I've had many GAS attacks over the past year, and as a result, I became quite the collector
I have the following distortion pedals and would like to give you a quick opinion on each, in case you are in the same boat I was in. These are in no particular order:
Boss Metal Zone (Monte Allums mod)
It has a three-way toggle where you get a Mesa Dual-Rec, JCM800, and a smooth Overdrive. My only complaint is that it can get quite tinny when you scoop it, but not as tinny as stock.
Boss DS-1 (Keeley Ultra/SEM)
Great crunch and quite fuzzy/fizzy. Again, the problem is it gets tinny at the higher treble range. Still, a great improvement over stock that costs $6.
Moen Violent Metal
Great budget company (like $45-55 for all their pedals). This thing claims to be very high gain but it seems to only have lots of gain and more gain (kinda noisy) and the EQ is kind of a OTP. Still, not bad for analog. It does not get as tinny as the Boss pedals.
Fulltone OCD
Great distortion/overdrive. I like it mostly for a clean boost or a slight distorted sound. This is NOT for hard rock/metal, unless you put an EQ in front of it. The toggle is nice because you switch between an AC15 or a Plexi 45.
Line6 Uber Metal
Definitely a very "digital" pedal, but it's not bad once you play around with it. I get monstrous harmonix off this beast, and the built-in noise gate is helpful.
Electro Harmonix Metal Muff w/ Top Boost
Great/versatile distortion pedal. The top boost is nice because it really cuts through the mix, but it can get noisy. The EQ is very responsive, but my only complaint is I can't get just the right low end.. it either lacks, or it's too much and my 4x12 goes AHHHHH!!
MI Audio Crunch Box
JCM800 all the way! Such a beautiful distortion in such a tiny box, I was absolutely AMAZED. I went from Aerosmith to AC/DC to Priest. Add in an EQ and you can do even more.
Vox Satchurator
I REALLY underestimated this pedal. From the youtube videos and sound samples, I was not that impressed, but had a recent bonus from work and decided to jump, and I am so glad I did! It's just such a good pedal. It has plenty of distortion and the pad switch is nice if you're an obsessive idiot like me that needs 5,000 goddamn pedals in front of your amp. My only complaint is that if you take the Tone knob past 1:00, it gets way too..err... satchurated (couldn't help myself).
All in all, you can probably tell I like the Crunchbox and Vox the most, and it's true. Throw any of these pedals in front of an EQ and you'll go crazy over how great it sounds on every setting.
I plan on recording samples with all of these once Black Friday passes because I'm getting me a camcorder!
