The Best Distortion Plugins by Waves

Published Mar 06, 2025

Don’t just warm up your signals – push them to their limits with this list of top plugins to reach for when you need all-out signal destruction.

The Best Distortion Plugins by Waves

This guide covers the best Waves plugins for full-on, all-out signal destruction. If you're after a more subtle approach, check out our companion article on The Best Signal Warming Saturation Plugins by Waves.

What’s the Difference Between Distortion and Saturation?

It’s easy to have missed the difference between these two signal-warming effects. The words Distortion and Saturation can be used interchangeably for some effects, and it doesn’t help that Distortion technically means a signal on output being different from its state at input in any way – technically, EQ is a form of distortion.

So what do we mean by saturation and distortion? These days, and in this article, we talk about saturation as a subtle effect that adds coloration to a signal, and distortion as a more destructive, fuzztastic effect that makes a signal buzz and hum with wild harmonics.

Saturation comes from analog models and plugin emulations of reel-to-reel tape, preamps, a clean guitar amp, and even some circuitry in other analog hardware. Distortion.

Through the rest of this article, we’ll cover each of the Waves plugins that falls into the distortion category. If that’s too loud and destructive for your mixes, we’ve set up a Round-up of Saturation Plugins for a more subtle and nuanced audio experience.

Berzerk Distortion

Berzerk Distortion Plugin

What is Berzerk?

The beauty of an analog-style distortion is that you never quite know what you’re going to get out of a particular signal. Berzerk is a truly creative distortion, offering a huge amount of controls that encourages experimentation, simply let your ears lead the way.

What’s so Good About Berzerk?

Berzerk starts off with 10 unique distortion shapes to get signal destruction started. From here, you can push the Drive, tweak the Density control to add ‘Disorder’ to the signal, turn up the ‘Temperature’ control, and go into HD mode with oversampling. What you must simply not do, though, is push the Berzerk ‘GO!’ button.

Elsewhere in the plugin, there’s a feedback network to send the distortion back through itself – in a manner you can customize very much to your liking – alongside dynamics controls to get your distortion pumping and ducking, and EQ.

Where to Try Berzerk

Get yourself to our Berzerk page to see, hear and grab it for yourself.

MDMX Distortion Modules

Mdmx Distortion Modules Best Distortion Plugin by Waves

What is MDMX Distortion Modules?

What’s better than a distortion plugin? How about three? With MDMX Distortion Modules, you get these processors, inspired by the world’s most beloved guitar stompboxes. Screamer, OverDrive and Fuzz are the plugins in this bundle, covering some of the most cherished tones in history.

What’s so Good About MDMX Distortion Modules?

Distortion is a tricky effect—it reacts differently depending on the source. Since there’s no one-size-fits-all distortion, having three distinct options gives you a much broader sonic palette.

MDMX Screamer emulates the classic Tube Screamer pedal, a go-to for guitarists who want smooth, expressive lead tones. This digital version adds extra Boost and Temperature controls, letting you fine-tune the character of your drive.

MDMX Overdrive is a versatile all-rounder with built-in dynamic effects. The Rider feature adjusts distortion based on input level, while additional compression and EQ controls let you shape the tone further.

MDMX Fuzz delivers that thick, gritty fuzz tone, perfect for aggressive textures. It also includes an octaver effect, adding extra low-end growl for even dirtier, heavier sounds.

Where to Try MDMX Distortion Modules

You can get these three noise-makers at the MDMX Distortion Modules page.

OneKnob Driver

Best Waves Distortion Plugins Oneknob Driver

What is OneKnob Driver?

From three whole distortion plugins to one of our smallest plugins per se! OneKnob Driver is an efficient distortion with a single control. Turn it up from 0 to get a range of distortion flavors from subtle saturation through to smashing, brutal overdrive.

What’s so Good About OneKnob Driver?

Sometimes, heat is all you need, and if you can get the perfect dose of flames from a single control, then you can move on to your next task. OneKnob Driver prevents you from overthinking things. If it works on your current channel, then job done; if it doesn’t, then try another plugin – you haven’t wasted much effort.

Where to Try OneKnob Driver

You can get it from our OneKnob Driver page or as part of various bundles, including the complete collection of the OneKnob Series bundle.

BB Tubes

BB Tubes Distortion Plugins by Waves Audio

What is BB Tubes?

