I like the sound of the Distortion III better. Distortion + might have been the pedal of the day back in the 70's and it probably was made better and sounded better but today it's not close. Distortion III has lots of nice sound to it. Thanks for this video in helping me to decide what I was going to buy.
I have the Distortion III... It's not a bad little box at all. Like the dude said, "you get what pay for". It's got a nice warm crackle to it, and mine was only 50 bucks used.
Current Dunlop Distortion + is WAY different from the original. If you can get hold of a 1970's original you might like it - same edginess but at the same time much smoother.
I own a bunch of MXR pedals, all three EVH pedals, 6 band eq, and also the distortion+ I wasn't very happy with the distortion+ and sold it cheap...I thought there was something wrong with it but after seeing this video I know now it's how the pedal is design.
I could run a clean signal through it cranked and once the pedal is activated the sound drops...You have to literally crank the volume all the way up to hear it and the gain cranked sounded fuzzy...
@MorkaGraven hey, it'd probably be best if you bought a metal muff from EHX. that's my favorite metal tone, but hey i'm really not all that much of metal guy. ehx makes good shit though.
@imacoolkid613 Will the distortion 3 give my Marshall dsl 401 combo a bit of boost in the overdrive channel for solo's - I need a boost as well as a little more sustain
are you allowed to say DIRT BOX without laughing .. or have you been to special training classes in off hand comments designed to make the English spill their tea ?as usual a great demo even though i'm sure now after listening to it that O/D is more for me :D AND WHO THE FUCK IS JACK BLACK
I'm wanting something to greatly improve my 10 watt practice amp for black metal type tones. I found a used MXR Distortion + on an online auction. does this cater for such extreme levels of distortion or should I just continue running the high gain output on the amp through my stereo?
This would be far more helpful if he used an amp with 12" speakers with a clean tone. Hearing how these pedals operate as overdrives isn't quite as helpful as it would be if they both were balls out. That's how Distortion + pedals are best used... balls out. Using a guitar wih a humbucker would have helped too. Too much twang going on with the 10" speakers and the telecaster.
For one thing, Jack Black always uses these DrZ whatever unavailable amps and relic tele's etc..how about using these pedals like they were meant to--over a slightly overdriven marshall or even a Fender deluxe. You know..something mosty people have actually played?
Im trying to get a randy rhoads tone..i have a vox ac15 and im using a ocd v4...with the ocd on it sounds like a plexi or even a jcm 800..would you suggest me getting a distortion plus to push the sound to make it sound like randy rhoads?
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Jesus Christ....who taught you how to DEMO?? CLEAN CHANNEL, YOU NUMBSKULL! And, READ your comments! You obviously should quit playing guitar. You have no idea what the fuck you're doing!
I'm not usually one to gripe, but damn, dude..... You really missed the whole point of demo'ing these two. I mean, the camera-mic doesn't exactly help things (and I understand), but you have a beautiful '59 Les Paul reissue sitting there (which would sound great with the Distortion + into a clean, medium-sized Fender), and you go and plug a Tele into an small, overdriven amp. I'm surprised it wasn't clipping (Well, more than it should). Play some Ozzy or Van Halen. That pedal requires passion.
Have to say I wasn't happy with this video either. I mean, a Tele into a distorted amp? Kinda' missing the point of this thing, aren't we? The Distortion + pedal is perfect for a Les Paul-type into a clean amp. Great with my Les Paulie thing and Hot Rod Dlx amp. I have an early block-logo from around '79-81. Looks hand-wired . Killer sound. Smooth, but not Tubescreamey. Overdriven Marshall in a box. Great for classic rock, VH-type stuff, early to late '80's hard rock. Reissue's got more gain.
These two sound terrible. I've never seen a demo od Distortion + that sounded good. But I once build a clone . And it is great(with germanium and led diodes) with clean and distorted amp.
Thanks for the demo. I agree with tony 93666. People who ignore how to use this kind of distortion pedal, should kindly ask instead of criticizing what they don't know. At the time the MXR distortion+ was released, no amp sounded clean at reasonable levels. Using a clean amp would be more unbiased (but not much more) and would ensure that it sounds awful enough to defeat the purpose of a demo. If your amp does a beautiful crunch sound, it will sound great with any of these.
Thanks for the demo. I agree with tony 93666. People who ignore how to use this kind of distortion pedal, should kindly ask instead of criticizing what they don't know. At the time the MXR distortion+ was released, no amp sounded clean at reasonable levels. Using a clean amp would be more unbiased (but not much more) and would ensure that it sounds awful enough to defeat the purpose of a demo. If your amp does a beautiful crunch sound, it will sound great with any of these.
What the hell are you guys talking about. Most rock artists use saturated tube amps for their distortion, and use little pedals like those to "color" the tone. Why use a cheap little pedal over a clean amp if you can get and awesome crunchy tube amp and use pedals for some added boost? These pedals were not made for people with cheap ass solid state amps for god's sake.
both are nasty..........check out my 'breadboarded 2 knob distortion project.'...it pisses over these....i got fed up with so called distortions that are really overdrives..not enough gain etc....so i designed and made my own.. :)
The III is definitely smoother but would it be so smooth if the positions in the chain were reversed. I know in my experience with pedal order that some pedals just don't play nice with other pedals and the various buffering that takes place. I'd dig seeing a demo with the Dist III seeing the signal from a humbucker first then into the Plus. Single coils pups are weak and and by the time you push 90mV through 20' of coily cable the umpf is virtually gone. Why coily cable? Just curious...
I own a real collection of boutique pedals but I can't sell what I had before. I have the MXR Distortion III and wanna say it's one of the best cheap distotions on the market.
Highly better than Boss, Digitech, Danelectro, Rocktron...
