The Best Distortion Pedal You Haven't Heard Of?! | Friday Fretworks

[@innocentoctave]

I always wonder why distortion pedals are usually demoed with the gain well up. If I'm evaluating a gain pedal of any kind, I generally set the volume to unity, any tone controls to 'neutral', and gain or drive to minimum, so that I can hear how the pedal affects the uneffected sound on its minimum settings: the 'character' of the pedal, as it were. In general, I think it's then a good rule to add as little gain as you can, because it progressively introduces compression and flattens dynamics and pick attack, until you might as well be playing a synth.

[@kimmolingonheimo]

Chris , you really nailed this pedal for low gain bluesy stuff, I intend to use it with a strat neck pup the same way...

[@danielferrera8773]

Some years after but I just watched your review while looking for info about this pedal. You really nailed it as always. The pedal sounds great and very versatile as you say, but on top of that every time I listen to your playing I'm more and more sure than you are one of the best overall players of your generation. Cheers!!

[@lukedixon7342]

Play this one through my Orange amp with the gain cranked on both. This pedal absolutely shines when it's stacked in line with some fuzz or gain.

[@olivierlanglet1932]

Is there, by any chance, anything you can't play ? Cheers Chris, and thank you for your music/playing/tone !

[@LennyJohnson5]

A very even handed, full and informative vid - superb sounds from both the pedal and your fingers.

[@switchbacksentence1244]

That sounds fantastic! Not a fan of ‘fizzy’ sounding distortions, but this sounds really meaty and full. Definitely going to check it out.

[@erniesfo2022]

Great review without overwhelming on the details. Fender has delivered a series of competent products. They are all solid as a line, which, considering that Fender came late to the game, is pretty commendable. I like the easy access battery door and the LED knob indicators. Pedal hardware designers, you're on notice...

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Thank you. And absolutely; Fender did well to get Stan Cotey involved with the design of these pedals. Their previous forays into pedal design were less than...well, the less said the better. But, this new series really stand up to scrutiny. Just played a gig tonight with the Full Moon actually and it's such a great pedal. I doubt I'll ever use the gain beyond midday to be honest but the fact it has so many usable tones is very cool! Thanks for watching Ernest 🙂

[@kingstumble]

I have always thought distortion pedals weren't for me but I do like this one. Sounds more like a pushed overdrive.

[@MrNeilfatmonkey]

Welcome To The Jungle on a Tele! Madness! 😂 Great video, Chris. Thanks.

[@idontcare994]

@idontcare994 il y a 1 seconde I really cant decide between pugilist and full moon. The main point on the full moon for me is the Boost! What is the main difference do you think between the two? (I play garage/grunge, which one do you think might be best)?

[@suprbird]

Dumb question but I play a tele clean through a small frontman 25r. Would this help me with a tube drive kind of sound and boost for solos? Mostly play at church

[@austintexas9440]

Sounds so bloody good!

[@djb3545]

Excellent video. Thank you!

[@anilyazar_]

Hey id like to see with humbucker les paul or 335

[@alexisalescio1562]

great video, I have seen you this year at musikmesse in Germany , it was a beautifull live

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Alexis Alescio Danke, Alexis! ☺️

[@mattgilbert7347]

I bought this pedal on the strength of this review and was not disappointed. It does the cranked JTM thing :)

[@jasong546]

Not directed at a specific person, but I bought the fender boost and fuzz, and I can get great sounds, just as good as my other pedals from wampler and others. Useful inspiring range of sounds. It’s just an electric circuit, using caps and all the other parts in the other brand’s pedals so don’t limit yourself because of the name. You have made a very nice demo and I liked the tones, isn’t it fun to find something new like that? Keep up the great videos!

[@haikoheinz7359]

Totally agree -not really a blues pedal:) but delievers such a wide range of Low gain, to metal to modern rock tones!

[@marsattacks7071]

The good thing here is that Fender voiced that pedal for single coils too. Very interesting !

[@monazaluqman1143]

Eric D. Boothsthe zsquare got a discount is not for lesbian homosexuality men only for sytudent men boys only not working men

[@KeyserTheRedBeard]

astonishing video Chris Buck. I shattered that thumbs up on your video. Keep on up the outstanding work.

[@arpeggiosi]

Nice one Chris! Glad the lick library is ready too!

[@SerpentsBane1995]

Good video, good tones, but that "Metal" tone was nowhere near Metallica levels of distortion!

[@JeeWeeDonkers]

To be honest, this Fender pedal sounds a bit Voxy to me! Wonderful!

[@TheParanoidAndroid79]

Sounds good. Are those stock pups on that tele?

[@joelmiddaugh8229]

I'm just saying this is not the first "distortion" pedal to have range or to be subtle with the gain dialed back. I'm also saying Macauley Caulkin is way better at guitar than I thought.

[@indiefilmandmusic]

Some very tasty playing there!

