2024 Best New Distortion Pedals of the Year

Controls - Level, Amp Voicing : EL84 > EL34 > 6L6, Drive, Mids, High, Lomids (Lo-Mids), Growl (Bass Boost), Crunch (Mid Boost). There is also and Internal TP31 switch below the MDK board / slots which allows you to set default standby status - Off to the Left, On to the Right.

Lydia Sean's Grand Classic is a fantastic execution of a great amp-like distortion - where the full experience comes in three parts - the core pedal, then the optional LPF Moogy Daughterboard, and the MXP-1 Expression pedal to control it. All those elements make it such a joyful experience - as each component is very much designed and developed to get the most out of the others. I tend to mostly stick to the Goldilocks EL34 Mode - with all the Mods activated! Sounds fantastic, but could do with a little more volume for my own preferences!

Controls - Volume, Gain, Shape, Volts (Starve), Tone, Havoc %, Bypass Footswitch, Havoc Feedback Oscillation Footswitch.

The latest and greatest version of this highly evolved Rat style circuit with very unique controls, and Feedback Oscillation. A fantastic and distinct pedal all-round.

Controls - Volume, Gain, Variac (< Classic Plexi | Instant Eddie >), Tone.

Simply my favourite EVH sounding pedal to-date - it really nails that Brown Sound superbly. Actually where my recent OneConrol Anodized Brown Distortion runs it really close, and may eventually usurp it because of its more expansive range!

Controls - PREAMP } Master (Gain), Presence ±, Volume, WoS Wall of Sound Switch, MODE : 45 / SL / MV, Bass, Middle Treble, Preamp Footswitch, VEGA TYPE ENHANCER } Level, Enhance : More Dynamic Range and Harmonics, Enhance Footswitch.

This was the last one to go in not the list - actually it hadn't been launched when I first compiled this - but it had to be in the selection as it sounds fantastic. I typically have a massive preference for Compact and Vertical 1590-BB enclosures - but for the right pedal, I am OK with accommodating the slightly wider format - this one really sounds great - Christos has done some magic on getting the Vega Diversity tone-enhancing impact to sound spot on!

Controls : Volume, Gain 1, Gain 2, Modeling (Presence), Bass, Mids, Treble, CH1/CH2 Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

I've said it before! This is one of the most insanely satisfying MIAB pedals - so easy to dial in, and so easy to get superior sounds. This one is specifically billed as a JCM800 variety - but it covers Plexi sounds easily too! One of my all-time favourite Marshalls for sure!

Controls - Dirt (Gain), Volume, Bass, Mids, Treble.

A fantastic take on the core sounds of Alice in Chains' album of the same name. Delivering fantastic high gain textures, while something about it makes it not particularly compatible with my rig and so it suffers quite a significant volume drop in my rig - which occasionally happens with certain gain pedals.

Controls - Level, Treble, Distortion, Filter A (Band-Pass), Bass, Filter B (All-Pass / Phase), Filth Footswitch (Filter), Bypass Footswitch.

Really unique and expansive Drive / Distortion pedal - which I covered back in February and intended to get fairly early on - but it never quite happened for whatever reason. These are made in small batches which get snapped up very quickly - if you check the God City website now - it says 'Sold Out' - hopefully there will be further batches, and hopefully I can find may way onto one of those!

Controls - Level, Gain, Tone, Clipping : Asymmetrical / Symmetrical, Mid Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

Brand new Rattler iteration - with additional clipping options, Mid Boost, and its own proprietary OpAmp chip. It's a slightly smoother style of rat - which goes from 1981 Inventions DRV style tones to highly textured crunched - while overall the timbre is a little smoother and more sustaining than the previous edition - it's a fairly distinct sounding Rat style distortion with plenty of variety onboard.

Controls - Volume, Mid Freq, Drive, Bass, Middle (Cut/Boost), Treble.

A quite distinct and versatile High Gain Distortion with a really cool core dense and tight distortion character. This was one of my favourite releases this year alongside all the Lichtlaerm ones. The Hard Drive really is a very distinct flavour - which you can though bend to various high gain means!

