Distortion pedal + Mark III

Just curious what distortion pedal you like to use with your mark III, and why..

I don't use a pedal for distortion myself. I rarely have the gain above 7 to get more than enough distortion and that has a lot more to do with the tubes and guitar than anything else. My Mark lll is a very early one, supposedly one of the lowest gain Mark lll models and I use it for Metallica, Slayer, Pantera covers with amazing results. If you are looking to get other tones, a BOSS metal-zone would sound completely different in channel 1 or 2 than the Mk lll 3rd channel giving you a variety of super heavy tones. Rocktron Rampage was always one of my favorite stomps. You'll find many people like to drive the line with a boost pedal like a tube screamer or Maxon 808 or a klon and I've used a MXR micro-amp in the loop for more volume of channel 3 without extra distortion. I did try a tube screamer a couple of weeks ago with my Mark llB and didn't like the way it loaded up the signal but it did make my wah-wah pedal happier. Every pedal sucks a little tone/narrows the frequency, so the fewer pedals the more raw and awesome the bite and attack are.

My mark III is my favorite pedal amp. probably because of the GEQ. I use a variety of pedals for mid and low gain crunch tones since R2 is worthless (without modding your amp)in a live setting. I use an OCD right now but I sometimes use a Barber DDLG, OD808, TS9, SD1, Timmy, Rat and what ever flavor of the week pedal I own. For high gain nothing beats the amps lead ch IMO. But Im a big fan of a low gain OD to make the amp a working 3 ch amp. I was in a band where I was using a lot of fuzz with the Mark III and it also worked great on R1. Usually with a microamp in front of the fuzz. My main fuzz is a modded BM but I have a collection of boutique fuzz pedals too.

The trick I find to using a pedal on R1 is finding a pedal with a good tone control so you can control the high end - especially with single coils. So I mod a lot of my pedals for that reason.

Markedman said:

...many people like to drive the line with a boost pedal like a tube screamer or Maxon 808 or a klon...

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I fall into this group. EP Booster / Keeley TS-9 / Lovepedal Kalamazoo / OCD / DS-1 / germanium and silicon fuzzes all work well with CH1 and CH2 but not Ch3, IMO. But ch3 doesn't need any help in that department anyway. Metal is not my genre but with an EQ shift and a goose-up on the gain would get there. Very flexible.

I've had great results with my Barber Burn Unit EQ. Highly recommended for all three channels.

I think the Lead channel of the MkIII is absolute perfection with no add-ons, so my "distortion pedal" is the master volume! I dig R2 for what it is also, although of course the bane of the MkIII's existence is not being easy to balance all 3 channels at once live. So a MXR 10-band EQ with minimal EQing but a slight gain boost does the trick.

I giggled when I saw this post because I just spent a few hours the other night shoving a few dirt boxes through my blue stripe, and was totally shocked at HOW AWESOME my germanium fuzzface clone sounded through R1 and R2. Prior to this, I would have placed money on it sounding like a swarm of bees. I also tested a ProCo Rat and a few home built overdrive/boosts that crunch up, but without the TS-9 mid honk. On all accounts, the tones were alarmingly organic sounding.

Just a final note, because it was brought up in one of the previous replies...for those of you looking to tighten up the lead channel, try an EQ pedal out front instead of a TS style pedal. Pull the bass freqs down a bit and pop the mids and highs up a bit. It provides a much more natural tightening effect, while preserving the amp and guitar tonal characteristics. I hate tube screamers, especially for tightening high gain...there is no faster way to make your $2000 rig sound like a honky $50 digital simulation, IMO.

I hate tube screamers, especially for tightening high gain...there is no faster way to make your $2000 rig sound like a honky $50 digital simulation, IMO.

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+1! Then again, I've actually heard people say Hendrix wasn't the best. I hate tube screamers.