List of distortion pedals
[8] Other notable users include Duane Allman,[9] Stevie Ray Vaughan[10] Pete Townshend,[11] Eric Johnson,[12] and George Harrison.
Released in 1969 and designed with an emphasis on long sustain compared to existing fuzzes, the Big Muff Pi was the first overwhelming success for Electro-Harmonix's line of pedals.
Due to its reliability, its low price, and its distinctive sound, the Big Muff sold consistently through the 1970s and was found in numerous guitarists' pedal collections, including David Gilmour[15] and Carlos Santana.
The "sustained grind" of the Big Muff was later an integral part of the sound of many alternative rock bands through the 1980s and 1990s, being used extensively by the Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr., NOFX, Bush and Mudhoney.
Introduced in 1962, it achieved widespread popularity in 1965 after the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards prominent use of the FZ-1 on the group's hit, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
Vex replaced the fixed-value resistors with pots to gain control over the sounds, leading to a layout of five-knobs—three of which he could not easily describe the function of.
The Distortion + has found a wide range of fans, like Randy Rhoads in his work with Ozzy Osbourne,[32] Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead,[32] Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü,[33] Dave Murray of Iron Maiden,[34] and Thom Yorke of Radiohead.
In the Rat, Pro Co's engineers sought to improve upon the earlier Fuzz Face and ultimately designed a pedal with, as Guitar World wrote, a "hard, aggressive sound and tight, focused clipping" that set the template for modern distortion circuits.
The King of Tone, released in 2005, was designed by former software engineer Mike Piera to create an improved version of the then-discontinued Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal.
Orders soon reached 200 per day—far more than Piera could keep up with—and the King of Tone developed a famously years-long waiting list, while prices on the used market far exceeded the cost of a new pedal.
[37] In 1995, Boss released the BD-2, an overdrive pedal aimed at blues players who sought to add distortion while maintaining their amp's signal clarity and dynamics.
The Blues Driver is also a common platform for modifications, with boutique pedal makers like Robert Keeley and Josh Scott offering popular modding services.
The SD-1 retained its predecessor's asymmetrical clipping and inherent midrange-focus,[22][38] but its circuit was altered, seeking to replicate the effect of slightly mismatched output tubes in an amplifier, which was thought to enhance an amp's character and "cutting power.
[41] With these changes, the SD-1 was quickly embraced by the growing hard rock and heavy metal subgenres, with guitarists frequently using it to boost already-overdriven amplifiers like the Marshall JCM800 into higher-gain sounds.
[40] The pedal is notable as a staple budget offering—frequently chosen as a guitarist's first overdrive[42]—that has remained widely popular among professional rock players, with fans like Kirk Hammett, Jonny Greenwood, Mark Knopfler, Prince, and The Edge.
Digitech was later bought by Cor-Tek, the parent company of Cort Guitars, and in 2013 the 250 Preamp was reissued once again, this time as a more faithful replica of the original design.
[43] With the 1996 release of the Full-Drive 2, Fulltone had the industry's biggest early success in boutique overdrives, with the FD2 a common sight on professional guitarists' pedalboards in the late 1990s.
[44] Described as picking up where the Ibanez Tube Screamer and Boss SD-1 left off, the FD2 features expanded tonal controls in a larger housing compared to other popular overdrives, with a separate boost footswitch and multiple clipping options to alter the pedal's midrange character and compression.
[44] Guitar World dubbed the Full-Drive 2 a "Tube Screamer killer," praising it for emphasizing desirable midrange frequencies while offering a larger pallet of overdrive textures.
[47] Dubbed by Music Radar a "game-changing" design, the OCD further established Fulltone's prominence in the boutique market while gaining fans like Billy Gibbons, Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, Peter Frampton, and Don Felder.
[48] After the first iteration, the drive pot's value was also increased for a more "dramatic" distortion, while an asymmetric germanium diode was later added to shift the character of the clipping.
[49] Alfonso Hermida was an aerospace engineer with NASA in 1998—with a side job repairing effects pedals—when he first heard Robben Ford's rendition of "Golden Slumbers.
"[50] Inspired to capture the tone he heard, Hermida spent years working on pedal designs, only later finding out about Ford and his connection to Dumble Amplifiers.
Premier Guitar praised the pedal for achieving the "smoother-than-smooth, violin-like lead tones" characteristic of Ford's amp of choice, the Dumble Overdrive Special, a famously expensive and exclusive amplifier.
[54][55] According to Premier Guitar, given the Tube Screamer's enduring popularity and influence, "no single pedal has had a greater impact on musical expression or played as important a role in the development of effects modification.
"[53] The Klon Centaur, made by American engineer Bill Finnegan, was released in 1994 with the aim of recreating the harmonically rich distortion of an amplifier at a high volume.
"[57] The Klon Centaur has been used by guitarists including Jeff Beck, John Mayer, Joe Perry (of Aerosmith), Nels Cline (of Wilco), Matt Schofield, and Ed O'Brien (of Radiohead).
[62] The M133 Micro Amp was released by MXR in 1978 and since then it has become perhaps the most commonly-used "boost" pedal on the market, intended to add volume or distortion (depending on where it is placed in the signal chain) without coloring the underlying tone.
[63] The Micro Amp is simple, an op-amp design offering 26dB of signal boost with a single control for volume in a small, milk-white case with black text.
[64] The ODR-1 was created for the German brand Nobels by Kai Tachibana, who was dissatisfied with the strong increase in middle frequencies and decrease in bass common in other overdrive pedals.
