# The best distortion pedal for sevenstring guitars



## baracuda (Feb 23, 2009)

Whats up everybody I got Ibanez 7321 and i want a good distortion pedal
that gives a load of low ends and crunch but very clear and powerfull that blows you away. Im in a band and playing hardcore metal. Im using Boss ME50
guitar procesor. But i wanna switch to pedals cause its kinda more proffesional
but im not sure about my dirt sound as far as stompboxes. There is a whole bunch of them on a market and everybody says that their pedals are the best. The other thing is all of this pedals (digitech, boss, big muff, hardwire etc) Sounds extremly different on a 7 string guitars!!!
So if anybody can help me i would apriciate that


----------



## yingmin (Feb 24, 2009)

What kind of amp are you using?


----------



## Daemoniac (Feb 24, 2009)

ProTone Body Rot II - Heavy low end, very thick and very big distortion
T-Rex Bloody Mary - Again, really big sound. Slightly scooped, and very clear.
AMT Electronics Du Hast - Not much control over the sound (no more or less than a normal BOSS pedal), but really nice distortion.
MOEN Violent Metal - Really thick distortion with obscene amounts of gain. 
DNA Analogic Gain FXXker - Awesome pedal. Very little control over the sound on teh pedal end, but god does it sound awesome
Damage Control Demonizer - A tube driven preamp/distortion pedal. Can go from mild to extreme, with awesome controls.
FRANTONE Cream Puff - Yes, its pink. Kind of a cross between a good rhythm higain tone and a really aggro fuzz tone
Metal Pedals Demon Drive - Pretty good pedal. Fucktons of gain, and an interesting sound.

All of those are kind of 'boutique' pedals, but all great, just for slightly different purposes. As you're in a Hardcore band, id probably go for one of the thicker sounding ones; ProTone Body Rot II, MOEN Violent Metal, AMT Electronics Du Hast are the 3 that come to mind for that.

Other than them, theres a shitload of other "big" company distortion pedals (BOSS, Digitech, Electro Harmonix etc..) Honestly i've never tried a distortion pedal of any of them i was really happy with. BOSS are really 'classic' sounding (even the "Metal Core" pedal for gods sake), Digitech are too cheesy, and really fake sounding, and the EH pedals i just think suck. Of course, thats just my opinion, but you get the idea 

Hope it helps 

Also, a lot of people will suggest you replace your amp. It is most definitely possible to get whatever sound you are thinking of in your head come out your amp, _but_ if you are as unluckly as a lot of us, and start to discover that your ideal amp is an ENGL SE (8,000AUD here), a Diezel Herbert ($5,000AUD here), a Mesa Dual Rectifier ($4,600AUD here), or even a VHT Pitbull (unavailable here, $4-5,000AUD imported) then you're pretty much fucked... until you can come up with 8k 
In other words, i agree with them, but i also love distortion pedals, and understand why its more convenient as a temporary thing to spend a couple hundred bucks on a pedal


----------



## Thin_Ice_77 (Feb 24, 2009)

Blackstar HT Dual. My brother has one with a 7321 and it's amazing. They're a little pricey, but they sound damn good. Quite versatile, you can get a really smooth rhythm sound, 5150-esque, really good for metalcore and stuff like that. There's a control to switch from a 'British' sound to an 'American' one, so as I said, you can some different sounds out of it.

I've played nearly everything Boss have put out and failed to be impressed, I have an Ibanez SM7, which I like, but the Blackstar pisses all over it.


----------



## Daemoniac (Feb 24, 2009)

Thin_Ice_77 said:


> I've played nearly everything Boss have put out and failed to be impressed, I have an Ibanez SM7, which I like, but the Blackstar pisses all over it.



So true. I actually forgot about the Blackstar stuff  I agree though, it's incredible stuff


----------



## budda (Feb 24, 2009)

what amp are you using? i just got back from the crush 'em all tour, and the one guitarist for after the burial uses an ME-50 for his effects into his 6505+.

for metal, people usually rely on the amp's distortion.

multi's are not more or less professional then single pedals, no idea where you heard that one


----------



## jymellis (Feb 24, 2009)

im a fan of multi pedals, i like zoom stuff. alot of other people hate it though


----------



## Daemoniac (Feb 24, 2009)

budda said:


> multi's are not more or less professional then single pedals, no idea where you heard that one



Got to agree there.

Have you considered getting a Pod X3 Live or something? The X3 has some epic high gain tones, so maybe that would be something to consider?


----------



## troyguitar (Feb 24, 2009)

I have a DigiTech RP250 which sounds pretty good by itself and is cheaper than most high-end pedals.


----------



## jymellis (Feb 24, 2009)

troyguitar said:


> I have a DigiTech RP250 which sounds pretty good by itself and is cheaper than most high-end pedals.



i got my broher in law one of those for christmas, man is that a fun little unit. and you can find some really thick tones in it!