@guitarmessiah95 Yeah, I know, but I desperately need to use my MXR Micro Amp, and my amp doesn't have a FX loop, so I need to get a distortion pedal, that sounds a bit like Eddies tone... But thanks anyway
All these reviewers ALWAYS play a very different type of music from what I play, so it's really impossible to determine anything from these reviews. I wish they could play different styles of music in these reviews. And always the same style of chording and same licks and... bah.
Neither of these sounded very nice to me in this video.
I run a distortion + thru my 70's kustom head, and I love it, works tits with either single coil, or humbucker! I play 70's rock i.e. Cheap Trick, Kiss, and so forth!
the videos helped me decide to get the boss metal zone rather than the electro harmonix metal muff with top boost hard decision but i coulndt find good videos on the metal muff and i could with the boss metal zone happy with what i got look into it if your having trouble choosing pedals
@severia123 Wow you passed on the Metal Muff with top boost and bought a Boss metal Zone...
I guess if your looking for the nasal sounding metal the Boss is the way to go...The M.M. top boost has so much more color but it's not for everyone...There are very good videos on Youtube showing them both...
I just got the MXR distortion + for playing RR stuff....Every pedal has a purpose until I can afford a single Fractal Axe-FX ultra which is the best effects processor on the planet...
@reditreefrogs i really like the metal zone it was the one pedal i could find good videos about and like the sound it preduced in the end it is all about personal opinoin thou i do like this mxr pedal thou
if your looking for distortion and good videos of ppl using them look no further than boss pedals and go to BOSSchannel they demo most of their pedals there just type in a boss pedal such as the boss metal zone it should be the second or third down it will say MT-2 metal zone [ boss sound check] they have the best demos you can find on youtube and just amazing pedals look into it if your looking for good distortion pedals and good demos to help you decide what to get
I like MXR for their phase but not this...The best sounding distortion I've come across is a metal muff with top boost....amazing sound and color because it includes high medium and low color...
It's already been said these pedals may have shined a little better had the amp not already been dirty before using them...
The "Classic Distortion" doesn't sound this fuzzy, and the Distortion III is supposed to be the same pedal. Must be a head room issue with the way the amp is adjusted.
well you're right, the demo did kinda suck. It's because we can't get a good sense of the TONE because of the DRIVE already on the AMP. Pick something with higher wattage so you don't have to push the tubes, or close mic it so you can roll down the master gain. regardless, did give a good sense of the output differences...
@moucon or maybe UR so poor to buy a good overdrive pedal, I'm talking about distortion + reissue, it sucks, the original script logo distortion + was a very useful pedal, test 20 overdrive pedals and then tell me dude... The worst will be Distortion plus for sure.
@molsuzero are you nuts? Randy Rhoads put this pedal to work and made the world's most sought after guitar tone. Its the most versatile pedal and the best sounding, its the crowning jewel of my pedalboard.
@pinkypimpalicous, Jewel of you pedalboard?!... haha, If you think that Randy sounded good thanks to the crappy distortion + box you are a nerd, maybe you work for Jim Dunlop.. Randy used outstanding guitars and Marshall Amplifiers, original distortion + is a good pedal but made nothing for better of for worse, give him a tubescreamer to push the amp and would be the same.
@molsuzero@molsuzero I am a nerd? I work for Jim Dunlop? First, nerds bury themselves in books and study all the time, I havent read a book in years. Second, I work for Jim Dunlop? I wish I did. Outstanding guitars? His guitars were simple Gibson Les Pauls and Jacksons, and a moded Marshall amp, but the MXR gives it the extra kick it needs. Do you know anything about guitars and effects or are you just an ignorant kid wanting to pick a fight?
@pinkypimpalicous I'm an instrument and gear seller fucking old stupid jerk, I know more 'bout guitars, basses and analog effects than you'll ever know in your entire fucking life, simple Gibson Les Pauls? haha, In my opinion Gibson Les Pauls are the best instruments ever made
@molsuzero Ok, Les Pauls are great, I will give you that. I own one like I said. But how are you going to come online, where everyone is anonymous, and tell me you know more about effects, amps, etc than do? How do you know I am not a grouchy 70 year old man that has dedicated his entire life to this and I build effects? Way to stereotype.
@pinkypimpalicous I own two Customs, '82, '90, one '56 Goldtop Reissue and many others Gibsons too, so shut up your mouth and begin reading a book donkey, you're needing it.- MXR Distortion plus reissue is the biggest shit ever made. Any other 30 bucks overdrive pedal can do a better job, No doubt about it.
@molsuzero You own a gold top remake, I own an original 70s Gold Top Les Paul along with a Les Paul Studio. Hows that? You portray me as a noob that doesnt know his ass from his elbow, when you really dont know a thing about me and shouldnt try to pass yourself off as the God of the guitar world. Makes ya look silly.
Gear Man Dude -- have to tell you that your shootouts have been really useful for me to help try and figure out what works for me (as best as you can through computer speakers). I even like the guest appearances by your cat :-) Seriously though; your OCD shootouts and others have been great man. Thanks for going to the trouble of posting all of these shootouts.
Nice boots, Tex. That's some demo you have here. I'm glad we can also enjoy the distortion of your mic peaking along with the pedal AND amp distortion. I guess could be considered 3 stage distortion. I guess it's off to the guitar shop to see what these pedals ACTUALLY sound like. Way to go.
@Bervoment Summer Breeze - Seals and Croft... as played by the great Louis Shelton. (also played on lots of Carpenter records... listen to the great solo on "Goodbye to Love" . One of the greatest session guys who ever lived. I have a lot of F'ed up albums in my collection just to hear Louis.
I think both of them sound like shit the way you have the amp set up. However, I have owned both of them at one time or another and I like both of them with a clean amp. Actually later on here you get a better tone out of the Distortion 3.
i like to use the distortion plus to add more distorion on to my amp for wen i play rythms or leads or solos, but thats it. if i want just a plain distortion that sounds better by itself-meaning the amp is clean- then i wud use the 3
I have not seen a single MXR distortion test with a clean amp sound and its pissing me off because my amp has terrible distortion, so I don't use it. So how am I supposed to know what this thing sounds like?
