Hi guys, this isnt strictly a modding question, but i have a question regarding distortion.

I've been playing in a Loud Alt rock band for the past few years, and have been through several distortion units, but Ive never found one that 'really' satisfys me.

I play through an Orange AD30R combo, The question of volume is not an issue as this amp has more than enough headroom for all the gigs I'm playing at the moment.

I currentlty use an EHX 'hot tubes' distortion unit, which over the years i have found to be a little too fat sounding {too flabby plenty of gain, and bass, but it dosnt really cut through mid-wise in a gig situation}.

My band are a three peice, think the pixies as a reference {or if you are remotley interested go to www.myspace.com/angrypandamusic and you'll get the idea.}

I need a pedal that can handle chunky riffery and screaming lead, whilst not at the same time, preferably in the same pedal.

A friend has a hotcake, and i have to say i was very impressed, though it would be nice to have a two chanel version....Basically i was just hoping to get any suggestions for any monster distortion units that you know of, {by the way I play a PRS swamp ash special/maple neck- so input volume isnt really the issue}

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

cheers

Steve

I love my Xotic BB Preamp..Tight focused and dead quiet. I run it through my Marshall when I want that searing lead. I call it the "burn button" on my pedalboard....It is a boost distortion unit never gets flabby on the low end.....

I really like the Cornish G2. I also have the P2 but it might be a bit dark for your application.

I own a Budda Zenman,and I very like it, I play Metal with it, It do sounds very great for solos, and does well the job for riffs in palm mute.The Zenman has a little mid boost, but no mids control,but thats not really a problem, I use a washburn WG600 with a livewire metal pickup,I play on a Randall RX120D with a Kustom Quadstack quad with 4 celestions super 65.

Check out for the reviews on HC...I think I am the only guy that has posted there who could be able to play metal with it.

Otherwise, Its a high gain overdrive, its mainly for blues or rock i think.

edit: It doesn't have channels, its only a distortion pedal, but by rolling off the volume you can clean up your sound,

I love the Tonebone Classic, it has everything from light OD to heavy distortion. I find the classic very useful and versatile IMO. I mainly use a Fulldrive II but when I need more distortion I use the Classic. The newer Tonebone Trimode is a two channel version which can be useful. Never tried that one though.

There´s a another version called Hot British with a two channel version called Plexitube. At least check them out.

for OD i would say fulltone ocd
distortion
zvex box of rock
menatone king of the britans (both assuming you like a cranked marshall sound)
marshall shredmaster

Soldano Supercharger GTO...

A Rat would be good ,get it modded by Keeley ,you will love it. I would go with a Sweet Sound Pi Face also,especially if you would like to channel Joey Santiago occasionally.

To be honest, upon listening to your music I think you'll be better off with a fuzz, think Big Muff territory. You might even want to use a tad of amp drive on your clean sound. It all sounds like there's a definite early 90's influence - which I really like. A Muff will definitely do a screaming lead as well, but most of 'em lack mids, so find a good one, a good copy or mod the tone stack.

Hoopla
From listening to the song Angry Panda
I hear you are using a chorus and you have a good vibe.

Eventhough you didn´t ask for more pedals. I recommend you try some Phaser pedals (mxr 90 is good or a Maxon Pt999 which I like since it is more subtle and controlable)
You can use a Phaser to add some hard textures to your leads and rhythms..


A good fuzz pedal would help too and a good Overdrive pedal also could help, so your AMp´s own Distortion will increase with the Overdrive and feel heavy.


Too much people think Distortion pedals are the way to go for heaviness.. but In my humble opinion using your Amp´s natural distortion + a good overdrive and a fuzz is an unbeatable formula.

I, too, listened to the songs on yer MySpace page, and MY two cents is, IF you're just looking for ONE pedal between yer gtr and Orange amp, if I was you... I'd go w/ a treble booster. The HBE Germania, to be exact. It has a two-way switch to go from full-bandwidth to a more vintage "lo fi" sound. If yer looking for a real balls-out, straight gtr thru amp and nothin' else, no BS, tone BOOST to yer overall sound (for just in the passages where/when needed, not a full-time 100% "2nd channel" effect), then; yep. Treble booster, baby.

But what do I know?

I agree with rologibson mostly. I've tried about every distortion pedal around, including the tube ones. None are as satisfying as a good amp.

I think your optimal solution would be to get two amps and footswitch between them. The chunk is produced by applying an aggressive midscoop. Amps that chunk just can't produce a good lead tone IMHO because they filter out mids.

You might be able to get close by tuning your amp for lead tone and using one or more parametric EQ pedals to midscoop and get the chunk. Depends on the amp.

There are some modular amps out there that accomplish much the same thing as having two amps and give lots of tonal options. I use an Egnater Mod 50. The Erect module with an agressive mid scoop produces loads of chunk, like a Mesa Boogie. I like the SL module for lead tone with a mild mid boost. It has a Plexi channel and a JCM800 channel. Here's my Egnater Rig for the curious:

http://www.geocities.com/tonesponge/EgnaterRig.html

If you decide to go modular, I'd stick with the Egnater products. Randall licenses the Egnater tech and they make a cheaper single channel version, but you get what you pay for. IMHO, the Randall modules typically don't sound as good out of the box because of cheaper parts resulting in more variation in resistor and capacitor values.