# Best distortion/overdrive pedal for 60 or under



## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

I bought a blues driver at a store awhile ago and recently puchased a very nice texas red blues jr so I already have the blues power and decided to return the blues driver but I could only get an instore credit and since they don't carry the pedal I want which is a double muff could any of you guys reccomend me a good pedal for 60 or under, something good for a 60's 70s distortion. Thanks.

oh and if you're wondering why I didn't just stick to the blues driver, its because the pedal had a terrible fizzing sound after every chord or note and also sounded terrible past 2 o clock.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I dont know too may pedals that you'd get for $60 or under - maybe used, but now new. For new pedals, I think I've only seen the Behringer range for that kind of price. Maybe those smaller Danelectro pedals?


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

Is the store able to order in the pedal you want? 

Otherwise maybe get $60 of strings and picks instead of getting another pedal that you don't really want.


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## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

kat_ said:


> Is the store able to order in the pedal you want?
> 
> Otherwise maybe get $60 of strings and picks instead of getting another pedal that you don't really want.


no they aren't really able to order it in, the only reason i bought from the store was because the store i usually go to was closed that day.


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## sproul07 (Jun 23, 2007)

There are good pedals for under 60, but I don't think there's any good sounding distortions for under that. I find them too cheap sounding with no organic feel to them. I think your best bet is to save up a few more dollars and get a RAT. Its probably the most versatile distortion available.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Boss SD-1 or OD-3, Digitech Bad Monkey.

TG


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## Tarl (Feb 4, 2006)

This may sound crazy....but I picked up a Danelectro Fab distortion pedal last year for $19, brand new!....and it sounds great. I don't use it alot and it is made of plastic but so far so good. I've never gigged with it but it sounds amazing in front of my Little Giant. I can get classic rock to metal with this little thing. It gets some good reviews too.....
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/Danelectro/D-1+Fab+Distortion/10/1

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Danelectro-D1-Fab-Distortion?sku=151847


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Tarl said:


> This may sound crazy....but I picked up a Danelectro Fab distortion pedal last year for $19, brand new!....and it sounds great. I don't use it alot and it is made of plastic but so far so good. I've never gigged with it but it sounds amazing in front of my Little Giant. I can get classic rock to metal with this little thing. It gets some good reviews too.....
> http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/Danelectro/D-1+Fab+Distortion/10/1
> 
> http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Danelectro-D1-Fab-Distortion?sku=151847


I was just going to say that. The new line of Dano pedals has a good rep


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## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

Tarl said:


> This may sound crazy....but I picked up a Danelectro Fab distortion pedal last year for $19, brand new!....and it sounds great. I don't use it alot and it is made of plastic but so far so good. I've never gigged with it but it sounds amazing in front of my Little Giant. I can get classic rock to metal with this little thing. It gets some good reviews too.....
> http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/Danelectro/D-1+Fab+Distortion/10/1
> 
> http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Danelectro-D1-Fab-Distortion?sku=151847


ive seen one of those, i may try it. i'm also open for any other pedal reccomendations that arent distortion or overdrive.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

hey..how do you like the Blues Junior Texas red?...i orederd one blind..hehe..should get it next week...!..i ordered a Maxon Od-808 with it. 

what are your first impression of it?...


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## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

al3d said:


> hey..how do you like the Blues Junior Texas red?...i orederd one blind..hehe..should get it next week...!..i ordered a Maxon Od-808 with it.
> 
> what are your first impression of it?...


The speakers are abit mid-ranged and boxy at first but thats because its a vintage-30 and needs to warm up over time. Its not really bad at all that it has mids, its really a good thing considering it is made for blues. My speakers already managed to lose some of the boxy-ness just from playing it loudly for a week, I think over time this will really warm up and sound amazing considering thats what most peoples experiences with the vintage-30s are. Its much better than a normal blues junior for sure just expect to maybe keep that mid knob down around 2-3 for alittle while. Expect to rock out pretty hard with that maxon too.


I also ended up buying a danelectro blue paisley for 77 dollars, really great deal. I had the choice between a BBE green screamer and the blue paisley but the ammount of things you can do with the paisley just won me over. I think the green screamer had a warmer fatter sound like a real tube screamer and the paisley can get near that but not perfectly, its uniqe which makes it better in my opinion and for 77 dollars it was just a much better purchase.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

get a Digitech Bad Monkey and mod it.

but couldnt you just crank up the drive channel on that fender to get what you're looking for?