@iscare iknowit That's because the MXR distortion + pedal only adds to an already distorted amp sound...
I own this pedal and it's not a stand alone pedal at all...I use a 150 watt tube head plexi clone and I own a bunch of distortion pedals. This one is a huge disappointment after using it.
This is why you can't find a single video without a clean sounding amp before using it. The pedal actually lessons the sound rather than amping it.
@reditreefrogs Thats because this is a distortion pedal, not a boost or an overdrive. I see people use distortion pedal as boosts all the time and it sounds terrible.
@iscareuiknowit Do you own this pedal? I do....This pedal is nothing more than an overdrive signal and past 2;00 or full bore it turns the sound fuzzy.
MXR WEB-SITE explains this was the sound charactoristic they were going for making this reissue..
This pedal shouldn't be called a distortion pedal but it is....It's tone is more of a tube saturation rather than break-up distortion.
@reditreefrogs I don't own one, but I tried my friends out, and I tried one at a guitar center through multiple amps. and to my ears, its a crap distortion by itself and boosting an amp its okay, but I much prefer an overdrive like a tube screamer. These remind me a lot of the DS-1's and I don't care for them. but some people really get off on that tone.
@iscareuiknowit Hi pal. I bought a MXR pedal, and my amp distorition also sounds like poop. But the pedal solved the problem. Of course I don't have all the subtles and nuances of the sound of a Marshall, but it gets real close. Now I can't blame my equipment for not sounding like my idols hahaha.
@feliperippel I own a Electro Harmonix English Muff'n I found at a real promotion price. I can ensure you it sounds like a Marshall JTM 45. It's very amazing. When I mix its saturation with a very light crunch coming from my amp, It's exactly the fat ZZ TOP sound.
@iscareuiknowit Totally agree with you. The whole point of a pedal is to drive a clean amp, not an overdriven amp. I don't get it either. Useless demo.
@AxekickerDotCom - you obviously don't know crap about how things were done 'back in the day'... old tube amps didn't have the crunch that today's amps have(or master volume knobs either), so you'd crank your amp LOUD and use pedals like this to PUSH em into that crunch. With today's high gain amps, you really don't need pedals like this... not so back in the day.
@AxekickerDotCom - he's not 'testing' em, he's doing a demo - and he's doing it how they were designed to be used, which you have once again demonstrated you don't know what you're talking about. Now, if this were a BOSS Metal Zone or something, yeah, you'd run it thru a clean amp...
Not knowing something is perfectly okay - not knowing but THINKING/ACTING/TALKING like you do, well, that's just fucking stupid. Thanks for playing.
@tony93666 Dude, when you do such demos, it's best to hear the pedal against clean. Sure, you could add a distortion + to a f---ing Rectifier if you wanted to, but so what?? I It makes more sense to hear it against clean, so you really sense how much distortion is being added to the BASIC tone. I'm not the only one who thinks this. I guess all the other commenters are wrong except you.
@iscareuiknowit Honestly, I know some people who use clean amp and distortion boxes. Most of the time, it sounds like shit and kills my ears with the nastiness in the higher frequencies. It sounds way too much solid state and bad. I'd always go for a very good tube amp with good dirty channels instead of any of the distortion pedals.
@dante4d I use my small Class A amp with a Boss DS-1. What I do is that I turn the Level and the Tone knob to zero and the Distortion all the way up. Then I get a low volume, compressed, fairly distorted sound without all the aching high frequencies. Then I start turning up the volume on the amp. The more volume the more muscle and mid-range I will get as the amp starts adding its own saturation. It's a sort of OD/Dist mixed sound, I love it. The only problem is when I want to switch to clean.
@asda6572 Maybe you should have done your homework before renting it and expecting Pantera tones. It's pretty well know the D3 is an overdrive, despite the name.
And wtf is that dumb shit about a 10-band EQ? Might as well say a Fuzz Face is useless without a '68 Marshall 4x12 half stack...
Why would you want to shape the sound to a metal sound? That's like saying a Plexi lacks gain. Totally missed the point of this pedal. It's about tone not metal.
I have an MXR Distortion + running into a vintage Marshall JMP MKII 50 Watt Head. I am trying to get a Rhoads sound out of out and I admit, I honestly think the Distortion III would accomplish the sound better.
DS2... I have it and it is amazing.. it is the one frusciante (however you spell that) uses and I guarantee it's great... on mode 2, the tone at 11 o clock and the dist at 3 o clock you will get that RHCP you want... more that this MXR
I am actually selling mine jaja... not that I don't like it (I love it) but it's just not the tone I want... if you were in mexico I could sell it to you jaja
my story is basically... I am mexican, lived in colombia 8 years adn now I'm back to mexico... and I'm too lazy to change the country jaja... plus I've been living in mexico again for.... 4 weeks now jaja
Hello. i am looking for a distortion/overdrive pedal, witch one wil you recomend please help. i am playing on an Epiphone LP Custom, and i play AC/DC, Ozzy osbourne, Slash, Iron Maiden an a little bit Metallica. Pleas help :D
I like the sound of the Distortion III better. Distortion + might have been the pedal of the day back in the 70's and it probably was made better and sounded better but today it's not close. Distortion III has lots of nice sound to it. Thanks for this video in helping me to decide what I was going to buy.
vaibanez17 3 hours ago
those can both be run on a 9volt power supply right?
metalhead384 1 month ago in playlist More videos from gearmanndude
@metalhead384 Yes, they can. own a few mxr pedals including the +
jthefreeker 4 weeks ago
Did you kill an animal to get your boots?
