What is the best distortion and/or overdrive pedal?

[DeanEVO_Dude]

It's interesting to me how nobody ever recommends the regular old tube screamer in threads like this. It's the platonic ideal of overdrive, really. Nice and creamy tones with a good healthy mid hump so you can cut through. What's not to love?

I think that the reason is two-fold:
1. They are just too darned expensive for "vintage" ones, and the new ones are kinda cheap (though, not any cheaper feeling than any of the Behringer pedals). Even at $40 for a TS-10, it just doesn't seem like a big draw.
2. Kinda like Pink Floyd - "Another Brick in the Wall, Part X", It has just kinda played itself out. Many, many, many recorded guitars, played through Fender, Marshall, and VOX amps with a TS of some flavor pushing the front end of the amp into glorous, creamy, saturated overdrive.
Remember, these are only my opinions, so...

I have toyed with the idea of getting one of the TS-10s and doing the 808 mod on it for myself, I gave one I modded to a friend of mine for Christmass one year, but I just never seem to get around to buying one. Oh, well, I will probably decied to do it when it is too late and they are all gone and discontinued. LOL

Anyway, cheers all.

[LeadedEL84]

Through the years I have owned many distortion and/or overdrive pedals. I have my favorites for different styles and different set ups. I will start with my overall favorite and most recent.

-Marshall Guv'Nor 2 plus-Overall the best sounding and feeling distortion pedal I have ever owned,by far. With all the EQ control on this I can shape any tone I need or want and can match it to work with anything I have tried to play it through. It has a good range of sounds from vintage to modern as long as you are looking for a convincing Marshall tone. I agree with earlier posters who said this is a marshall amp in a little metal case. It truly is. It sounds great but I also like the feel. It is very dynamic and is sensative to picking nuance. I was considering the Marshall Bluesbreaker 2 pedal(which is also great)but I am glad I got the Gov'Nor. It has a greater range and more gain when I need it.

-Boss Blues Driver-My long time"stand by"pedal for great blues tone. I keep this one on hand for when I want a more Fendery style tone for blues or classic rock. This one is best played through a small or medium sized tube amp. It is a fairly transparent pedal and is better at enhancing or adding to tone rather than totally creating a tone. I like to use it in situations where I am getting part of the overdrive from the amp and part from the pedal. It has a very creamy sound and is very dynamic and pick sensitive. I got it when I was playing through a Fender Blues Junior. I was replacing an Ibanez TS7 tube screamer that I didn't like.

-Danelectro Fab Distortion-I bought this days before getting the Guv'Nor 2. I needed a cheap temporary pedal with more gain than the Boss while I searched for a Marshall pedal at the right price. Didn't know how long it would be until I landed a Guv and didn't want to spend much $. I heard good things about the Fab and figured $15 wasn't much to loose in a gamble. I was totally surprised how good this cheap plastic pedal sounded. It's actually a well built little thing and has great tone. It screams through a tube amp and is fairly quiet and non-tone robbing. To my ears it's a tube screamer type tone that offers a little more edge and a bit more gain. I have owned a range of real tube screamers and find this Fab to be better than the lower end and mid model screamers. I think it is the best "bang for the buck"pedal on the market.

I have a Tech 21 Tri AC pedal I am totally impressed with for Marshall and tweed sounds as well. Since it is technically a modeling pedal I will save that for a future thread on that catagory. There are tons of great pedals on the market these days depending on what sound you want and how much you have to spend. IMO there is also alot of junk and overpriced crap with big names on them.