[@besantos3968]

Hi chris, I'm from Brazil and love all your stuff, specialy your tone and feel. How can I get closer to your reverb tone with a great, but cheap pedal? In my country the prices are insane, unfortunately. Can you help me? Thanks for your art.

[@danielferrera8773]

Hey I know it's some years after but the Marine Layer Reverb from this same series is very versatile pedal!

[@guitarnoodles7576]

Master! Master!

[@m.g.kroger]

You play so damn well man...

[@niklev8465]

You didn't show us how is the boost !

[@reviewforthetube6485]

So it's really an overdrive pedal sounds great and I love there pedals on a fender guitar and fender amp it's literally that one pedal you can use even with that type of drive and gain on a fender amp and it sound good some just are to much on a fender amp

[@DavidMorisset]

Cool tones as usual. Have you tried the Riverside Drive. Great versatility with the optional Boost pedal.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

David Morisset I haven’t actually, David. I’ll have to look it up 🙂

[@patrickmckay6621]

Especially for a distortion Demo humbuckers would have been nice. Great Demo though

[@xandergee]

Very cool. What amp/cab are you using in GR5?

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

xandergee Tweed 🙂

[@willgoodfellow3144]

Yeah dude- master of puppets!!!

[@sandyturner1911]

You've got a real pedal steel sound, going on with your technique, there, in the beginning, of the demo. Sounds a lot like Derek Trucks, too. Cheers!

[@chedhead3278]

Cheers Chris, sounds good to me, pretty fair price, one to check out.

[@komimakojaketu]

Great demo, as always. But I really prefer The Pugilist as far more touch sensitive and versatile.

[@idontcare994]

I really cant decide between pugilist and full moon. The main point on the full moon for me is the Boost! In what way do you find that tje pugilist is more versatile? (I play garage/grunge, which one do you think might be best)?

[@mladengrubelic873]

@@idontcare994 I found a sweet spot in the settings of the Pugilist where I can ride the guitar's volume pot to get a huge palette of great sounds. For boost I have a tc electronics Spark, a great pedal I can place at different spots in the pedalboard, depending on what sound I'm after.

[@daniwest1370]

how is the first song/riff you played called?

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Dani West It’s Only Love - Bryan Adams & Tina Turner 👌🏻

[@alexrousedds]

Its only love bryan adams

[@geofftate6113]

Spotted that "Guitarist" chord at 3.30 Chris.

[@95awesomenes]

Duuuuuuude if only you had humbuckers playing throughout this entire video!! Shit would have sound soo gooooooooood broo 😭

[@3373-g8z]

My problem is I love both Fender AND Gibson, Orange AND Marshall. It boils down to "you get what you pay for"

[@graemero5532]

You make pedals sound good. There are tutorials on youtube for most guitar parts, but I cannot find any for David Grissom's Squawk, could you help Chris ?

[@mhayes848]

Great picking on Puppets!!!

[@eduardo_zerobala1340]

I bought this pedal a week ago. At first i hated it! Fuzzy sound, very annoying! Took me a few days to understand how to set up the pedal to my taste. Now it souds pretty Good, nothing so special anyway, but a decent sound after all. Its worth the money i paid, but made very carefull about Fender pedals.

[@tobyrutter3776]

#challangechris make a boss metal zone sound bluesy. Or do a series where you use pedals in a different context as they were design.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Haha. That's actually not a terrible idea 😆

[@jayhoe8174]

Sounds too muddy for me. Definitly made for Fender amps

[@elijahdelp2893]

Treble knob is pretty low though.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Eli Delp It’s fairly bright if that’s what you’re after, but I kept the treble control pretty low for this video because I prefer thicker, darker sounding drives. That sizzly, toppy distortion isn’t really for me 🙂

[@elijahdelp2893]

Oh yes I know, I was just responding to Jay who said it was too muddy for him. It looked like there was still more potential for brightness by judging the treble knob position.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Eli Delp Sorry man, I didn’t mean to ‘reply’ directly to your comment. I hit ‘reply’ to the wrong comment 🤦🏻‍♂️ Cheers man!

[@nickm.9474]

Yeah. Probably was made for fender amps. Or fender voiced amps. Which unless you're using a marshall is what 97% of guitarist are using. I think its pretty safe to say any kind if distortion pedal is voiced to be in frontvof a clean FENDER voiced amp. And your welcome for a little amp/pedal education there.

[@phenixreturns]

the best distorsion pedals for metal grunge in my link

[@daveyroque1070]

Sounds like that country rhythm type of distortion. It's hard to get that on most pedals and amps.

[@nowherebrain]

not enough gain for metal, you would really need to put a ts-9 in front of it...to push it..I am not even nearly interested in mild breakup...guitar should have wonderful cleans or balls to the walls distortion...all that in between does not interest me whatsoever....(I hate blues)..so do they have a heavy pedal?? I just keep finding these, not high gain ones.