Controls - Volume, Gain, Middle & Mid Freq (Pre-Gain), Bass & Treble (Post-Gain).

And if anything - this one's even better than the Hard Drive - taking you from gorgeous mid-gain bluesy Morning Glory tones - to warm, open and singing distortion. An incredibly versatile Overdrive / Distortion with plenty of subtle nuances onboard - just a beautifully and richly textured multi-gain pedal a worthy Silver runner-up here.

Controls - Level, Rising (Silicon > LED Clipping), Gain (+68dB), Active Bass, Low End : Fat + Fuzzy / Tight, Active Treble.

Krozz Devices' Murilo has a real ear for tone - and you can always count on his effects to be the most textured and flavour-full - kind of like the JAM Pedals of Brazil! His TL072 powered extended range Rat style Distortion - totally sounds as good as it looks - giving you a range of Marshall-infused Rat Distortion sounds from White-Face Rat to Turbo Rat, and well beyond - into deep and doomy Model T and Matamp territory even. Beautiful artwork as always - here in a sort of metallic copper colourway! This pedal has literally just been launched before this article - and made the cut-off by the skin of its teeth! This is a superb fuller fat textured Marshall-esque Rat style Distortion with incredible wall of sound sustain! Quite magnificent really!

Controls - Gain I, Low Cut (Up to 1.5 kHz), Gain II, Active Bass 40-100Hz, Level, Active Treble 4kHz-10kHz, Depth, Active Lo-Mid @ 400Hz, Active Hi-Mid @ 1kHz, Presence, Gain : 1 / II Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

For a variety of reasons I was only able to get fully stuck into Lichtlaerm Audio Pedals this year, and I've been hugely impressed with the 5 I've acquired to date - including the 3 listed here - a super versatile Deep Metal Distortion, an ultimate HM-2 Heavy Metal Distortion, and an extended-range Rat Distortion. Possibly the Altar and Gehenna are my overall favourites to date. The Gehenna has such a smart interface which allows you to fully extend in every direction - tonnes of gain with grinding fully Active 4-Band EQ and Presence to deliver the maximum impact in High Gain Metal Distoriton.

Controls - Gain, Level, Low-Cut (Up to 1.5kHz), Active Low ±16dB @ 90 Hz, Mid ±16dB, Grind ±16dB (Twin Peaks @ c. 1.0kHz & 1.3kHz), Presence : Highs Shelving Filter, Gate (Key & Gate circuit), Mid-Freq : 200-700Hz, FX Loop Blend, Mode / Voicing : Modern, Louder & More Mids / HM-2 Classic, FX Loop Polarity, Send / Return Parallel FX Loop.

Surely the Ultimate Compact HM-2 take - with those 12 fully surfaced controls. This visceral grinding death metal distortion really is at the top of its game - with superior textures in every direction with copious amounts of low end and searing and cutting high end distortion.

Controls - 3-Band Active EQ ±18dB : Bass, Mids, High, Boost (+36dB & Range), Gain, Level, Range (Boost) : Mid / Treble / Full, Era : White Face > Turbo Rat, Low-Cut up to 1.5kHz, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

A great extended range rat - with distortion gain well into the High Gain Metal side of things.  One of the very finest rats with superb extension in every direction, and like the Sentimental Bob Tephra it sounds superb with the Boost engaged. As with most rat - I prefer this with LED clipping applied - for a more searing sustain!

Controls - Volume, Brilliant Gain 1, Normal Gain 2, Bass, Mid, Treb, Power Gain, Internal Amp Match Trimmer (Gain Refine).

I acquired 2 exceptional pedals from Brian Mena this year - this Hiwatt DR103 MenaWatt, and the below Wreck'T Trainwreck Express style Preamp. Both are killer rock amps, where the HiWatt was a major competitor to the Marshalls back in the 70's and 80's. The Hiwatts typically had more gain onboard and more volume - they were known for being loud and bold, with both excellent Clean and Overdrive channels. Brian has done a brilliant job in replicating that sort of Who Live in Leeds sound. A really potent distortion.

