# The absolute WORST distortion pedals??



## Gmork (Aug 8, 2021)

The mt2, the death metal, mxr fullbore... What else? I want to get my hands on all the highgain distortion pedals that the world hates and see if i can un-shit them lol.
If you have a shit dist pedal youre willing to give up for a fun video please PM me


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 8, 2021)

Anything made by Protone.


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## youngthrasher9 (Aug 8, 2021)

You might add a danelectro black coffee to the list. I haven’t seen one in the wild for a long time though.


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## Grindspine (Aug 8, 2021)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Anything made by Protone.



I was playing with some pedals earlier and was getting lots of usable sounds from a Dead Horse overdrive.

However, I was really having difficulty getting great sounds from my Revv G3. It always cuts the high treble until you crank the treble control to almost max, and then it is just shrill.


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## Gmork (Aug 8, 2021)

Grindspine said:


> I was playing with some pedals earlier and was getting lots of usable sounds from a Dead Horse overdrive.
> 
> However, I was really having difficulty getting great sounds from my Revv G3. It always cuts the high treble until you crank the treble control to almost max, and then it is just shrill.


The g3 WAS really dark, i liked the g4 much better


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## StevenC (Aug 8, 2021)

The Boss Mega Distortion is an unusable mess and no one can convince me otherwise.


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 8, 2021)

Grindspine said:


> I was playing with some pedals earlier and was getting lots of usable sounds from a Dead Horse overdrive.
> 
> However, I was really having difficulty getting great sounds from my Revv G3. It always cuts the high treble until you crank the treble control to almost max, and then it is just shrill.



It's pretty hard to screw up a vanilla TS9 clone. You have to actively make those bad.


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## budda (Aug 8, 2021)

Danelectro black licorice i think it was...


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## Grindspine (Aug 8, 2021)

MaxOfMetal said:


> It's pretty hard to screw up a vanilla TS9 clone. You have to actively make those bad.



At the risk of moderator rage... Anything constructive to add to the thread?
------------------------
Back to OP though, at moderate settings even the DOD Grunge, Metal X, and Corrosion can be tamed. The G3 has such a dead treble response even with a buffer in front of it. Granted, the pedal is worth too much for me to send it your way, but if you can source one, I would be curious to hear what you can do with it.


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## Spinedriver (Aug 8, 2021)

_If_ you can find one, the DOD Supra Distortion is a pretty hot mess. I had one back in the day and I really tried to like it but it was probably the shrillest, harshest pedal I've ever used. 
That being said, I don't know if they are the 'worst' per se but I did have less than favorable experiences with:

Danelectro Fab Tone
Marshall Jackhammer
Electro Harmonix Metal Muff

just to name a few....


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## Demiurge (Aug 8, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> _If_ you can find one, the DOD Supra Distortion is a pretty hot mess. I had one back in the day and I really tried to like it but it was probably the shrillest, harshest pedal I've ever used.



Was it the 'C' version? I used to have the 'B' and liked how it was balanced and sustained well; then I recently bought one and it was a 'C' which matches your experience.

How about the Ibanez Smashbox? Too much gain, missing a sweet spot by itself, but maybe it takes a boost well- I dunno.


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## jaxadam (Aug 8, 2021)

I had a DOD Metal Maniac back in the early 90’s and that thing sucked. Bad.


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## Adieu (Aug 8, 2021)

Ibanez SH7 ... the special pedal for turning your 7 string into a clamshell cellphone ringtone


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## TheBlackBard (Aug 8, 2021)

I've found that the Metal Zone is not nearly as bad as people make them out to be. I run my gain under half, bass and treble around 1-2 o clock, mids fairly up and I get okay tones out of it. It's even better if you turn down the gain even more and boost it.


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## Gmork (Aug 8, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> _If_ you can find one, the DOD Supra Distortion is a pretty hot mess. I had one back in the day and I really tried to like it but it was probably the shrillest, harshest pedal I've ever used.
> That being said, I don't know if they are the 'worst' per se but I did have less than favorable experiences with:
> 
> Danelectro Fab Tone
> ...


Oh god the metal muff 
The danelectro fab tone is another similar to the death metal, with a steady setting hand and proper amp eq it can be death metal city! I mean... It CAN be harsh city too lol all about taming these wild beasts!


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## Spinedriver (Aug 8, 2021)

Demiurge said:


> Was it the 'C' version? I used to have the 'B' and liked how it was balanced and sustained well; then I recently bought one and it was a 'C' which matches your experience.
> 
> How about the Ibanez Smashbox? Too much gain, missing a sweet spot by itself, but maybe it takes a boost well- I dunno.



Honestly, I have no idea which version it was. I had it back around 89-90 I think. I just remember that when you turned the gain up to 'boost' it got pretty bad with noise. It could very well be that I just had a 'broken' one (I did get it used) but I can't remember for the life of me if it was a 'B' or a 'C'. 
On pedal that I DO remember liking was the Ibanez Metal Charger. It had a 3 band eq on it which was pretty uncommon for distortion pedals at the time (until the Metal Zone came along).


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## Spinedriver (Aug 8, 2021)

Gmork said:


> Oh god the metal muff
> The danelectro fab tone is another similar to the death metal, with a steady setting hand and proper amp eq it can be death metal city! I mean... It CAN be harsh city too lol all about taming these wild beasts!



What's even more bizarre about the Metal Muff is the fact that they STILL make them !! I guess _someone_ must like them but I have no idea who....


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## Gmork (Aug 8, 2021)

StevenC said:


> The Boss Mega Distortion is an unusable mess and no one can convince me otherwise.


Got one to give away?


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## youngthrasher9 (Aug 8, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> _If_ you can find one, the DOD Supra Distortion is a pretty hot mess. I had one back in the day and I really tried to like it but it was probably the shrillest, harshest pedal I've ever used.
> That being said, I don't know if they are the 'worst' per se but I did have less than favorable experiences with:
> 
> Danelectro Fab Tone
> ...


The Marshall Jackhammer is legendary as a boost though… Heartwork by Carcass and Down’s NOLA were both tracked with one as a boost.


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 8, 2021)

Grindspine said:


> At the risk of moderator rage... Anything constructive to add to the thread?
> ------------------------
> Back to OP though, at moderate settings even the DOD Grunge, Metal X, and Corrosion can be tamed. The G3 has such a dead treble response even with a buffer in front of it. Granted, the pedal is worth too much for me to send it your way, but if you can source one, I would be curious to hear what you can do with it.



I wasn't joking. I've played several of their distortion and OD pedals and found them to be kinda bad. It's cool you like the Dead Horse, it's probably the all around best pedal they make and that's mostly due to it just being a TS9. 

If the bar for participation in this thread is "someone somewhere likes it" then what's the point? There are a few mentioned in here that I've owned and liked, but I'm not going to say those folks aren't adding anything to the thread. 

The whole point is to give @Gmork some ideas for his YouTube, and I think it would be neat to see his take on some of the Protone stuff, which tends to be fairly polarizing, hence our discussion.


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## TheBlackBard (Aug 8, 2021)

MaxOfMetal said:


> I wasn't joking. I've played several of their distortion and OD pedals and found them to be kinda bad. It's cool you like the Dead Horse, it's probably the all around best pedal they make and that's mostly due to it just being a TS9.
> 
> If the bar for participation in this thread is "someone somewhere likes it" then what's the point? There are a few mentioned in here that I've owned and liked, but I'm not going to say those folks aren't adding anything to the thread.
> 
> The whole point is to give @Gmork some ideas for his YouTube, and I think it would be neat to see his take on some of the Protone stuff, which tends to be fairly polarizing, hence our discussion.



Gmork is the reason I started taking seriously the preamp/power amp route. All his stuff is gold. Like @BadSeed I look forward to every new video. 

