Which Distortion pedal for high gain/80s stadium rock tones?

MatthewShreddery

Looking for a pedal to run into the front of my clean HRD that will get me some nice high gain tones. I like the feeling of playing with a nice liquid tone - I'm not looking for a metal brootz tone.
I'm thinking modern high gain tones because I'm a pussy and like to hide behind gain!

monquixote

Suhr Riot is pretty much designed for this very thing.

If you want something very tweaky the Bogner Red is excellent.

My personal favourite is the super Badass but that's less amp like and more of a really good distortion.

Jonathanthomas83

I've tried a few of these and in the end settled on the Kemper to get the tones I was really looking for. It's hard to get the tight bass thud and feel right with a clean amp...BUT...that didn't stop me trying and it's a fun journey, so enjoy it.

Here's a few suggestions (in order of what I started with and where I ended up before going digital)
- Suhr Riot
- Amptweaker Tight Rock or Tight Metal Pro
- Ramble FX Marvel Drive
- PIOD FX What You Want 2 (discontinued and hard to find)
- Bogner La Grange
- Diezel VH4 pedal
- Friedman BE-OD (the new Deluxe version has a Mid control which will help)

The last 3 were superb. Enjoy.

EDIT:
Pedals I'd like to have tried:
- Sinvertek No 5 (I think that's what it's called)
- MI Audio Megalith Delta
- EVH pedal

Also worth trying the HX Stomp as a preamp into the FX loop of your amp. A nice 5150, Marshall or Boogie may sound decent enough for what you're after.

EDIT again, I misread... you're not looking for brutal chugs...best solo tone I've had from a pedal was the Diezel VH4 pedal. Sounds beautifully thick and smooth. The La Grange is good too.

TTBZ

MI Audio crunch box is a great pedal and very underrated. I had the original one, the latest version (Super Crunch Box V2) seems to be even better.

JDE

^ Wisdom ^ Crunch Box is a great shout. Not sure if they’re still making them, or if MI Audio are still going. They can commonly be had for cheap on eBay. 

The MXR EVH 5150 is just fantastic.

MatthewShreddery

Damn, just listened to the Crunch Box - that's what I need...

kennedydream1980

The Joyo US Dream is basically a copy of the Suhr Riot and sounds pretty much identical . They are very cheap as well. Might be worth a look.

MatthewShreddery

kennedydream1980 said:

The Joyo US Dream is basically a copy of the Suhr Riot and sounds pretty much identical . They are very cheap as well. Might be worth a look.

Just bought one from Coda Music for £15 !!!

monquixote

kennedydream1980 said:

The Joyo US Dream is basically a copy of the Suhr Riot and sounds pretty much identical . They are very cheap as well. Might be worth a look.

I had both at the same time and didn't find them to be identical.

It's not a bad pedal all the same.

Crunchbox is a good shout as well.

monkey42

Revv g3 or g4

xscaramanga

Demos of the Crunch Box and Super Crunch Box do indeed sound awesome.

I briefly owned an Emma Reezafratzitz and it was absolutely mega. I didn't keep it because I owned an actual JCM800, but damn that was a silly grin pedal and the used prices are reasonable last I saw, assuming you can find one.

p90fool

I'm getting sounds which are extremely close to a boosted 2104 using an HRD IV and a Marshall Drivemaster. 

I set the two amps loud in the same room and the similarity is impressive. 

TTBZ

jonnyscaramanga said:

Demos of the Crunch Box and Super Crunch Box do indeed sound awesome.

I briefly owned an Emma Reezafratzitz and it was absolutely mega. I didn't keep it because I owned an actual JCM800, but damn that was a silly grin pedal and the used prices are reasonable last I saw, assuming you can find one.

That's why I sold my Crunch Box V1, at the time I was using it with a Laney which already gets a good high gain Marshally kind of tone so it felt a bit redundant. It had more of that upper middy Marshally thing going on than the Laney but it felt wrong using a pedal into an amp that already does high gain so well. If I'd have found the Crunch Box when I was still using a Fender amp I might not have ever got the Laney though.

Sassafras

Isn't a Rat the sound of 80s high gain sound?

StefB

jonnyscaramanga said:

I briefly owned an Emma Reezafratzitz and it was absolutely mega. I didn't keep it because I owned an actual JCM800, but damn that was a silly grin pedal and the used prices are reasonable last I saw, assuming you can find one.

  Coda have a used one for £99.00.

Kebabkid

An OCD being pushed by an Xotic EP Boost or Tubescreamer works really well but I found one recently that does it all under one hood and that's the JHS AT (Andy Timmons) Plus, which has a separate boost. Great pedal on a clean amp platform 

abw1989

MXR 5150 is a great shout for this, built in noise gate is very handy to have too.

steer

Just buy a Rat and be done with it. 

  

ChuckManual

The Rat was the pedal for that tone back then - why look anywhere-else now?

MatthewShreddery

steer said:

Just buy a Rat and be done with it. 

  

ChuckManual said:

The Rat was the pedal for that tone back then - why look anywhere-else now?

OK, just the regular ProCo RAT?

steer

I have a cheap knockoff Rat that does the trick. It's not exactly a complicated circuit layout to copy, so if you want to save some money, then the usual Chinese suspects probably all do a copy. I know Mooer do. Having said that, the real thing probably costs less than lots of the alternatives suggested above.