CornelioRhodas 2 months ago
I have the Distortion III... It's not a bad little box at all. Like the dude said, "you get what pay for". It's got a nice warm crackle to it, and mine was only 50 bucks used.
Issicra 3 months ago
Current Dunlop Distortion + is WAY different from the original. If you can get hold of a 1970's original you might like it - same edginess but at the same time much smoother.
SensibleMusician 4 months ago
KILLER BOOTS MAN!!
SuperChuchee 4 months ago 2
I own a bunch of MXR pedals, all three EVH pedals, 6 band eq, and also the distortion+ I wasn't very happy with the distortion+ and sold it cheap...I thought there was something wrong with it but after seeing this video I know now it's how the pedal is design.
I could run a clean signal through it cranked and once the pedal is activated the sound drops...You have to literally crank the volume all the way up to hear it and the gain cranked sounded fuzzy...
This pedal wasn't a good design
JBL8863 5 months ago
I like the III better I think..
gonya33 5 months ago
you need a clean amp a.h.
jonagoc 6 months ago
Whats the name of the song? It is not I'll Make Everythig Alright by Savoy Brown, pleas help me. =)
carlmagnus9 7 months ago
@carlmagnus9 I don't know the name of the band, but the song is a remake of "Summer Breeze" by Seals and Croft.
Issicra 5 months ago
@Issicra Thank you so much! This is a great song!
carlmagnus9 5 months ago
Distortion + makes every tube amp sound solid state.
GameJourney 7 months ago
@GameJourney yea i know it made Randy Rhoads tone sound like shit, no offence to randy he was a great guitar player but his tone was horrid
andrewvanrhoberts 7 months ago
Respond to this video... i like the yellow more because it's not that trebley and it's more of a rhoads thing
tate180 7 months ago
@MorkaGraven hey, it'd probably be best if you bought a metal muff from EHX. that's my favorite metal tone, but hey i'm really not all that much of metal guy. ehx makes good shit though.
imacoolkid613 8 months ago
it'd probably be better if you didn't use the coily cable. It adds alot of resistance
imacoolkid613 8 months ago
@imacoolkid613 Will the distortion 3 give my Marshall dsl 401 combo a bit of boost in the overdrive channel for solo's - I need a boost as well as a little more sustain
gravano2 8 months ago
are you allowed to say DIRT BOX without laughing .. or have you been to special training classes in off hand comments designed to make the English spill their tea ?as usual a great demo even though i'm sure now after listening to it that O/D is more for me :D AND WHO THE FUCK IS JACK BLACK
winceyV1 9 months ago
this is not jack black idont think that jack black would ever wear cowboy boots!
kakabulle243 9 months ago
I'm wanting something to greatly improve my 10 watt practice amp for black metal type tones. I found a used MXR Distortion + on an online auction. does this cater for such extreme levels of distortion or should I just continue running the high gain output on the amp through my stereo?
MorkaGraven 9 months ago
@MorkaGraven Well, for your practice amp, you can find a pedal with a lot of low end and gain.
zabimaru1000 9 months ago
This would be far more helpful if he used an amp with 12" speakers with a clean tone. Hearing how these pedals operate as overdrives isn't quite as helpful as it would be if they both were balls out. That's how Distortion + pedals are best used... balls out. Using a guitar wih a humbucker would have helped too. Too much twang going on with the 10" speakers and the telecaster.
mattsmith0209 9 months ago
it's not Jack Black. do some more research. but those are nifty boots!!!
beeeastmaster 9 months ago
For one thing, Jack Black always uses these DrZ whatever unavailable amps and relic tele's etc..how about using these pedals like they were meant to--over a slightly overdriven marshall or even a Fender deluxe. You know..something mosty people have actually played?
tjdxn0 9 months ago
I like distortion3.
maryu0115 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
distortion + mxr rocks
masej1 10 months ago
That's a gnarly soundin amp you got there.
sammyshack2006 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Im trying to get a randy rhoads tone..i have a vox ac15 and im using a ocd v4...with the ocd on it sounds like a plexi or even a jcm 800..would you suggest me getting a distortion plus to push the sound to make it sound like randy rhoads?
varone6t9 11 months ago
i was looking at mxr dist. video and thought hmm maybe gearmandude dide on and checked the related vids and clicked right away
huyiy 11 months ago
he calls em dirt boxes cuz they sound like dirt
cousinbros 11 months ago
Could you demo some of these distortion and overdrive pedals through Marshalls and with no reverb on?
electrickithara 1 year ago
I need help. Which is better Behringer FD300 or MXR Distortion +?
96lolstar 1 year ago
@96lolstar distortion + mxr rocks
devoice 1 year ago
@96lolstar MXR. Behringer=Chinese Joonk
moucon 10 months ago
@moucon Yeah
96lolstar 10 months ago
@moucon Joonk?
minedarea 9 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Jesus Christ....who taught you how to DEMO?? CLEAN CHANNEL, YOU NUMBSKULL! And, READ your comments! You obviously should quit playing guitar. You have no idea what the fuck you're doing!
And, your snakeskin boot are REALLY gay!
artgonewrong 1 year ago
@artgonewrong dude, this guy is jack black cant you hear that?
jimmyboo5 1 year ago 32
@artgonewrong
and you are stupid!
SlashLivesForever 1 year ago 20
bad, very bad...
samguitarman 1 year ago
Pésimo sonido del amplificador, así no tiene validez esta evaluación de pedales.
guillerob99 1 year ago
sweet kicks dude! regardless ;)
921musicman 1 year ago
'Which may not be good for this demo'...
