MXR Distortion +... indispensible, or a big pile of crap?

[Snufkino]

Always overlooked this little mustard box. Anyone swear by them/hate them?

[lordgalvar]

A lot of people swear by them. That Tym guitar guy doesn't stop raving about them. Maxon OD-880/osd-9 is based on it and the DOD 250 is related (as are all their relatives).

I like the 250 and osd-9 a lot but have never used an mxr branded dist+

[resincum]

I think that's where chip from the body gets his heavy

[tremolo3]

Had one for a while, Rat ate it.

[Chankgeez]

Distortion+ family of circuits has a pretty limited range of sounds, but what it does do is pure rock.

[Snufkino]

Should have added that the question is mainly motivated by my love of Gemma Thompson's bloaty durt. Just been reading that she uses the D+ in addition to a couple of other boxes.

[Snufkino]

Had one for a while, Rat ate it.

I think I'm falling out of love with Rats. No idea why. Maybe I'm just being fickle and after a new toy.

[GardenoftheDead]

I liked my DOD 250 well enough but not enough to hold on to it after tone matching w/ Positive Grid. I've played Dist+'s and Ross Distortions too and they're similar basically alright.

But yeah they all pretty much have one setting: All the way up or it doesn't sound good.

[Chankgeez]

bloaty durt

I have no idea what this means, but it's the name of our new band.

[tremolo3]

I think I'm falling out of love with Rats. No idea why. Maybe I'm just being fickle and after a new toy.

Well, to me it is an OK sounding pedal, especially if you set the gain low, I just love it for the loud-quiet-loud thing.

[DADGBD]

I've had a love affair with the D+ since I started playing guitar. It was my first pedal, actually. I've come to realize that it's responsible for "that sound" I compare everything else to, in my mind.
I've bought/sold more than I can remember. Some better than others, almost all basically the same - but ALWAYS vintage (the reissues are really harsh - in a bad way). More recently, I've settled in with a modded script. True-bypassed with one of the germs swapped out for a silicon. Fixed the volume drop (it now gets slightly above unity) and sounds absolutely perfect. Maybe I'm just getting old... but with this one, I run the distortion slightly above "off" and the volume dimed. LOVE it. It adds a bit of oomph, a lot of liveliness and a good amount of grit/fizz to the signal.

Even if you fall out of love with it (like the Rat) (me too!), it's a great pedal to have around and come back to.

[weed_killer]

I picked up a vintage block model (80/81) late last year. I was using it for a couple months as a pre-amp/dirt running at the start of my board and loved it, but after a while I started getting a little tired of the inherent eq bias of it, and switched it out for a speaker cranker clone for more of a flat boost. I absolutely love it on bass though - I was working on an album for the past couple months and ended up using it for almost every bass track. I think the way the low end lessens as the gain's increased works better for bass than guitar, at least for my needs.

[rfurtkamp]

I hated them when they were cheap for the old ones ( long before any reissues ).

VERY amp dependent.

I kept wanting them to do *more* and not sound like ass, but it did admittedly sound slightly better than a DOD 55B.

[DADGBD]

VERY amp dependent.

I'd say that's a good observation.
I think to some degree, it's the same with most pedals, but yeah... DEFINITELY with this one.
With that said, I'd say it's never sounded better than it has with my Jazzmaster and Bassman piggyback combo.

[rfurtkamp]

I *hated* the D+ with any BF-based preamp (Champs, Deluxe, Bassmans, TR), ironically.