Revealed: The 5 Best Distortion Effects Pedals Of All Time

5. The Fulltone OCD V3

Fulltone have perfected the OCD over a number of years, not just a distortion pedal, but an amplifier emulator. Designed to sound, play and feel like an amplifier, with harmonics that chime like a bell.
It has a tiny footprint on your pedal board, and comes at the very reasonable price of $159, it's no wonder you voted it as the fifth best of all time. It's a fantastic pedal.


4. ProCo Rat

Despite being first produced in the late 70s, this pedal really started to dominate the musical landscape in the 1990s, with James Hetfield, Thom Yorke, Kurt Cobain and James Dean Bradfield all using the Rat to great effect.
The op-amp circuit is simple yet beautiful, and provides a dirty and powerful distortion which can be heard on thousands of hit records.
You voted it as the fourth greatest distortion pedals of all time.


3. Wampler Sovereign

One of Wampler's smallest pedals - the Wampler Sovereign is a distortion pedal with a vintage feel. The Sovereign is a 'simple' distortion pedal, no gimmicks, just a pure dedication to authentic vintage distortion tone.
For the rock and roll players out there, this pedal is almost a pedal board requirement, offering a brilliantly complex and multi-layered gain in the high mids, and as all guitarists know - the high mids are where it's at!
You voted the Wampler Sovereign at number three, but which pedal came in at number two?


2. Boss DS-1

It's the original distortion pedal, it's been around for decades, and it takes its rightful place towards the top of this list. From pure historical value, the DS-1 came along and changed the way guitarists thought about distortion.
Guitarists could get high-gain levels at much lower volumes, and original 1970s models of the DS-1 now sell for ridiculous amounts of money in guitar stores and on eBay.
We recently did a bitesize review of the DS-1, as part of a series of Boss reviews, which you can watch here.
But if the Boss DS-1 came in at second place, then which pedal took the crown?





AND THE WINNER IS...

1. Wampler Triple Wreck
Well if you're looking for distortion, then the Triple Wreck really does offer you a serious amount of gain. It can go right up to full-on scooped high gain tones, with rib-breaking bottom end and a real growl in the mid range.
But it can also do vintage distortion tones, the type of sounds used by the likes of Brian May, Jimmy Page and Gary Moore. It's billed as being a pedal that offers a serious amount of gain, but it's also a pedal that offers a serious range of gain tones.
Modern vibes, vintage vibes, bluesy crunch. It packs it all in. A boost stomp with a mid-range control allows you to have a decibel boost for solos too - it's a serious all rounder.
So congratulations to the guys at Wampler, particularly Brian, who has managed to build a full range of incredible sounding distortion pedals, two of which made it into the top five.
They may not have been around as long as some of their competitors, but it's clear that Wampler are becoming leaders in the effects pedal market, and your votes prove it



source:http://www.sonicstate.com/amped/2013/03/24/revealed-the-5-best-distortion-effects-pedals-of-all-time/5/