Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Twinfan on November 30, 2009, 10:38:48 AM
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I went to the Liverpool Guitar Show yesterday with "MJW" Martin, and it was one of the better shows of recent times. A few pieces of vintage gear there, which was a nice change, but we weren't entirely convinced they were genuine. Nice to see "Roland_Rat" there too, hope you enjoy the Rothwell Compressor matey!
Anyhow, I digress...
I was on the lookout for interesting pedals as my amp/guitar rig is sorted. Unfortunately, there was hardly anything decent on show which was a shame. On one stand though, my eye spotted an MXR Distortion III:
(http://www.woodstockmusicalinstruments.com/catalog/images/M115_463x342Dist3.jpg)
It was a little beaten up, and had an incorrect tone knob replacement, and was on sale at £49. As I like to try different overdrive/distortion pedals I offered him £40 and the deal was done. I thought it might be OK to boost my amp for solos when practicing at home.
I totally underestimated this little beauty!
The name and looks made me think it would be a fuzzy/buzzy distortion box that would only be good boosting an already dirty amp. As it turns out, it's very much a "heavy overdrive" - like a Tubescreamer on steroids! There's plenty of smooth gain, nothing too fizzy and sharp, just a nice warm blues/rock tone. There's a slight mid-hump to it, which adds some punch, but it's not quite as obvious as a Tubescreamer. It is there though.
After trying it through my rig, and loving it, I wondered how it compared to the BB Preamp that's been my long-term favourite overdrive on my pedal board. In fact, it's been my favourite pedal, period. It's been beaten - the Distortion III is the new king!
In comparison to the BB, the Dist III is warmer, smoother and has more Marshall-style grunt. Into the clean channel, and comparing it to my lead channel, it's pretty similar in tone. Perfect for the rhythm tones I need. Into the lead channel, it gives more gain, sustain and a singing quality. Really, really nice. The BB sounds scooped and twangy in comparison.
I later discovered that the Dist III is only £70 new via mail order, so while I didn't get bargain of the century I did OK I guess. If anyone's considering getting a BB Preamp at £169, but thinks they're expensive, grab yourself a Distortion III and laugh all the way to the tone bank :D
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Thanks for sharing, sounds like a winner.
Have you tried an OCD ever? Think you might like it too.
Would be great if you could make some comparison clips/vids of the BB and the MXR into clean and drive channel!
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I'll see if I can put some clips together, but I'm really busy at the moment.
The BB Preamp preserves your pick attack very well, almost as if there's a slight delay before the effect starts. It's great into a really dirty amp to give it kick but keep clarity, where the Dist III is a smoother, singing gain booster. Think of it as Fender versus Marshall in some ways.
I've tried an OCD before, and thought it was good, but I've never owned one. I think I need to get hold of one...
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Cheers Dave - something for me to consider in future. I wish I had never sold my OCD to Shobet!
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Cheers Dave - something for me to consider in future. I wish I had never sold my OCD to Shobet!
You're not having it back! :P
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I wondered how it compared to the BB Preamp that's been my long-term favourite overdrive on my pedal board. In fact, it's been my favourite pedal, period. It's been beaten - the Distortion III is the new king!
Interesting - the BB Preamp has always been my favourite overdrive too - would be interested to hear the MXR.
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Just listened to the PGS demo, not the best way to gain an opinion but the one I did get was that it's a bit harder sounding than the BB, so may be better for harder rock??
I really like OCD's, they do a great just breaking up sound that I really like and sound really good at low volumes.
Not tried one in a gig situation though.
I'm currently using a Cool Cat Distortion that I got for £15, sounds pretty good for the price!
It's funny but some pedals sound cr@p at home but great when you get them to a gig.
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Cheers Dave - something for me to consider in future. I wish I had never sold my OCD to Shobet!
You're not having it back! :P
Thought so. Was worth a little toe in the water though!
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Glad you like the distortion pedal you got. My purchase unfortunatly has to go away till christmas. So not been able to give it a try yet.
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Glad you like the distortion pedal you got. My purchase unfortunatly has to go away till christmas. So not been able to give it a try yet.