Controls are - Level, Drive, Gain, Mid, Bass, Treb, Hi-Cut, Presence, Internal Hi-Cut Trimmer Adjust, and Amp Match Dip-Switch.

And however fantastic the MenaWatt is - and it really is superb sounding - with all the amp touch sensitivity and dynamics you might want. While even more incredibly - the Wreck'T sounds even better - as a fatter and bolder plexi style amp - as if on steroids! If you want your Plexi to be punchier, bolder and bassier, then it's a Trainwreck Express that you need - and Brian makes one of the best Preamp Pedal takes on that genre - a really magnificent amp-like pedal with so much extra in reserve.

Controls - Gain (Master Volume / Gain), Fold (Wave-folding Distortion), Blend (Dry>Wet Mix), Pura (Wave-rectification Distortion), Mid Band Contour, Tone - Tilt EQ, Doom Sub Octave : Off / Sub / Blown, Envelope : Off / Dyn / Gate, Freeze Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.

This is another one that got away from - I could not quite fully justify the pricetage for my preferences. While it's a really cool combination of Synth / Digital Wave-Folding, and Wave-Rectifier style distortion - where you can apply sub octaves, and kick in further dynamic and gated envelope amplitude control. It' a really different somewhat discordant and noisy distortion - nothing like the more typical clipping types of distortion. Probably an acquired taste to a degree, but works well in a similar vein to the Gamechanger Plasma Coil - for a very different sounding distortion texture and flavour.

Controls - Drive, O.D.C. (Overdrive De-Compress), Level, Bass, Mid, Treble.

Kai Tachibana really has a magical touch with his gain pedals - imbuing them with a great degree of vibrancy and really unique breakup textures. This take on the Ibanez Mostortion is the best I've heard to date - it elevates it to a different level - it's like when you taste the very best of a particularly food category - and realise that variant tastes so much better than all the rest. He's obviously the original creator of the Nobels ODR-1 - and has further evolved that circuit for its own brand. Everything he touches is a level above!

Controls - Gain, Volume, Mid, Treble.

The biggest surprise of my recent OneControl acquisitions - this Anodized Brown is utterly magnificent - the texture is spot on, and it has more Gain and Volume onboard than the also excellent Colombo Audio Eruption - it's likely that this one will take over on that slot - one of the few times where I prefer a mini pedal for the task!

Controls - Volume, Presence, Master (Gain).

Almost as impressive as the Anodized Brown - this is another full on flavour - so much in reserve, and really superb sounding. Surely there will be a further improved 4-knob edition eventually - just for a touch more granularity - the core texture and verve is already perfect!

Controls - Volume, Distortion, Treble, Drive.

This one's not quite as impressive as the Anodized Brown or Fluorescent Orange - but the Rebel Red runs them pretty close. Based on those 80's California hot-rodded Marshall amps - for bigger and bolder flavours. It doesn't quite have as much about it as the other two mentioned, but it sounds very decent nonetheless. These three are exceptional ambassadors for the mini pedal genre!

Controls - Level, Drive, Clipping : Asymmetrical / LED, Tone, Low End, Wet/Dry Mix.

A rat-style distortion I've long wanted, while I was original trying to secure on with wood texture facia and cream colour knobs. But this Red Sparkle edition is just as apt for its 'Red Ryder' moniker. It's not quite up at the level of the Sentimental Bob Tephra, but it's very decent nonetheless!

Controls - Filter (clockwise), Bass : Turbo Bass, Neutral / Bass, Gain, Volume, Sizzle button, Pulse / Clipping : Symmetrical / Asymmetrical / LED / Ge-Mix, Pulse Off button.

One of the great extended range Rat-style distortions. Up there in the top tier of the most expansive Rat style pedals - while nothing can quite match the verve of the Sentimental Bob Tephra. The Mischief though sounds fantastic - with a really clever clipping section - and where the Ge-Mix sounds exceptional.

