Please advise on a great distortion pedal...

MikkiMcMurderer

I know these type of subjects have been discussed before but pls give me a bit of your experience of best distortion pedals particularly for humbucker guitars into big clean amps for playing hard rock 80s/90s style.

benmurray85

Whats your budget? I know its probably overkill but I recently got  Strymon Sunset and am using it into a Fender Hot Rod. I didnt expect it to do distortion well but it really does! If you're looking budget go for a RAT!

MikkiMcMurderer

I forgot to mention I need it to be the same footprint as an OCD type pedal so dual pedals are out of scope.

Babones

Boss DS-1. Maxon SD9, MXR Distortion +, RAT...

stickyfiddle

Selah Feather Drive. Not sure if you can get them in the UK, by it's a great pedal 

UnclePsychosis

Depends on the amp but Ds-1 / Ds-2 / RAT / Dist+ all tend to do it for me. 

MikkiMcMurderer

Thank you all so far! Please keep the suggestions coming! The amp is an Orange OR100 into a Zilla 2x12 with Creamback. BTW.

Sassafras

Apart from the Rat my other favourite is the Way Huge Fat Sandwich. It's a very nasty and aggressive distortion. If you want smooth distortion, look elsewhere.

PolarityMan

sansamp gt-2

timmysoft

The best standalone modern drive is the Mesa throttle box, medium to high gain it's pretty hard to beat

kennedydream1980

Suhr Riot or Tone Freak Severe :-)

mike_l

I've not tried an Orange amp, but here's a few to look at.
MXR Distortion 3
MXR Custom Badass (there's a few to choose from)
MXR GT-OD
Boss SD-1 (easy to mod as well)
Boss DS-1 (same again)

bingefeller

I just got an AMT S-Drive and it's great, and amazingly quiet when boosted with a Tubescreamer.  It's their take on a Soldano, so probably would be what you're after.  

Amptweaker Tightrock is another one to consider.  

For the price, the AMT is great. 

professorben

TC Dark Matter is a great pedal for a Marshally type dist, or as I use it as a dirty boost to tighten low end. 

steer

Rat or Guvnor?

Fez

Mad Professor Little green Wonder or Sweet Honey Overdrive, they have some others as well. Also look at the Rothwell Hellbender or Switchblade.

Jonathanthomas83

SD-1 to boost your Orange?

57Deluxe

There is no great Distortion pedal. What will be great is finding one which works with your amp and sundries. Sometimes a Fuzz is better than a DS and often, DS works better than a Fuzz. Sometimes a Fuzz and a TS gives great DS. If your amp is SS then this latter option would be pref as you will have a much harder time finding a match...

siraxeman

Distortion pedals ie not overdrive....cheap n still great - mooer cruncher. Expensive n very brown sound - wampler pinnacle.

Jackhammer and Guv'nor both great to for cheap as chips money.... 

Gassage

For your need- Wampler Euphoria. Still a great.

digitalscream

Best distortion pedal I've ever encountered is the Bogner Ecstasy Red. It's got huge range (everything from light blues to crushing metal) should you want it, but its real strength lies in the middle ground - brilliant for 80-90s rock and metal. Immensely tweakable (the variac switch is a wonder) and the fact that the boost is a gain + volume boost means you can basically add two more channels to your single-channel clean amp.

The only reason I'm selling mine is that I've got a Helix which does everything I need.