Simple solution: Turn the camera off, turn down the fucking preamp volume and start again.
gingersteve 1 year ago
I guess I don't see the purpose in doing a dirt box demo with the dirty channel on... kind of ruins any sense of how the pedal actually sounds...
westpsmity 1 year ago 2
DS1 > all distortions :)
Focus923 1 year ago
@Focus923 HA!
westpsmity 1 year ago
pair up the dist plus with the boss ge7 and its killer!!
angrytroll27 1 year ago
The III sounds the best to me.
electrickithara 1 year ago
I'm not usually one to gripe, but damn, dude..... You really missed the whole point of demo'ing these two. I mean, the camera-mic doesn't exactly help things (and I understand), but you have a beautiful '59 Les Paul reissue sitting there (which would sound great with the Distortion + into a clean, medium-sized Fender), and you go and plug a Tele into an small, overdriven amp. I'm surprised it wasn't clipping (Well, more than it should). Play some Ozzy or Van Halen. That pedal requires passion.
gangtwanger 1 year ago
Have to say I wasn't happy with this video either. I mean, a Tele into a distorted amp? Kinda' missing the point of this thing, aren't we? The Distortion + pedal is perfect for a Les Paul-type into a clean amp. Great with my Les Paulie thing and Hot Rod Dlx amp. I have an early block-logo from around '79-81. Looks hand-wired . Killer sound. Smooth, but not Tubescreamey. Overdriven Marshall in a box. Great for classic rock, VH-type stuff, early to late '80's hard rock. Reissue's got more gain.
gangtwanger 1 year ago
the tune at the begining is summer breeze by seals&croft.
tube121863 1 year ago
MXR Distortion III Rocks!!!!
Even like booster...
Bertinlag 1 year ago
distortion+ is better.
iamstupidhahaha1 1 year ago
These two sound terrible. I've never seen a demo od Distortion + that sounded good. But I once build a clone . And it is great(with germanium and led diodes) with clean and distorted amp.
przecpany 1 year ago
What is the song during the intro?
AhmadHassanMusic 1 year ago
Thanks for the demo. I agree with tony 93666. People who ignore how to use this kind of distortion pedal, should kindly ask instead of criticizing what they don't know. At the time the MXR distortion+ was released, no amp sounded clean at reasonable levels. Using a clean amp would be more unbiased (but not much more) and would ensure that it sounds awful enough to defeat the purpose of a demo. If your amp does a beautiful crunch sound, it will sound great with any of these.
eahurtad80 1 year ago
Thanks for the demo. I agree with tony 93666. People who ignore how to use this kind of distortion pedal, should kindly ask instead of criticizing what they don't know. At the time the MXR distortion+ was released, no amp sounded clean at reasonable levels. Using a clean amp would be more unbiased (but not much more) and would ensure that it sounds awful enough to defeat the purpose of a demo. If your amp does a beautiful crunch sound, it will sound great with any of these.
eahurtad80 1 year ago
who can tell me what's name of the sound at beginning of this video
thanks
johnzhangning630 1 year ago
This guy sounds just like Christian Slater.
SkalliPopp 1 year ago
What the hell are you guys talking about. Most rock artists use saturated tube amps for their distortion, and use little pedals like those to "color" the tone. Why use a cheap little pedal over a clean amp if you can get and awesome crunchy tube amp and use pedals for some added boost? These pedals were not made for people with cheap ass solid state amps for god's sake.
mindflashbr 1 year ago
The Distortion III sounds much better on a totally clean amp.
intervalkid 1 year ago
both are nasty..........check out my 'breadboarded 2 knob distortion project.'...it pisses over these....i got fed up with so called distortions that are really overdrives..not enough gain etc....so i designed and made my own.. :)
100roberthenry 1 year ago
The III is definitely smoother but would it be so smooth if the positions in the chain were reversed. I know in my experience with pedal order that some pedals just don't play nice with other pedals and the various buffering that takes place. I'd dig seeing a demo with the Dist III seeing the signal from a humbucker first then into the Plus. Single coils pups are weak and and by the time you push 90mV through 20' of coily cable the umpf is virtually gone. Why coily cable? Just curious...
AceOfHeart2012 1 year ago
Summer breeeeeze, driftin' on byyyyyyyyy
arbitermatt 1 year ago
Sigh... how about trying them on a clean amp? Your amp is crap!
swanky23 1 year ago
I own a real collection of boutique pedals but I can't sell what I had before. I have the MXR Distortion III and wanna say it's one of the best cheap distotions on the market.
Highly better than Boss, Digitech, Danelectro, Rocktron...
jp6l6 1 year ago
I heard the distorition plus sound pretty nice in the past but they sound like shit here, maybe the older usa made ones sound better?
kaycikissable 1 year ago
Is the Distorion + good for Van Halen?
Gibson735150 1 year ago
@Gibson735150 Eddie never used distortion pedals but i guess it would be okay
guitarmessiah95 1 year ago
@guitarmessiah95 Yeah, I know, but I desperately need to use my MXR Micro Amp, and my amp doesn't have a FX loop, so I need to get a distortion pedal, that sounds a bit like Eddies tone... But thanks anyway
Gibson735150 1 year ago
All these reviewers ALWAYS play a very different type of music from what I play, so it's really impossible to determine anything from these reviews. I wish they could play different styles of music in these reviews. And always the same style of chording and same licks and... bah.
Neither of these sounded very nice to me in this video.
amirgattami 1 year ago
This demo does in fact suck.
infraredzero 1 year ago
jack black!!
Juansamisterica 1 year ago
How do you do that spacey sound effect at 4.08?
nedgey 1 year ago
@nedgey hes scratching the strings with his pick
YourNameHere136 1 year ago
WHY THE FUCK DOES NOBODY HAS A CLEAN AMP WHILE USING THIS? shit it's pissing me off
xX0Jota0Xx 1 year ago
I run a distortion + thru my 70's kustom head, and I love it, works tits with either single coil, or humbucker! I play 70's rock i.e. Cheap Trick, Kiss, and so forth!
corpselikeangel 1 year ago
the videos helped me decide to get the boss metal zone rather than the electro harmonix metal muff with top boost hard decision but i coulndt find good videos on the metal muff and i could with the boss metal zone happy with what i got look into it if your having trouble choosing pedals
severia123 1 year ago
@severia123 Wow you passed on the Metal Muff with top boost and bought a Boss metal Zone...