Controls : Sensitivity / Gate button on top edge, Master Volume, Tone, Gain, Fade-in Ramp (Sustain Offset / Pre-Delay, Effect Intensity (Small Slight > Big Huge).

A real greatest hits of a Rainger FX pedal - featuring elements of the Freakenbender, El Distorto, Break Box, and Reverb-X. A cool sustaining liquid distortion with Reverb / Chorus - very easy to deploy and with plenty of range onboard. You can play too with the Ramp / Onset of the Reverb / Chorus.

Controls - Volume, Clipping : OpAmp / Asymmetrical Silicon / Symmetrical Silicon / MOSFET / LED / Germanium, Distortion (+60dB), Boost (+40d), Filter, Octave, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

Very likely my all-time favourite Rat-style distortion - what with +60dB on the Main Distortion, with a further +30dB on the independent Boost. This is an evolved Life Pedal take on the Rat - with additional Octave Up, Clipping and Boost. This is all the visceral raspy texture of those earliest of Rats - and with so much extension on each of the dials. This wholly matches Lichtlaerm's Metal Rat credentials - and likely raised it a level or two! While the Lichtlaaerm Ritual is already perfect!

Controls - Volume, Top End : Modern / X / Vintage, Low End : Full / Tight / Medium, Gain, Destity / Core EQ : Dark / Poweramp / Bright, Gain Structure : Low / Medium / High, Gold Era Filter : 1987X / 1959SLP + High Gain / 2203 JCM800, Presence, Gain : Green / Orange / Red, Treble, Mid, Orange Saturation : ++ / 0 / +, Red Saturation : ++ / 0 / +, Bass.

I'm still kind of stunned that Mr Wu can keep improving this circuit - where we get a new iteration every couple of years where he ekes out even more wonderful tones and textures. My favourite distortion pedal, and favourite MIAB - it really sounds like all those different Eras of Marshall - and carries all the dynamics and touch-sensitivity too - with exceptional guitar volume cleanup. If you're into Marshalls - then you definitely need one of these!

Controls - Mids : Scoop / Flat, Fuzz, Volume, Tone.

A really cool sounding Tony Iommi Laney Tube Clipper era of Sabbath. March Ahlfs has gotten the texture just right here. When you think of Black Sabbath tones - you're probably considering a Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra - but where you should rather be getting this Klipper. This one hits really hard - for instant Sabbath satisfaction!

Controls - OVERDRIVE } Master (Volume), Preamp (Gain); NORMAL } Master (Volume), Preamp (Gain); UNIVERSAL } Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence, Depth (on side), Normal / Overdrive Channel Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

A neat extension to the original SLO Overdrive - which adds in the Normal Channel too - giving you the full 2-Channel action of the original amp. I really like the original SLO Overdrive, and need to decide how much I would use the Normal Channel also - and whether it's worth upgrading to the 2-Channel model.

Controls - Gain, Volume, Tone, Jali (Smooth > Rough Character), Mode : Red Hi Compression, Blue Compression, Green Rhapsody Main.

While the Tubesteader ROY is now my favourite Vox-in-a-box - the May Queen still has a couple of gears that the ROY can't quite reach - so if you want a proper Brian May searing style distortion - say the Bohemian Rhapsody solo - then the May Queen should be your weapon of choice. It has a little more sear and gain to it than the ROY does - which is every other way superb!

Controls - Gain, Volume, Tone, Jali (Smooth > Rough Character), Voicing : Red Treble Style / Blue Finger Style / Green Main (Europa!).

And so to the best ever Carlos Santana voiced pedal - for those perfect Europa lead tones. The very embodiment of Carlos's smooth liquid distortion. I have a feeling that the Aleks K Honey Moon Sweet Overdrive might be able to run it quite close, as indeed the Muir Audio Silicon Steel already can do. While the Santanbe is still my best in class!

Controls - Pre Gain [Resonance], Presence [Gate], Output, CAB : UK V30 / CA V30 / White 75, Mode : [ALT] / Amp / Store, Channel : Rhythm / Crunch / Lead, Low [Overdrvive], Mid [OD Tone], High [OD Level], On Footswitch, Preset (1) Footswitch.