Ah! Not just me then... I'm itching to open a guitar case at the moment :lol:
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nice, i haven't tried that one. :(
£40 is alright if it goes for £70 new, i think, generally i work on the 50% rule for buying second hand (and that's close enough). Bet you're glad you didn't pay £49, though :D
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what settings are you using Dave, sounds like you are using mainly as a boost.
Anyone tried the Dano Cool Cat pedals, either the transparent drive or the drive is meant to be an OCD clone.
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Sounds like a winner if it's being compared to a BB pre amp! I hear the GT overdrive is a great pedal too ... so I guess that's 2 new pedals to look out for. Out of curiosity Dave, how are you setting these 2 pedals up.. ie typically what are your gain settings on the amp and the pedals? I've never really had much success with stacking drives but then I don't have much patience! :)
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I'm using the pedal into:
a) Clean channel, very slight breakup (think Fruscianti)
b) Lead channel, moderate gain (think AC/DC rhythm)
I have the pedal set the same for both applications, and it goes on top of the channel tones above:
Tone - around 7/10
Volume - just above unity, around 6/10
Gain - just under half, around 4/10
So the pedal takes the clean/crunch into rock rhythm, or the rock rhythm into rock lead, making it a 3 channel amp. Plus I have the boost option on the amp as well to get hard rock/metal rhythm and lead tones making it a 4 channel amp.
Lovely :)
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I'm using the pedal into:
a) Clean channel, very slight breakup (think Fruscianti)
Now I'm tempted!
PS It's Frusciante. I won't tell him. :)
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Doh! Cheers Ian!
The amp itself is doing the basic Frusciante very light crunch, the pedal is on top of that giving a 'DC rhythm level of gain...
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Anyone tried the Dano Cool Cat pedals, either the transparent drive or the drive is meant to be an OCD clone.
The CO-1 (drive) is supposed to be an OCD copy, yes.
The "transparent overdrive" (well, the first version at least - CTO-1) is actually an almost exact copy of Paul Cochrane's Timmy - this has been checked by some DIY guru and posted on freestompboxes.org:
http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4065 (http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4065)
Same story goes for all (or almost) the other Coolcat (fuzz -> frantone, trem -> Demeter, distortion -> crunch box, etc). They could as well have named the serie "Copycat".
I do have the trem and CTO-1. The trem is, well, kinda fine - not quite there, but for sure the best you can get for that price. The CTO-1 is just great, one of the best OD I've ever played, almost replaced my good old '81 TS-09. Don't know if it's as good as the real Timmy (I guess not - cheaper components), but definitly worth its price if you can't afford the RealThing(tm).
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Doh! Cheers Ian!
The amp itself is doing the basic Frusciante very light crunch, the pedal is on top of that giving a 'DC rhythm level of gain...
Doh! I misread it. You'll have to get some clips up!
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Woah, just checked the coolcats out locally, theyre the equivalent of about 30quid here new. might have to try one of the drives just for the hell of it.
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Woah, just checked the coolcats out locally, theyre the equivalent of about 30quid here new. might have to try one of the drives just for the hell of it.
I think they are true bypass as well
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I bought a few cool cat's lately, a cool cat Vibe and the distortion. The distortion sounds pretty good as a boost through an already cranked amp but pretty fizzy and sterile into a clean amp.
The cool cat vibe lasted one gig then died last night when I stepped on it for a solo.
They are cheap and cheerful but I can't help thinking you get what you pay for
I would like to try the Drive out and the Transparent Overdrive did sound OK
Going to get an OCD next.....
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I love fan boy reviews.. :?
Who's to bet Twinfan finds another pedal within 4 weeks? ;)
hehe, I just know u like to buy gear :P
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James - you've got it wrong. I've been using the BB Preamp for over 12 months, and have only recently found it lacking. I expected the MXR to be a bit average, but it's a really nice pedal so I'm sharing the info.
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There's a comparison between the OCD and Danelectro on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXxIp9CYnp8&feature=related
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There's a comparison between the OCD and Danelectro on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXxIp9CYnp8&feature=related
Thanks for posting that, I'm getting very tempted by these Dano chappies... :D