Well, it’s been months in the making, but it’s finally here – the Ultimate Distortion Pedal Shootout! With more than double the amount of pedals we had in our first shootout (The Ultimate Overdrive Shootout), we put 68 pedals to the test in 2 categories (Rock and Metal), everything from classic stompboxes to new boutique brands to small companies and one-person garage builders. It’s also an interactive format, thanks to YouTube’s clickable annotations – just click on the picture of the pedal in the onscreen menu, and you will be instantly transported to the part of the video where you can hear that pedal. Want to compare 2 pedals? Click one, then click the other. Go back and forth until you’ve decided which you like better!

I tried making the very first sound you hear a representation of what the pedal sounds like in its ideal state, with the settings I would actually use, so that when you click, you hear a pretty good idea of what it sounds like right away. We might not agree on what sounds best, so I went through a whole slew of settings over the 3 or so minutes of each pedal’s demonstration, so if you don’t hear something you like, watch a bit and you might get a better idea.

Hopefully this helps you to find the ideal pedal for your metal and rock needs – happy hunting! Links to each pedal can be found below.

Metal

Rock

Metal Shootout Pedal Links

ADA MP-1 Preamp – Buy Here

Aleks K Hot Ice Sweet Distortion Pedal – Buy Here

AmpTweaker Big Rock Pro – Buy Here

Amp Tweaker Fat Metal Pro – Buy Here

Amp Tweaker Tight Metal Pro – Buy Here

Anarchy Audio Reignmaker – Buy Here

Behringer Ultra Metal UM300 – Buy Here

Bomes Eletric Sir Gains a Lot – Buy Here

Boss MT-2 Metal Zone – Buy Here

Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion – Buy Here

Bright Onion Mus – Buy Here

Caline Sand Storm – Buy Here

Donner Giant Metal – Buy Here

Donner Morpher – Buy Here

Dunn Effects Black Pedal – Buy Here

Dunn Effects Redeemer – Buy Here

Dingotone Fat Dingo Distortion – Buy Here

Earthquaker Devices Acapulco Gold – Buy Here

Electro Harmonix Metal Muff – Buy Here

Electro Harmonix Pocket Metal Muff – Buy Here

Empress Effects Heavy – Buy Here

Escape Plan Pedals Dirty Old Man – Buy Here

Fuzzrocious Cat Tail – Buy Here 

Gavrilo Custom Effects – Buy Here

Hayashi Craft Porcupine 2 –Buy Here

Henretta Engineering Choad Blaster – Buy Here

Heptode Heavy Tone – Buy Here

Ibanez Super Metal Mini – Buy Here

JHS Angry Charlie – Buy Here

Mcpherson Stompboxes Rock Box – Buy Here

Morley JD10 – Buy Here

Okko Effects Dominator – Buy Here

Orange Amps Bax Bangeetar – Buy Here

Outlaw Effects Lock Stock and Barrel – Buy Here

Outlaw Effects Widow Maker – Buy Here

Oval Tone 34-Xtreme – Buy Here

Pro Co Rat – Buy Here

Rivera Amplification Metal Shaman – Buy Here

Rocktron Reaction Distortion 1 – Buy Here

Rocktron Third Angel – Buy Here

Roger That Distortion Deluxe – Buy Here

Skreddy Pedals Major Overdrive – Buy Here

Svisound Techno FU – Buy Here

TC Eletronic Dark Matter – Buy Here

Tech 21 Boost Distortion – Buy Here

Tone City Black Tea – Buy Here

Tone City Golden Plexi – Buy Here

Tone City Wild Fire – Buy Here

Tritonelab Mustang Jfet Distortion – Buy Here

Truetone Jekyll and Hyde – Buy Here

Tsakalis Audio Works Nerve – Buy Here

Two Notes Le Lead – Buy Here

VS Audio Operation Trinity – Buy Here

Rock Shootout Pedal Links

Boo Instruments O/D – Buy Here

Dr. Green The Black Death – Buy Here

Fury Club Fury 6-Six – Buy Here

Guitartech Mad Cat – Buy Here

Mojo Hand FX Bluebonnet Special – Buy Here

Moog Music Minifooger MF Drive – Buy Here

Providence Heat Blaster – Buy Here

Rodenberg Commander II – Buy Here

ScreaminFx Betrayer – Buy Here

Supro Drive – Buy Here 

Two Notes Le Crunch – Buy Here

ZenZero Red Crown – Buy Here

Zvex Effects Box of Rock – Buy Here

Special thanks to Lucas LeCompte for his help with this article.