A cool take on the EVH Peavey 5150 amp with all the necessary controls and stereo output, alongside a 3-controls Tube Screamer style Overdrive too. You get 3 Cabs with your original acquisition, and 3 more upon registration.

Controls - Gain [Room], Presence [Gate], Output, CAB : UK V30, CA V30, White 75, Mode : Alt / Amp / Store, Channel : Clean, Original, Red, Low [Overdrive], Mid [OD Tone], High [OD Level], On Footswitch, Preset Footswitch.

UAFX's take on a special edition of the MESA/Boogie Dual Rectifier. Per the Anti - this one also has stereo output, numerous cabs, and a 3-control secondary Screamer Overdrive. You need to weigh up all that against a tiny degree of latency - which most won't notice, but which the Henry Kaisers of the world definitely can sense.

Controls - Bass, Mids, Treble, Level, Texture : Stock Silicon / MOSFET, Gain.

A cool take on Ibanez's Mostortion - with the additional MOSFET clipping really delivering extra special textures. It's a really decent take on that genre, while not quite as exceptional as the above Nordland Mosland!

Controls - Volume, Dry > Wet Blend, Distortion, Low, Mid, High (3-Band EQ).

A somewhat different kind of HM-2 type which renders slightly smoother, and not really the full on nasty grinding buzzsaw that this genre is known for. The WEC Homework Series take is a better behaved take on the genre - with the same vast gain range onboard, but without the harshness at the top end.

• Audiostorm Grand Classic High Gain Distortion + Moogy Filter + MXP-1 
• Caroline Guitar Co Wave Cannon Zero Superdistorter
• Colombo Audio Eruption EVH Variac Distortion
• Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker Enhanced Full Stack Marshall style Preamp
• Drunk Beaver Uzhhorod Xtortion
• Formula B Eighty Master MIAB V2 (JCM800 / Plexi)
• Funny Little Boxes Dirt Distortion (Alice in Chains)
• Fuzzrocious Big Fella
• God City Instruments Brutalist Distortion
• Hangman fx Tyrannosaur MegaDriver
• JAM Pedals Rattler MK2 Extended Rat Distortion
• JHS Pedals Hard Drive High Gain Distortion
• JHS Pedals Lario Basilio signature The Violet Distortion
• Krozz Devices RoyalBreaker Extended Rat style Distortion
• Leprechaun FX Paddy Whacker Distortion
• Lichtlaerm Audio Gehenna Heavy Metal Distortion / Preamp
• Lichtlaerm Audio Medusa Grinding Death Metal Distortion
• Lichtlaerm Audio .Ritual. Distortion Super Rat
• Mattoverse Tremstortion
• Menatone MenaWatt Preamp (Hiwatt DR103)
• Menatone Wreck'T Preamp (Trainwreck Express)
• Noise Engineering Dystorpia Fuzz/Distortion
• Nordland Electronics MT-11 Mosland Overdrive (Mostortion)
• OneControl Anodized Brown Distortion (EVH)
• OneControl Fluorescent Orange AIAB
• OneControl Rebel Red Distortion
• Oneder Effects Red Ryder Entended Rat Distortion
• PastFX distortiion (MXR Distortion II)
• PastFX Mischief Extended Rat Distortion
• Rainger FX Pull Focus Sustaining Distortion + Reverb/Chorus
• Sentimental Bob Electronics Tephra Super Rat / Life Pedal
• Sinvertek MGAT-1 Golden Era MIAB Hyper Preamp
• Skreddy Klipper Distortion
• Soldano Super Lead Overdrive Plus
• Tanabe May Queen Brian May style Searing Distortion
• Tanabe Santanabe Singing Sustaining Distortion
• UAFX Anti 1992 High Gain Amp
• UAFX Knuckles '92 Rev F Dual Rec Amplifier
• Wampler Mofetta Mostortion
• Winnipeg Electrical Co Home Work Series Metal (HM-2)