DISTORTION FOR DAYS!

Distortion? We all want it, and many players just can’t live without it. In this golden age of stompboxes – with all kinds of small-scale boutique FX manufacturers trading blows with industry titans such as MXR, TC Electronic and Boss – there’s never been a better time to find the best distortion pedal to turn your pristine cleans into dirt. Here we have some hardy perennials and some ubiquitous picks from the big players, but then we’ve also got an oddball gain machine from EarthQuaker Devices with one knob and that’s that.

Any one of these pedals will turn a clean guitar amp into a fire-breathing monster, so if that tweed combo isn’t cutting it for your doom-metal band, boy, have you come to the right place. Each of these distortion pedals is designed to weaponise your guitar tone, so whether you’re looking for the best distortion pedal for metal, rock or beyond, we’ve hunted down the best options for you.

WHAT IS DISTORTION?

So, let’s talk about what we mean by distortion, and how