I would say the death metal, but I was still a noob when I tried it. Maybe I oughta get it again, see what I can do with it. I did have a Distortion Factory which I hated and could not get along with.


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 8, 2021)

TheBlackBard said:


> Gmork is the reason I started taking seriously the preamp/power amp route. All his stuff is gold. Like @BadSeed I look forward to every new video.
> 
> I would say the death metal, but I was still a noob when I tried it. Maybe I oughta get it again, see what I can do with it. I did have a Distortion Factory which I hated and could not get along with.



Yeah, I'm not really a YouTube guy, but I genuinely enjoy @Gmork's content.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Aug 8, 2021)

Try to make the Metal Muff sound good
With the top boost. 
What an overhyped piece of garbage.


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## USMarine75 (Aug 8, 2021)

I had the Protone Misha. It sounded like garbage and was super noisy. Opened it up and it looked like it was soldered by Michael J Fox.

Because he doesn't know how to solder or build pedals, not because he has Parkinson's.


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## gunch (Aug 8, 2021)

I thought the metal muff was passable


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## Legion (Aug 9, 2021)

I wonder how the Nano Metal Muff would do in @Gmork 's hands. It gets a LOOOOOOOT of hate. 
Sounded pretty alright to me...


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## BornToLooze (Aug 9, 2021)

When I first started playing I had a Boss Metalcore (all about that 5-7-8 ), and somehow kept it long enough until I was kinda ok at eqing stuff, and I don't remember that thing ever sounding good.


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## Werecow (Aug 9, 2021)

youngthrasher9 said:


> The Marshall Jackhammer is legendary as a boost though… Heartwork by Carcass and Down’s NOLA were both tracked with one as a boost.


Carcass used the Marshall Guv'nor (old version of it) on Heartwork. Not the Jackhammer.
I don't think the Jackhammer was even released when Heartwork was recorded.


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

@TheBlackBard @MaxOfMetal yall gonna make a mf cry lol. Seriously though thank you so much for mentioning it. I figured i just come across as the annoying spammy guy lol nice to know im more the annoying spammy guy who does some cool guitar shit!
Now go check out that DOD death Metal thread i posted the other day! That demo was pretty wicked if i dont say so myself and i get the feeling not many saw it.
... Annoying cool guitar guy! Yeeaah


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

So yeah.... Anyone have any garbage they wanna send my way?


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## WarMachine (Aug 9, 2021)

As bad as I want to say the DOD Death Metal distortion..
If dialed in right with an OD its pretty fucking gnarly in front of a clean channel on an SS amp.


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

Ok... Sorry im doing it lol.
@WarMachine its been a topic ive always been interested in but the dod dm is what really pushed me to try to do something with this idea. I LOOOVE the dm! Check it out, just did this the other day!


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## spudmunkey (Aug 9, 2021)

Ibanez Powerlead from the Sound Tank series.


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

Something to note that i definitely know some of you already are fully aware of is the fact that theres essentially 3 different categories to consider when talking about "good" or "bad" tone.
(and this doesn't even include ones ability to dial in a good tone or the fact that not everyone has a good ear/or experience for sound and how to use it) 

1-many people unconsciously only consider THIS one, and thats...
How it sounds playing alone at home. 

2-SO IMPORTANT! 
How it sounds in a mix! Often times that amazing sounding album you love that sounds so crushing, if you were to hear the isolated guitar tracks youd think they sound like shit, 
Sooo sometimes "shit" = crushing in a certain context. 

And 3, similar to the last one. 
How does it sound LIVE in a band mix. Those horrible high mids of v30s sure suck ehhhh, yeah.. Not so much live. 

Anyway.. Ugh im tired i should be asleep.


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## 0rimus (Aug 9, 2021)

As a dude who loves fucked up fuzzes, I've learned to kinda jive with it, but...

I'll be goddamned if it ever took me longer to get a tolerable tone out of a pedal than the Boss Digital Metalizer.

Digitech Death Metal? Beautiful. MXR Fullbore? Glorious. Metalzone? Easy.

Good, useable tones.

The MZ-2 sounds like R2-D2 getting raped by hyenas. So many nasty high frequency artifacts. Damn I love that thing lol.


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

@0rimus ok im sold lol. Also i LOVE suuuper harsh fuzzes too!


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## Kaura (Aug 9, 2021)

Can't believe my eyes that somebody out there has somewhat positive opinion on Metal Muff. I hated that pedal as a kid and just thinking about it makes my blood boil.


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## Randy (Aug 9, 2021)

Haven't sifted through this thread yet but my vote would be any of the Danelectro pedals named after fucking food.


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## Randy (Aug 9, 2021)

Gmork said:


> Ok... Sorry im doing it lol.
> @WarMachine its been a topic ive always been interested in but the dod dm is what really pushed me to try to do something with this idea. I LOOOVE the dm! Check it out, just did this the other day!




Yeah my old guitar player (back in the early 2000s) used a DM into the front of a SS Crate believe it or not, and he got killer tone.


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## Emperoff (Aug 9, 2021)

Gmork said:


> Ok... Sorry im doing it lol.
> @WarMachine its been a topic ive always been interested in but the dod dm is what really pushed me to try to do something with this idea. I LOOOVE the dm! Check it out, just did this the other day!




This is awesome in so many ways


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## thraxil (Aug 9, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> _If_ you can find one, the DOD Supra Distortion is a pretty hot mess. I had one back in the day and I really tried to like it but it was probably the shrillest, harshest pedal I've ever used.



I'm super open minded about gain pedals, like a lot of different genres of music and generally find that every pedal fits and has a use *somewhere*. If someone doesn't like it, maybe they need to use it for a different style of music, or just use it with a different amp or guitar or combined with different pedals. The FX55C Supra Distortion was the only pedal that I could never find any redeeming value in. Nothing I ever tried with it resulted in a sound that was better than if I just removed it from the chain. Of course, in a fit of drunken eBay purchasing back in the day, I somehow ended up with two of them in my collection... (unfortunately pretty much that whole collection is currently in storage in another country or I'd happily send one out).



Spinedriver said:


> Danelectro Fab Tone



I kind of love that pedal. It's just more of a super harsh over the top wall of noise fuzz than the sort of vintage-y distortion that the packaging makes you expect.


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## WarMachine (Aug 9, 2021)

USMarine75 said:


> I had the Protone Misha. It sounded like garbage and was super noisy. Opened it up and it looked like it was soldered by Michael J Fox.
> 
> Because he doesn't know how to solder or build pedals, not because he has Parkinson's.


Great Scott!


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## youngthrasher9 (Aug 9, 2021)

Werecow said:


> Carcass used the Marshall Guv'nor (old version of it) on Heartwork. Not the Jackhammer.
> I don't think the Jackhammer was even released when Heartwork was recorded.


I get the two mixed up, my bad!


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

thraxil said:


> I'm super open minded about gain pedals, like a lot of different genres of music and generally find that every pedal fits and has a use *somewhere*. If someone doesn't like it, maybe they need to use it for a different style of music, or just use it with a different amp or guitar or combined with different pedals. The FX55C Supra Distortion was the only pedal that I could never find any redeeming value in. Nothing I ever tried with it resulted in a sound that was better than if I just removed it from the chain. Of course, in a fit of drunken eBay purchasing back in the day, I somehow ended up with two of them in my collection... (unfortunately pretty much that whole collection is currently in storage in another country or I'd happily send one out).
> 
> 
> 
> I kind of love that pedal. It's just more of a super harsh over the top wall of noise fuzz than the sort of vintage-y distortion that the packaging makes you expect.


The fab tone was basically THEE tone of nine inch nails downward spiral!!


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## USMarine75 (Aug 9, 2021)

Werecow said:


> Carcass used the Marshall Guv'nor (old version of it) on Heartwork. Not the Jackhammer.
> I don't think the Jackhammer was even released when Heartwork was recorded.



