Most distortion-type pedals are me-too pedals that generally harm the sound of a good guitar going into a hifi signal chain.
All those artist-endorsed toys are mostly lame.
Analog distortion still is better than digital-emulation.
Clean boost pedals are more functional than distortion pedals.
The Fulltone Mosfet 2 is excellent.
The best, most aesthetic, distortion comes from miking amp/speaker interaction. The next best is direct recording an amp into an attenuator.
But most fuzz and distortion boxes muddy the signal, most of the time in an unprofessional manner, with way too much fizz or disharmonic
nastiness.
I get depressed when I try to reamp a direct-quitar track, using both high quality pedals or digital emulation crap, and then find that the reamped sound is worse than the pure direct-guitar sound (with no amp).
Nothing beats a clean, dynamic sound.
Distortion pedals are generally too grungy, and distort the signal in
a low quality way. Buy only top brands, like Tech 21, or Class A pedals like Effectrode, or don't bother, or direct mic, or attentuate an amp, or get into folk music.

Post Extras