeah they would in that context. It also has everything to do with adjusting the pedal EQ, I listen to any of these on the web and it seems no one knows how to get a tone out of them, way too much tinny treble and shrill fizz gain. You need to get that low end up, notch the shrill mids a little and enough treb for presence and to give it the metal tone. Some pedals get a bad rap merely because someone is not adjusting them to their best advantage, In defense of some of them, you are not going to get that much intense gain out of your amp even with an overdrive or boost and few of us can afford like 3K for a new Mesa Triple Rec.

If you are low budget in this time like a lot of us, you might find decent tones in some of the above mentions. Also the Hardwire Metal is a great pedal which I would put hands down over a Boss, is is only $100. If you have the bucks or can save up, it is hard to go wrong w Wampler. Check out ProGuitarShop for more choices and to listen to somewhat better quality demos. Brett on youtube, (bugerman666) does some great demos of Wampler and others which tend to sound better than most of the tinny thin little amp sounding youtube stuff. Brett gets better sound no matter what he uses and he is a hell of a guitarist to boot. The most intense articulate for my bet while still retaining some sense of tone would be the Wampler Triple Wreck as it has a switchable fuzz circuit boost to add to the high gain distortion

As far as "metal" being dead, I never listened to a lot of the stuff that was called metal so when it "died" I never noticed. I am not sure what metal even is anymore. I love great tones and do not have a care what is considered poppy. Nothing wrong with adding your own spin to a concept that is sort of what made the iconic bands legendary. I would indicate that if you plan to play with a band using the uber gained sound you may find it difficult to do as washout gain does not hold well in the volume of a band and if you notice a lot of them sound great in the studio where it can be mixed, isolated, and controlled but live their sound often sort of sucks and is generic.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by 3waytie4last

k...so why not get an actual Rat instead of something Rat-like? I guarantee you a big-box Rat sounds infinitely better than a DS-1, and it is perhaps the very best sounding disto ever.

I don't focus on boutique stuff, but instead buy the real-deal vintage pedals. Most boutique pedals are made to replicate what the vintage pedals sounded like. Why not just buy the vintage one in the first place? With the prices of some boutique stuff, you might not pay a whole lot more for the real thing.

Rat is not a bad box, JHS and Keeley mod them much better result. I always hated the DS-1 myself. I had a Keeley mod like Satch and Vai used to use it was better but I could never get the feel from one of those. The Satchurator is a modifed DS-1 circuit but better than the stocker, JHS mods offers a mod up on the Satchurator which is also much better.

I am a Wampler pedal maven myself, when I think of Overdrives I think of 4 names right off, Wampler, Lovepedal, Barber, and Xiotic, when I think of high gain dist that sounds great, does not washout and has note articulation, it's Wampler at #1.

[OilLadenMuckFry]

never rule out a mesa studio preamp as a distortion pedal for an amp.

I've done that and cant figure out why more people dont. well.. it does look kind of stupid on a pedal board.

[darkhorse]

[QUOTE
I don't focus on boutique stuff, but instead buy the real-deal vintage pedals. Most boutique pedals are made to replicate what the vintage pedals sounded like. Why not just buy the vintage one in the first place? With the prices of some boutique stuff, you might not pay a whole lot more for the real thing.[/QUOTE]

Seriously? Ever looked inside a vintage or imagined nothing has degraded in 40 years? New tech is just better, quieter noise floor, greater dynamic range, true bypass wiring, power supply jacks, better quality components. My overdrive is not a clone of anything. I had a lot of the older stuff years and years ago, I do not miss it, or long for the mythical golden age of hum and buzz. Every time I think vintage, I remember the horrendous noise, interference, hum and buzzes coming from Hendrix's amps.

Whatever floats your boat.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by OilLadenMuckFry

never rule out a mesa studio preamp as a distortion pedal for an amp.

I've done that and cant figure out why more people dont. well.. it does look kind of stupid on a pedal board.

If it is the one I have seen it is a Triple Rec preamp like in the amp head and big bucks. Mesa is not low priced by any means. Must be nice if you can drop that many bucks. ENGL makes a killer rackmount preamp as well. If a player is going for just an all amp uber gain dist you need a Mesa, Engl, H&K that costs big bucks and even then you will probably want a good OD to tighten them up.
To just step on a pedal and get tons of ripping gain there are a lot of pedals that sound good some around $100 and better ones for like $200. I like having one just to get that tone without killing my tubes in meltdown mode all the time. Check out Brett Kingman (bugerman666) on youtube he does some great Wampler high gain demos that have decent sound and he can play to rip them. SLOsortion, Triple Wreck, Pinnacle and the Plextortion just crank. That Pinnacle is so EVH sounding as to be freaky.

[Black Shadow]

Originally Posted by axlepaas

For me, the Fulltone OCD does the trick. One of my favs for heavy guitar...

kp

Yeah, same here. I use the OCD for when heavy guitars will be the most important element in the mix.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Black Shadow

Yeah, same here. I use the OCD for when heavy guitars will be the most important element in the mix.