Jackhammer and Guv'nor are awesome IMO.

There are prob so many clones of those pedals out there. 

I'd love to see someone map a phylogeny of overdrive and distortion pedals to see what is what.



Randy said:


> Yeah my old guitar player (back in the early 2000s) used a DM into the front of a SS Crate believe it or not, and he got killer tone.



I... um... might have been your guitarist then. I had that exact same rig. Well, except this was 1993.

Had my sweet Yamaha RGZ321 with aftermarket mods - locking Kahler trem, Dimarzio HS3 and X2N, and EMG onboard boost. Except the body wood was so soft the trem posts starting compressing the wood. So intonation became impossible as the whole trem started drifting forward.

tl;dr tone of the gods!


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## GunpointMetal (Aug 9, 2021)

If you can find a Rok-Tek, that's the worst.


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## Dumple Stilzkin (Aug 9, 2021)

I found some interesting tones in the Danelectro fab tone, but not enough to keep it. Worse distortion pedal I’ve used was easily the Supra Distortion by DOD. I couldn’t get anything close to a good sound, buzzy nasty sounds only.


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## r33per (Aug 9, 2021)

WarMachine said:


> Great Scott!


I know: this is heavy...


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

Demiurge said:


> Was it the 'C' version? I used to have the 'B' and liked how it was balanced and sustained well; then I recently bought one and it was a 'C' which matches your experience.
> 
> How about the Ibanez Smashbox? Too much gain, missing a sweet spot by itself, but maybe it takes a boost well- I dunno.


Ok so dod supra original or C model, noted lol. And you say the ibby smashbox has TOO much gain ehhh, intriguing!


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## thraxil (Aug 9, 2021)

The first distortion pedal I ever bought as a teenager was an Arion DMD1 Digital Metal Distortion. It was awful. I think. At that point, I honestly didn't know anything about gear or how to get good tones. I bought it because the name sounded badass. It was super disappointing and I remember it sounding terrible. But I also had a Peavey Bandit 112 (blue stripe) that I didn't like. Later on, after college, I dug that amp out and figured out that it was amazing. I just didn't like it in high school because it wasn't really loud enough to compete with the neanderthal drummer that I was jamming with and I thought there was no way I could get a heavy sound without a "metal" distortion pedal. So maybe the pedal was actually not terrible. But it died after a couple months, so it was also badly made, which makes me more confident that it was just a bad pedal across the board.


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## USMarine75 (Aug 9, 2021)

Remember when everyone's EQ looked like the Joker's smile? My old bassist used to demand I rolled my mids down as far as possible. And he would dial out 1k as much as possible from everything. Sounded like Impact is Imminent but worse.

I blame that for making any pedal I used sound even worse. I remember I had a 4 knob DOD dirt pedal of some sort and it was horrific.


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 9, 2021)

Apologies to OP for the quick hijack but am I crazy ( or tone deaf) because I feel like I'm actually able to dial in some fairly usable distortion with my Boss ML-2 ?


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

USMarine75 said:


> Remember when everyone's EQ looked like the Joker's smile? My old bassist used to demand I rolled my mids down as far as possible. And he would dial out 1k as much as possible from everything. Sounded like Impact is Imminent but worse.
> 
> I blame that for making any pedal I used sound even worse. I remember I had a 4 knob DOD dirt pedal of some sort and it was horrific.


Thats hilarious. Im not sven joking when i say that ive legitimately considered starting some sort of oldschool brutal death metal slam sorta band where the sole purpose is scoop the ever loving s*** out of all the mids in all instruments lol for s***s and giggles of course but low key cuz id probably love it lol


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## Deadpool_25 (Aug 9, 2021)

USMarine75 said:


> I had the Protone Misha. It sounded like garbage and was super noisy. Opened it up and it looked like it was soldered by Michael J Fox.
> 
> Because he doesn't know how to solder or build pedals, not because he has Parkinson's.



Man that joke is so cringey.

But I literally laughed out loud.

I like myself a little less now.

And you a little more.


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## Crungy (Aug 9, 2021)

Not hating on DOD but I'd guess a lot of people don't like the following:
American Metal
Punkifier
Buzz Box
Hard Rock distortion 
Thrash Master

I have a Series 10 bass distortion I may have to send your way, if I can let it out of the house. It sucks, but in a good way lol


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## bostjan (Aug 9, 2021)

Meh, IMO, very few distortion pedals are not hot garbage. I guess it depends on what you want to do with them and how you dial them in, but there are a handful of really good ones, a slew of them that have very specific uses, and then the majority of them are unusable.

I have a bunch of Boss pedals:
DS-1 (considered to be one of the better pedals) - I tend to like a bright tone, but that thing, to my ears, just sounds so brittle and harsh... IDK. I know Cobain used one and that's probably why people like the pedal, but honestly, I only ever use it for, like, a 4th or 5th track overdub - never on one of the most prominent tracks in the mix.
XT-2 - Sounds like a DS-1 through a half-cocked wah pedal.  Again, I've used it for texture, but never without a fair amount of dry mixed in. It's too weird a tone on its own.
MT-2 - Honestly, you can dial this one in to a useable tone. It takes some fiddling, though, to find the sweet spot.
OD-2 - Much more forgiving, but, IME, never dials in to make your tone any better than without it.
BD-2 - Probably the most versatile and best Boss distortion pedal. Just use it like a tube screamer. ...or... just get a tube screamer.


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Meh, IMO, very few distortion pedals are not hot garbage. I guess it depends on what you want to do with them and how you dial them in, but there are a handful of really good ones, a slew of them that have very specific uses, and then the majority of them are unusable.
> 
> I have a bunch of Boss pedals:
> DS-1 (considered to be one of the better pedals) - I tend to like a bright tone, but that thing, to my ears, just sounds so brittle and harsh... IDK. I know Cobain used one and that's probably why people like the pedal, but honestly, I only ever use it for, like, a 4th or 5th track overdub - never on one of the most prominent tracks in the mix.
> ...


You ever use anything other than boss? There's a lot out there man. A tightmetal pro into a good amp is insane


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## cGoEcYk (Aug 9, 2021)

I've never liked a distortion pedal that much aside from maybe ISP Theta. That is bombly. I use a Boneshaker for bass right now, like it more than the Muff I had.

A good baddie I owned was Boss Turbo Distortion. I used it with bass and wah on an album years ago for an effect that sounded like an only-treble tin can getting ripped apart and it was great for that.

Here it is...


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## ZXIIIT (Aug 9, 2021)

This $10 pedal that has had a few repaints/knob changes that bumped up the price up to $666, although that KISS version looks sweet.


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## Crungy (Aug 9, 2021)

Crap, I wanted the $10 one.


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## bostjan (Aug 9, 2021)

Gmork said:


> You ever use anything other than boss? There's a lot out there man. A tightmetal pro into a good amp is insane


Yeah, I've tried tons. There are probably a million distortion pedals out there, and I've honestly tried far less than 1% of them, but, of those I've tried, there isn't a single one that made me think "Oh wow, I need to incorporate this into my tone." It's more like they make weird sound-effect-type tones and I purchased them against my better judgement.

I have a big muff pi somewhere that I bought without hearing it, because I read magazine articles saying it was awesome, then, when I tried it, I fiddled around with it for ~2 hours, then placed it back in the box and never took it back out. I've demo'd all sorts of the old DoD pedals, which were basically the same as the Boss pedals, I tried hundreds of others either in stores or that my friends had owned. I've built a few of my own, some from circuit diagrams and others just screwing around. I think I've disassembled all of those.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they are all bad - merely that the good ones are so much better than the vast majority of varieties out there that you don't have to go looking for shitty distortion pedals. If it's not a digital pedal and it's not a well-known one, chances are >99% that it's either a weird specific single use thingie or it's just a mess.