I guess if your looking for the nasal sounding metal the Boss is the way to go...The M.M. top boost has so much more color but it's not for everyone...There are very good videos on Youtube showing them both...
I just got the MXR distortion + for playing RR stuff....Every pedal has a purpose until I can afford a single Fractal Axe-FX ultra which is the best effects processor on the planet...
reditreefrogs 1 year ago
@reditreefrogs i really like the metal zone it was the one pedal i could find good videos about and like the sound it preduced in the end it is all about personal opinoin thou i do like this mxr pedal thou
severia123 1 year ago
if your looking for distortion and good videos of ppl using them look no further than boss pedals and go to BOSSchannel they demo most of their pedals there just type in a boss pedal such as the boss metal zone it should be the second or third down it will say MT-2 metal zone [ boss sound check] they have the best demos you can find on youtube and just amazing pedals look into it if your looking for good distortion pedals and good demos to help you decide what to get
severia123 1 year ago
I like MXR for their phase but not this...The best sounding distortion I've come across is a metal muff with top boost....amazing sound and color because it includes high medium and low color...
It's already been said these pedals may have shined a little better had the amp not already been dirty before using them...
reditreefrogs 1 year ago
The "Classic Distortion" doesn't sound this fuzzy, and the Distortion III is supposed to be the same pedal. Must be a head room issue with the way the amp is adjusted.
StanErhart 1 year ago
nice intro music
serve4life 1 year ago
wotz da biginnin song
ChrisONGuitar1 1 year ago
Lovin' the snake skin boots!
rooflee 1 year ago
well you're right, the demo did kinda suck. It's because we can't get a good sense of the TONE because of the DRIVE already on the AMP. Pick something with higher wattage so you don't have to push the tubes, or close mic it so you can roll down the master gain. regardless, did give a good sense of the output differences...
ripstick91 1 year ago
I love my Distortion +
CaldaroneRyan 1 year ago
i think the distortion 3 is heavier which i like alot!!! but really i like it w/o any of the pedals. it sounds nice w/o 'em.
jarredgamarra28 1 year ago
whats the difference? which one is heavier?
II6bulletII 1 year ago
Nice Demo
Lol always funny to watch two adults behaving like peeps of my age :D
Rockinrub 1 year ago
the dist.III works like a high gain OD imo.
tricuspid 1 year ago
OMG lol that is JACK BLACK!!!
devoice 1 year ago
The great Louis Shelton - Summer Breeze. Probably the reason I bought a Dist+ to start with in 1980.
moucon 1 year ago
Distortion + - has a classic vintage sounding sizzle and breakdown sound to it
Distortion 3 - smoother, brighter, warmer, very modern sounding
Ncuab 1 year ago
Wait what's that white cable called I want one!
blackpleg28 1 year ago
distortion 3 ftw
broBERRRY 1 year ago
MXR Distortion + Worst Distortion Pedal Ever!!! PLEASE DISCONTINUE IT!!! 35 YEARS OF SHITTY SOUND AREN'T ENOUGH MXR?
molsuzero 1 year ago
@molsuzero Epic fail dude - UR so wrong.
moucon 1 year ago
@moucon or maybe UR so poor to buy a good overdrive pedal, I'm talking about distortion + reissue, it sucks, the original script logo distortion + was a very useful pedal, test 20 overdrive pedals and then tell me dude... The worst will be Distortion plus for sure.
molsuzero 1 year ago
@molsuzero are you nuts? Randy Rhoads put this pedal to work and made the world's most sought after guitar tone. Its the most versatile pedal and the best sounding, its the crowning jewel of my pedalboard.
pinkypimpalicous 1 year ago
@pinkypimpalicous, Jewel of you pedalboard?!... haha, If you think that Randy sounded good thanks to the crappy distortion + box you are a nerd, maybe you work for Jim Dunlop.. Randy used outstanding guitars and Marshall Amplifiers, original distortion + is a good pedal but made nothing for better of for worse, give him a tubescreamer to push the amp and would be the same.
molsuzero 1 year ago
@molsuzero @molsuzero I am a nerd? I work for Jim Dunlop? First, nerds bury themselves in books and study all the time, I havent read a book in years. Second, I work for Jim Dunlop? I wish I did. Outstanding guitars? His guitars were simple Gibson Les Pauls and Jacksons, and a moded Marshall amp, but the MXR gives it the extra kick it needs. Do you know anything about guitars and effects or are you just an ignorant kid wanting to pick a fight?
pinkypimpalicous 1 year ago
@pinkypimpalicous I'm an instrument and gear seller fucking old stupid jerk, I know more 'bout guitars, basses and analog effects than you'll ever know in your entire fucking life, simple Gibson Les Pauls? haha, In my opinion Gibson Les Pauls are the best instruments ever made
molsuzero 1 year ago
@molsuzero Ok, Les Pauls are great, I will give you that. I own one like I said. But how are you going to come online, where everyone is anonymous, and tell me you know more about effects, amps, etc than do? How do you know I am not a grouchy 70 year old man that has dedicated his entire life to this and I build effects? Way to stereotype.
pinkypimpalicous 1 year ago
@pinkypimpalicous I own two Customs, '82, '90, one '56 Goldtop Reissue and many others Gibsons too, so shut up your mouth and begin reading a book donkey, you're needing it.- MXR Distortion plus reissue is the biggest shit ever made. Any other 30 bucks overdrive pedal can do a better job, No doubt about it.
molsuzero 1 year ago
@molsuzero You own a gold top remake, I own an original 70s Gold Top Les Paul along with a Les Paul Studio. Hows that? You portray me as a noob that doesnt know his ass from his elbow, when you really dont know a thing about me and shouldnt try to pass yourself off as the God of the guitar world. Makes ya look silly.
