Distortion pedal for R30?

[misterfolkertsma]

Anyone got some recommendations? Looking for something sludgy, thick and I guess a bit doomish. Budget friendly would be awesome. Also, distortion without being really high-gain: is that possible?

[Mystic38]

Can you not get the tone you are after with the dirty channel tone controls?.. bass up, mids downs sort of thing?..

[WALKEN]

To each their own but I never understood why anyone would want to use a distortion pedal unless the gain sucks on the amp you have or you have nothing but a clean power amp.

The R30 crunches great for anything from early 60's crunch to Napalm Death!

[misterfolkertsma]

Yeah I know the R30 crunches awesome, but that's not the topic here dudes...

Can you not get the tone you are after with the dirty channel tone controls?.. bass up, mids downs sort of thing?..

I'm already using the R30 (both the natural channel and dirty) in a different setting, so I really don't want to be turning knobs mid-song or even mid-set.

[ironlung40]

IF you are playing at gigging volumes you SHOULD give the black arts toneworks pharaoh fuzz a try...go with the older model that has the 3 way switch to go from GE or Si or none mode....this pedal seems to retain the amp's character more than most fuzzes and has a good range of overdrive before it gets too fuzzy and will doom that amp up nicely as it has good low end as well

[StratusX]

Bass Big Muff. It's basically the same circuit as the Sovtek Big Muffs of the 90s with an added bass boost switch. And they're relatively inexpensive!

[misterfolkertsma]

Thanks guys! Will look into those two. I heard good things mentioned about the pharaoh fuzz before btw. Can't be coincidence that it keeps popping up!

[onetracker]

Thanks guys! Will look into those two. I heard good things mentioned about the pharaoh fuzz before btw. Can't be coincidence that it keeps popping up!

I just sold my pharaoh fuzz 2 weeks ago. I dunno...I just couldn't seem to coax anything usable from it. maybe its too complicated for my simple mind. i was continuously flipping from SI to GE and clipping diodes. i would set it up where I thought it sounded good - thick - overdriven - almost like an organ or synth - but when I stepped on the pedal for a solo it seemed to remove the organic nature of either of my amps - especially the rocker.

definitely test drive it if you can.

good luck in your tone quest

OT

[Jondog]

Thanks guys! Will look into those two. I heard good things mentioned about the pharaoh fuzz before btw. Can't be coincidence that it keeps popping up!

I just sold my pharaoh fuzz 2 weeks ago. I dunno...I just couldn't seem to coax anything usable from it. maybe its too complicated for my simple mind. i was continuously flipping from SI to GE and clipping diodes. i would set it up where I thought it sounded good - thick - overdriven - almost like an organ or synth - but when I stepped on the pedal for a solo it seemed to remove the organic nature of either of my amps - especially the rocker.

definitely test drive it if you can.

good luck in your tone quest

OT

I experienced this with it too. It was OK but I didn't understand what all the hype was about. I think the better pedal from them to suggest is the LSTR. I built a clone of it. Thick and sludgy.
http://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/video/ ... 46_ch&tt=b

I'm interested to try the new Boneshaker. Distortion rather than fuzz and very versatile looking. The parametric EQ is a big plus, especially with an Orange thats not always excepting of pedals.
http://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/video/ ... 46_ch&tt=b

http://digitech.com/en-US/products/boneshaker

[Les Paul Lover]

Thanks guys! Will look into those two. I heard good things mentioned about the pharaoh fuzz before btw. Can't be coincidence that it keeps popping up!

I just sold my pharaoh fuzz 2 weeks ago. I dunno...I just couldn't seem to coax anything usable from it. maybe its too complicated for my simple mind. i was continuously flipping from SI to GE and clipping diodes. i would set it up where I thought it sounded good - thick - overdriven - almost like an organ or synth - but when I stepped on the pedal for a solo it seemed to remove the organic nature of either of my amps - especially the rocker.

definitely test drive it if you can.

good luck in your tone quest

OT

I experienced this with it too. It was OK but I didn't understand what all the hype was about. I think the better pedal from them to suggest is the LSTR. I built a clone of it. Thick and sludgy.
http://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/video/ ... 46_ch&tt=b

I'm interested to try the new Boneshaker. Distortion rather than fuzz and very versatile looking. The parametric EQ is a big plus, especially with an Orange thats not always excepting of pedals.
http://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/video/ ... 46_ch&tt=b

http://digitech.com/en-US/products/boneshaker

Isn't this the nature of most Big Muff PI?
They sound pretty heavy if used right, and different variants have different subtleties, but in the main, they are pretty heavily fizzed up at minimum setting and aren't particularly subtle on the dynamics front - just quite a bit of fuzz or lots of it with lots of sustain.

I like it for what it is, but Germanium diodes, silicon diodes or no diodes offer different shades of..... lots of not particularly subtle fuzz.

Good fun though!

To the Op - I'd happily recommend the way huge swollen pickle. You can have really scooped or not really scooped, and begs to play heavy stuff on it. Great lead tone too. Just don't expect it to be..... subtle, it is a Big Muff Pi variant, and a pretty good one too.
Lots of controls on it that make it flexible, and difficult to use - you do have to sus out how the internal control interact the external control. And it can do fuzz and distortion.

[Jondog]

Pretty much yes. I actually like the Big Muff better and I think it's the components that make the difference. Big Muff is made up from ceramics and electrolytics which I think give the pedal an edgy/sharpness that really helps the dark nature of the pedal. Pharoh uses polyfilm which are great and the capacitor of choice in the boutique world because of their ability to retain the original signal quality without adding that "edgyness". But in the Big Muff I think the ceramics help define the pedal.

[Jondog]

I've watched too much of that Boneshaker demo.....now I WANT ONE!!

[iblastoff]

i've generally found distortion pedals to sound like absolute garbage with the rocker 30. i dunno. its my least distortion pedal-friendly amp i own. the dirty channel on its own is more than fine.

i also have the pharaoh fuzz and was not surprised it sounded like crap through my rocker 30 too. but the pedal absolutely sings when played through my fender twin reverb.

[ironlung40]

i've generally found distortion pedals to sound like absolute garbage with the rocker 30. i dunno. its my least distortion pedal-friendly amp i own. the dirty channel on its own is more than fine.

i also have the pharaoh fuzz and was not surprised it sounded like crap through my rocker 30 too. but the pedal absolutely sings when played through my fender twin reverb.

I found the key to the PF thru the rocker was to run MV as high as possible and gain slightly above noon...and then run the PF with the diodes bypassed with high output and mid gain, selected hi output and ran the tone at 2 o'clock and the high at 10 o'clock so that they are almost pointing at each other...I got some nice sounds out of it that way.

But, if I wanted muffy type tones out of the pharaoh it for sure does best in front of a clean platform no freaking doubt...but muffin is not what I was seeking...just eviling up the rocker a bit and it worked for me....

I did not like the PF in front of my OR120 as much as I had hoped

[Les Paul Lover]

i've generally found distortion pedals to sound like absolute garbage with the rocker 30. i dunno. its my least distortion pedal-friendly amp i own. the dirty channel on its own is more than fine.

i also have the pharaoh fuzz and was not surprised it sounded like crap through my rocker 30 too. but the pedal absolutely sings when played through my fender twin reverb.

I found the key to the PF thru the rocker was to run MV as high as possible and gain slightly above noon...and then run the PF with the diodes bypassed with high output and mid gain, selected hi output and ran the tone at 2 o'clock and the high at 10 o'clock so that they are almost pointing at each other...I got some nice sounds out of it that way.

But, if I wanted muffy type tones out of the pharaoh it for sure does best in front of a clean platform no freaking doubt...but muffin is not what I was seeking...just eviling up the rocker a bit and it worked for me....

I did not like the PF in front of my OR120 as much as I had hoped

By the way, thanks for the tip re: bypassing the 2nd stage clipping diodes.
In my big muff pi clone, after we discussed that in an other thread, I bought an on off on switch instead of on on so that I could switch between germanium, silicon or no diodes at all. Glad I did, it a nice option to have and really changes the dynamics available in my Big Muff Pi clone. Without your input, I would have gone germanium /silicon only.