Does the world need another overdrive/distortion pedal?

austint01

Not sure if this has been discussed before but I was thinking last night that there seems to be no end to lots of new overdrive and distortion pedals coming on the market everyday. When PGS started the tone report, I was surprised about how much gutiar pedal *news* there actually was!

With the originals, the improved circuits, the same circuit in a fancy box version, the reissue, the innovations etc. There seems to be a huge choice already and tool for every job.

Do we really need any more? I assume the market must be there if they keep churning them out?

EDIT: And what's the deal with fuzz pedals? There seem to be even more than OD type pedals. How come?

monquixote

Burn the heretic. 

not_the_dj

Did you see the April's fool issue of the tone Report Daily news where they had a story about the "international association of pedal builders" (or somesuch madeup organisation) agreeing not to produce any new fuzz pedals as the world simply has enough!

Jalapeno

Witchcraft !!!!!

mike_l

monquixote said:

Burn the heretic. 

Correct.

Jalapeno said:

Witchcraft !!!!!

Correct.

Anyone else think there's enough dirt pedals?

If so WTF is wrong with you?

ICBM

There are enough dirt pedals.

At least which sound like 99% of the ones we already have.

There probably aren't enough that sound like a desk being overdriven or a 70s solid-state amp seconds before it blows up though...

mike_l

ICBM said:

There are enough dirt pedals.

You take that back, right now.

 

 

:P

ICBM

THERE ARE ENOUGH DIRT PEDALS

Seriously, why do we need more Tube Screamer/Rat/combination of the two pedals? They all sound essentially the same. If you don't think so, try positively identifying one in a blind test! Even the Fuzz Face/Tonebender sound has been done to death.

We possibly do need more dirt pedals that sound nothing at all like any of the above.

steamabacus

It's fashion, innit. 

meltedbuzzbox

ICBM said:

THERE ARE ENOUGH DIRT PEDALS

Seriously, why do we need more Tube Screamer/Rat/combination of the two pedals? They all sound essentially the same. If you don't think so, try positively identifying one in a blind test! Even the Fuzz Face/Tonebender sound has been done to death.

We possibly do need more dirt pedals that sound nothing at all like any of the above.

Pretty much what I have posted several times on this forum to the sound of crickets. 

I have no time for rehashing the same old shit in a new shiny box and claiming its the best thing ever.

I point blank refuse to buy a RAT clone or any others for 3 to 10 times the price. Why does the RAT even need cloning? 

mike_l

NEVER, no, there's always room for more.

I do kind of agree there needs to be a variation on them.

I know I have some (IE more than 20) but they're all used for different things.

IE I use the SD-1 and Bad Monkey is essentially the same way (as a boost into a dirty amp) but get different results (SD-1 smoother, BM more gritty).

 

austint01

So what kind of variation? Valve based pedals? 

I assume there will be a tide of pedals with transformers soon after the Bogner/JHS ones. I actually fancy something that would just heavily colour the sound but without any noticeable distortion. More of a harmonic enricher or something

mike_l

Rather than have a bunch of pedals which do the same tone, a bunch of pedals doing different tones.

I know I have a good selection, as they all have an individual character, rather than all being the same with a different label on.

I know some cover the same ground, (Boss DS-1, Digitech Hothead, Boss MT-2) but all brig someting different to the table (at least to my ears).

Where the DS-1 can be a bit dark, the Hothead is a bit toppier and the MT-2 a bit fuzzier, and slightly fizzy, but all are fairly high gain distortion pedals.

The MXR's are different again, the Dist3, Custom Badass, and Distortion+ all do different jobs for me. The D3 has a different voicing the the custom Badass, the D+ tightens up the lows, brightens up the highs and is best (IMO) as a lead boost.

Whereas the Guvnor/HT Dual/Jackhammers I'd use as an alternative to an amps dirt channel.

 

Hope that makes some sense and isn't just waffle.

austint01

Is there any room for some kind of digital/analog hybrid unit that covers an array of overdrive and distortion. Similar to what Chase Bliss do with there fancy looking pedals.

Having a bunch of analog clipping circuits that are controlled digitally and maybe use digital EQ to shape them further.

My assumption is that modelling clipping and its non linear behaviour is quite difficult, but controlling that digitally might be an option to get a flexible one stop shop overdrive unit.

Not really thought this through.. just what came to mind

mike_l

Also, trying them all is fun.

monquixote

I think part of the proliferation at the moment is the acceptance that there are certain "standard" pedals that every manufacturer feels they need to make a version of. 

To give two examples Dunlop have recently released the Badass OD and Dist (Mod SD1 and DS1) and the Saucy Box (Klon)

EHX have also recently done a TS, OCD, and Klon clone. 

There is still room for new designs though. The Wampler Velvet for example sounds quite different to anything else I'm aware of and I also like the idea of digital pedals that do things no analog pedal could do like the OD1X and DS1X or the Soundblox Multiwave.

mike_l

But, at least to my ear, the MXR's don't sound similar to the Boss'.

I shall back-to-back them this evening and confirm.

meltedbuzzbox

austint01 said:

Is there any room for some kind of digital/analog hybrid unit that covers an array of overdrive and distortion. Similar to what Chase Bliss do with there fancy looking pedals.

Having a bunch of analog clipping circuits that are controlled digitally and maybe use digital EQ to shape them further.

My assumption is that modelling clipping and its non linear behaviour is quite difficult, but controlling that digitally might be an option to get a flexible one stop shop overdrive unit.

Not really thought this through.. just what came to mind

I know line 6 made a distortion box thing (DM4 I think)

From what I gather it sounded like ass Gravy in a box but then you have AXEFX which I believe have very good sounds but super expensive

monquixote

mike_l said:

But, at least to my ear, the MXR's don't sound similar to the Boss'.

I shall back-to-back them this evening and confirm.

It's based on a Keeley DS as is the Satchurator so that might be the better comparison.

Cirrus

No man, the DM4 is really good. Seriously. Sounds way better than the equivalent models in the Line 6 M series multieffects. I was shocked at how useable the TS, Rat, Compressor and even fuzz sounds were, and this is comparing them all to the real pedals through an AC30. Plus with 3 band EQ on every model it was super easy to get a particular pedal to hit your amp just right - clarity without icepicks, and bass that didn't sound either too lean or fart out the preamp stage.

Sounds mad, I really didn't expect it to be the case. But I gigged it for about 6 months and only sold it because it was a bit big for my board. And I couldn't believe what I was hearing in a side by side with an M13 - I'd have thought they'd sound the same but to my ears the DM4 is much more dynamic and lively sounding, probably due to cheaper A/D and D/A on the M13?

Don't get me wrong, it was perfectly possible to MAKE it sound like ass gravy. )

ICBM

I agree. I don't like Line6 sounds in general or even digital modelling usually - and I had a DL-4 which caused me some trouble - but the DM-4 I tried sounded really good, both its ability to model other sounds fairly accurately and make some quite interesting new ones. I might have bought one except that the DL-4 had put me off because of its reliability problems.

It's so good that The Edge had Line6 make him a unique (as far as I know) 'Pro' rack-mount version - they did the other three models as Pro versions, but not the DM-4 normally - and he can afford anything.