Sell me on ILF-approved dirt boxes

[backwardsvoyager]

What kind of amp are you using?
I don't think that any ILF-approved dirt box is inherently 'better' than what you're currently using but depending on what sounds interest you and how said dirt pedal interacts with your setup it is definitely worth trying certain things.
When i was playing shows and recording with my last band using a marshall jcm2000 all the time with a lot of pedals, the mini and elements were absolutely indispensable to me and i wouldn't have swapped them for anything, they kick ass at high volumes with a tube amp and sound distinctive and interesting (mini always being the last dirt pedal, paired with pre-dirt reverb or using the elements as a mega gain boost) whilst still preserving a lot of dynamics and the character of the guitar.
Lately i've been playing a JC120 at lower volumes or recording direct with different music, and that combo definitely isn't magical anymore/doesn't suit the application perfectly, instead i'm boosting a big box RAT with a graphic EQ and am just as happy as those albeit 'normal' pedals suit the application a lot better than the ILF boxes did.
The mini/fuck is one of those things you just have to try at some point though, it's not for everyone but if it is for you you'll be wondering why it took so long. In general ss/bs stuff is very well designed and deceptively versatile, it's the brand i would recommend first just by the risk factor being lowest. Every one of them i've had i've found at least one application it excels at. I think Youtube demos aren't very useful in this regard, things sound way different in everyone's own setup so i think it's best to just make decision based on the specs to avoid disappointment if it sounds different to demos because it's in a different rig.

[blindrabbit]

The Mini - just get it. There are no "amazing" demos, but trust me. It sounds great, it's versatile, it has mojo forever. Brian is the coolest dude and he is in a sweet band.

[ChetMagongalo]

I haven't ever heard any of the demos of the fuck that match up well to how good it sounds in person. I kind of went in on my fuck blindly and have no regrets. same thing with the mini, but I like the fuck a lot more personally. cop one used, if you don't like it, flip it and you'll only lose out on shipping

[goroth]

Some great posts here.

I think the two pedals you have are great, and if you're not unhappy with them there is no reason to ilf it up.

However from the other brands you mention there are a number of new sounds that you'll get in addition to the sounds you've got. In particular I think any of the ODs mentioned will do a lofi sound, or a fuzzy od, and many of them will get into blown out amp sounding stuff. You can also get into more textural stuff with weirder fuzzes, or oscillating fuzzes.

It might be easier to work out if there is a sound you are interested in exploring and seeing what's on offer and what opinions you can get from duder a here.

[sergiomunoz74]

I didn't read most of this thread but my dirge modded rat is absolutely stellar. I have absolutely no inclination to have a second dirt pedal or anything. I have mine setup with germanium diodes and I always use it into a relatively dirty amp or pre-amp and it always sounds fucking crazy good. Besides that I'd probably get some sort of fuck for the interesting texture it can give.

[Ghost Hip]

Effector 13 (these are all old, but the ones I used)
Super Silicon Transistor Tri-Fuzz -> A very thin and weak sounding pedal that was actually awesome but I never felt like it cut in a band mix. Nothing sounds like its thin treble gate or osc mode. But it really only did that. The knobs weren't useful and there are a ton of better osc fuzzes. But the gated modes were awesome for lo-fi chop.

Truly Beautiful Disaster -> I am sure it changed a ton over it's life, but the one I had (probably 2004ish) just didn't really work in a band context. There was oscillation and sub-octave but it was hard for notes to really sound like anything other than muffled gas. The blue box is a much better choice but they may sound totally different now.

Silver Crank -> I think I had one of the earliest ones. It was ok if you liked what it sounded like, but it just had one sound. I'd honestly rather have a muff or something for a full bodied riff fuzz (but 46 is my tops). I also don't know how much it changed over the years (I think I got it in 2004).

The rough part about Devi pedals are the early "Effector 13" ones. While the Super Tri-Fuzz is incredibly thin (which is why I had mine modded with a Karaoke Party overdrive in it and is now my go to fuzz for anything) the TBD and Silver Crank/33/Soda Might have evolved quite a bit. With Devi pedals, there was a lack of consistency sometimes. While Soda Meisers and gated fuzzes stayed pretty consistent, Aenimas, Torn's Peakers, Truly Beautiful Disasters, etc. all evolved and had their own thing. Aenimas especially. Thats why a lot of folks like myself fell in love with them. Despite the drama that happened later on, initially there was something unique and special about her pedals that forced you to embrace noise and go outside your comfort zone.

