You said you want a distortion pedal and yet all the pedals you mentioned are overdrive?

What marshall do you have? What do you want the pedal to do? What sound are you looking for? And finally, how much do you have to spend?

What style of music do you play? The TS9 (Ibanez) has the best reputation btw...

Which is best is subjective and you cant really go wrong with a Tubescreamer but theres nothing wrong with the other two. Take your own gear to demo the pedal and see which best fits the sound you are after.

Consider the Carl Martin DC drive. It has an extra stage of clean boost which you can run with or independent of the overdriven signal. Plus Martin pedals, in my opinion, have a really cool, retro sound to them.

patrickbeeby wrote: I'm looking at buying a new distortion pedal. Its between a boss Blues Driver, a Tone Bone, Ibanze Tube screamer. What would you guys recommend? Im playing on the Cheaper range Gibson SG through a 100 watt marshall.
Any other pedals I should look out for?

I have a TS808 and it's a wonderful pedal, but not as versatile as some others (I also have a VOX Satchurator, which has a lot more tonal range (works very well with your guitar's volume knob too), but a different sound altogether).

Agree on the subjectivity: go try them out with your own guitar (through a similar amp if you can) and pick the one that floats your boat the mostest.

I agree with Warren on the tonal range of the Satchurator, I have one of them. But here is the later model, the Vox Ice-Satriani.......



Then of course, who would argue with the tone and versatility of the Gemini and Steve Vai. I have one of these and quite like it......watch the video....

But like someone said, you have to decide for yourself, after doing some research, what works for you.......remember, these guys' stuff and sound/ tone is probably matched to their gear, and what they aim to achieve in terms of tone,......etc, etc, etc..........




I have no experience with any other.......at least you'd know what to look at or eliminate from your search........ ?

Simple answer between the 3... IMO of course ? The Ibanez TS's are great, If I had to choose between the 3 it would be the TS(808) or TS(9)...
I have a TS808HW, the clarity and smoothness of the drive is second to none, the TS808RI I can assure you will satisfy your needs for many, many years ?

Go try them out and check which suits your budget and which one grabs you!

Enjoy! let us know the outcome

I had a Blues Driver. It's a very mild overdrive pedal, and wont give you the heavy distortion you might be looking for. It's great for colouring your tone and adding a bit of bite, but not ideal if you want that sweet-singing lead tone. It sounded best with my single coil guitars through a solid state amp's clean channel and I got some really nice blues-rock tones out of it.

There are a few Tubescreamers going second-hand and quite cheaply at Music Connection, IIRC. All in good condition, from what I saw.