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

ZXIIIT said:


> This $10 pedal that has had a few repaints/knob changes that bumped up the price up to $666, although that KISS version looks sweet.
> View attachment 96533
> View attachment 96534
> View attachment 96535
> ...


Lol i can afford $10! 
Where can i get one?


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## Steo (Aug 9, 2021)

Was going to post this in the worst gear thread, but: Tc electronics fangs. It has one ok tone, and that's it. The problem is the mids are on a switch, so down there are no mids, and the tone collapses on itself, in the middle and it's usable, up top and there's to much mids, and the tone has no impact.


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## ZXIIIT (Aug 9, 2021)

Gmork said:


> Lol i can afford $10!
> Where can i get one?



Keep checking all used gear sites! A bit ago, I found the KISS version in Canada for $40, but the seller did not want to ship,


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## Seabeast2000 (Aug 9, 2021)

I want to see what happens with the Fullbore.


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

Seabeast2000 said:


> I want to see what happens with the Fullbore.


Me too, i use to love it. Got one u wanna throw away?


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## efiltsohg (Aug 9, 2021)

IMO all those DOD pedals mentioned are actually pretty awesome, just their knobs are 95% unusable range


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## Gmork (Aug 9, 2021)

@MaxOfMetal so which protone specifically?

Could be cool, i dont bc want to bother with $30 unknown garbage lol, rather focus on popular pedals known for being bad


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## Rex (Aug 9, 2021)

The worst that I've tried: PSK super metal, Ibanez power lead and MXR Fullbore metal, sorry Gmork hehe!!


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## Spinedriver (Aug 9, 2021)

Rex said:


> The worst that I've tried: PSK super metal, Ibanez power lead and MXR Fullbore metal, sorry Gmork hehe!!



Oddly enough, I've actually heard a few demos where the Fullbore actually sounded half decent. However, when I went and tried one out in person, the results were not that great. VERY fizzy & brittle unless you want to go 'super scooped' with the mids.


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## Crungy (Aug 9, 2021)

Oh man one of these might be sick... I want to try one so bad lol maybe I should just buy one of the old amps though


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 9, 2021)

Gmork said:


> @MaxOfMetal so which protone specifically?
> 
> Could be cool, i dont bc want to bother with $30 unknown garbage lol, rather focus on popular pedals known for being bad



I thought the Rusty Cooley signature one was particularly bad. Same with the first one they did for Bulb.


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## Gmork (Aug 10, 2021)

Crungy said:


> Oh man one of these might be sick... I want to try one so bad lol maybe I should just buy one of the old amps though
> 
> View attachment 96556


I actually use to have one bought straight through pepers, had to let a bunch of stuff go so ended up selling it but it was pretty awesome in a disgusting peavey rage sorta way lol


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## wheresthefbomb (Aug 10, 2021)

DOD Grunge 
DOD Buzz Box


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## thraxil (Aug 10, 2021)

wheresthefbomb said:


> DOD Buzz Box



I've never gotten my hands on one, but the Buzz Box is LEGENDARY in the noise/noisecore scene, which is why they are extremely sought after and expensive. They might not work well with guitar, but put a synth through one and you can tear peoples' faces off.


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## Crungy (Aug 10, 2021)

My brother had a Buzz Box back in the day when no one gave a shit about DOD. If we only knew!

It was fun to mess around with, you can super gnarly and straight up unusable tones out it!


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## Screwhead (Aug 10, 2021)

Ibanez Cyberdrive. Kind of sounds like it an overdrive and wah had a deformed baby. Basically take a 3-knob overdrive pedal and replace the tone knob with a post-gain cocked wah. Whatever frequency you have the "tone" set to basically completely dominates the output, with no way to change the resonance of the filter, which is set REALLY high. Sweeping it from left to right gives you a muddy, all-bass tone, a nasal mid-range hump with no bass or treble that makes your guitar sound like The Nanny at 12 o'clock, or a broken radio from the 1920s with a 1" speaker cranked to 11.


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## Demiurge (Aug 10, 2021)

^Danelectro's Grilled Cheese distortion is pretty much this idea, too. I have one, but it's in the "may be interesting for an overdub but not a sound to build-around" pile.


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## Rex (Aug 10, 2021)

And how about the good stuff? Any worthy old pedal out there? I really love the old zoom trimetal for example, how about the old rocktron stuff ? I have been reading about the zombie, the rampage and the metal planet, are good enough to be considered or nothing special?


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## Gmork (Aug 10, 2021)

Rex said:


> And how about the good stuff? Any worthy old pedal out there? I really love the old zoom trimetal for example, how about the old rocktron stuff ? I have been reading about the zombie, the rampage and the metal planet, are good enough to be considered or nothing special?


Not sure if you saw the OP but im a believer that you can make almost anything sound decent and a lot of the pedals classically known as crap are infact pretty usable. 
Im hoping people have some of these "crap" pedals that they may want to ship to me to use on my YT channel (check out the attached video in the OP)


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## Rex (Aug 10, 2021)

Gmork said:


> Not sure if you saw the OP but im a believer that you can make almost anything sound decent and a lot of the pedals classically known as crap are infact pretty usable.
> Im hoping people have some of these "crap" pedals that they may want to ship to me to use on my YT channel (check out the attached video in the OP)


Yes I know what's your intention with these thread I've read it in its entirety, and I'm suscribed to your channel don't worry bro, love it.


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## Rex (Aug 10, 2021)

I really love pedals and my question was for people like you who have had the opportunity to play several pedals that are almost impossible to tested for myself, some of them are really affordable nowadays, sorry if this is not appropriate


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## Gmork (Aug 10, 2021)

Rex said:


> I really love pedals and my question was for people like you who have had the opportunity to play several pedals that are almost impossible to tested for myself, some of them are really affordable nowadays, sorry if this is not appropriate


My favorite cheap dist for death metal is easily the hotone djent! Dont let the name scare you lol, combined with an eq afterwards (or into an fx return like 6505 with res/pres) holy shit! Its no joke!

Others are the amoon METAL nano pedal. Boss ds2 boosted is amazing! Im just getting to work. Will try to add more later


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## TheBlackBard (Aug 10, 2021)

It's not a "shit" pedal, but I got really good results boosting my Burial At Sea with a Boss SD-1 and putting an EQ in the loop.


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## Spinedriver (Aug 10, 2021)

Gmork said:


> Not sure if you saw the OP but im a believer that you can make almost anything sound decent and a lot of the pedals classically known as crap are infact pretty usable.
> Im hoping people have some of these "crap" pedals that they may want to ship to me to use on my YT channel (check out the attached video in the OP)



Given the resources, you're right that pretty much any pedal can be made to sound 'good'. I think the point of the OP is that if you take 'x' pedal and use nothing else but an amp and a guitar, does it sound good or bad. A lot of the pedals people have been mentioning _can _sound better if you add an eq or stack it with another pedal but if that's the case, just buy a better pedal that DOESN'T need extra gear to get it to sound good.


----------



## jaxadam (Aug 10, 2021)




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## Spinedriver (Aug 10, 2021)

jaxadam said:


>



It's funny you'd post that because for several years, a Canadian company made these....


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## Gmork (Aug 10, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> Given the resources, you're right that pretty much any pedal can be made to sound 'good'. I think the point of the OP is that if you take 'x' pedal and use nothing else but an amp and a guitar, does it sound good or bad. A lot of the pedals people have been mentioning _can _sound better if you add an eq or stack it with another pedal but if that's the case, just buy a better pedal that DOESN'T need extra gear to get it to sound good.


Oh for sure, but when i said "made to sound good" it was perhaps a poor choice of words because i DID mean on its own without outside help, and IS what i intend to do!


