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Screwdrivers and Rats and Crunch Boxes, oh my

huskerjohn

By huskerjohn
in Effects and Processors

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huskerjohn Newbie

huskerjohn

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I am a dirt addict and I need help!!

 

Suddenly my board has become an unruly mess of wires and too much dirt. My board was as tidy as you could find up until a month ago when I got a very low serial number keeley comp (SN less than 200) and I put in on my board in place of the Signa Comp. The comp sounds great, but it fueled additional GAS and I added a Screwdriver and a Timmy. I have a MJM London Fuzz and a Keeler Designs Pull in the mail to me as we speak! :facepalm: Now the board is way overcrowded and things aren't working as they used to. :facepalm::facepalm:

 

I play classic rock, blues (Led Zep, CCR, Black Crowes, Jimi, Trower, etc) and I do need some dirt and fuzz. I play my Les Paul about 60% of the time and my Bolt (Carvin version of the Strat) about 40% of the time.

 

Dirt wise, I don't think I can live without the Timmy, SD1, Soul-Bender, and the Muff Diver Finale. I love the FD2 but don't use it as much as I used to, so it needs to go. I never bonded with the screwdriver, so it needs to go. The BD2 has been on my board for years, but it is time for a change...

 

Should I keep my RAT or my Crunchbox, or get an OCD (or a hyperpack, or BOR??).

 

I am hopeless and out of control...

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ATauO Newbie

ATauO

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OMG- I sent you a PM before I read your post. lol.

 

I wanted to consolidate my board and ended up a pedal addict too.. so one addict to another..

and only about dirt- all your other pedals kick ass..

Lets see-

 

Timmy, SD1, Soul-Bender, and the Muff Diver Finale. All those stay-

 

The FD2 and the BD2 imho cover a lot of the same ground. But you never know when you need a mid hump tubescreamer sound for some SRV... so try and sell them and pick up a FD2 mosfet. Or sell the FD2 and get the BD2 modded.

 

The RAT well its a rat- a very common pedal used for many songs. Crunchbox gets that distortion going-

 

I had the Crunchbox but tried out a Catlinbread SCOD and well the SCOD killed. I could also get a ratish tone going to. Check out the SCOD, or the Emma Fratzitz. You could easily cover the Rat/crunchbox with either of those pedals.

 

OCD/BoR- not going to get as much gain as your crunchbox/Rat IMHO. The OCD and BoR have great sounding gain but its in a more mid level gain arena, perfect for rock but not heavy distortion rock.

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Jules-RM Newbie

Jules-RM

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Personally, I would just keep the Timmy, Dice Works Finale, and Rat. Perhaps add a clean boost (or treble booster for the Brian May/Marc Bolan/Mick Ronson thing) and that should be all you need. I really love Rats because they shine in a live setting, cuts through the mix better than anything else I've tried.

 

I tried the whole 6+ dirt pedals thing myself, it doesn't work live. It also muddies your character, makes your sound less identifiable.

 

Might also want to consider re-ordering the pedals to Dice Works>Rat>Timmy. I had Rat last in the chain for a while until I experimented, is sounds much better now.

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Destructobot Newbie

Destructobot

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Keep the screwdriver, the soul bender, and the dice works muff. Ditch the rest of the dirt pedals, you don't need them.

 

The crunch box is kind of a generic sounding chugga chugga high gain pedal. If you can't get a satisfactory sound of that type out of those three I listed, you're being way too picky IMO.

 

I've got my dirt down to a supercollider and screwdriver at this point. A few shades of overdrive, some boosting capability, and some fuzz that goes from tight and punchy to bloated and loose. The only other kind of dirt I could see adding would be a fuzz face or tone bender type because the other two won't do anything close on their own.

 

 

Think of all the cash you'll have if you sell the BD-2, SD-1, FD-II, rat, timmy, other two dice works, the crunch box.... You could buy a nice guitar or amp for that much money, and you'll still have all the dirt sounds you want.

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huskerjohn Newbie

huskerjohn

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OMG- I sent you a PM before I read your post. lol.


I wanted to consolidate my board and ended up a pedal addict too.. so one addict to another..

and only about dirt- all your other pedals kick ass..

