What is… distortion?

To keep with our analogy (see What is… overdrive), distortion is what happens when you drop a large rock in the same pond, right beside your reflection - you may get glimpses of the original, but it’s also very different - quite broken up and changed from the original.

In the world of effects, distortion is classed as an effect that is typically more aggressive and saturated than an overdrive pedal.

Distortion specifics

Where overdrive pedals try to capture the sound of the preamplification stage of an amplifier, distortion pedals are designed to create the sound of the whole amp turned up to 10.  Distortion pedals create the sound irrespective of your amplifier - no matter how loud or how quiet you have the amplifier, the distortion won’t change.  They usually aren’t designed to clean up - it’s meant to be noticeable, gritty, aggressive and in your face, allowing you to get the sound of a maxed out amp without having to max out your amp (which is a good thing when you have neighbours).

There are a few “usual suspects” in the realm of distortion pedals, but for the most part they get split by style - “hard rock”, “heavy metal”, “doom” - again, lots of marketing here: sometimes the name will give it away, but with distortion pedals I find it’s always best to find some sound clips. 

Pro Co Rat and variants

The best place to start with distortion pedals is with the first mass produced distortion pedal - originally meant to improve upon a fuzz pedal, it became its own thing, and has inspired numerous players and pedal manufacturers alike.  It is able to go from full on distortion to a heavy fuzz, and is known for an aggressive, mid-range heavy sound.  It’s also one of the few pedals that will fit almost every style of music requiring distortion.

Main characteristics:

• Aggressive, mid heavy
• Wide range of distorted sounds
  
  

MXR Distortion+ and variants

This classic distortion pedal runs from overdrive to classic distortion/fuzz tones.  It’s a very simple circuit that has been copied and modded for over 50 years, with a real rock pedigree of users and hits.  There is a noticeable treble increase as you dial up the distortion on this pedal.

Main characteristics:

• Warm tube to fuzz
• 80’s rock in a box
• Can be shrill without dialling out some high end 
  
  

DS-1 Distortion and variants

The DS-1 Distortion by Boss was a departure from other distortion pedals of the time - it’s a tighter, clearer distortion that still allows the original characteristics of the instrument to be heard. Known for its bright attack, it is still a classic pedal that will get those “classic” rock to metal sounds, but can be fizzy/shrill if not dialed in correctly.  It’s a great candidate to use in conjunction with an overdrive pedal.

Main characteristics:

• Tight distortion, bright attack
• Classic distortion that can be fizzy/shrill if not setup correctly
  
  

MT-2 Metal Zone

The MT-2 by Boss is a completely different animal than the DS-1 - much higher gain and saturation, it’s aimed squarely at the heavy rock/metal side of distortion. It’s fairly iconic, but also not the easiest to dial in (unless you opt for the WazaCraft variant).

Main characteristics:

• Dual stage gain
• Three band active EQ
• High gain
• Can be very shrill if not EQ’d properly

Welcome to the crowd

I’m going to jump from specific pedals to a more general look at the rest of the distortion genre of pedals, as there are many, and they tend to follow a musical genre or amp rather than be clones of a another pedal (yes, there are clones, but not as many, and definitely not as well known ie. Klon).

I’m going to skip the pedals that started off with a specific style of music, only due to space - that’s a long list of genres, with an even longer list of pedals that fit (some are fairly specific, some will easily span multiple genres).

Amp Style

These pedals are designed to come close to the distortion found in a few of the key amps used in heavily distorted music (heavy metal, metal, sludge, doom, etc).  Note these are not amp in a box pedals (more on those later), they are only focused on creating a distortion similar to what the amp produces.  

The following is an abbreviated list of amp style distortion pedals:

• Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
• Peavey 5150
• Bogner Ectasy
• Engl Fireball/Ironball
  
  

How to choose your distortion

Truthfully, there’s not much to write about here - it’s all about finding what fits your style of music, your playing style, your current setup (instrument, other pedals, amplifier/sim/modeller) and what you are looking for in a pedal. 

Still not sure?  Reach out and ask someone!  Points to consider before asking:

• Do you have a specific sound in mind?
• What is your current instrument/effects/amplification?
• What is your budget?

Listen to pedal demo videos - as many as possible.  Even better, try one out if you can.  

There are a lot of forums out there where you can do all of the above, although do remember to take opinions with a grain of salt - most guitar players are fiercely loyal to the current lineup of pedals they have on their pedalboard, and will shamelessly promote what they’ve recently bought and degrade anything they’ve just sold.

How to use your distortion

One thing to note is that while distortion pedals are meant to create distorted sounds at any volume, some will provide a huge amount of signal boost, which can send the amp into distortion as well.  When trying a distortion pedal, I’ll make sure to keep the amp as clean as possible until I know the characteristics of the distortion pedal. If you’re using any digital effects, or an amp sim/modeller, you must really keep an eye on your output level - digital does not distort in a nice way (more on that later).

From my 'What is Overdrive post'...

To finish, it’s all well and good knowing what distortions are, but how do I use them you ask.  I’ll start by saying there are no hard and fast rules on effects pedals - what sounds good to one person may not sound good to another.  Guidelines for pedal order, how to set them up, when to use them (or not to use them) are just that - general guidelines to use as a starting point.

I find the best way to try any pedal is to set all dials (aside from gain), straight up at 50% of max (12 o’clock).  This is usually the unity setting for controls like volume, tone, eq.  Start playing, and slowly turn up the gain until you hit the desired amount.  From there, keep playing, and change the other controls (one at a time) from fully off to fully on, turning them back to where I feel they sounded the best.  Finally, I adjust the gain from min to max, just to check out the range, and see how many different sounds I can get out of the pedal.  If I’m having trouble getting the right sound, I will then look at recommendations (either from the manufacturer or online).

Again, this is meant to be a guide, not an instruction manual - mix, match, imitate, emulate, inspire and create at your own pace.

We'd love to hear about your experience with any of these pedals and setups! Drop a comment below and tell us about any of them.

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Joe has over 30 years of experience in the music industry. He is a musician, sound engineer, recording engineer, and has expertise in amp and pedal design. Additionally, he has worked as a guitar tech and in sales. He considers himself a "pedal junkie" - there’s always a new “bright and shiny” pedal that begs to be added to his pedalboard.