All in all, if you get something with the name "devi ever" on it as opposed to her initial Effector 13 pedals, you should be good in terms of quality and fun. Dwarf-Devi really did a good job of narrowing down to the essential circuits so there is not much overlap and maximum flexibility.

[Ghost Hip]

Back to topic though. Fuck/Mini Overdrives are the perfect answer to those of us who love fuzz, and have trouble bonding with most overdrives like tube screamers, etc. Devi Ever Brown LP is pretty similar in texture and gets more overloaded without venturing into fuzz territory like the Fuck and Mini do. Overall they sound like an unbiased amp being overdriven.

A lot of people love the Elements, it is a deep rabbit hole of a pedal though. I've had one for 5 or 6 months... and I finally dialed it in the past few weeks so all I have to do is tweak the treble knob to adjust my mix within the band. If there was a gate switch I feel like it'd be the coolest distortion on the planet. (not that it is noisy, but a gate tends to had some girth to the signal with distortions.)

The Team Awesome Fuzz Machine is another deceptive beast. I didn't truly fall in love with it until I had a v.1 (before that I had a v.2 and v.3 w/gate). The 1st version had less control and made it easier to find a go-to sound. I want a current one now that I understand the pedal better. Between the clean blend/boost, gate switch, and texture options... there's just a lot of possibilities.

Earthquaker Devices always put out quality stuff, their pedals are some of the best thought out. JustNick on youtube does a great job of explaining them, and even has a demo comparing all four of their fuzzes.

Fuzzhugger has a bunch of fuzzes, and for quite sometime every "I'm looking for a new fuzz" thread was answered with "Algal Bloom" or "AB-Synth." I always get a visual image of comic books when I play fuzzhugger pedals. They have this fun and cartoony vibe, and always have their own place in the mix of a band.

If you watch any of Aen's demos and don't want to buy a dwarfcraft or devi pedal, then idk man. Somethings wrong.

Okay I am typing a lot and I am making myself fall in love with the idea of fuzz companies being unique and special and thats not good for my wallet, so I am going to stop.

[lordgalvar]

Okay I am typing a lot and I am making myself fall in love with the idea of fuzz companies being unique and special and thats not good for my wallet, so I am going to stop.

I kind of have always thought of that. Like "I want and LAL fuzz here and a Devi there".

And about the E13, I loved the hell out of them at the time but I didn't play anything for 7 years (and missed the "main" drama, but Devi was nice to me). The Tri-Fuzz was always great and was by far the best of them (I loved the thin crackle), I just don't think its going to supplant another fuzz. I actually enjoyed the organic, evolving nature of E13/Devi Ever but the early ones weren't "main" overdrives or fuzzes. It was a fun time with pedals but nothing like today.

Now I feel bad for selling my Tri-Fuzz last year but I do think Dwarfcraft has done a good job "standardizing" all of the variations. Much like Infanem's take on IE.

Side-Note: There was a weird pedal that she used to have a picture on her E13 page: it was a black and red box with one knob and a bunch of switches 88-style. I think that was the original IE if I am remembering correct (and it was probably the only one ever made). I got all my E13 stuff while waiting/talking to Devi and hoping I'd get to play that pedal. haha, never happened (I had like 6 or 7 of the og E13 pedals).

[rfurtkamp]

The other thing is while the "it works" quality improved on the Devi stuff over time, there was still a LOT of variation on models and sound between them.

if you find one you gel with, do not sell it. The next one you buy may sound nothing like the one you had.

Also, the most magical of the pedals were in small production (and aren't reissued) - stuff like the Test Patterns and the Circuit Breaker.

New Devi stuff IMO is mostly catering to a safe, comfortable market and that market isn't me.

[rfurtkamp]

And I should have emphasized the post above that asked what amp/sounds you have as baseline.

It does make a huge difference - I'm not a Marshall dude or a "Gain from amp" guy. I hate tube breakup. I hate, hates it forever. If I want analog bloom breakup, I'll go with overloading the Space Echo with low repeats/time!