pinkypimpalicous 1 year ago
@pinkypimpalicous Ok old guy, you win, I'll send you a brand new dist + in Xmas, you'll enjoy it :)
molsuzero 1 year ago
@molsuzero Gee, thanks Yogi.
pinkypimpalicous 1 year ago
those pedals sound like garbage in this demo. im surprised bc in other video's they sound pretty good.
jokersmile32 1 year ago
@jokersmile32 , yes , i m think too, you right
martyfridman 1 year ago
Gear Man Dude -- have to tell you that your shootouts have been really useful for me to help try and figure out what works for me (as best as you can through computer speakers). I even like the guest appearances by your cat :-) Seriously though; your OCD shootouts and others have been great man. Thanks for going to the trouble of posting all of these shootouts.
eric mattei
ericenricomattei 1 year ago
Nice boots, Tex. That's some demo you have here. I'm glad we can also enjoy the distortion of your mic peaking along with the pedal AND amp distortion. I guess could be considered 3 stage distortion. I guess it's off to the guitar shop to see what these pedals ACTUALLY sound like. Way to go.
Proud2playitloud 1 year ago
ALLLLLLLLLLL ABOARDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!
come on man u at leat needed to play sumpdin form randy
daredeviltj1 1 year ago
What's the name of the song in the beginning ?
Bervoment 1 year ago
@Bervoment Summer Breeze - Seals and Croft... as played by the great Louis Shelton. (also played on lots of Carpenter records... listen to the great solo on "Goodbye to Love" . One of the greatest session guys who ever lived. I have a lot of F'ed up albums in my collection just to hear Louis.
moucon 1 year ago
Horrible MID-RANGE sounds on the amp from hell...A million angry bees flying out of a 100 tall AM RADIO on fire !
WyldeMagiK 1 year ago 4
nope...........neither!............
100roberthenry 1 year ago
on here they sound more like overdrive pedals instead of distortion
joshmrtn10 1 year ago
@joshmrtn10 Technically, the Distortion+ IS overdrive because it uses soft clipping. Not sure what the Distortion III uses.
ctawesome 1 year ago
I think both of them sound like shit the way you have the amp set up. However, I have owned both of them at one time or another and I like both of them with a clean amp. Actually later on here you get a better tone out of the Distortion 3.
DJSoulVOX 1 year ago 10
i like to use the distortion plus to add more distorion on to my amp for wen i play rythms or leads or solos, but thats it. if i want just a plain distortion that sounds better by itself-meaning the amp is clean- then i wud use the 3
sixxroxx666 2 years ago
I have not seen a single MXR distortion test with a clean amp sound and its pissing me off because my amp has terrible distortion, so I don't use it. So how am I supposed to know what this thing sounds like?
iscareuiknowit 2 years ago 31
@iscareuiknowit the dist 3 is quite good on a clean, but i'm building a pedal based on a dist + which will become my main one.
JoeyR96 1 year ago
@iscare iknowit That's because the MXR distortion + pedal only adds to an already distorted amp sound...
I own this pedal and it's not a stand alone pedal at all...I use a 150 watt tube head plexi clone and I own a bunch of distortion pedals. This one is a huge disappointment after using it.
This is why you can't find a single video without a clean sounding amp before using it. The pedal actually lessons the sound rather than amping it.
reditreefrogs 1 year ago
@reditreefrogs Thats because this is a distortion pedal, not a boost or an overdrive. I see people use distortion pedal as boosts all the time and it sounds terrible.
iscareuiknowit 1 year ago
@iscareuiknowit Do you own this pedal? I do....This pedal is nothing more than an overdrive signal and past 2;00 or full bore it turns the sound fuzzy.
MXR WEB-SITE explains this was the sound charactoristic they were going for making this reissue..
This pedal shouldn't be called a distortion pedal but it is....It's tone is more of a tube saturation rather than break-up distortion.
reditreefrogs 1 year ago
@reditreefrogs I don't own one, but I tried my friends out, and I tried one at a guitar center through multiple amps. and to my ears, its a crap distortion by itself and boosting an amp its okay, but I much prefer an overdrive like a tube screamer. These remind me a lot of the DS-1's and I don't care for them. but some people really get off on that tone.
iscareuiknowit 1 year ago
@iscareuiknowit Hi pal. I bought a MXR pedal, and my amp distorition also sounds like poop. But the pedal solved the problem. Of course I don't have all the subtles and nuances of the sound of a Marshall, but it gets real close. Now I can't blame my equipment for not sounding like my idols hahaha.
feliperippel 1 year ago
@feliperippel I own a Electro Harmonix English Muff'n I found at a real promotion price. I can ensure you it sounds like a Marshall JTM 45. It's very amazing. When I mix its saturation with a very light crunch coming from my amp, It's exactly the fat ZZ TOP sound.
jp6l6 1 year ago
@iscareuiknowit Totally agree with you. The whole point of a pedal is to drive a clean amp, not an overdriven amp. I don't get it either. Useless demo.
AxekickerDotCom 1 year ago
@AxekickerDotCom - you obviously don't know crap about how things were done 'back in the day'... old tube amps didn't have the crunch that today's amps have(or master volume knobs either), so you'd crank your amp LOUD and use pedals like this to PUSH em into that crunch. With today's high gain amps, you really don't need pedals like this... not so back in the day.
tony93666 1 year ago
@tony93666 What are you talking about. You're responding to the wrong comment. You're supposed to test a box through a clean amp, genius.
AxekickerDotCom 1 year ago
@AxekickerDotCom - he's not 'testing' em, he's doing a demo - and he's doing it how they were designed to be used, which you have once again demonstrated you don't know what you're talking about. Now, if this were a BOSS Metal Zone or something, yeah, you'd run it thru a clean amp...
