Distortion recommends please.

[makaze808]

Looking to build a distortion, I have a rat, and some 1980's mavis, and muffs. What other pedal would give me a different vibe.
I wouldn't mind one for when I'm messing at rock god super noodling,  hawkwindy space rock, death metal etc.

Thanks.

[petemoore]

  Well you have whatever 'Mavis' and "Muffs" are exactly..
  The Rat has tone and gain controls, you could fairly easily modify the diodes in the Rat or build another to see what diode choices you actually prefer in that circuit, I think some diode configuration that uses a new switch to hold the extra pieces in place, haven't looked inside a Rat lately, but there might be room for that, then you could sample for some time under different setttings, diodes configurations.
  A booster is the perfect suggestion, it'll be pretty easy, teach, as well as being useful and providing heavier clipping with whatever distorters are used after it, and can aid greatly in understanding the capabilities of 1 gain stage, which is pretty much what you've got in any distorter box [or more than one gain stage, often they/we start with a booster stage].
  A gain stage can boost relevant frequencies, or boost particular frequencies, to various amounts. 

[jacobyjd]

Hot Silicon Fuzz.

[Ripthorn]

If you're talking distortion and not fuzz or overdrive, I would go for the DieFET.  It is my go-to heavy distortion.  I also really like the ROG Double D for a simpler project.  Of course, you just can't beat tubes...

[oldrocker]

Two words "Metal Simplex".  Small and easy to build with a heavy a$$ overdrive.  Low parts count and easy to find parts.

[makaze808]

Thanks all, I'll be exploring all suggestions.

[DUY1337GUITAR]

baaahhh, I was about to say metal simplex >.<

[edvard]

+1 on the simplex, although I found it to be a little on the fizzy side.
I replaced the second cap with a 1uf polar to beef it up some, but then I had to reduce the first cap to .047uf to tighten up the low end it just created.
Also, try the 5th Gear Overdrive.
Good luck finding schematics, though.
Does anybody know where the schematics for that went?

[oldrocker]

To cut down on the fizz in the Simplex I replaced some things.  I used 2N2222's for the transistors and here's the real fix use a green LED instead of red.

[MikeH]

Not sure if it's been suggested yet or not, but the BSIAB2 is awesome.  I was genuinely impressed with how great it sounded when I built it.

[DUY1337GUITAR]

Don't forget about checking out the Dr. Boogey 
I just bought parts and should get started on building it this weekend.  Can't wait....

[WGTP]

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/shaka3.jpg  from the man himself...   

Obsidian
Vulcan
Blackfire
Chaos
CMOS

[Ben N]

Don't know if you've done this already, but I find that cascading boosts, both before & after, gives new life to distortions. Try boosts with different eqs, like flat, smile, frown and treble--a graphic eq is a good way to try this out before  building. One of the best pre-distortion boosts, IMHO, is a TS-style mid-humping overdrive with the gain turned down and the level up. I find it adds presence to pretty much anything up to the middle of the distortion range.

[petemoore]

  Yupp...mild distortion/mostly boost driving a boost/clipping stage [both of course having had voice/frequency mods].
  Mu-Amp > Dist+.
  Jfet something or other > Dist+.
  A few dial in's and a pallette from brighter to darker, heavy to lighter distortion becomes available.
  taking the BMP example as fodder for discussion, boost> Volume> Boost/clip/frequency > boost/clip/frequency > Tone > boost >...
  starts with a sorta clean boost...any one or all of the stages could be...something else, Jfet, Opamp...or re-arranged.
  As Ben posted, it boils down to boost, frequency controls, clipping...various amounts, various arrangements...they all 'work'...each of these stages of course can be voiced pretty easily for less or more bass or treble, an EQ really does demonstrate the profound difference boost/Eq makes at different points in the signal chain, I'd considered having an EQ/boost as a permanent stage of a distorter, an inexpensive thing to just buy, embedded somehow into a distorter box, similar to the EH frequency-fuzz [I forget the actual name now].

[oldrocker]

I assume you were looking for simpler build projects.  I could be wrong but here it goes anyways.  Two other distortions I recommend are the R.O.G.'s Mockman V2 and the Voodoo Lab.  Two fairly easy projects that sound great IMHO.