Distortion pedals

Electronic Music Production // Dark Arts
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Lost to the Void
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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by Lost to the Void »

Rats Are Classic Beasts. I've been meaning to get a stereo rat for ages.
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Re: Distortion pedals

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So you need some kind of level attenuators to go before the pedal, right? Any recommendations there?
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Re: Distortion pedals

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nomadjames wrote:So you need some kind of level attenuators to go before the pedal, right? Any recommendations there?
Technically yes, but..... not really. You can just control the input level via whatever is feeding in.
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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by P0607r0n »

Got an instant GAS on that analog drive. It's like old brotha of analog heat.
Though, most of distortion pedals are mono, and I'm not fan of that.

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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by P0607r0n »

Any thoughts about Deluxe BASS Big Muff?
Looks interesting, as it has wet/dry, and filter, as well as noise gate. Good idea for drums, or forget about it?

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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by UntzUntz »

Mslwte wrote:ive got a filterbank, a brenell mark 5 60's preamp, cheap chinese little bear units, a "you dirty rat", a great destroyer and the thing i like the most is the distortion from the machinedrum compressor.
I recently picked up a used "You Dirty Rat" hoping it lived up to the OG RAT... don't bother, it doesn't handle line level well and destroys the low end (not in a good way). My favorite distortion thus far is the Minifooger MF Drive. Lots of room from subtle, warm distortion, to hard fuzz. The Moog 4 pole filter is all sorts of fun, and sounds great on everything I run through it.

I also (try to) play Bass, so I've experimented with a bunch of pedals I have around. The MXR M80 Bass DI's distortion actually sounds damn good on TR8 kicks, but I wouldn't recommend it, due to the cost, unless you need a good Bass DI ;).

The Zoom B1on is another cheap fun toy I've been experimenting with. It handles line lvl fine and has a bunch of distortion and amp/cab sims. I haven't had the time to put the TR-8 through it yet, but I have high hopes after putting the JD-XA through it. This thread inspired me to try it out on the TB3 too! I'll report back.

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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by SFBM »

I have a Proco Rat 2, Big Muff Pi, Boss DS-1, and a Digitech Heavy Metal pedal which are all pretty nice. The DS-1 is lack lustre but it can add some good texture when put in a chain with the other pedals. The Heavy Metal can get real gritty raw sounds out of it, except it's not a type of pedal where you can send through a clean signal and then choose % of effect, it's either all or nothing. That said, for like $40 2nd hand from a thrift shop purchase, was pretty dope.

For distortion/fuzz/similar pedals on my 'to get' list, Sherman Filterbank 2 can get amazing sounds, ZVEX Fuzz Factory (also comes as a Eurorack module now, I think), EHX Germanium OD, replace my Big Muff Pi with a nano Muff Pi, or a Metal Muff Pi or Germanium Muff Pi (or Mod my own), and really want to get a Deucetone Rat after reading an Interview with Porc ages ago. Any of those I'd recommend.

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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by Críoch »

Early days.. but there is a compressor on the master of the mpc2500. Sounds shocking - Ho Ho Ho!!! :)
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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by psicomagia »

I've been using Basic Audio pedals with guitars since 2010, specially the fuzzes. Since I started producing electronic I felt in love again with those pedals with synths. http://www.basicaudio.net

My favorite is the Scarab Deluxe Fuzz. But this guy makes an awesome sounding Rat based, with more tweaking possibilites and other distortion boxes as well.

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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by Mslwte »

UntzUntz wrote:
Mslwte wrote:ive got a filterbank, a brenell mark 5 60's preamp, cheap chinese little bear units, a "you dirty rat", a great destroyer and the thing i like the most is the distortion from the machinedrum compressor.
I recently picked up a used "You Dirty Rat" hoping it lived up to the OG RAT... don't bother, it doesn't handle line level well and destroys the low end (not in a good way)..
You should have a look at a mod kit for it. Swap out a few components and you can change / improve the sound.
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Re: Distortion pedals

Post by Boiled Egg »

I'm looking at picking up a distortion pedal of 2 over the coming weeks and was wondering about a couple things I was hoping you guys could help me out with:

1. Do you use reamping boxes to get the impedance to a level better suited to the pedals. I'm guessing you can just turn the output of the synth/drum machine down and this would have a similar impact, right? Does this also apply to taking a line out of the DAW too?

2. There doesn't appear to be too many stereo distortion pedals on the market. How do you manage stereo image when using mono pedals. This wouldn't be an issue if just distorting individual drum tracks which you can mix later, but distorting the main output of a drum machine can create some really nice dynamics.

Would like to focus on getting tracks going more outside of the DAW. Just wondering what kind of techniques people are using really.


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