Your best/favorite high gain pedal combo's of today

djmiyta

djmiyta

Well-known member
So I am always ALWAYS looking for the newest(or oldest) best sounding ultra screaming od/disto
Cause 1
I cannot afford any tube amp that I like
Cause 2
Even if I could I couldn't crank it where I live

So i got a Yamaha G-100 head with a decent reverb a pretty nice tremelo a super shitty distortion and a very cool pre-set volume that all work with a foot switch. Solid state= a hella lot less $ than tube but the style I like to play I want /need a harmonically rich clean sustaining screaming od. Ala Andy James
My yamaha with 15" Altec Lansing 515b ($1800 speaker that I got from a friend who found them (2 of em ) for $40
Sounds really really nice for a clean sound works beautiful wit pedals and the amps tone controls are killer
I have a spiral book thats just for my different pedal chains.
Lately my chain has been guitar -> tuner -> Morley Bad Horsie I -> Pedal Pcb Mutron Phaser 2 -> pedalpcb interstellar orbiter -> boss modded sd-1 ->pedalpcb Vallhalla -> pedalpcb Sea Horse -> sonic stomp -> amp
super clean . articulate sustaining crunch really dig it ,,,,,,,,,, but still,,,,,,,,,,I want more
So anyone else a high gain junkie using pedals to get that? love to hear what others are digging these days
oh and the guitars 3 different Ibanez's a PRS Torero and les paul epiphone all stock except the Prs which had EMG's that sounded really bad beleive it or not got some guitar fetish high output humbuckers that once adjusted properly sound really really good
 
Lately I have been using my MBP Archibald as a boost and I love it, don’t think I will ever go back to a TS, but I have to agree on the VH4 that’s a great pedal, the Revv G3 is pretty good as well the Bogner uberschall is pretty cool (although I never look for a pedal project, for the modern metal high gain sound, but I like a rat and a muff just as much depends on what I’m trying to do,
 
Ive yet to build any fuzz face or tonebendr variants. Mainly due to most trannies from back then (this opinion based off all that I've read) either impossible to get or waaaay outta spec and lastly I find it hard to justify paying 12-?$ for a transistor that I'm unsure I'll like. I've found that just cause I like what I hear when listening to a pedal demo doesnt mean I'll like it through my setup. This has happened several times. I like to build and play build and play so spending any extra time with experimenting with values of components if it doesnt sound good to me gets put aside . I'll come back to it another time , mood and guitar and try it again
But back to the thread title
I decided to dust off the Pussy Face Melter and swapped out the Valhalla now I know I been screaming ultra high gain but I play guitar. Any guitar. I play to sound tracks, commercial, dripping faucets, dogs barking ......................Sorry

withe boss sd-1 on and before the melter all cranked up to get someting I Like ( first reaction to melter was yeah hi gain but thin and tinny on its own .Put into my pedal chain and Rolling back the guitar volume there are thousands of some of THE finest tones I've Ever heard come outta me. Literally over 4 hours non stop that seriously felt like "I need a 36 hour day so I can keep on playing" I forced myself to put it down knowing I had to be leaving for work in only a few hours
I had to tell somebody and thats that I'm going back cause I left everything exactly as it was last night so try this out for me its number 1 ........,for now







i
 
djmiyta said:
Ive yet to build any fuzz face or tonebendr variants. Mainly due to most trannies from back then (this opinion based off all that I've read) either impossible to get or waaaay outta spec and lastly I find it hard to justify paying 12-?$ for a transistor that I'm unsure I'll like. I've found that just cause I like what I hear when listening to a pedal demo doesnt mean I'll like it through my setup. This has happened several times. I like to build and play build and play so spending any extra time with experimenting with values of components if it doesnt sound good to me gets put aside . I'll come back to it another time , mood and guitar and try it again
Click to expand...
Silicon Tonebenders are rad! I like a 2n3904 for q1 and q3, and a 2n2222 for q2
That’s all of 70¢ total for the transistors at most, and they’ll likely sound fantastic. You can try out whatever silicon transistors you want if you socket them, and it’s a rad sound! Very different from a germanium TB but really cool and inspiring to play with. If you want to give a Tonebender a shot, you’d only be looking at a few bucks in parts for it!
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Silicon Tonebenders are rad! I like a 2n3904 for q1 and q3, and a 2n2222 for q2
That’s all of 70¢ total for the transistors at most, and they’ll likely sound fantastic. You can try out whatever silicon transistors you want if you socket them, and it’s a rad sound! Very different from a germanium TB but really cool and inspiring to play with. If you want to give a Tonebender a shot, you’d only be looking at a few bucks in parts for it!
Click to expand...
i definitely would try a tonebender. I just assumed germanium was the awthentic way to go and the silicone ones were a psuedo fill in for whatever reason but I didnt really give it much thought . those 2 trannies are easy to get so its on the list now.

