The Mystique of Dirt

[D.o.S.]

Also saw pelican for the first time in like a decade this summer and they sounded better in 2018 than they did in 2008/2009.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I feel like "I am not picky with dirt" really means "I know what type of circuits I prefer to use". Which is true. I could get by with any type of Hotcake, DOD250/Distortion+, and Russian/Civil War style Big Muff on bass if I had to.

The fact that I have custom/one-offs for the Big Muff and the DOD250 (soon to be one custom and one one-off) is because I seem to have successfully articulated which variation on those flavours I like best.

Yeah that's perhaps true for me. I could get by with most any non-muff fuzz and an overdrive of some sort (which works on bass e.g. 250). I have fancier things because it's fun and there's a nice gulf between "acceptable" and "I really frickin enjoy listening to this one".

[drolo]

dirt is really weird ... and subjective and probably subject to factors that we may not normally consider, like tiredness, stress etc

I have so often found THE sound one day to find out the next day, without changing any dial, that it actually sounds like shit ...
I guess that's what makes it fun
(and what keeps pedal builders in business)

[Jwar]

There is no bad dirt pedal, only a poor application of said "bad" dirt pedal.

Of course, not all dirt pedals are created equally.

This is probably the truest statement I've heard in a long ass time.

A good player can make any box sound good. It's all about the application.

I am semi picky with dirt, but if it sounds good, it sounds good. That's the only real requirement for me.

I've probably owned more dirt pedals that I can even calculate at this point. I'm no expert but I've enjoyed them all on some level. Even the ones that seemed kind of crappy.

[odontophobia]

Also saw pelican for the first time in like a decade this summer and they sounded better in 2018 than they did in 2008/2009.

I know some of the members have changed, I don’t even know at this stage. But probably plenty of gear changing in that time frame.

[D Rock]

About two years ago I started building my own dirt pedals looking for my perfect dirt sound. This was easier than most would think with a breadboard and reading schematics. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to change values on a breadboard to dial in a dirt pedal to your liking.

Each amp and guitar is different of course so I do find it hard to build one pedal that fits all. Input bass control and EQ section can help this but overall what I have learned is that I love Germanium transistors. They just have a feel that silicon doesn't have as well as sounding a little smoother overall. Silicon tend to have more top end brightness and much better stability so mixing the two has worked awesome for me. Silicon/Germanium perc is my favorite dirt I have run across so far on my journey to build all the classic fuzz boxes. Lately thought I've had more fun creating my own circuits and my next build is going to be a silicon/germanium boost that can do fuzz when pushed. I also want to do a perc with some added gain/octave stages of some sort but work has me a bit swamped to tackle a project like that right now.

Point of this post..Try some germanium transistors if you can. They will sound different from day to day with temperature and humidity but that is part of the charm.

[D.o.S.]

Also saw pelican for the first time in like a decade this summer and they sounded better in 2018 than they did in 2008/2009.

I know some of the members have changed, I don’t even know at this stage. But probably plenty of gear changing in that time frame.

They have one different guitarist I think. But! They played a bunch of new material (they're recording now, so says the facebook) and it all sounded Rad. And the drumming was much improved!*


*which has always been a bit of a lazy complaint on the old stuff because basically his musical aesthetic during their first run seemed to be to pick it up when the band was mellowing out and to lay back when the band was going hard -- something I dig more than I did back in the day.

[kbit]

RMA dirt is excellent. I'm going to see if I can use the Doper as a bass DI before I try and hunt down a rusty box. It's got enough volume on tap for sure.

Just a heads up, I found the Rusty Box to sound really nice on it's own but didn't do very well with pedals stacked in front of it, it sounded like it got choked down rather than beefed up. Even something as "light" as a ss/bs Mini just kinda sounded like "meh".

ymmv

[dubkitty]

what about other pedals after it?

[crochambeau]

RMA dirt is excellent. I'm going to see if I can use the Doper as a bass DI before I try and hunt down a rusty box. It's got enough volume on tap for sure.

