So I’m looking for a distortion pedal to run my model samples through. I use the model samples only for drums. It needs to sound good (duh) and be simple to use (no menus and not too complex). Stereo is a must. What are people using?
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At less than half the price of my beloved OTO Boum, I wouldn’t mind trying the Source Audio Aftershock, which in awesome SA style is stereo!!!
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I mean, this an Elektron forum and there is the Analog Heat. I don’t have it yet but it will be my next purchase.
Other than that there is also the Operation Overlorde from Electro Harmonix. Way cheaper and simpler.
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There‘s this Drawmer 1976 that does distortion and stereo width processing.
Might not be the type of product you‘re after, though.
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I’d suggest you take a look at the Erica Synths Acidbox III. I bought it after owning the Vermona filter Lancet, the Sherman Filterbank and the Analog Heat. The Acidbox is the only thing that stuck with me. I really like it’s Tone.
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…Maybe consider buying two used mono-pedals? E.g two boss units will not set you back that much.
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EHX Operation Overlord is superb from subtle crunch to full on dist/overdrive
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It has a severe high pass so you loose low end oompf. Something to check for also on other guitar pedals.
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Personally I haven’t got a dedicated stereo distortion unit but I am in the market for one. I have used mixers to boost inputs and gain stage for hairy crunchy analog oomph.
I do however have the Jomox T-Resonator II which isn’t strictly a distortion unit but has input gain and does terrifying things to low end, as well as stereo envelope/LFO/filtering for more out of this world effects. 
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EHX Platform is a Stereo Compressor/Limiter with Overdrive (Drive button) and a LPF (Tone button).
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I second this concern.
I bought the Overlord because it had just the controls I wanted for jamming (wet/dry+ 3band eq) and you can always tweak something out of that; but even when processing material that doesn’t have or need a lot of low-end, the end result is hardly ever WOW. I still use it and I’m not looking for a replacement.
A major caveat to this statement is that “samples” is a very broad category, and whether an overdrive works or not depends a lot on your source material and what you’re aiming for at that particular moment.
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Don’t overlook cheap analog mixers: some have a good flavor ^^
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I reported on both Operation Overlord & Platform here:
LPB2ube:
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my favorite stereo distortion at the moment:
Korg NTS-1 with Sinevibes Corrosion plugin.
there are downsides, but they’re minor — physically NTS-1 itself and its mini jacks are somewhat flimsy.
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Tall Fat & Wide is a pedal specifically made for keyboards : https://www.lounsberrypedals.com/product/tall-fat-wide/
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Thanks everyone so far. It was this video that got me interested in drum distortion:
I should add, I’ve been looking at videos that run audio through the A4 filters and I might give that a try before I buy yet another pedal…
Analog Heat is surprisingly tame, even the high gain setting doesn’t go very far (harsh) as far as distortion goes. Definitely more hi-fi than DOD Death Metal territory.
Honestly two good distortion pedals would be my choice if I were only after a stereo distortion unit. Not that I regret getting an AH but still. You can get two of pretty much any distortion pedals for the price of an AH.
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I’m a big fan of the AH and you can get pretty much most flavours of distortion out of it, especially with the filter and eq to support, but you can sometimes be left feeling that you’re under-utilising it after you’ve spent 700 quid on all it’s bells and whistles.
If I didn’t have an AH, I’d be looking at the Erica Acidbox, it really does sound pretty decent.
Or you could get two Shermans.
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The filter on AH is wonderful, very easy to cut off sizzling feedback frequencies if you so wish.
A stereo Sherman would be awesome. Maybe one day I’ll afford to spend 1400 euros on a filterbank, hah.