Not knowing something is perfectly okay - not knowing but THINKING/ACTING/TALKING like you do, well, that's just fucking stupid. Thanks for playing.
tony93666 1 year ago
@tony93666 Dude, when you do such demos, it's best to hear the pedal against clean. Sure, you could add a distortion + to a f---ing Rectifier if you wanted to, but so what?? I It makes more sense to hear it against clean, so you really sense how much distortion is being added to the BASIC tone. I'm not the only one who thinks this. I guess all the other commenters are wrong except you.
AxekickerDotCom 1 year ago
@iscareuiknowit Honestly, I know some people who use clean amp and distortion boxes. Most of the time, it sounds like shit and kills my ears with the nastiness in the higher frequencies. It sounds way too much solid state and bad. I'd always go for a very good tube amp with good dirty channels instead of any of the distortion pedals.
dante4d 1 year ago
@dante4d I use my small Class A amp with a Boss DS-1. What I do is that I turn the Level and the Tone knob to zero and the Distortion all the way up. Then I get a low volume, compressed, fairly distorted sound without all the aching high frequencies. Then I start turning up the volume on the amp. The more volume the more muscle and mid-range I will get as the amp starts adding its own saturation. It's a sort of OD/Dist mixed sound, I love it. The only problem is when I want to switch to clean.
GeeFunk84 1 year ago
@iscareuiknowit You should try Proguitarshops demos, they all start out clean, and in some vidos he both deonstrates Strats and Gibsons...
metallifreak1 1 year ago
distortion III wins.
clehneis 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
They are both shit without a 10 band eq. I am renting the red one and it's okay for overdrive but for distortion don't buy it, get a metal muff.
asda6572 2 years ago
@asda6572 Maybe you should have done your homework before renting it and expecting Pantera tones. It's pretty well know the D3 is an overdrive, despite the name.
And wtf is that dumb shit about a 10-band EQ? Might as well say a Fuzz Face is useless without a '68 Marshall 4x12 half stack...
tcinpa37 2 years ago 3
What i mean is that if you want to get more gain out of the pedal and maybe shape the tone to a more metal sound you'll need the 10 band EQ.
asda6572 2 years ago
Why would you want to shape the sound to a metal sound? That's like saying a Plexi lacks gain. Totally missed the point of this pedal. It's about tone not metal.
BluPup8 2 years ago 4
I would have liked to hear these into a clean amp too...
eragoncp14 2 years ago
The tube amp sounds good as it is with overdrive.
err0r49 2 years ago 2
Suitable hammering blows will fix both of them right up.....buy the hardwire TL-2
emeraldstudio 2 years ago
and good demo dude who sounds just like jack black are you jack black
listentolisten 2 years ago
that distoriton III is seriously awsome i'm so gettin it
listentolisten 2 years ago
is this jack black!
stantonshred 2 years ago 3
@stantonshred
haha he does sound a lot like him
CheGarciaCI 2 years ago
oh my god...really sounds like Jack Black!
AEnimic461 2 years ago
what song is in the intro? pls reply
Mastahboys 2 years ago
@Mastahboys
seals and croft - summer breeze
skitheport 2 years ago
I have an MXR Distortion + running into a vintage Marshall JMP MKII 50 Watt Head. I am trying to get a Rhoads sound out of out and I admit, I honestly think the Distortion III would accomplish the sound better.
pinkypimpalicous 2 years ago 2
You need a vintage distortion + for Rhoads stuff...I've seen some go for about $90
Ilovemyfender2 2 years ago
slayed the market with quality!! lol
mudhooker 2 years ago
jack black?...how ya doing man!
disposablemonster 2 years ago
what is that intro music?
bulenterdem1977 2 years ago 3
seals and croft - Summer Breeze.
moucon 2 years ago
thank you moucon, really appreciated!
bulenterdem1977 2 years ago
i think the distortion + gives a bit too much of the effect. the distortion 3 is for me!
therocker03 2 years ago
i can't choose between the boss ds-2, MD-2 or this one. I play alot of classic rock and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Nimrod9458 2 years ago
DS2... I have it and it is amazing.. it is the one frusciante (however you spell that) uses and I guarantee it's great... on mode 2, the tone at 11 o clock and the dist at 3 o clock you will get that RHCP you want... more that this MXR
rodrigozamo 2 years ago
ohh thx man!
BTW You spelled Frusciante right!
:D
Nimrod9458 2 years ago
I am actually selling mine jaja... not that I don't like it (I love it) but it's just not the tone I want... if you were in mexico I could sell it to you jaja
rodrigozamo 2 years ago
ok.
i thought u lived in Colombia....
:D
Nimrod9458 2 years ago
my story is basically... I am mexican, lived in colombia 8 years adn now I'm back to mexico... and I'm too lazy to change the country jaja... plus I've been living in mexico again for.... 4 weeks now jaja
rodrigozamo 2 years ago
well i think your boots are pretty cool
topdog2328 2 years ago 3
Hello. i am looking for a distortion/overdrive pedal, witch one wil you recomend please help. i am playing on an Epiphone LP Custom, and i play AC/DC, Ozzy osbourne, Slash, Iron Maiden an a little bit Metallica. Pleas help :D
Runelaier 2 years ago
i think the distortion + captures more of the ac/dc and ozzy osbourne....i think randy rhoads from ozzy actually used the distortion +
Kevman3322 2 years ago
will it be good if i boost up the distortion 3 with a luther?
jsycorp 2 years ago
Comment removed
lidesnowi 2 years ago
it's got to be black
thisnamebetter 2 years ago 3
This has been flagged as spam show
Jack Black ???
666patrickbateman666 2 years ago 15
hahahahahahahaha.....
eragoncp14 2 years ago
distortion 3 kick's ass
paumc33 2 years ago 2