Distortion

The Black Secret is budget stompbox maker Mooer’s take on the ProCo Rat, one of the most highly acclaimed and sought-after distortion guitar effects pedals of all time. It doesn’t just recreate the Rat’s legendary tone, though; it one-ups it. You get two modes accessible via a flip switch: Vintage mode is the Rat’s classic, crisp tone while Turbo mode features the TurboRat’s higher gain level and extra character. The Black Secret is basically two distortion pedals in one at a size and price that’s hard to beat.

The Blade guitar effects pedal is all devil horns and metal attitude. This compact and affordable Metal Muff clone from budget stompbox maker Mooer comes packed with three boost modes for a full-on gain assault: none, low, and high. A dedicated Tone micro button lets you tailor the distortion to your specific needs. True to its name, the Blade is the weapon you whip out when you want your signal to cut through the mix.

The Cruncher does exactly what it says on the tin: take your guitar signal and make it all kinds of crunchy. This distortion guitar effects pedal from budget stomp maestro Mooer serves up a buttery smooth and well-balanced distortion that’s responsive without being harsh. It gives you a lot of headroom to play with, too, making it one of the best MI Audio Crunchbox-based distortion pedals available right now when it comes to bang for your hard-earned buck.

If maximum rage is what you want, then maximum rage is what you’ll get with budget stomp maker Mooer’s Rage Machine high gain distortion guitar effects pedal. This tiny stompbox is a ball of extreme metal mayhem that has already reached critical mass, with just enough dedicated control knobs give you iron-fisted control over its bite and attack. Crank the Rage and Gain control knobs all the way to the right and let the beast inside run wild.

The high gain Solo distortion guitar effects pedal from budget stomp maker Mooer packs an impressive amount of excellent dynamic response and definition in its tiny pedalboard-friendly chassis. It comes with three distinct distortion flavors: the organic and dynamically responsive Natural, the high gain Tight for heavy mids and tight lows, and the vintage textured high gain Classic. As its name suggests, the Solo really shines when used during a solo, but it’s versatile enough to handle chugging riffs.

The Crazy Tone is budget guitar effects pedal brand Mosky Audio’s minified take on the well-loved Suhr Riot distortion pedal. It serves up two distinct dirt voicings that you can select via a two-position toggle switch. One is a natural, organic distortion with an impressive amount of dynamic response. The other is a vintage-style high gain dirt tone with tons of definition. You also get dedicated Dist, Level, and Tone knobs for dialing in the exact sound you want.

Like the Crunch Red, the Crunch distortion stomp from budget guitar effects pedal brand Mosky Audio takes its tonal cues from MI Audio’s venerable Crunch Box pedal. The Crunch, however, is a much simplified version of both the original and its similarly named cousin. It’s small and sports only one control knob, but don’t let that fool you; the Crunch can pump out anything from rip-roaring riff crunch through to scorching hot distortion and all points in between.

The Plexi-M from budget guitar effects pedal manufacturer Mosky Audio is a ‘60s Marshall plexi amp in stompbox form. It lets you go from a warm, mild overdrive to a crunchy distortion reminiscent of a heavily cranked plexi. You can twist the Tone knob clockwise for a brighter and brighter sound and crank up the Gain knob for all the distortion you could ever want. The Plexi-M comes with true bypass and has a 100% analog signal path.

The Dime Distortion by MXR gives you a massive, razor-sharp, aggressive tone raging with distortion but still stays tight and focused enough to keep up with scorching solos and quick rhythm lines. It is specially designed to simulate Dimebag’s iconic slicing tone. It consists of Gain, Treb, Mid, Bass, and Output controls. Featuring a three-band EQ, badass output, and a proprietary Scoop switch, the Dime Distortion has the muscle and guts to defy your heaviest show of power.

Built from the ground up with meticulously picked components, the Distortion III pedal from MXR gives you anything from silky overdrive to intense distortion crunch. Its organic and amp-esque distortion is flexible enough to suit your playing style and transparent enough to allow the character of your guitar to shine through. The Distortion III comes in a durable metal chassis consists of output volume, distortion, and tone control knobs, as well as a heavy-duty footswitch with on/off LED indicator.

The Prime Distortion pedal by MXR conjures up classic hard-clipping distortion. You can conveniently dial in its warm, articulate sound with a standard Tone, Distortion, and Output control set up. The Prime Distortion is very responsive to your playing intensity, packing a massive punch when you dig in and cleaning up when you roll back. This pure analog distortion is designed with low noise op-amps. The Prime Distortion comes in a sturdy enclosure with high-quality switches and jacks.

Get decades of pure analog distortion at your feet with the Super Badass Distortion from MXR. It gives you a complete and very responsive spectrum distortion with a three-band EQ for fine-tuning your sound. After dialing in your ideal amount of crunch, you may utilize the Treble, Bass, and Mid knobs to finely shape your sound. The Super Badass Distortion includes true bypass switching, and just like other MXR pedals, comes in a roadworthy, durable housing.

The DS-3 Classic Distortion from NUX is an analog distortion pedal that gives you classic distortion tones ideal for heavy blues and classic rock. It boasts true bypass and plenty of dynamics. It cleans up beautifully when you turn your guitar volume down. The DS-3 Classic Distortion consists of Level, Tone, and Gain knobs. The wide-ranged Tone knob and Gain control allow you to produce well-balanced sounds. Analog circuits enhance your signals and create strong overdrives and more harmonics.

The NUX HG-6 Distortion pedal has silently established a reputation as strong as its virtually nuclear blast-ready pedals. It gives you an aggressive metal and rock distortion, valve amp sounds, and active mid-frequency EQ circuit. FET emulate a tube amp’s characteristic distortion. The HG-6 Distortion features an analog circuit (three gain stages), true bypass design, reduces tone loss, and allow you better control over your pedal. The HG-6 Distortion carries Tone, Scoop, Gain, and Level controls.

Plenty of bottom and aggressive high make the NUX Metal Core perfect for hardcore players. It is controllable using the Gain, Level, Treble, and Bass knobs. Bass and high controls your tone effortlessly. The Metal Core boasts two voice of metal sound. Voice 1 and voice 2 contain significant difference from old school to contemporary thrash metal. The Metal Core also features a two-band EQ, next-generation 32-bit DSP, high-performance 24-bit, tone lock functionality and a single preset save or recall.

Experience incredibly rich, musical distortion with the Aria Disnortion pedal from Pigtronix. It is a pedalboard-friendly stompbox leveraging a seamless diode-clipping architecture to give you as much smooth, harmonically-lush distortion as you desire. The Aria Disnortion also features tons of output volume, allowing you to drive your amp’s input hard. With the High, Mid, and Low knobs, you can tailor your tones nicely. The Aria Disnortion also carries Volume and Gain controls that are convenient to tweak on the fly.

The Disnortion Micro by Pigtronix condenses all the sonic goodness and 18V headroom of the large-format Disnortion pedal’s analog Fuzz and Overdrive circuits into a tinier variant that runs on 9 volts. The original, three-footswitch Disnortion pedal had been in production from 2005 to 2015. It is still in constant use with the likes of Aerosmith, Muse, Living Colour, and Queens of the Stone Age. The Disnortion Micro hugely one-ups the original’s extensive palette of touch responsive dirt sounds by enabling changing from a parallel routing to highly saturated series routing.