After re reading your post, I guess you're not happy with the clean tones either. 
A BLs addict for 15 years, I have never experienced harsh or brash sounds. Mostly my overdrive used to come from the amp only, but lately I have started using my old OD-1 stomp box or Marshall Jackhammer plus my trusty Roland RE201 again. 
Becky's post is very informative, and I have used all three methods described for distortion. 
Save for the very last batch of pickups which arrived only a few days back including my very first L-202, the other models I have used/still uses have worked very well, both straight into the amp and via my pedal(s) and Space Echo.
I am pretty confident this can be sorted by adjusting the amp settings and/or the distortion/overdrive unit. Don't lower your pickups too much though, because you'll loose tone and definition. Sometimes using different strings or cables will solve the problem...anyway, giving proper advice is difficult because I don't know if you're a musician with lots of experience or fairly new to guitar playing Wink




Edited 1 time by t42tae Nov 2 13 3:15 AM.