And I gotta say I really did like what I hear from the Buzzaround in a fuzz shootout it was hands down the fave.

And I built the Brutalist which was maybe my very 1st or 2nd build etching my own and was my fave for a bit until the tight metal build which was king for a very long time except mine doesnt play well with others (mine does not have the fx loop built in)

Also the Blower box I built was much more much much more than I expected
 
hamerfan said:
It depends also on the guitar, single coils or humbucker. But a Tubescreamer into a Rat works for both
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So so many pedals I've built and one of the most iconic pedals (the Rat) I have not made. Why? I've no idea. But it is now on my list. Doing a bit of searching about the rat I see theres a few mods been made to the rat. Anybody have suggestions as to what rat or derivative of it I should build? I do like options. the one from beavis has a lot of options
 
djmiyta said:
So so many pedals I've built and one of the most iconic pedals (the Rat) I have not made. Why? I've no idea. But it is now on my list. Doing a bit of searching about the rat I see theres a few mods been made to the rat. Anybody have suggestions as to what rat or derivative of it I should build? I do like options. the one from beavis has a lot of options
Click to expand...
I'd recommend building one stock at first, though the Turbo is my favorite variant. It's fairly versatile as is, so that why I suggest going stock with the first one.

And, then I'd start with chip swaps. The 308 and OP07 will give you classic Rat tones. The LM301 will give you a more hi-fi kinda sound, but with a bit more noise (if you don't also adjust the comp cap), NE5534 is similar in this regard, though quieter. CA3130 sits sorta between those two, but seems to push the mids even more, and has an overall more aggressive and modern feel to it, with less noise. LM748 is a fun one, keeps the grungy character of the 308 but doesn't fart out at extreme gain settings. LM709 is another that's similar to the 308, and you can dink around with the comp cap even more- think I've gone up to 5.6n.

For most of ProCo's variants, the most substantial and characterizing change is the clipping diodes, silicons being the classic, of course. I like LEDs- infrared, red, and white because the opamp clips plenty on its own in this circuit. Even no LEDs (Clean Rat from the Deucetone) has a ton of clipping, but offers up a bit more dynamic range.
Alot of people like having the clipping diodes on a switch, but in my experience, I find the compression level I like the most and never move from that

The Ruetz mod isn't my bag, it changes the gain character and too much, makes it kind of anemic and doesn't really do anything all that interesting. I'd recommend Chuck's bass contour mod if you do need more low end. It allows a flatter frequency response pre-clipping, but doesn't drastically alter the inherent voice of the circuit

For Rat-inspired circuits, the Cannon Fodder mkI is awesome. Does it's own thing, but firmly has its Muroidean roots
 
DGWVI said:
... I suggest going stock with the first one.

And, then I'd start with ...
Click to expand...
These posts are ones I like to copy completely to put in a file for future builds, mods, and just general information. Thanks for taking the time to lay some of these out. As someone who has also never built a rat I am intrigued.
 
I just can't believe there are people out here, walking among us, going about their lives, having never built a Rat. I think I'm gonna be sick :sick: :ROFLMAO:

But, seriously I recommend all the early op-amp distortions they've all shown their staying power, and have tons of documented mods. Even the Tube Screamer type deals, though I'm not a fan of that particular family of dirt circuits.

I'm so fond of the Rat because of its versatility- can do (mostly) clean boost up to an almost saggy fuzz even before any mods are introduced, and it's a fairly simple build. It doesn't get lost in mixes, and it keeps note separation even at max distortion settings. Highly recommend everyone that builds, builds at least one. I know a lot of people wanna jump on the newest, shiniest dirt pedal that's being hocked by whatever mojo slinger or YouTube personality, but the Rat has been around so long for a reason
GizzWizzKing said:
These posts are ones I like to copy completely to put in a file for future builds, mods, and just general information. Thanks for taking the time to lay some of these out. As someone who has also never built a rat I am intrigued.
Click to expand...
 
Ok a Rat build is going to top of build list? Does it play well with other pedals ? does it stack well?
 
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