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## Spinedriver (Aug 10, 2021)

Gmork said:


> Oh for sure, but when i said "made to sound good" it was perhaps a poor choice of words because i DID mean on its own without outside help, and IS what i intend to do!



Looking forward to seeing/hearing your results..


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## jaxadam (Aug 10, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> It's funny you'd post that because for several years, a Canadian company made these....



Looks pretty cool, but I bet it’s no Tone Master 57.


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## Grindspine (Aug 14, 2021)

Gmork said:


> My favorite cheap dist for death metal is easily the hotone djent! Dont let the name scare you lol, combined with an eq afterwards (or into an fx return like 6505 with res/pres) holy shit! Its no joke!
> 
> Others are the amoon METAL nano pedal. Boss ds2 boosted is amazing! Im just getting to work. Will try to add more later



The Djent pedal is just fun. I think I bought mine for like $24. It is not the most versatile pedal, but there are a few good tones to be had. For the price and minimal real estate of that pedal...

Oddly, even a search for a quick test on that brings up Ola Englund's video for it. He makes it sound pretty much like he makes all gear sound.


----------



## Abominorg the Grotesque (Aug 14, 2021)

A lot of the distortion pedals that have a reputation for being crappy aren't really; they just don't produce the type of tones that people are accustomed to hearing in modern rock music where very polished high gain sounds are typical. Some styles like grunge or certain varieties of extreme metal benefit from that more gritty and f-ed up tone you get with pedal distortion. 

Even before the trick of running the Metal Zone into the effects return got popular I always loved the sound of the thing. It's always reminded me a lot of the tones bands like Smashing Pumpkins or Offspring were going for in the 90s. The Boss DS-1 is ok but I've noticed over the years that it has a lot of trouble with higher output pickups where the pedal will actually cut the volume rather than boost it when you turn it on. The DS-2 however doesn't seem to suffer from that problem, and the "turbo" setting is great for 80s metal lead playing of the Ozzy/Van Halen variety.


----------



## Humbuck (Aug 14, 2021)

Even though it seems to be a favorite of many, I've always hated the ProCo Rat.


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## Spinedriver (Aug 14, 2021)

Abominorg the Grotesque said:


> A lot of the distortion pedals that have a reputation for being crappy aren't really; they just don't produce the type of tones that people are accustomed to hearing in modern rock music where very polished high gain sounds are typical. Some styles like grunge or certain varieties of extreme metal benefit from that more gritty and f-ed up tone you get with pedal distortion.
> 
> Even before the trick of running the Metal Zone into the effects return got popular I always loved the sound of the thing. It's always reminded me a lot of the tones bands like Smashing Pumpkins or Offspring were going for in the 90s. The Boss DS-1 is ok but I've noticed over the years that it has a lot of trouble with higher output pickups where the pedal will actually cut the volume rather than boost it when you turn it on. The DS-2 however doesn't seem to suffer from that problem, and the "turbo" setting is great for 80s metal lead playing of the Ozzy/Van Halen variety.



For sure, there are some that people like and others absolutely hate. I have a Visual Sound Son Of Hyde that I've never heard many people really talk about but it is a pretty decent pedal, especially if you can find a used one. It even has a 'hidden' feature (albeit a bit of an annoying one) where you have to open the bottom if you want to adjust the bass level. 

One pedal I haven't seen anyone mention that I've yet to see ANYONE really rave about is the MXR Dimebag Distortion. I tried one out one time and after 10-15 minutes I just gave up trying to get a decent sound out of it. Even Ola (a HUGE Dime fan in his own right) tried one out and really didn't care for it.


----------



## Adieu (Aug 14, 2021)

I understand that you guys like the RIFFS and/or songs, but can anyone, anywhere, ever produce a single shred of evidence of Dimebag Darrell ever having passably good tone???


----------



## Spinedriver (Aug 15, 2021)

Adieu said:


> I understand that you guys like the RIFFS and/or songs, but can anyone, anywhere, ever produce a single shred of evidence of Dimebag Darrell ever having passably good tone???



I never cared for it myself either. I always thought it was pretty thin but I never saw Pantera live, so maybe it was better in person ?


----------



## Emperoff (Aug 15, 2021)

I always found all the Dimebag tone bitching quite funny, considering he was one of the greatest metal players to ever live. I'm sure he was really worried about our opinions while playing in front of one million people at Monsters Of Rock '91 

And you know, it's probably better that way. We already have enough grailtone chasing absurdity with Van Halen fans.


----------



## Crungy (Aug 15, 2021)

Oooh I just remembered a pedal I had for a minute and sold quick: Tone City Metal Storm. It was not for me lol


----------



## TheBlackBard (Aug 15, 2021)

Dimebag's tone might objectively suck, but it works for the context of their music. I couldn't imagine Pantera with a Slayer style tone or Megadeth tone or something like that. Same thing with the old school Swedish death metal sound. It works within the context of the music, but I could think the same could be said of everyone who chooses their tone for the music they make.


----------



## Werecow (Aug 15, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> It's funny you'd post that because for several years, a Canadian company made these....



The first thing that sprang to mind on seeing that is trying to take it through any sort of customs or an airport


----------



## Crungy (Aug 15, 2021)

I like Dimebag's tone except for the intro/clean sections of It Makes Them Disappear. Such an awesome heavy song but they used what sounds like a shitty 90's multi effects pedal preset that no one would use for anything.


----------



## Crungy (Aug 15, 2021)

Which makes me think @Gmork, you could do another one of these themes with bad multi effects patches lol


----------



## Spinedriver (Aug 15, 2021)

Crungy said:


> Which makes me think @Gmork, you could do another one of these themes with bad multi effects patches lol



Good lord, I have no idea where he would even start... 

Aside from maybe a Helix or Fractal unit, I can't think of a multi-fx pedal I've ever tried that had GOOD 'pre-set patches'.


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## Gmork (Aug 15, 2021)

@Crungy uuhhh no lol


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## Crungy (Aug 15, 2021)




----------



## budda (Aug 15, 2021)

Zoom 707, pod 2.0, gt-5 (whatever the oldest GT is).

We never talk about vox tonelab anymore - how were the presets? Cloudkicker used one on an album and it sounded pretty good.


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## Gmork (Aug 15, 2021)

@Crungy @budda buy it/them, pick out the #1 absolute worst preset it has, ship it to me and ill do a video with that preset lol


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## budda (Aug 15, 2021)

Gmork said:


> @Crungy @budda buy it/them, pick out the #1 absolute worst preset it has, ship it to me and ill do a video with that preset lol



Oh i bet theres guys here with those in boxes who can lend out for the cost of shipping lol


----------



## WarMachine (Aug 15, 2021)

Digitech GNX3. God i hated the sounds that thing made..


----------



## Turd Ferguson (Aug 15, 2021)

Emperoff said:


> I always found all the Dimebag tone bitching quite funny, considering he was one of the greatest metal players to ever live. I'm sure he was really worried about our opinions while playing in front of one million people at Monsters Of Rock '91
> 
> And you know, it's probably better that way. We already have enough grailtone chasing absurdity with Van Halen fans.



There's plenty of Dime tone chasing too. Lots of folks replicating his rig. Quick story about one of the best gear deals I ever got:

Guy near me had a 90s Carvin 4x12 on Craigslist. Wanted $180. When I got there, he had a couple rack units on the floor, and said "I'm throwing those in. Moving and I don't want move any of this stuff again."

He said didn't know what speakers were in the cab, but it sounded good. I asked if he'd take $160 for all of it and he said yes.

So I got home and found out the cab was loaded with 4 Greenbacks. The two throw-in rack units were a Furman PQ4 and a Digitech GSP21 Legend. The GSP wouldn't boot up - internal battery was dead.

