I know that there is no plugin that will give distorted sound as real pedal does.That has had been sad, there are some honorable exemption to mention. The ones I really like is TC Booster and Distortion by TC Electronic and Bat by Mokafix Audio. Are there any you are using that I may have missed or may like to try.

no matter what you may think, my best plug is Charlize Theron

 

Last edited: Jan 22, 2019

Cytomic - The Scream https://cytomic.com/scream
Audified - MultiDrive Pedal Pro
Kuassa - Efektor Distortion

 

I could look like captain obvious, but I would add NI Guitar Rig and Line6 Helix Native

 

Charlize Theron best amp ever

 

Ignite Amps ProF.E.T. http://www.igniteamps.com/#profet (great one)
Evil Sound Labs Malefica http://www.evilsoundlab.com/category/products/(sounds great and unusual but the code is quite inefficient and not maintained/improved

 

not gonna lie, itb distortion is the one area where plugins really lag behind the real thing. For the price of some of these plugins mentioned you could have a really great pedal from Death by audio, EQD or even a Boss. Any one of these will sound much better

 

Old BBE stompboxes are cool.

I don't know the Brainworx ones,but I'm sure they are not bad.

 

Tube Screamer

 

I know a few guys who are more than OK with the sound quality of Amplitube 4, both for the stomp boxes and the cabinet sims.

 

thank you guys for your suggestions, I have not tried some of the stomps, so I'm going to be busy for a while, any thought on the new Mercuriall SS-11X?

 

I really dont mind vst combos like amplitube etc., but personally I like plugs that are made for one purpose and are not overwhelming - something like Kazrog does.(these pedals certainly dont suck)

 

Last edited: Jan 23, 2019

Waves GTR pedals also doesn´t suck that much, they have nice warm sound. Much warmer than Guitar Rig, even though it is my go-to guitar plugin, because of the amount of effects and modulation possibilities.

 

Audified Multidrive Pro has a MXR Distortion+ model,
as well Line6 Helix Native does have one - its name is Top Secred OD
and then there is this free one I have not tried.. https://plugins4free.com/plugin/1098/

 

try the fazertone overdrive essentials, really not bad

 

A bit O/T the bx Rockergain 100 amp VST has some nice distortion. I picked it up for free yesterday

I also remember doing some crazy stuff with Output Thermal, but I am not sure how you would rate the quality.

 

Last edited: Oct 6, 2022

You sure you need pedals exactly?
I think AudioDamage FuzzPlus 3 and Chowdhury DSP ChowCentaur are the best I know. Both free. Probably that's why I know them.
But actually the best for distortion are iZotope Trash 2 (remember when they did good stuff?) and Camel Audio CamelPhat (this is even sadder, only available at Sister Site). I don't know why guitarists seem to not use plugins like this.

EDIT oh shit, shoulda looked at the date.

 

Last edited: Oct 6, 2022

+1 for MultiDrive Pedal Pro's MXR Distortion. I've tried just about everything, and while I can give you about 20 overdrive pedals that sound ok, distortion is just never right. Especially if its a ProCo Rat clone, or Boss DS-1.