BB Tubes was already included in our Saturators Round-up, and for good reason: With its two main controls – Beauty and Beast – this plugin delivers the analog talents of both subtle saturation and full-on distortion, or both, depending on what’s needed at any given time.

What’s so Good About BB Tubes?

Simple but effective, the idea here is that you can have a dose of two different types of distortion that are general enough to cover almost any use case, and are both bursting with enough analog character to bring the vibes where they count. BB Tubes should be your go-to signal warmer for getting things primed for mixing, because it can give practically any element what it needs to sound its best in the mix.

Where to Try BB Tubes

You can get BB Tubes from its dedicated page here at the Waves site.

MultiMod Rack

Multimod Rack Best Waves Distortion Plugins

What is MultiMod Rack?

This plugin lets you host your own multiband distortion setup by combining elements of the MDMX bundle, Abbey Road Saturator and Berzerk plugins in a single multiband shell, with more surprises up its sleeve to boot.

Please note, you’ll need licenses for those three individual plugins to load them into the MultiMod Rack shell.

What’s so Good About MultiMod Rack?

The five plugins that can be loaded into MultiMod Rack represent some of the tastiest and most useful distortion tones we offer, and so having them load together across different bands of the frequency spectrum is a no-brainer. For example, try out MDMX’s Overdrive or Abbey Road Saturator to add weight to bass frequencies; apply Berzerk or MDMX Fuzz to the mids to get them moving; and try out the MDMX Screamer effect on highs to keep things smooth. That’s just a starting point to try out!

Going further, this plugin lets you load other utilities and effects – namely autopan, reverb, delay, compressor, chorus and distortion – into any band if the single plugins aren’t called for there.

Where to Try MultiMod Rack

You can find out more on our MultiMod Rack page.

Retro-Fi

Retro Fi Waves Best Distortion Plugin

What is Retro-Fi?

A lofi effects toolbox to degrade signals using nostalgic methods like vinyl and cassette vibes.

Retro-Fi is packed with character-driven tools to bring authentic vintage warmth to your sound.

It starts with the Device panel, where you can select a fantasy device to emulate, tweak its age, and fine-tune its Tone, Squash, and Ringer parameters (when available). This lets you dial in anything from subtle vintage coloration to full-on retro grit.

Next, the Space section offers Echo and Reverb controls, giving you the ability to add depth and atmosphere to your sound.

But where Retro-Fi really shines is in its commitment to analog imperfection. The Noise section lets you choose from classic textures like vinyl crackle, cassette whirr, electrical hum, and more. Meanwhile, the Wow and Wobble controls let you shape the movement and instability of aging gear, adding even more organic character.

With all these features, Retro-Fi is a seriously powerful tool for giving your tracks an authentic, lived-in feel.

Where to Try Retro-Fi

Take a closer listen over at the Retro-Fi page.

GTR3

GTR3 Guitar Amp and Pedal Distortion Plugins by Waves

What is GTR3?

An entire guitar amp modeling suite including pedals, cabs, microphone options and even a tuner. But right now, we’re only in it for the distortion.

What’s so Good About GTR3?

There’s a lot to love about GTR3, but we’ll try to keep it to distortion-enabling elements of this virtual guitar rig. Starting with its stompboxes, you get four absolutely classic tones, including a legendary Fuzz, a green Overdrive pedal, a yellow Distortion, and the tradition black Metal that pushed distortion even further.

Next, over in the GTR Amp plugin, you get your choice of two from 16 guitar cabs and six bass cabs, and each of these has a choice of 12 recording options. There’s then a huge number of Amp Types to pick from, each of which acts differently when you turn up the Drive. All of this makes GTR3 a great option for designing your perfect distortion – even if you’re not pointing a guitar at it!

Where to Try GTR3

You can get it with your Waves Ultimate subscription or buy it solo at the GTR page.

Whether you need subtle heat or all-out sonic destruction, Waves has a distortion plugin for you. From the versatile BB Tubes to the raw power of Berzerk, these tools offer endless creative possibilities. Try them out and find your perfect level of grit!

The best part? All the plugins featured in this guide are available within Waves Creative Access, giving you instant access to a complete collection of industry-leading tools. Try free for 7 days today and explore the full potential of Waves Distortion Plugins to bring your mixes to life!

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