Changed the battery and sold the GSP for $80.

Then the reason I mention the Dime tone chasing: I sold the PQ4 on ebay for $340, to someone building a Dime rig.


----------



## Turd Ferguson (Aug 15, 2021)

My very first electric guitar in the early/mid 80s was a Harmony from Sears. Got it for Christmas, along with a Gorilla amp, probably also from Sears.

Learned a couple riffs and decided I needed to sound more metal, so I got one of these.

Those three things together made the absolute worst tone anyone has ever had. Ever.


----------



## John (Aug 15, 2021)

-Danelectro Black Licorice
-A smattering of Electro Harmonix pedals
-Whatever was on those Digitech RP multi-effect units
-MXR Dime Distortion sounded Panterrible

If designs qualify at all, then Lone Wolf Audio and Greenchild (the latter is basically Fulltone, but even cringier) belong here, too.


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## Spinedriver (Aug 16, 2021)

Turd Ferguson said:


> My very first electric guitar in the early/mid 80s was a Harmony from Sears. Got it for Christmas, along with a Gorilla amp, probably also from Sears.
> 
> Learned a couple riffs and decided I needed to sound more metal, so I got one of these.
> 
> Those three things together made the absolute worst tone anyone has ever had. Ever.



I knew a guy who had a Gorilla amp back around '90-'91 and it did sound pretty bad. Thing was, there really wasn't much else around that was affordable. If you were lucky you could get a used Peavey something or other but that was about it. As for pedals, it was pretty much just Boss, DOD or whatever other knockoff brand pedal the store happened to have in stock (just like the Rocktek you posted). These days people are literally spoiled for choice but back then, we KNEW it sounded like ass but there really wasn't much we could do about it unless you had a fat pile of cash to drop on a Marshall JCM800.


----------



## Emperoff (Aug 16, 2021)

Turd Ferguson said:


> There's plenty of Dime tone chasing too. Lots of folks replicating his rig. Quick story about one of the best gear deals I ever got:
> 
> Guy near me had a 90s Carvin 4x12 on Craigslist. Wanted $180. When I got there, he had a couple rack units on the floor, and said "I'm throwing those in. Moving and I don't want move any of this stuff again."
> 
> ...


Still, dude used very cheap stuff that you can easily find in local classifieds for peanuts.

Meanwhile, the Dean reissues are selling over 8k...


----------



## sakeido (Aug 16, 2021)

budda said:


> Zoom 707, pod 2.0, gt-5 (whatever the oldest GT is).
> 
> We never talk about vox tonelab anymore - how were the presets? Cloudkicker used one on an album and it sounded pretty good.


My first "rig" was a Boss GT3 into a Fender Princeton 112. I still have the Fender but the Boss was fired into the metaphorical sun long ago. I kinda wanna find another one for funsies but people think these things are still worth $300!?!?!?

One of my earliest attempts at performing for other people, a guy stopped me and said he couldn't tell what I was playing, it was just noise. Which pretty much sums up the high gain sounds in this thing, literally.. just noise


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## Gmork (Aug 16, 2021)

@sakeido haha, literally just a clean tone with tonnes of white noise over top lol


----------



## Spinedriver (Aug 16, 2021)

sakeido said:


> My first "rig" was a Boss GT3 into a Fender Princeton 112. I still have the Fender but the Boss was fired into the metaphorical sun long ago. I kinda wanna find another one for funsies but people think these things are still worth $300!?!?!?
> 
> One of my earliest attempts at performing for other people, a guy stopped me and said he couldn't tell what I was playing, it was just noise. Which pretty much sums up the high gain sounds in this thing, literally.. just noise
> 
> View attachment 96779



But... but...but... it has a ... DATA WHEEL !!!!!!!! How could it NOT sound good. 
It kinda reminds me a little bit of the Zoom GFX 8 I had back about 20 years ago. It had semi-decent effects but the gain section was pretty lack luster.


----------



## Seabeast2000 (Aug 16, 2021)

Anyone want to talk about the Lukather preset on the ART SGX 2000?


----------



## Spinedriver (Aug 17, 2021)

Seabeast2000 said:


> Anyone want to talk about the Lukather preset on the ART SGX 2000?



Is there one ? I ACTUALLY HAVE an SGX2000 (and not the "Express" version). I never actually scrolled through every preset so I have no idea what's buried in there and I got it used so there was no manual or a list of all the presets.


----------



## Seabeast2000 (Aug 17, 2021)

Spinedriver said:


> Is there one ? I ACTUALLY HAVE an SGX2000 (and not the "Express" version). I never actually scrolled through every preset so I have no idea what's buried in there and I got it used so there was no manual or a list of all the presets.



Yeah, there is one in there. It wasn't bad but IIRC like, the heaviest tone in that thing.


----------



## Gmork (Apr 9, 2022)

Almost necro bump. Ive bad talked the ehx metal muff on many occasions after briefly owning one about 5 years ago even saying it was probably the worste one ive ever used. 
I very recently got one in a trade and i dont know wth happened but i think it might be one of my favourite dist oedals now lol. 
I take it all back. This thing is brutal death metal all day long!! I dont know whats going on anymore lol


----------



## wheresthefbomb (Apr 9, 2022)

The band I was in about 10 years ago had one, we traded it around and everyone hated it. Wonder if I'd still feel the same.


----------



## NoodleFace (Apr 9, 2022)

I have a Boss Digital Metalizer and this thing is a hunk of shit. I've never been able to get a usable tone out of it


----------



## Seabeast2000 (Apr 9, 2022)

I'm just going to hang on to my Full Bore Metal until it becomes cvlt tone again. It might be what they use for that hearing sickness reported in Cuba.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 9, 2022)

Gmork said:


> Almost necro bump. Ive bad talked the ehx metal muff on many occasions after briefly owning one about 5 years ago even saying it was probably the worste one ive ever used.
> I very recently got one in a trade and i dont know wth happened but i think it might be one of my favourite dist oedals now lol.
> I take it all back. This thing is brutal death metal all day long!! I dont know whats going on anymore lol


I think you've subjected your ears to far too many awful, grainy, overly compressed, borderline terrible fuzz pedals pretending to be distortion pedals, and now your overton window is out of whack.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 9, 2022)

Abominorg the Grotesque said:


> A lot of the distortion pedals that have a reputation for being crappy aren't really; they just don't produce the type of tones that people are accustomed to hearing in modern rock music where very polished high gain sounds are typical. Some styles like grunge or certain varieties of extreme metal benefit from that more gritty and f-ed up tone you get with pedal distortion.
> 
> Even before the trick of running the Metal Zone into the effects return got popular I always loved the sound of the thing. It's always reminded me a lot of the tones bands like Smashing Pumpkins or Offspring were going for in the 90s. The Boss DS-1 is ok but I've noticed over the years that it has a lot of trouble with higher output pickups where the pedal will actually cut the volume rather than boost it when you turn it on. The DS-2 however doesn't seem to suffer from that problem, and the "turbo" setting is great for 80s metal lead playing of the Ozzy/Van Halen variety.


The DS-1 is basically someone's attempt to reverse engineer a Big Muff into a distortion pedal. Q2 is not biased properly, The tone control is similar in effect to the Big Muff's tone control, and there is too much bass coming through early in the circuit if memory serves. If you compare the DS-1 and Big Muff circuit diagrams, you can see where they both basically copy and paste a portion of the circuit.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 10, 2022)

NoodleFace said:


> I have a Boss Digital Metalizer and this thing is a hunk of shit. I've never been able to get a usable tone out of it



For some reason, the HM-2 leak spread it's way to the HM-3 and MZ-2 and I'll never understand it. Those pedals suuuuuuuuck. The only thing that's good about the HM3 is that it sounds a little better than the HM2 when set to normal settings, but that's an extremely low bar.


