I have very basic small amp that has its own distortion button, but I would like to get good at getting nasty crunch sound.
What should I get?
I am currently working on Carol (Stones Ya-Ya), Bitch, Sympathy…, etc., Back in the USA (love both MC5 and Linda Ronstad’s versions), Red-neck Friend, and beginning to do do ZZTops Beer Drinkers…, Legs, and Sharp Dressed Man–you know the basic rockers.
I’ve used a Ratt pedal for distortion and was pleased with the results. Doper Wordman mentioned it a while back in the Great Ongoing Guitar Thread.
Its’s a long thread but you can get a lot of info on equipment, techniques, recommendations etc.
The pedal in the link isn’t my model. There are are a few in the Ratt line. I’m mostly a novice acoustic player but the thread has a lot of electric players of all skill levels. I’m sure that some of them will also respond to this.
What’s your budget? To be honest, I’ve been pretty pleased with my boss overdrive/distortion, it covers a lot of ground.
On the ratt, the guitarist in one of my band used one, but it had a lot of noise so he switched it. If you want to start and stop, sudden breaks and silence, without having to hit the switch, I’d get a pedal with as little noise as possible. Great distortion sound, though. Couple it with a wah at the end and it’ll scream like a devil.
I’m super intrigued by the new Fender Pugilist distortion pedal. It’s an unusual config in that it has two different distortion stages (each with different gain and tone characteristics) that you can either stack or blend or use independently. The demos I’ve heard sound cool, and at 99 bucks, it’s hard to go too wrong.
But yes, also the Rat (Ratt is an all different thing) is a standard for this sort of thing.
My go to pedal is a boss OD-1 overdrive. I can also recommend a DS-1.
But IMO this is very dependent on what guitar and amp you have.
And as mentioned budget is a consideration, like most things they start at “cheap” and go up to “oh my god”.
Dude, OD-1, that’s the one!
OP: If you have money to spend and want to have nice sounds and the potential to go full-on crazy-town… and everything inbetween, WMD Geiger Counter!
DS-1 is awesome, gave mine away to my keyboard player. Got it from a band-mate, also keyboard player:p Enough said. Warm, crunchy, can get some squiggle at times. All around, great distortion.
Throw away your guitar! Be the next John Agar!
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I’ll check out the Boss and the Ratts. Or Rat?
Ratt is the band with the big hair. Rat is the pedal.
I can almost guarantee that Ratt used the Rat.
The Rat was the pedal I fed into my Fender Super Twin. That combo is also why I continually ask people to repeat themselves. :smack: