What's your favourite crunch pedal?

AlanRatcliffe

So tell me... what is your favourite low to medium gain crunch pedal. You know - the kind of distortion that sounds like a Plexi being hit hard? Has a little edge and bite you get from distortion when you lean in, but smooths out and cleans up when you play softer or turn down. Malcolm Young in a box... ?

AlanRatcliffe

BTW... if someone had to ask me this question, I'd recommend an old RAT, which while it can do the balls-to-the-wall distortion thing, gets really sweet at lower settings. The RAT's Filter EQ has always been the one limitation for my tastes though...

Warren

I'm really enjoying my Vox Ice 9 pedal at the moment, mostly because it's very versatile and seems to work quite well with my amp.

The main reason I like it is the "more" switch, which is pretty dynamic. If you have a mild overdrive set up, the "more" switch adds quite a boost to the volume and the distortion, whereas the effect is less pronounced if the gain is turned up on the pedal already.

Has a basic tone pot, as well as two different voicings (vintage and modern).

I also have the Satchurator (a pure distortion pedal) and TS-808. I quite like the TS in combo with the Ice 9.

shadow1

For me the MI AUDIO blue boy deluxe, by far my favourite. I also run the Maxon TS808 in conjunction when I want it to be a bit over the top. Those 2 never leave my board.

MikeM

Tried the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret? Have only played it once, but it's supposed to be a Marshall-in-a-box, and it's got a really cool low mid chunk to it.

AlanRatcliffe

The DLS is an option - thanks, I'd forgotten about that. The CMATMODS Brownie also does the Marshall thing very well, but damned if I can find a demo clip where the person demoing it turns the gain down lower than 12-noon. ?

TS808, Blue Boy, etc. are more overdrive pedals, which I have well covered (Lovepedal OD11, which I liked at first, but just keeps on growing and growing on me). Think more Crunch Box than Blue Boy (but unfortunately in the gain ranges I use drive pedals, the MI Audio stuff gets finicky with the volume and difficult to set to unity gain).

The Satchurator seems a bit too centred on higher gain...

Warren

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: TS808, Blue Boy, etc. are more overdrive pedals, which I have well covered (Lovepedal OD11, which I liked at first, but just keeps on growing and growing on me). Think more Crunch Box than Blue Boy (but unfortunately in the gain ranges I use drive pedals, the MI Audio stuff gets finicky with the volume and difficult to set to unity gain).

The Satchurator seems a bit too centred on higher gain...

Ah, understood now.

Yes, the Satchurator has lots of gain, even at the lowest level of the knob. It's also a very bright sounding pedal overall, although you can dial the tone back somewhat. It does sound very nice with a humbucker-equipped guitar, and it does go some way to capturing the sorts of tones Satriani shoots for. It doesn't really sound anything like a cranked Marshall on its own...

MikeM

Have you checked out the TC Dark Matter?

Can't find many good vids, but this one is pretty decent except for being in spanish or something ?

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AlanRatcliffe

MikeM wrote: Have you checked out the TC Dark Matter?

Nice, but comes across more like a JCM 800 than a Plexi to my ear...

Just to expand... I just want to add a little bit of a crunchy edge for rockier rhythms and I'll stack with the drive for higher gain. I can do it with the distortion side of the NovaDrive, but prefer the OD11 to the ND's drive and the ND is a bit too much of a power pig for this application.

Reinhard

I like this ?

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MikeM

I don't know Marshall's much. Was just thinking of cool crunchy pedals ?

Reinhard

AlanRatcliffe

MikeM wrote: I don't know Marshall's much. Was just thinking of cool crunchy pedals ?

That's fine! The DLS is a worthy contender (in fact, it's the front-runner so far).

@ Reinhard - Thanks! Looking into it now. I particularly liked Andy saying the Hellbender sounded more like the Marshall in his head than the Marshall - I was thinking exactly the same thing...

ezietsman

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
MikeM wrote: I don't know Marshall's much. Was just thinking of cool crunchy pedals ?
That's fine! The DLS is a worthy contender (in fact, it's the front-runner so far).

@ Reinhard - Thanks! Looking into it now. I particularly liked Andy saying the Hellbender sounded more like the Marshall in his head than the Marshall - I was thinking exactly the same thing...

pfffftt.... Can't take you Fender jocks anywhere ? The moment he pushed that AB switch I knew B was the Marshall.

The pedal sounds cool but I think it'll be too muffled for playing in a noisy band. Of course, he could have killed the highs either on the amp or the pedal.

Another pedal to check, if you want that plexi thing is the Zvex box or rock (I think), demos on youtube sounds pretty cool for a pedal ?

MikeM

I knew that B was the Marshall ? Just I can't tell you how a JTM45 differs from a JCM800 (more modern and tight I suppose) or a plexi?

I had actually typed out "box of rock" earlier, it's a cool pedal, but I have never personally thought of it as a marshall in a box?

AlanRatcliffe

ez wrote: pfffftt.... Can't take you Fender jocks anywhere ? The moment he pushed that AB switch I knew B was the Marshall.

Pardon the expression, but: Duh! ? Anyone who has played a Marshall remembers that low end. But the Hellbender is a nice caricature of the Plexi tone - it's like they have latched on to some of the distinctive features of the sound and accentuated them.

Another pedal to check, if you want that plexi thing is the Zvex box or rock (I think)

Agreed - I did consider it, but somehow it seemed a bit hotrodded gain-wise.

Reinhard

ez wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
MikeM wrote: I don't know Marshall's much. Was just thinking of cool crunchy pedals ?
That's fine! The DLS is a worthy contender (in fact, it's the front-runner so far).

@ Reinhard - Thanks! Looking into it now. I particularly liked Andy saying the Hellbender sounded more like the Marshall in his head than the Marshall - I was thinking exactly the same thing...

pfffftt.... Can't take you Fender jocks anywhere ? The moment he pushed that AB switch I knew B was the Marshall.

The pedal sounds cool but I think it'll be too muffled for playing in a noisy band. Of course, he could have killed the highs either on the amp or the pedal.

Another pedal to check, if you want that plexi thing is the Zvex box or rock (I think), demos on youtube sounds pretty cool for a pedal ?

It has a tone knob, cuts like a mofo.

Vintage-Vibe

Z Vexx Box of Rock does JTM45 beautifully ...
MI Audio Crunch Factor takes over at the next gain point - a bit less transparent, but can do lower AND higher gain nicely ...

AlanRatcliffe

OK. Imma gonna take another look at the Zvex...

singemonkey

Made and borrowed from a forum member. It's a bit bulky, I'll admit, but it does such an amazing impression of an overdriven amp at normal gigging volume that I don't mind the size. The controls are kak-difficult to operate with your feet though, so I just leave it on all the time. Very dynamic and goes from clean to raging with a twist of the guitar volume knob - just like a real amp.