Ok I have a question. I haven't found an ink pad I really like except memento tuxedo black or distress pads so I want to invest in some. Which is better for stamping the hero arts soft and mid tone inks or the ranger archival inks?? I want to stamp mostly with clear stamps (have a ton), but I haven't found a good crisp pad I like. These two are the ones I keep going back and forth between. I have a few of the hero arts soft pads and I do like them but I only have soft pool and soft leaf. Any suggestions?? Thanks!!

I too have mostly clear stamps and I'm not a fan of stamping them with Distress Inks because, for me, they don't stamp well with clear. I do like Memento inks and they come in about 30 colours which is nice although I've only got 4. I've got 1 Ranger Archival and 1 HA midtone, but I do occasionally colour with alcohol markers so I needed something that would work with those as well. I find that Jenni Bowlin for Ranger inks work great for my needs. They work great with my clear stamps, giving me a good crisp image. They work great with Copics just like Memento. And the ink pads are the perfect size, not small like a dew drop and not as big as the full size Memento. Of course, there are only 12 available colours at any one time, but you can't have everything...

When I want a really crisp image I use archival ink.

I've got some Hero Arts, some Ranger Adirondack and Jenni Bowlin inks. They all work good. Tracy's correct in that it's hard to get a crisp image with Distress Inks and clear stamps.

Another thing that will help is the Perfect Crafting Pouch by Scraperfect. You rub the paper first and it helps give you a crisp image & stops bleeding.

I previously had been using the Momento inks (their colors besides Tuxedo black are just as crisp IMO) and I recently started using the Jenni Bowlin inks too. I like them as well and they have fun trendy colors that coordinate with her paint dabbers .

The best ink I've ever used with clear stamps is VersaFine ink, manufactured by Tsukineko. Their Onyx is the darkest black ink I've ever used, and they all work well with clear and/or very detailed stamps.

Distress Ink Pads aren't really for stamping. You can stamp with them, but they are more for Pad to paper and multimedia art. I use them a lot for making my stamped images look like watercolor.
If I want a true sharp image, I use Tsukineko, StazOn in Jet Black. I have pads from that line in Timber Brown, Olive Green and Metallic Copper.
I LOVE their sliding rainbow palettes too. The inks remain separate so they do not bleed together, but when you push the pads together they make the perfect pad for your soft brayer. I wish I could afford the whole set of Kaleidacolor stamp pads. (I did manage to get my hands on an empty stamp pad and made my own rainbow selections from Jenni Bowland Reinkers!)
I use only StazOn ink pads on my Stampscapes stamps for the best, crisp image.