Lets see-


Timmy, SD1, Soul-Bender, and the Muff Diver Finale. All those stay-


The FD2 and the BD2 imho cover a lot of the same ground. But you never know when you need a mid hump tubescreamer sound for some SRV... so try and sell them and pick up a FD2 mosfet. Or sell the FD2 and get the BD2 modded.


The RAT well its a rat- a very common pedal used for many songs. Crunchbox gets that distortion going-


I had the Crunchbox but tried out a Catlinbread SCOD and well the SCOD killed. I could also get a ratish tone going to. Check out the SCOD, or the Emma Fratzitz. You could easily cover the Rat/crunchbox with either of those pedals.


OCD/BoR- not going to get as much gain as your crunchbox/Rat IMHO. The OCD and BoR have great sounding gain but its in a more mid level gain arena, perfect for rock but not heavy distortion rock.

 

Sounds like we suffer from the same addiction, my friend! ;)

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huskerjohn Newbie

huskerjohn

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Keep the screwdriver, the soul bender, and the dice works muff. Ditch the rest of the dirt pedals, you don't need them.


The crunch box is kind of a generic sounding chugga chugga high gain pedal. If you can't get a satisfactory sound of that type out of those three I listed, you're being way too picky IMO.


I've got my dirt down to a supercollider and screwdriver at this point. A few shades of overdrive, some boosting capability, and some fuzz that goes from tight and punchy to bloated and loose. The only other kind of dirt I could see adding would be a fuzz face or tone bender type because the other two won't do anything close on their own.



Think of all the cash you'll have if you sell the BD-2, SD-1, FD-II, rat, timmy, other two dice works, the crunch box.... You could buy a nice guitar or amp for that much money, and you'll still have all the dirt sounds you want.

 

 

I could probably live with this set up, but my go to pedals are the SD-1 and the Timmy. I'd miss them for awhile. The screwdriver could replace the sd-1 if I can get the screwdriver to sound good with chords. Working on the trim pots... The supercollider sounds tempting... (there I go again...)

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huskerjohn Newbie

huskerjohn

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Keep the screwdriver, the soul bender, and the dice works muff. Ditch the rest of the dirt pedals, you don't need them.


The crunch box is kind of a generic sounding chugga chugga high gain pedal. If you can't get a satisfactory sound of that type out of those three I listed, you're being way too picky IMO.


I've got my dirt down to a supercollider and screwdriver at this point. A few shades of overdrive, some boosting capability, and some fuzz that goes from tight and punchy to bloated and loose. The only other kind of dirt I could see adding would be a fuzz face or tone bender type because the other two won't do anything close on their own.



Think of all the cash you'll have if you sell the BD-2, SD-1, FD-II, rat, timmy, other two dice works, the crunch box.... You could buy a nice guitar or amp for that much money, and you'll still have all the dirt sounds you want.

 

 

 

Re-thinking what you said. Your right, I am being too picky. I stayed up late last night trying to figure out what combinations worked best. It is clear that I don't need the rat and the crunch box. The timmy can let me do the blues with some tweaks of the volume and tone knob on the guitar, so I can get rid of the BD-2 and the FD-2. The screwdriver and the SD-1 GT both sound great on their own, but driven by the timmy I get good heavy crunch close to the crunchbox and the rat.

 

Tonight the rat, crunchbox, FD2 and the BD2 come off. Thinking the timmy, soul-bender, and dice works muff will stay. I just need to figure out which pedal wins between the SD-1 and the screwdriver. This will make room for that flanger...

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huskerjohn Newbie

huskerjohn

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It's not your fathers SD-1. The CMATMODS SD-1 GT is a new beast. It has been my tone for a couple years now.

 

I find the tone of the two pedals very close. The SD-1 has a bit tighter crunch and better note definition. But I really like the screwdriver for leads. I think it stands out better in the mix here. This is where the timmy can make a difference in this battle. The timmy does chord work exceedingly well.

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mrweems Newbie

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I thought I was overboard using 3 dirt pedals at my last gig.


I had my four knob rat, BD-2 and SD-1 and had plenty of flavors to choose from. Too many
:lol:

 

agreed.

 

All i can justify is SD1 - Big box Rat - Mayo.

 

And i still only have two of those.

 

I just don't understand more than three dirt. Unless your some big name act that has to have all of his sounds from his career of 10 years and 4+ albums that he has to perform.

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