----------



## ShadyDavey (Feb 24, 2009)

I have to say that YouTube is actually quite helpful for examination of pedals before you even go anywhere near one in the flesh. Many companies take the time to post comprehensive reviews with decent audio quality. Last one is an Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff:


----------



## TomAwesome (Feb 24, 2009)

What's your budget? In the ~$100 and under range, I can vouch for the following:

Line 6 Uber Metal: It's basically three POD XT amp models (a Recto, Insane, and some other model) in a stompbox. I used one with a GT-6 for a while before I got my POD X3, and it did a pretty decent job.

Boss MetalCore: It's pretty much what it sounds like. I didn't like it much personally, but a lot of people who like that kind of sound really love it.

Modded Boss MT-2: These can sound really great, but it does depend rather largely on what amp you're running it into.


----------



## Sroth Saraiel (Feb 24, 2009)

Every one has his own "best" pedal, I actually don't use pedals only live I use Boss Metal Zone configured like: Volume 10 and Dist at 0 to crisp the tone into my JCM2000 TSL100 on the Lead Channel with dist at 5 and volume at 5... that's the sound I like the most, 

this tip was given to me from Bernd Kost (A.k.a. Bernemann - guitarrist from a thrash metal german band called Sodom) back last year when he asked me to borrow him my marshall since he came with no head to play (he uses ENGL Savage 120), and I must tell, they sounded brutal with metal zone and marshall together!, from that moment I adopted this as my lead tone!, it's just fucking insane and with low F# works perfect, I must test it once I have my 9 string in low C#, but I think it will still kick ass!

Oh... also both times that Cannibal Corpse came to CR the used also a distorted TSL100 driven also with a Metal Zone... it is brutaly insane! try it!


----------



## TomAwesome (Feb 24, 2009)

^ You're talking about using a Metal Zone to boost a high gain amp. He's talking about using a pedal as his main source of distortion. Those are two very different applications.


----------



## Sroth Saraiel (Feb 24, 2009)

TomAwesome said:


> ^ You're talking about using a Metal Zone to boost a high gain amp. He's talking about using a pedal as his main source of distortion. Those are two very different applications.




Yes. but anyways I'm giving my opinion on the metal zone... even as a main pedal works pretty good, cause in gigs outside CR I don't have the opportunity to bring my marshalls, so I use any amp in clean with my metal zone and it still shake my nuts!... 

But Metal Core sucks though... I bought it since it was the "evolution of the metal zone" but no... I returned it 15 min after I bought it, it sounded good in the store but at high volume really sucks! muddy!


----------



## Daemoniac (Feb 24, 2009)

That video is the "Body Rot", a cool pedal, but the Body Rot II has so much more control over the sound, and is a thousand times heavier too. There aren't any videos on youtube though 

Go here and have a listen to the clips: ProTone Pedals


----------



## baracuda (Feb 25, 2009)

TomAwesome said:


> ^ You're talking about using a Metal Zone to boost a high gain amp. He's talking about using a pedal as his main source of distortion. Those are two very different applications.


yeah man exatly im talking about playing on clean channel using a distortion pedal. I know that back in a days Head from Korn was using a DOD American Metal. 
By the way I heard that many guitar players like to use a Tube Screamer as a preamp. (korn also) So how does it work?


----------



## hairychris (Feb 26, 2009)

Hm, interesting thread as I'm considering a stomp box to give me some backup....


----------



## Jason (Feb 26, 2009)

baracuda said:


> yeah man exatly im talking about playing on clean channel using a distortion pedal. I know that back in a days Head from Korn was using a DOD American Metal.
> By the way I heard that many guitar players like to use a Tube Screamer as a preamp. (korn also) So how does it work?



Again WHAT amp are you using.


----------



## vontetzianos (Feb 26, 2009)

TomAwesome said:


> What's your budget? In the ~$100 and under range, I can vouch for the following:
> 
> Line 6 Uber Metal: It's basically three POD XT amp models (a Recto, Insane, and some other model) in a stompbox. I used one with a GT-6 for a while before I got my POD X3, and it did a pretty decent job.
> 
> ...


 
I personally was really disappointed with the line 6 and the metalcore. I've played a modded MT-2 and it did a better job than the others. 

I actually thought the digitech hardwires did an ok kob. The valve distortion and the metal distortion worked quite well with a seven. They're quite cheap so maybe that's an option.


----------



## baracuda (Feb 26, 2009)

Im gonna buy A Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo hed within a month
So i might need a preamp or something may be a distortion pedal but i dont
have a clue wich one . I dont have a chance to test em all myself cause the music stores around my place suck and all they got is Boss pedals and some of the Digitech which i aleady have tested.