[@JeeWeeDonkers]

Life is like a distortion box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.. ;-)

[@batphink2655]

I've been thru 3 BOSS guitar effects units as I'm not keen on many of the built in distotrion sounds all seem too scracthy to my old experienced ears! Chris there's nowt wrong with your playing you'd blow me off the stage lol!

[@liberty5565]

Best review of a pedal that I still don't want. haha My amps are great on their own. I turned in to a minimalist over the last few years and pulled many pedals off the board. Right now I have an OD, clean boost, reverb and fuzz. The only reason for the reverb is because the 57 Custom Deluxe reissue doesn't have reverb and the Laney Lionheart 212 has a not so good built in digital reverb. Both amps are killer as they sit, but sometimes I just want the fuzz. I only really like 2 fuzz pedals, Big Muff and Super Fuzz because they're so distinct sounding. What's stupid is that I still buy pedals. 😅 Anyway, Fender has done a great job with their new pedals and being a Fender fan boy, I really want all of them. Wish they could cut me a deal on a package. Either way, there's just too many pedals that I want that I probably won't even use and I don't sell my used gear. I'm like a woman with a closet full of shoes.

[@lamateurmusic]

This pedal doesn't do well at all on high gain settings had it not been your fine playing...

[@mjallenuk]

Nice sounds but what really attracts me is the colour. Sad really but true.

[@Josbornevonosborne]

All of the new pedals are great, except for the compressor. I was disappointed.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

That Pedal Shmoe I haven’t actually had chance to try any of the 'earlier’ pedals. Compression’s a very hard one to nail in fairness. What was your grievance with it?

[@ScottBrownandFriends]

You just sold another one... cheers

[@robertgandy4007]

-> "Guitar Rig 5" I wonder if that's what's bothering me, 'cause I'm unfortunately not digging the tone here. Playing is awesome as always!

[@paulkielt9301]

Metallica on a Tele with an overdrive sound is a total nonsense to me!

[@markroff1012]

Thanks for the vid. Small moan but I wish you'd kept your left had in frame so we could see you riff 😞

[@joequintana5546]

Thanks for this review. I too have a prejudice against anything called "Distortion" and I was extremely surprised by the great Overdrive type tone you got from this pedal. Even when you played Metallica, it still had Overdrive qualities to it. Honestly, I liked it more than the new Fender Overdrive pedal. I guess I'm going to order one blindly just based on this review. Thanks again and man, your playing style is just awesome.

[@joequintana5546]

By the way, this is the ONLY review where this pedal sounds great.

[@NeighborhoodStreetrat]

Nah

[@tomekhoryzontalny9252]

It's always the same - even crappy equipment can sound amazing in trained and sensitive hands :) Well played mate! :)

[@wootton900]

Pmsl chris you're idea of metal is crunchy blues to most 🤣 That's not a dig younare a superb player with superb tones ,,

[@BaronsDuju]

Oh man, are you hiding your hand now? :( Friday Fretworks started as lessons and now it feels like you’re doing the opposite. :(

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Clint Yeah, my left hand will be obscured by something different every week now unfortunately. Who knows what next week will be?! I’m torn between one of those stuffed singing fish and an Edwardian Occasional Table I found on eBay. Stay tuned! Joking aside, this is the only angle that makes sense when your playing isn’t the focus of the video. The camera will be back to being positioned about as physically close to my left hand as possible next week 👌🏻

[@BaronsDuju]

+1 to six cameras. ;)

[@BaronsDuju]

Just so there’s no confusion, this isn’t an attack. I’m a massive fan and I learned so much from your earlier videos where I could see your hands. For the first time in approximately a decade I was inspired to learn the major scale; my whole world opened up. The comment comes from a place of respect and love. Thanks man!

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

haha. Cheers Clint, I was only joking 😆 I don't make any attempt at hiding my hand or anything like that; it's just the restrictions of filming, recording and editing everything myself unfortunately. The more people watch my videos though, the more I'll be able to invest in other cameras etc ☺️

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Siddharth Karunakaran ...that’s my point. I own one camera.

[@semilivesixstringstrumist5595]

Do I feel a tinge of bias here? Lets ask a huge Fender Fan if he wants to receive Fenders new pedals and give them a go on his channel. Lol. Aww Fuck it right? Nothing wrong with a little bias if its a good product. I hope they gave them to you for the plug. If not, Don't send them back. Blame the carrier. lol

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

semiLivedj FICTION Haha. Not at all. I get sent a LOT of pedals to try out. If I don’t like them, I don’t use them and I definitely won’t review them. I only use/demo stuff that I genuinely like, whether it’s boutique or a big brand like Fender. And at the end of the day, it’s a great pedal, as you say 🙂

[@slav0311]

Sorry but that just was not metal.