Please advise on a great distortion pedal...

Grunfeld

To continue the Wampler theme:  Velvet Fuzz.  (It's not a fuzz.)
Or rather, I agree with @57Deluxe 's take on things.
The Velvet Fuzz is a very gutsy pedal so yep, it can get into fuzz territory but you could use it almost exclusively as as e.g. solo boost.

MikkiMcMurderer

Thank you all very much - I think an expedition to Andertons is required to actually hear some of these suggestions. I'm definitely going to try out the Throttlebox, Tightrock Jr, Euphoria, Pinnacle, Angry Charlie, Mad Professor Red, Purple Plexi and as many of the above you have all suggested.

Full background , I already have the Bogner Red, Riot, Crunch Box, Box of Rock, Slodrive, Dirty Bomb, Rat2, Turbo Rat, Fuzz Factory, Iron Bell, OCD, DS1 on various boards ...these are all great but I am not happy with Riot or Crunch Box as high gain on my main board as the Riot doesn't cut through live and the crunch box gets too flabby in the bottom end when chugging...
The Bogner Red, Slodrive and Dirty Bomb are all on my home board and are cool to get all sorts of diverse tones but they are too big to get into the live board.

I realise this is a futile exercise of tone chasing but when you've got an itch you've gotta scratch it!

Lestratcaster

I've got the Wampler Triple Wreck, which I would use into clean amps in rehearsal rooms if I didn't have the facility to take my own. And also as a back up at gigs if my main amp went down. You can get some great sounds from it and it even has a an extra overdrive switch for fuzz options and that.

MikkiMcMurderer

57Deluxe said:

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...

I agree totally. In fact my favourite sounds at the moment are a TS808 into a Rust Boost by HAO.  Also the fuzz factory is superb as is a RAT! But the quest and curiosity for the ultimate is always there to be chased after...

ThePrettyDamned

You could do a lot worse than the boss da2. 

It's got a wide gain range but at the top end it's a really fantastic 80s hair rock sound. It's also very, very low noise and responsive to volume/picking attack. 

The boss df-2 has a pretty great rock crunch sound. Less dynamic, and imo probably not as good as the da2 for this stuff (excels at low-mid gain loose rhythm) but if you're allergic to digital... 

RMJ

Emma Reezafratsitz 

abw1989

MXR EVH 5150 Pedal. Replicates channel two of the EVH 5150 amps perfectly. It responds just like the amp too with regard to picking dynamics and volume roll off. It's got gain for miles, a usable EQ and the noise gate comes in handy too. Roll off the gain and some very pleasant crunch tones to be had too. 

It may be pricey but it is worth it. Played back to back with the amp, me and the other guitarist I jam with were shocked how close it sounded, and he owns the amp!

MrMusic

Analogman King of Tone