Most of the "ILF-approved" stuff is Muff based or in that sound range it seems, and that is also not generally me.

I'm also not bringing the brutez and dooming it up. I want crackle and mean and lively on demand too.

[PeteeBee]

I have a dirge rat clone and a fuck ony board. I use them both pretty much mutually exclusively as two different flavors of distortion. The fuck is a little more dynamic, reminiscent to me of what playing through an old cranked tiny amp would be. Rat is thicker and beefier, like a chunking along big amp. That being said, I can get the chunk tone from the fuck, I just like options. I also have a treble booster out front to slam either one and they pretty much turn into creamy fuzz. Or in the powerviolence project I just turn any combination of them on and slam away...

I mostly shoegaze or postrock so layers of dirt and texture and flavor are really helpful.

[Ghost Hip]

Side-Note: There was a weird pedal that she used to have a picture on her E13 page: it was a black and red box with one knob and a bunch of switches 88-style. I think that was the original IE if I am remembering correct (and it was probably the only one ever made). I got all my E13 stuff while waiting/talking to Devi and hoping I'd get to play that pedal. haha, never happened (I had like 6 or 7 of the og E13 pedals).

This guy? She did a limited run reissue with a boring graphic at some point. Never see the original or reissues up for sale though...

attachment.jpg by www.deviever.com, on Flickr

[lordgalvar]

This guy? She did a limited run reissue with a boring graphic at some point. Never see the original or reissues up for sale though...

attachment.jpg by www.deviever.com, on Flickr

That was it. Still real curious about it. Thanks for the help and correction.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, you won't see them up. I know guys who have hoarded a couple and they will *not* loan them out, will not be happy without 'em.

Boring graphic is a "who cares" to me - they're pedals, they come in unfinished boxes for all I care!

[Jwar]

First thing I'd like to address is the hype. My God it's runs like crazy here. So you can't base your decision on the mob mentality a lot of times. I've found that a hundred people here will love something and I just fucking hate it. That's anywhere though. Any forum will do the exact same thing



Anyway for me, I just simply don't buy into the hype as much anymore. I've wasted a lot of time and money.

There's a lot of good pedals out there, but in order for me to use them they have to be bass friendly. Not just trendy.


I have owned a shit load of pedals and I get rid of them when I don't like them.

My favorite overdrives and dirt are

OD-

Darkglass B7K, B3K, VMT, or VMT DLX (expensive but very well made, extremely versatile if you get the deluxe version of either model, top notch service)
The Elements (this one can do some many things it's nuts. A jack of all trades. From clean boost, mild od, full on distortion to even a ring mod type setting in there. Also top notch service).
Toneczar Openhaus (it's a distortion that also sounds fucking amazing as an overdrive, expensive as shit, but well worth it IMO)
Brimstone XD (just got one and it's in the top I've tried. So much versatility it's nuts).


Distortion (heavy)-

Mountainking Heavy Machine (more a fuzz I think, but it plays well as a high gain distortion as well)
Mountainking Behemoth 2 (it's an extreme OD, but I've found it has more of a distorted sound)
SS/BS Mini Dual (this thing crushes and I'm surprised more people haven't stacked them or tried it this way. The one footswitch on mine is perfect, it will crush anything).

It's going to sound funny but a Danno Fab Tone. I know. Cheap? But it sounds fucking great on guitar.

Fuzz-

Mountainking Megalith (enormous tone that will blister your ears. seriously the biggest sounding fuzz ever. Listen to Excane's demo through good speakers. It will shake your heart).
Mountainking Magnetar (also an enormous tone but more on the synthy side. Super usable)
Darkglass Duality (balls to the wall insane tones)
God Hates Fuzz (one of my new favorites. There will be good demos going up soon).
Devi Ever Ruiner (fucking HUGE fuzz. Just HUGE, great clarity and tone)

My taste variess but for the most part I want it to be clear and concise. I don't like burying myself like I used to. I like to hear the notes ring out.

There are obviously a lot more, but right now, those are my favorites.

I cannot stand fuzzes that just make noise or have oscillators unless it's tasteful. The God Hates Fuzz is the FIRST one I've tried that seems useful. It doesn't just go all stupid and destroy your notes like most of them do.