----------



## NoodleFace (Apr 10, 2022)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> For some reason, the HM-2 leak spread it's way to the HM-3 and MZ-2 and I'll never understand it. Those pedals suuuuuuuuck. The only thing that's good about the HM3 is that it sounds a little better than the HM2 when set to normal settings, but that's an extremely low bar.


I agree with that. The HM2 is only "good" because it can get that one specific sound. No idea how Gilmour using that thing.

In any case I shouldnjust sell this stupid thing


----------



## TheBlackBard (Apr 10, 2022)

NoodleFace said:


> I agree with that. The HM2 is only "good" because it can get that one specific sound. No idea how Gilmour using that thing.
> 
> In any case I shouldnjust sell this stupid thing




Because for one, he's more than likely not setting it to chainsaw settings. Another thing is, production does a lot for one's sound.


----------



## Metalman X (Apr 10, 2022)

I gotta read through the rest of the thread yet, but one pedal I rarely see mentioned is the old Ibanez Soundtank Slam Punk. had one back when starting out, and it was a surprisingly chunky distortion. You had to push the tone control pn it pretty hight before it got shrill IIRC Labelled for punk, but totally boes metal riffage. would be curious to see how it fairs these days. 

The way I remember it sounding (bear in mind been over 20years and a LOT of smoke, lol), I think it'd actually be something very cool for stacking with an overdrive pedal perhaps, to get it properly disgusting.


----------



## Dumple Stilzkin (Apr 10, 2022)

DOD Supra distortion is pretty horrid, certain version of the big muff are hard to make sound good too. DOD buzz box was also really really bad, like the worst I have ever heard.


----------



## pahulkster (Apr 10, 2022)

When I was sixteen or so I might have been the only guitarist in the area without a Zoom 505. Just never understood it lol.

Worst for me was a DOD unit with two grunges and a pitch shifter. Not surprisingly stacking two grunges and a pitch shifter in a front of a practice amp leads to subpar results.


----------



## NoodleFace (Apr 10, 2022)

pahulkster said:


> When I was sixteen or so I might have been the only guitarist in the area without a Zoom 505. Just never understood it lol.
> 
> Worst for me was a DOD unit with two grunges and a pitch shifter. Not surprisingly stacking two grunges and a pitch shifter in a front of a practice amp leads to subpar results.


I liked the 505 for headphones when I was a kid. But the distortion was so boomy


----------



## Spinedriver (Apr 10, 2022)

Gmork said:


> Almost necro bump. Ive bad talked the ehx metal muff on many occasions after briefly owning one about 5 years ago even saying it was probably the worste one ive ever used.
> I very recently got one in a trade and i dont know wth happened but i think it might be one of my favourite dist oedals now lol.
> I take it all back. This thing is brutal death metal all day long!! I dont know whats going on anymore lol


I would chalk it up to the popularity of the HM-2. The main reason why people haven't been to crazy about them in the past is because they are so thin & brittle. HOWEVER, that's the exact kind of tone that works for 'Death Metal', so that could be why you've turned the corner on it.


----------



## Gmork (Apr 10, 2022)

Spinedriver said:


> I would chalk it up to the popularity of the HM-2. The main reason why people haven't been to crazy about them in the past is because they are so thin & brittle. HOWEVER, that's the exact kind of tone that works for 'Death Metal', so that could be why you've turned the corner on it.


? ? Whats the hm2 got to do with it? 
(i hate the dimed hm2 chainsaw thing btw) 
And its really hard to call the ehx metalmuff thin sounding, it has more lowend than any pedal ive ever heard! And has the mid control to fill in that scoop. Its thick and tasty af!! Now the treble can get shrill/harsh if not careful but just enough and yer golden!


----------



## Spinedriver (Apr 10, 2022)

Gmork said:


> ? ? Whats the hm2 got to do with it?
> (i hate the dimed hm2 chainsaw thing btw)
> And its really hard to call the ehx metalmuff thin sounding, it has more lowend than any pedal ive ever heard! And has the mid control to fill in that scoop. Its thick and tasty af!! Now the treble can get shrill/harsh if not careful but just enough and yer golden!


re: the HM2, I had one back in the day and to be fair, aside from a few DOD pedals, it was literally the only 'metal' pedal to be found around these parts (the Metal Zone wouldn't be out for another 4 or 5 years) and even then I wasn't too crazy about it.
I guess 'thin' sounding might have been the wrong word to describe it (at least not until you engage the Top Boost) but I've gone through a fair number of dirt boxes in my day and for whatever reason I just couldn't get a tone that I liked out of it when I tried it out. That being said, I believe you really like fuzz pedals, so perhaps there's a slight 'fuzziness' to it that turns others away but you really dig ?


----------



## WarMachine (Apr 10, 2022)

pahulkster said:


> When I was sixteen or so I might have been the only guitarist in the area without a Zoom 505. Just never understood it lol.
> 
> Worst for me was a DOD unit with two grunges and a pitch shifter. Not surprisingly stacking two grunges and a pitch shifter in a front of a practice amp leads to subpar results.


Either those or the Behringer V-amp pedal and any digitech RP under the sun. You couldn't get away from that shit lol.


----------



## Jazzedout (Apr 11, 2022)

I can't say the worse, but I can say the least flexible one I ever played is the TC Electronic Rottweiler.
It has 4 knobs and a voice switch, but regardless of the settings you get 2 sounds:
Voice switch up: Kirk Hammett
Voice switch down: James Hetfield
I only take it out for playing old Metallica. Instant seek and destroy...


----------



## estin (Apr 11, 2022)

I def agree on the metal muff w/ top boost being the worst i have tried. having said that though i still got some cool sounds out of it. i just really enjoy sound design so to me all gear can be usable in some way.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 11, 2022)

The Top Boost is such an awful feature. A mid boost or just an overall post volume boost would have been significantly better.


----------



## lewstherin006 (Apr 11, 2022)

Seabeast2000 said:


> I'm just going to hang on to my Full Bore Metal until it becomes cvlt tone again. It might be what they use for that hearing sickness reported in Cuba.


I made a video on how bad the Full Bore was and almost 3 years later it is STILL triggering people. I got mines off ebay and the knobs were falling off and people in the comments keep saying "its from ebay so its damaged that is why it sounds so bad" and I am like uhhhhhh dont think so lol.


----------



## SCJR (Apr 11, 2022)

Digitech Metal Master was my first pedal ever. Thought it was great when I was 12 but yeah it's pretty bad


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 11, 2022)

Seabeast2000 said:


> I'm just going to hang on to my Full Bore Metal until it becomes cvlt tone again. It might be what they use for that hearing sickness reported in Cuba.





lewstherin006 said:


> I made a video on how bad the Full Bore was and almost 3 years later it is STILL triggering people. I got mines off ebay and the knobs were falling off and people in the comments keep saying "its from ebay so its damaged that is why it sounds so bad" and I am like uhhhhhh dont think so lol.


You can judge someone's ear for tone by their opinion of the Fullbore. If it's their idea of a good-sounding distortion pedal, then uh... 

For the same price you can get an AMT Drive-series pedal which'll sound miles better.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 11, 2022)

I have a feeling they just shoved a Screaming Bird in when an LPB-1 would’ve been much better.


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## keithhagel (Apr 11, 2022)

I've done something similar in the past few years, just collecting any distortion pedal I can possibly find. I actually used a Metal Muff into a Crate 2x12 and used that as a live tone for quite some time. You can't use the top boost really, but if you take your time adjusting the eq and gain you really can get some good stuff out of it, same with the Metal Zone. Some of the other ones I'm still toying with and trying to redeem are the Digitech Death Metal, Digitech Grunge, and Boss Mega Distortion. I've never been able to get an MXR Fullbore Metal to sound any good whatsoever.


