MXR Classic Distortion/Distortion III...

[schenkadere]

Does anyone else love this thing as much as me?

The more I use it the better I find it. To me, it's in the same realm as a TS, but without all the negative aspects such as bass loss and the nasal quality...plus it's got more gain in the tank.

I'm running mine with the gain at 10 o'clock...adjusting my guitar volume to suit the need...and then hitting it with a clean boost when I want to kick it up a notch.

I find it much more versatile than a TS style yet still in the family. Love it!!!...and only 25 bucks new!...what an amazing value.

[Chiogtr4x]

^^ Now mine was modded to make it brighter, but I love it!-

I call it my "Layla" pedal as it gives me a real pissed-off 'Derek and the Dominos' tone to my Strat into my Deluxe Reverb- when Clapton would ride that line between clean and dirty and get a real growl. This pedal (now) has a bit of bass cut, but not the 'mid-hump' so it is very "open" for lack of a better word. Sounds like a cranked Fender, but at controllable volume. Funny how when I play this pedal at home with the Gain all the way up, it will sound pretty distorted and aggressive, but at a gig it just sings with a pretty clean tone, in the mix w/band.

[Thighbanez]

This pedal does almost everything I need. I can crank it and get close to 80's metal tones or dial the gain back and get great OD breakup that is touch sensitive.

Very versatile pedal. I haven't found one in my searches that has been able to kick it off my board. It's also highly modifiable too! I have modded mine extensively.

[Bob Arbogast]

I picked up a Classic Distortion a while back. Found it okay. I did some mods to it: reduced the available gain significantly, swapped some caps to increase highs and lows. Then I didn't do much with it. Plugged it in today for the first time in a couple of months. Wow! It's a classic rock monster!

Bob Arbogast

[kedj11]

I personally was tremendously disappointed by the Distortion 3, didn't care for the Distortion 2 either when I had one back in the day, but that's probably because my first pedal ever and my consistent goto distortion pedal was and is a Distortion +. INHO, not only is the Distortion + the greatest distortion pedal of all time it is also one of the UNIQUEST too, cause nothing else comes close to having that thing double dimed through a slightly overdriven tube amp. I do happen to like MXR's Classic Overdrive but only very conservatively set for slight breakup into a clean tube amp channel. I picked my Classic Overdrive at GC a couple of years back for about $25-30 which is I think I remember paying for my Block Logo Distortion Plus at the Hollywood GC back in '79.

[schenkadere]

Yeah...it's kinda dark...not for everyone...to each his own...the Dist + is like a buzzsaw to my ears...never liked it even back in the day. I prefer warm, smooth dirt.

[clapointe]

Classic Overdrive and the Classic Distortion pedals are keepers !

[RaistMagus]

How do these pedals mentioned here compare to the MXR GT-OD?

[Che_Guitarra]

DIII vs GT-OD? I have both.

In different amps they pull different responses, but generalizing i'd say the GT-OD rounds out the tone when you wind the dials for boost. It's a great thickener/booster and adds a smooth crunch to the signal. The DIII thickens the tone too, but the signal through the box is much sharper and the mids are slightly scooped in comparison. Dime the controls and it'll take you from blues rock to hard rock / heavy metal territory (well, as heavy as it got in the 80s/90s). The GT-OD is a bluesy rocker pedal at best... unless you plan to use it as a solo boost pedal in an already hi-gain signal chain.

For mine, the GT-OD sounds best with a slightly dirty amp. The DIII will work with a clean amp or something a dirtier. For this reason I think if I could only keep one it'd be the DIII... but that said I think they cover different territory - enough so that I don't plan on selling either.

[RaistMagus]

I found the GT-OD to have an annoying artificial quality in it's sound. Allthough I liked it's crunch, and it did stck well with other ods, it started piercing my ears after 5 -10 minutes or so, so I sold it. Plus its buffer was crap and when off it degraded the guitar signal way too much for my taste.

So if the Classic Distortion/III has the same aforementioned qualities (same bad buffer, same artificial sound) then, to answer the OP, I'd say I don't love these pedals at all.

[schenkadere]

I didn't like the Classic OD and to be honest, I no longer use or have the Classic Dist., but I also didn't experience what you mention.

[Chiogtr4x]

Originally Posted by RaistMagus

How do these pedals mentioned here compare to the MXR GT-OD?

OK: A few years ago, MXR made cheaper build and price versions of some of their regular dirt pedals, for Guitar Center distributuion only (they bring these back from time to time) $30 or $40 for either depending on GC Sales going on...

The GC/MXR Classic Overdrive is the cheap version of either the MXR GT-OD or the Zak Wylde OD- it can sounfd like either of these two pedals, depending upon how an internal switch is set. The pedal is close to a 'Tube Screamer meets Boss SD-1' in design

The GC/MXR Classic Distortion- is the cheaper variant of the MXR Distortion III