Had a V3 years back traded it off got a new v4 about a year ago and it was OK but the v4 was too gainy for my tastes. Running it lower gain was OK, I even removed the final stage diode in a mod but I think the RTO is more to my taste for the Fulltone. But not for a gain structure, they seem to sound better w gain about 9:00 like Trower uses them. I got really sick of three knob ODs. The tone is not really a tone but a treble roll off.

The Ecstasy can do what the OCD and the RTO does but better, fuller more bass and has 3 different mode options and complete range tone controls. It can really gain up on the lower toggle mode if you like that level of dist on an OD but I would not compare the gain structure of an OD to a specifically designed high gain distortion. I prefer a less gainy OD myself and the push it has against the different tube voicings, tightens up the tube gain, sort of like what the TS was good for but the Esctasy is not a clone of the TS.

Something like the Wampler Triple Wreck or SLOtorsion would kill any OD pedal in shear intensity. The OCD is a good hard rock gain but not close to metal. I prefer my Ibanez Tube King for Pagey like gains. It can also gain up for metal but I would still go w one of the Wamplers for that really intense metal gain structure. You can hear the difference in decent demo clips on youtube. Brett Kingman (bugerman666) does some great Wampler clips that sound good. You can really hear the intensity difference I am talking about.

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by 3waytie4last

k...so why not get an actual Rat instead of something Rat-like? I guarantee you a big-box Rat sounds infinitely better than a DS-1, and it is perhaps the very best sounding disto ever.

The Rat and the DS-1 are TOTALLY different sounding pedals.

I'm not a heavy metal player but I have a serious dislike for pronounced midrange in distortion/overdrive pedals and thus was never happy with Tubescreamers, Rats or OCDs (knowing that these are vastly different sounding pedals even within the 'pronounced' midrange' category).

The DS-1 has a scooped midrange character, the Boss pedal is o.k but the AnalogMan version is KILLER. I've been using it for years and now I also got the version with the added midrange control. This lets me dial in just a tad more midrange which works wonders in a live setting yet still retains the 'scooped in a good way' character.

Boss Effects Pedals and Modifications

I see no reason why this wouldn't make for a killer metal tone if you add the right guitar, amp and atitude.

[darkhorse]

I had the Keeley mod DS-1 it was much better than the stocker and also had a Satchurator which is a Satriani mod of the DS-1, JHS does a mod on that as well. Some love these pedals, after trying them for some time I just did not dig the voicing. I really do not like 3 knob boxes and I tried to avoid them. Heard nothing but great stuff about Analogman mods. It's all what suits your ear. The intensity of distortion on a real high gain pedal is just different. Like that Keeley mod Metal Zone, adjust that right on EQ and it burns. I just think the Wampler high gains are more top shelf and articulate.

[Animus]

I have a Maxon OD820 Pro. I love it. Drives my Mesa Road King quite nicely.

[Tuco B]

VT2-Twin-EQ details

sonic bliss in front of a tube amp

[darkhorse]

Despite I tend to run a wide range of sonic colors regarding all things gain.

Currently on the board:
Wampler Ego Compressor (simply a marvelous quality compressor from transparent sustain all the way to clean boost)
Wampler Ecstasy Overdrive ( a 3 mode versatile drive that is not a clone of anything, very transparent, tonal quality that has to be heard to be appreciated, full range of cleaner OD to gainy, just love it, think Timmy to something really unique)
Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe (simply a magical brown sound gain pedal)
Hardwire Metal Dist (what a fun pedal, not one of my main users but a lot of fun once in a while)
Ibanez Tube King HT999TK (real tube, internal voltage to 100v, simply a marvelous pedal, I use it for a really great Pagey tone, always delivers the tone and the real tube buffer circuit serves to give me a final stage buffer for my true bypass chain)
[My amp is also an all tube 3 channel monster that has its own levels of gain which just add to the many options and versatility my rig has in potential for creating anything one can dream up. Has the best sounding clean channel on any amp I have ever used. Using clean tubes enhances the tone of all effects verses solid state.]

I recently got a Hardwire Metal Distortion and really what a fun pedal to play that turned out to be. Low price but great sound. Has the same sort of EQ stack on a Boss Metal Zone but it is true bypass and internal voltage step up to 15v. The Hardwire series continue to impress me for the quality of build, tone and low price. The Metal Dist cranks out a mean and well defined gain structure. If you can adjust a zone correctly you will like this pedal. Tremendous low end punch and high end, if you notch the mid in the sweet spot a really great intense metal tone and that is just fun to play through now and then.

It is not the quality of Wampler nor does it play well with an octave pedal (POG) but kills with a phaser. Fun pedal for the money better than Boss. If you can manage the bucks try Wampler. I will no doubt replace it in time with the Triple Wreck but for now what a $100 of fun.