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## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

Yes and no, its certainly an awesome boxy American sounding type of crunchy overdrive but it couldn't do everything I wanted. I also have to play atleast at band level before it starts to sound good and I can't do that considering my family tells me to turn down my acoustic.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

famouspogs, is this your first blues junior?..have you compared the black one and red one before buying it?...What kinda music do you play?..

and lastly, how much was it?...price wise?.

thanks for the info mate..


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## Greenbacker (Mar 29, 2007)

Digitech Bad Monkey! All the way!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

famouspogs said:


> Yes and no, its certainly an awesome boxy American sounding type of crunchy overdrive but it couldn't do everything I wanted. I also have to play atleast at band level before it starts to sound good and I can't do that considering my family tells me to turn down my acoustic.


aaah...

ya just gotta break the family in!


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## JamesW (Sep 27, 2008)

I'd say get the Bad Monkey. It's no boutique effects nor does it pretend to be. But it was the best effects I ever bought for less than $60.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

+1 Bad Monkey. To get some grind on the cheap, it can't be beat.


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## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

al3d said:


> famouspogs, is this your first blues junior?..have you compared the black one and red one before buying it?...What kinda music do you play?..
> 
> and lastly, how much was it?...price wise?.
> 
> thanks for the info mate..


This is my first blues jr. I've tried out the other black tolex blues jr's and theyre abit muddier, a vintage-30 probably in all actually isn't the best speaker for a small combo like this but its much better than the stock one. I play alot of music but mainly what I play for guitar is 60s rock kind of stuff. I paid 575. Once you get it tell me what you think of it.


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## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

Woah alot of bad monkey reccomendations I'm going to have to check it out. I traded in a fender blender I had(which I loved) for a french toast octave distortion, a .115 george l cable and a small slide and got some money back. I didn't really want to trade in my fender blender, I really liked it. I couldn't ever think of when I would use it, too crazy and didn't have enough mid range.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I'd say +1 on the Digitech Bad Monkey! For me, the BM is one of the best overdrive pedals at the under $100.00 range. You can tweak the tone knobs to get the sound you like or at least close to it, you can use it for boosting, you can cascade 2 of them to get higher gain.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

famouspogs said:


> Woah alot of bad monkey reccomendations I'm going to have to check it out. I traded in a fender blender I had(which I loved) for a french toast octave distortion, a .115 george l cable and a small slide and got some money back. I didn't really want to trade in my fender blender, I really liked it. I couldn't ever think of when I would use it, too crazy and didn't have enough mid range.


Yeah, that's the problem with a lot of fuzzes. I like the Blender too, but ended up with a Fuzz Factory, a NY Muff, and a French Toast before I settled down just recently with my Green Russian Sovtek Muff.

As for the Bad Monkey, you really should give it a go if you haven't tried it yet. Essentially a Bad Monkey is an Ibanez Tubescreamer. It's pretty much an exact copy, but costs a heck of a lot less, and it really does get the job done on the cheap. Whenever I dream up possible ideal pedalboards, if I decide to include 2xTubescreamers, that can easily be replaced with 2xBad Monkeys. Hook those bad boys up and you're in Stevie Ray country!


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## Phatchrisrules (Sep 25, 2008)

What about a chorus pedal? I bought my small clone for like $69.99 I am pretty sure a few years ago. That would give you a nice full sound, and I find it kind of cool when I am doing blues style music as long as I turn the chorus down to about mid-level.


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## ben_allison (Sep 16, 2008)

Forget the Bad Monkey. Forget the Dano crap.

Honestly? Mod a Boss. A modded Blues Driver, SD-1, or DS-1, will quite seriously be better than many _boutique_ offerings.

Boss pedals also have good buffers which are actually important to have somewhere in your signal path (too many is a bad thing though).

You can find any one of those pedals for $30-40, easy. For a few bucks you can get a some capacitors, resistors, diodes and leds and do the mod yourself. They are published all over the net.

You'll have an indestructible pedal that will sound as good as many $200 pedals, all for under $50. What's to think about?! Learn to solder and get to it.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

Although I've yet to try one I have heard nothing but good stuff about the Bad Monkey.

My favourite "cheap" overdrive is the stock Boss SD-1. I've had modded versions in the past and the only one I liked better than stock is the Blues Driver.


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