[spacehead333]

So ive been playing a tube screamer that i borrowed, and a boss super overdrive. Both hvae great sustain and sound. Any suggestions of distortion pedals i should try? The arnt relativly expenisve? Also what can i do to boost my soloing over everything else, boss compressor/sustainer doesnt realyy work,

[strumminsix]

To get above the mix:
volume knob on guitar
volume pedal
eq pedal
comp
clean boost

Eq pedal:
Gotta know what you want and what you like.

If you love the TS then find one that has that mid boost.
Otherwise I'd suggest a Barber LTD.

But what is "relativly expenisve"

To me $150 for a pedal is not expensive.

That is better than wasting shipping costs, time, etc on 4 returns to find the 1 $75 pedal I keep.

[Crazy 9.5 Fingers]

A great pedal that might solve both of your issues is the Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. Definitely give it a test drive.

[tigerstrat]

Exactly: "relatively" relative to what?

For the 7-8 months I've had it, I've been pretty darn happy with my BBE Crusher distortion, which I think go for around 65-75US. That's gotta be fairly inexpensive relative to most pedals.

If you like a British-type distortion, you MUST check out a "Crunch Box" by MI-Audio out of Australia. They are like 100US.

[Tennessee Jedi]

If you want some Dead distortion-try the Boss BluesDriver.I use 2.One just to boost my clean sound and one for distortion(like the intro to Minglewood,or one the solos for Fire,or some Terrapin.If you want something real different go with the Big Muff(Electro Harmonix).Is $70 bucks cheap enough?

[lostsailor8782]

Unless you first have a good amp and a good guitar every pedal in the world won't do a thing to help ...

[Tennessee Jedi]

Don't bum the guy out-you got to start somewhere.Of course you are are right.I wish the 1st amp and guitar I got didn't suck.

[strumminsix]

Unless you first have a good amp and a good guitar every pedal in the world won't do a thing to help ...

Bingo! I've seen guys play with a $200 guitar and $1000 worth of pedals and sound only okay>good. But invest the pedal $$$ into a nicer guitar and amp and WOW!

[tigerstrat]

Unless you first have a good amp and a good guitar every pedal in the world won't do a thing to help ...

Give the guy some credit. He wasn't asking about amps or guitars, just some advice on a distortion device and a way to boost for solos. (agree with Strum on that point)

Jedi, the Blues Driver is an OD fairly similar to the ones he's using(Stu of the current JGB lineup gets a pretty great sound with his, with an SG and a Twin Reverb Custom 15. I meant to ask him if it was modded, forgot). I took the question to be concerning a Distortion as opposed to an Overdrive.

[Tennessee Jedi]

He did ask about boosting his solos'.The Bluesdriver is wonderful for that.Its got some distortion.I like it for Dead.Never used the super o.d,so dont know about that.Yo Tiger,love the RamblinRose band thing you got going.Have you checked out High Peaks band yet?

[1960strat]

See the sister thread on the vintage MXR distortion +. I have a early 70's version. Set me back $150, but i have it running direct into a vintage 65 deluxe reverb and playing theough a 78 tele custom with the humbucker and it is sick. Makes me sound better than i am...

[spacehead333]

So yea i DO have a good amp and guitar. Fender Deluxe Tube amp, and Gibson Les Paul, just having trouble with the distortion shit. All my other pedals are fine, all my gear is fine, but im not comfortable with the D. Thinking about getting TS9 mod 808

[tigerstrat]

He did ask about boosting his solos'.The Bluesdriver is wonderful for that.Its got some distortion.I like it for Dead.Never used the super o.d,so dont know about that.Yo Tiger,love the RamblinRose band thing you got going.Have you checked out High Peaks band yet?

Oh right, you did mention using one of the BD-2's for a boost. I'd say there's a certain amount of overlap between the SD-1 and the BD-2, but both are basically OD's. Are yours modded?

Personally, for boosting, I just leave myself enough headroom on the guitar volume to be able to boost as needed. In other words, my power amp is turned pretty darn loud and I keep the guitar volume at about 50% most of the time. The fact that my FX are in the UGB-driven onboard loop and unaffected by the guitar volume gives me flexibility to work that way.

And thanks for the compliment on my band! No, I'll have to remember to check out the HPB.

[Django]

I wish I had a Voodoo labs Sparkle drive!

[Tennessee Jedi]

Nah, my 2 BD's aren't modded.Yeah working the volume knob is great.I got some 80s Peavey head.Tubes.Only 60 watts,but screams.The band I used to be in practiced in a real small room.So it was hard to real set the beast loose.Got used to stepping on the Boss.For some reason I put a Screaming Demon in the bridge position on my Strat awhile back.The rest of the pickups are stock.When I switch from the neck to the bridge w/the Bd on its like night and day.The neck pickups stay clean and the bridge gets real dirty.Not too balanced are the pick ups but it works.Dude- keep up the good work w/your band.