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## wheresthefbomb (Apr 11, 2022)

My very first pedal setup was a little 8" yamaha practice amp my friend had given me, and a Digitetch Grunge my other friend had given me. I fondly remember playing Undertow through that rig really badly. I thought it sounded fucking rad. I was 16.


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## Municipalrestart (Apr 11, 2022)

I've seen them pop up used forever it's called a Lyon distortion . I've honestly never heard it but it just looks like a piece of shit.


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## DoctorStoner (Apr 11, 2022)

Rocktron Silver Dragon. It will pierce your earballs. 

I need to get a new power supply for mine to get it back up and running and give it a whirl again...


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## Elric (Apr 11, 2022)

Boss HM-2.


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## John (Apr 11, 2022)

lewstherin006 said:


> I made a video on how bad the Full Bore was and almost 3 years later it is STILL triggering people. I got mines off ebay and the knobs were falling off and people in the comments keep saying "its from ebay so its damaged that is why it sounds so bad" and I am like uhhhhhh dont think so lol.



Yikes, the Full Bore doesn't sound Bucas and that's not ok.


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## Seabeast2000 (Apr 11, 2022)

lewstherin006 said:


> I made a video on how bad the Full Bore was and almost 3 years later it is STILL triggering people. I got mines off ebay and the knobs were falling off and people in the comments keep saying "its from ebay so its damaged that is why it sounds so bad" and I am like uhhhhhh dont think so lol.



I have a feeling, quite unfounded, that its one of those things that just needs a cap swap or resistor snipped to make it OK. Nobody does Fullbore mods for good reason I guess.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 11, 2022)

DoctorStoner said:


> Rocktron Silver Dragon. It will pierce your earballs.
> 
> I need to get a new power supply for mine to get it back up and running and give it a whirl again...


I had one that I ran into a Peavey Rockmaster 120 (basically a JCM800 head with 6L6 tubes) that I enjoyed quite a bit. However, they were not two channels and I had zero idea why they set it up as such. Both had to be on, or it sounded like butt cheeks after shitting your pants while black out drunk. I also had a vertical diagonal Laney 212 with Greenbacks, if I’m not mistaken. I wish I had that rig back, but alas, it died. I believe I also used an ART EQ. Two 15 band channels, I think. One before and one after, possibly.


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## Triple-J (Apr 11, 2022)

Ibanez Smash Box
Boss Mega Distortion
Marshall Jackhammer (the smaller version from around 2001)



Dumple Stilzkin said:


> DOD Supra distortion is pretty horrid, certain version of the big muff are hard to make sound good too. DOD buzz box was also really really bad, like the worst I have ever heard.


I'm not 100% the Buzz box counts because unlike everything else in this thread it's the only pedal that was actually designed to sound like crap so in a strange way it's a success.


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## 0rimus (Apr 11, 2022)

It's been a good while since I last jammed the Fullbore. But I do remember rolling the treble knob way down further than on any other amp or pedal. Gain at like 9 o'clock. Scoop turned off.

Also had a common issue where the mid frequency knob would go to fizz city if a slight breeze touched it. Super touchy.

I'm only missing one piece of my OG 2009 rig; the Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ.

Was gonna revisit that setup but price jumped from like $23 to l like $60 now. Too much for a shoddy pea soup green plastic POS.

TL;DR MXR Fullbore sounds like ass 98% of the time. Secret recipe eq is requirement, not optional.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 11, 2022)

The Fullbore is like all of the worst aspects of a Metal Zone and HM-2 all rolled into one, while being even worse than that. Truly a dreadful pedal if all of the videos and bad reviews are to be believed.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 11, 2022)

Spaced Out Ace said:


> The Fullbore is like all of the worst aspects of a Metal Zone and HM-2 all rolled into one, while being even worse than that. Truly a dreadful pedal if all of the videos and bad reviews are to be believed.


I got a kick out of some of the comments in @lewstherin006 s video. I understand everyone's taste in tone is different but christ on a unicycle the Fullbore is objectively a terrible distortion yet some people treat that pedal like it's God's gift to earth.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 11, 2022)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> I got a kick out of some of the comments in @lewstherin006 s video. I understand everyone's taste in tone is different but christ on a unicycle the Fullbore is objectively a terrible distortion yet some people treat that pedal like it's God's gift to earth.


I figured it would be a Metal Zone with some mods. Instead, it’s a terrible distortion circuit in search of being put down for mercy’s sake.


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## Seabeast2000 (Apr 11, 2022)

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I figured it would be a Metal Zone with some mods. Instead, it’s a terrible distortion circuit in search of being put down for mercy’s sake.



Odder even is they never came out with a revised version after 10-15 years?


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## Blasphemer (Apr 12, 2022)

I think you can get a good tone from just about any pedal if you try hard enough.

That said, my DOD Gunslinger is absolute crap and I wouldn't recommend one to anybody.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 13, 2022)

Blasphemer said:


> I think you can get a good tone from just about any pedal if you try hard enough.
> 
> That said, my DOD Gunslinger is absolute crap and I wouldn't recommend one to anybody.


And the MXR Dimebag. If you think the MXR Fullbore is bad, the MXR Dimebag is significantly worse.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 13, 2022)

oops


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 13, 2022)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> And the MXR Dimebag. If you think the MXR Fullbore is bad, the MXR Dimebag is significantly worse.


Was that really one of the channels of the Double Shot? The scoop buttons on both are horrible.


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## John (Apr 13, 2022)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> And the MXR Dimebag. If you think the MXR Fullbore is bad, the MXR Dimebag is significantly worse.


The MXR Deedlebag pedal is unsurprisingly Panterrible, indeed.


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## Accoun (Apr 13, 2022)

This thread reminded me of the Epiphone distortion pedal I got for Christmas from ma non-musician family member when I just started. And no, I didn't know Epiphone sold any pedals, either. It had hilarious edgy font for everything. No idea what it was based on, but everything people said about the BuzzBox was true for it.
Although I don't remember if it was just the distortion being that bad, or if the noise floor was that high. Possibly both.

At least I also got a Mooer TS clone which was decent, although I'm not really into the mini format, so I shelved it when I got a cheap SD-1.
At least I sold the Epiphone for almost as much as the Boss. It was a great deal on the latter.

Sadly, I didn't have an interface back then, so I didn't try to put any synths or audio through it. Who knows, maybe I had another potential Harsh Noise classic in my hands that I foolishly passed on


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## Seabeast2000 (Apr 13, 2022)

Accoun said:


> This thread reminded me of the Epiphone distortion pedal I got for Christmas from ma non-musician family member when I just started. And no, I didn't know Epiphone sold any pedals, either. It had hilarious edgy font for everything. No idea what it was based on, but everything people said about the BuzzBox was true for it.
> Although I don't remember if it was just the distortion being that bad, or if the noise floor was that high. Possibly both.
> 
> At least I also got a Mooer TS clone which was decent, although I'm not really into the mini format, so I shelved it when I got a cheap SD-1.
> ...



Was it this one? Maybe a MusicYo era?


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## Accoun (Apr 13, 2022)

The same one.


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## Seabeast2000 (Apr 13, 2022)

Anyone ever try the Akai shred o magic pedal?.


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## thraxil (Apr 14, 2022)

Seabeast2000 said:


> Anyone ever try the Akai shred o magic pedal?.



Shred-O-Matic. I have one. I kind of like it, but the "diode" side, that's just a standard distortion circuit is really better than the "tube" side. The tube side is an OK light overdrive but really not very "tube-like" to my ears. Someday I Imight try putting a different tube in it, but I suspect that the tube really has very little to do with the sound and is mostly a gimmick. The nice thing with the pedal is the built-in volume pedal. It's a nice idea, but ultimately, I prefer having a better distortion and a separate better volume pedal.


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