im playing guitar for ages.im 21 and am playing since i was 14 ish.i play in a band and so it may seem incredible that i dont know this.so no laughing at me.how do people use overdrive/distortion pedals with overdriven amps and sound good.whenever i try it through my marshall mode 4 they sound like crap.they ruin my tone.i want to have different types of distortion.is the awnser simply that i should use the pedals through a clean channel?they sound better like this but are too quiet usually.what am i missing out on?

Are you using both the overdrive on your amp and an overdrive pedal at the same time?
Only use 1 at a time, no one uses both at the same time becuase it sounds crap.
What pedal have you got and what sound are you looking for?

cheers for the reply.im looking for an over the top distortion sound.i dont want a scooped mid typical metal sound.something more unique.its in my head.hard to describe.something very loud and angry and noisey and feedbacky .i think im going to have to devote a clean channel on the amp to the overdrive pedal and just keep its volume up really high.ive been experimenting with friends pedals.a boss overdrive and a marshall bluesbreaker.i played a rat distortion pedal through a fender twin the other day and liked it.any suggestions for me?

I remember years ago a friend of mine had a fuzz face...I searched the internet for it however I couldnt find the one he had...they have re issued a fuzz face recently so I would look into one of those pedals.

Ive played it and it kind of has that hendrix fuzz sound...its pretty cool.

Try before you buy if you do plan to buy one.

I'd go for a Rat
I've got a Boss dual over drive and a Marshall Guv'nor at the moment, both great pedals but I do love the Rat

FIRST POST. ok i had the same problem with my tube screamer cuz i play metal and wanted some more distortion. everything i played sounded lbad because there was way too much and it was all blurred. all i did was turn down the gain on my amp and the sound was better. just kinda find your own settings

My honest opinion is that you should skip out on a petal and get a pre-amp. Spesifically a Rocktron Pihrana and a midi controler. That is what I use and it does wonders. You can literally do anything with it.

Here is an eBAY link for one. They are discontinued and a little hard to find.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rocktron-Piranha-preamp-Mint-condition- NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ7408141501QQcategoryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem

I'd have to disagree with the comment about using both sounding like crap. I usually use the amp distortion plus a distortion pedal at the same time. I've always done this and my tone has been very good. I just usually set the gain on the amp to about half and set the gain on the pedal also to about half.

You don't want to use a guitar amp which already has a preamp with another preamp. Use a pedal or get a power amp and use your favorite preamp, or get a good clean tube amp and try the Radial Engineering Tone Bone trimode. bad A** pedal or your favorite pedal.