----------



## Dark Epic (Feb 26, 2009)

Yea man I got a 300A (Digitech)it's becoming the dinosaur for that series , but you have a lil knowledge on gates , effects, reverbs,amp models, the fukin limits with the pedal are endless, it's got an old school analog feel but digital speed, the Wah is pretty decent too...but then again that's pretty much true with most the multies, plus if you do go with digitech there's a forum at digitech .com called the sound community where people share different settings for each series multi so your not in the dark spinning knobs ... The 50 series units are bad ass too I like the USB option with them...


----------



## budda (Feb 26, 2009)

with a dual rec, you dont need a distortion pedal. hell, for some people you dont even need to boost it.


----------



## Sroth Saraiel (Feb 26, 2009)

vontetzianos said:


> I personally was really disappointed with the line 6 and the metalcore. I've played a modded MT-2 and it did a better job than the others.



+!

Disappointment is a short word to describe what I felt when I sold my MT2 to buy the crappy MetalCore...  worst day of the year!


----------



## Daemoniac (Feb 26, 2009)

Ok, have a listen to the clips on this page... the Metal Zone, Uber Metal and so on are ok, but teh 6 or so i mentioned on the other page just put them to shame... trust me there. The body rot is the biggest, thickest sounding distortion i've managed to hear from a pedal, but is still versatile enough to do more with.

ProTone Pedals


----------



## Imperium (Feb 27, 2009)

baracuda said:


> By the way I heard that many guitar players like to use a Tube Screamer as a preamp.



A Tube Screamer type pedal is used infront of an amp while the amp is on the "Overdrive/Distortion" channel. Its purpose is to "tighten up a tone by cutting bass" or "adding just a little more gain to boost an amp". 

Using a Tube Screamer on the "Clean" channel would only get you into blues/rock territory.



baracuda said:


> Im gonna buy A Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo hed within a month



If thats the case dont bother buying a distorion pedal. Wait until you get the amp, the amp by itself should be able to get the distorted sound you want without any pedals.


----------



## Bound (Feb 27, 2009)

Demoniac said:


> Ok, have a listen to the clips on this page... the Metal Zone, Uber Metal and so on are ok, but teh 6 or so i mentioned on the other page just put them to shame... trust me there. The body rot is the biggest, thickest sounding distortion i've managed to hear from a pedal, but is still versatile enough to do more with.
> 
> ProTone Pedals



That is das brootal!


----------



## baracuda (Feb 27, 2009)

ok guys i wait for the amp than may be i can get the sound i want from my dual rec solo head without buying distortion pedal. Anyways when you play a sevenstring the sound is already brutal with a little bit of gain ( but im still thinking to run through TS 9 to get a tighter sound with rich low ends)


----------



## Harry (Feb 27, 2009)

budda said:


> with a dual rec, you dont need a distortion pedal. hell, for some people you dont even need to boost it.



I always found for a Recto, for my playing style anyway, I needed a slight kick from a pedal to push it into that 'sweet' level of compression to make legato sound a bit more pleasing, but ohh yeah, they definitely have fuck tons of gain in the first place


----------



## playstopause (Feb 28, 2009)

Demoniac said:


> Ok, have a listen to the clips on this page... the Metal Zone, Uber Metal and so on are ok, but teh 6 or so i mentioned on the other page just put them to shame... trust me there. The body rot is the biggest, thickest sounding distortion i've managed to hear from a pedal, but is still versatile enough to do more with.
> 
> ProTone Pedals



All 3 MP3's are the same for all pedals and IMHO, they all sound like complete garbage.


----------



## punisher911 (Feb 28, 2009)

I'm really happy with my Rocktron Silver Dragon distortion pedal. It's two sided with both tube and sold state distortion. You can even combine the two.


----------



## 7stringsRbetter (Feb 11, 2020)

baracuda said:


> Whats up everybody I got Ibanez 7321 and i want a good distortion pedal
> that gives a load of low ends and crunch but very clear and powerfull that blows you away. Im in a band and playing hardcore metal. Im using Boss ME50
> guitar procesor. But i wanna switch to pedals cause its kinda more proffesional
> but im not sure about my dirt sound as far as stompboxes. There is a whole bunch of them on a market and everybody says that their pedals are the best. The other thing is all of this pedals (digitech, boss, big muff, hardwire etc) Sounds extremly different on a 7 string guitars!!!
> So if anybody can help me i would apriciate that




I just purchased this Hellfire pedal from Dominator Guitar Pedals and It definitely is the best distortion pedal I’ve ever played. 7 string chugging is unlike anything else. There is a seven string demo of it search “Dominator Pedals Hellfire Full Demo” on YouTube. They have a store on Reverb, seems the only place you can buy one at the moment. Hope this helps.


----------

