Fuzzrocious Rat King or Dwarfcraft Eau Claire Thunder?

[PanicProne]

I've been thinking about getting a heavy pedal to go with my baritone. Both pedals mentioned in the title seem versatile yet heavy enough. Also both seem to feedback nice and have separate switches/function for this. I have no ability to try them out here in Sweden so I wanted to see what you guys thought before buying. I've watched as many youtube demos as possible but it's still hard to decide. Anyone tried these? With a baritone? Even put them up against eachother? Pros/cons? Other suggestions for this kind of pedal? You get the deal. My amp is a Vox Ac30.

[chillerthanmost]

I've had both of these pedals at the same time. Both are great and entirely different. I don't have a baritone but I tune to C# Standard and B dropped.

The ECT will handle lower tuning and heavier gain much better. It's tighter sounding but dark at the same time. Though dark, it's still articulate while being thick. Only downside is that it's noisy as muff variants usually are. Very QOTSA sounding and the tone bypass in a foot switch is neat to have for versatility at a quick push. I got rid of it because I have many muff variants and that one was the most expensive. Great if you're looking for a single muff that's thick, heavy, dark, foot switchable between tone bypass and not, and a neat feedback loop. Much nicer feedback loop than the RK.

The Rat King is fantastic since I love Rats. Feedback loop wasn't as nice since I usually kept the gain down lower. The gain stacking between the two switches gets muddy quick. In fact, even pushing one gain stage gets muddy compared to a regular Rat Tail. It does, however, sound fantastic once you find its sweet spot. It's bass heavy, so you'll have to turn your bass down a bit or be careful with hot pickups, again, it can get muddy really quick. After a while I stopped using the second gain option and just kept it as a single gain Rat. So I sold it and kept my Rat Tail. I think Rats sound much better at a lower to mid gain setting.

If you're looking for faster rhythm playing, either on bass or guitar, I'd say go with the Rat Tail/King. Specially if it's on guitar but it does bass just as well.

If you're playing slower stuff and heavier riffs, the ECT will handle it much better and sound huge. Stronger sounding clipping and darker on guitar but huge and heavy. Just might be a little slow and lose if playing faster stuff.

I personally love my Rat Tail set low gain stacked with a Muff (I use a pharaoh on guitar and a Bluebeard on bass). Best of both worlds going that route. That's just my logic, though. I rather have two single pedals that sound different, than a double pedal that sounds just about the same in both settings.

[D.o.S.]

You can ask aen about the ECT directly in the Dwarfcraft subforum, and Ryan about Fuzzrocious stuff in the Fuzzrocious shark tank thread:

Dwarfcraft:
http://ilovefuzz.com/viewforum.php?f=137


Fuzzrocious:
http://ilovefuzz.com/viewforum.php?f=196

Other than that, I think the ECT is a big muff (right?) while the Rat King is a Rat, so there's going to be a pretty big difference between the two circuits.

[PanicProne]

Thanks for an awesome answer! (No seriously, AWESOME! answer..)
I play all kinds of stuff but was mainly looking into something for slower, sludgier parts. I was always leaning towards the ECT but it was nice to get someone else's opinion.
I'll probably save some money for one, buy it, try it and if the worst happens, bite the bullet, pay the shipping to send it back within 30 days.
Thanks again!

[goroth]

Bring your guitar up to Uppsala and try out Dr Scientist the Elements, or the Frazz Dazzler which is a grindy sludge fest. I'd lend either of em to you but they're on my gig board and I can't be bothered taking it apart.

[zRobertez]

there is always the baby thundaaaaaaaaa if you want to try for cheeper. except not always because its discontinued but they float aroud

[kbit]

Chiller hit the nail on the head.
If you want some thing for slow/sludgy parts, totally go with the ECT.

I currently have a Rat King & I've had the ECT twice (which I regret selling both times, but whatever).
I'd probably get a baby thundaa if I ever get one again in the future because I bypassed the tone circuit constantly.
It just sounds better that way.

[PanicProne]

So just to bring this back to life. I managed to trade my Empress Multidrive for and ECT and some money yesterday. Tried it out with my baritone this morning and I've been smiling ever since. Evil smiles. It's by far my fave distortion pedal ever. Can't wait to bring it to rehearsal tomorrow and see how it works with my Ac30. So very happy!

PS. This doesn't mean I won't try the Rat King in the future. But I think I'll be happy for a while now Ds.

[D.o.S.]

[frigid midget]

So just to bring this back to life. I managed to trade my Empress Multidrive for and ECT and some money yesterday. Tried it out with my baritone this morning and I've been smiling ever since. Evil smiles. It's by far my fave distortion pedal ever. Can't wait to bring it to rehearsal tomorrow and see how it works with my Ac30. So very happy!

PS. This doesn't mean I won't try the Rat King in the future. But I think I'll be happy for a while now Ds.

-I've got an AC30
-I've got a baritone
-I like playing slow sludgy stuff

...You MUST gimme a little review when you tried the ECT through your vox. That pedal has been on my radar for the longest time, and I'm on a huge shopping spree right now, so who knows...