Distortion for 8 string...

AntonHunter

A student asked me for recommendations for distortion pedals that can cope with an 8 string guitar. Playing all the sorts of music you'd expect. This is way beyond my skill set, so what would you all recommend? Preferably not too expensive.

(He's playing through a 10 watt practice amp, so I've already told him to upgrade there, but still would like to suggest him a pedal or two for when he does)

sgosden

I doubt you'll get much of a sound out of a tiny practice amp and a pedal. (I'm presuming its got a small speaker in it too).

depending on budget, one of the cheaper modellers might be better. 

the 'djent' sound i'm guessing he's after is mostly achieved with high gain amp (5150esq) with a tube screamer to tighten the lows, and a noise gate to help with the hiss and fast cut off sound. 

earwighoney

I'd suggest a budget Rat like pedal, either a 2nd hand one or a Donner 'Dark Mouse'.

monquixote

Probably a better amp

Boss DS-1X is great for detuned stuff.

prlgmnr

I'd suggest a budget Rat pedal and a budget TS clone to go infront of it.

LuttiS

Are multifx an option?

I've been delving quite deeply into my HD500 recently and realised that I have barely scratched the surface of using it in the past.. I've found some settings for 7strings in there so I don't imagine it's a stretch to 8string.. might be wrong though, I can barely use 6strings at the moment.. 

PolarityMan

horizon devices precision drive springs to mind

AntonHunter

Thanks for the knowledge everyone, I'll pass it all off as my own when I next talk to him ;-)

Flanging_Fred

The DOD Boneshaker was designed with extended range guitars in mind so might be worth considering.

ColWilkie

He might be better off looking at plugins, and using a cheap set of monitors.  The Neural DSP and Fortin ones are really good, and might be a solid option for that style.  He will certainly get far better tones, closer to what he expects than he will from a small practice amp (making assumptions with the 8 string!).

If he is ok with his base tone, then perhaps look into the horizon devices precision drive to tighten things up and boost.

Edit: I see the Horizon devices already mentioned!

JMP220478

how low is the eight string tuned  ?   if he's using a cheap guitar practice amp then clearly he needs to get some thing that will cope with the extended range assuming low B and F# strings if std type tuning .. 

I would suggest a mini bass eq or a 10 band like the Caline CP24 ( £34 new on Amazon  ) + a cheap TS clone  (or a mid focused distortion - if he's not got any overdrive on his current or upgraded amp ..  )

AntonHunter

Good shouts both. I think the amp is key, so will suggest monitors and plugins too as an alternative.

prlgmnr

Any marshall in a box pedal boosted by a ts will also be good, once upon a time I got decent 8 string tone with M80M->ts9->guvnor->blackstar ht1 with 4x8 cab

Not sure the Precision Drive meets the budget criteria, though it does also have a noise gate which is a major part of the...sigh...."djent" sound.

PolarityMan

ColWilkie said:

He might be better off looking at plugins, and using a cheap set of monitors.  The Neural DSP and Fortin ones are really good, and might be a solid option for that style.  He will certainly get far better tones, closer to what he expects than he will from a small practice amp (making assumptions with the 8 string!).

If he is ok with his base tone, then perhaps look into the horizon devices precision drive to tighten things up and boost.

Edit: I see the Horizon devices already mentioned!

Thats a good point, djent stuff most often originates in the DAW tehn live bands are looking for ways to replicate what they achieved in software in ahrdware.