Just a heads up, I found the Rusty Box to sound really nice on it's own but didn't do very well with pedals stacked in front of it, it sounded like it got choked down rather than beefed up. Even something as "light" as a ss/bs Mini just kinda sounded like "meh".

ymmv

I'm unfamiliar with the Rusty Box but I've definitely observed this effect, where increasing the voltage of a signal results in a squished and diminished volume/body at a following device. It seems certain configurations of front end really invite this effect. There's also the fact that a lot of clipping configurations limit the absolute voltage window of your signal, so amplification upstream is just going to affect everything up to that point. Some stuff works well, other stuff decidedly does not.

Attenuation of signal will resolve this (at the expense of that). I'm working on a Jensen 918 based preamplifier that will support switching the turns ratio of the output transformer to act as a pad to potentially counteract this sort of thing. Until then I find the most foolproof path is to place the voltage boost last in front of the amplifier (though I've noticed the sag issue at an amp in the past as well).

Anyway.

Dirt is fun, I like it a lot. I've found that a circuit I find unpleasing on guitar will often excel with a synth or drum machine.

[odontophobia]

Also saw pelican for the first time in like a decade this summer and they sounded better in 2018 than they did in 2008/2009.

I know some of the members have changed, I don’t even know at this stage. But probably plenty of gear changing in that time frame.

They have one different guitarist I think. But! They played a bunch of new material (they're recording now, so says the facebook) and it all sounded Rad. And the drumming was much improved!*


*which has always been a bit of a lazy complaint on the old stuff because basically his musical aesthetic during their first run seemed to be to pick it up when the band was mellowing out and to lay back when the band was going hard -- something I dig more than I did back in the day.

I think the drumming is always a big criticism, but as I go back to Australasia and Fire in Our Throats I find my feelings to be similar to yours. It can be a tad repetitive but in the grand scheme works well.

They mentioned the new material in the rig rundown. Worth a watch if you’ve got 40-minutes to kill.

[ck3]

The majority of my pedal collection is dirt, and there are multiple flavors available. I have drawers dedicated to categories including standard overdrives and distortions, fuzzy drives, oddball starved voltage fuzzes, misc fuzzes, non-Muff heavy fuzzes, Big Muff variants, Harmonic Percolator clones, boosts, and octave fuzzes. Pedals are periodically rotated in and out of my rig depending upon the choice of amp and primary fuzz.

Boards that I build often incoporate some sort of boost, octave fuzz, overdrive, secondary horn-like or buzzy fuzz, a combination of dirt and filters that generates synth tones or a PLL-type fuzz, and a central heavy fuzz from the Muff, Bee Baa, Fuzzhugger, or Buzzaround families that can receive flanging and/or other gain effectively. Options with Germanium transistors or diodes tend to see more action.

[Pete]

The drumming on City Of Echoes is awful... It's pretty embarassing, and I can barely listen to that record. I've never had a problem with his playing on any other records though. I feel like The Fire in our throats... might be his best work.

[Pete]

The majority of my pedal collection is dirt, and there are multiple flavors available. I have drawers dedicated to categories including standard overdrives and distortions, fuzzy drives, oddball starved voltage fuzzes, misc fuzzes, non-Muff heavy fuzzes, Big Muff variants, Harmonic Percolator clones, boosts, and octave fuzzes. Pedals are periodically rotated in and out of my rig depending upon the choice of amp and primary fuzz.

Boards that I build often incoporate some sort of boost, octave fuzz, overdrive, secondary horn-like or buzzy fuzz, a combination of dirt and filters that generates synth tones or a PLL-type fuzz, and a central heavy fuzz from the Muff, Bee Baa, Fuzzhugger, or Buzzaround families that can receive flanging and/or other gain effectively. Options with Germanium transistors or diodes tend to see more action.

That's awesome, dude! I too have a ton of fuzz pedals that I swap in and out.

[JonnyAngle]

I have a great selection of dirts.

Muff, Rat, guvnor, brothers, mini, elements, ram the manparts, fuzz factory, mastotron, distortron

I will switch it up from time to time but I can get good sounds out of all stuff. When trying something new, sometimes i can’t find tha sweet spot like i can with my stiff