ilovefuzz.com

Yeah, again: Totally depends on a couple of things. Without knowing more details about your taste and style, all you'll get is these "mini, /thread" sort of replies

Having said that though, if you liked the talons but want to try something else just for the hell of it: The Elements is as versatile as they come. Compact, plenty of tone shaping options, the ability to do eithert fuzzy or crunchy or brootzy tones, without ever really sucking no matter what setting...

Not sure if a used one would be cheap enough for your though. I'm personally not the biggest Rat fan. It's okay for raunchy scratchy high gain distortion, but through my amps it sounds thing and nasal, and it really really really lacks low end imo.

You might as well get an OCD clone or something. They're easy enough to come by, and they're also versatile enough to do an okay job at all sort of gain levels. It might be a little too conservative and 'classic' for super high gain metal kinda stuff though.

Rats are sick if you set them to really low gain and use an EQ beforehand to boost the low end and give it a bit of 'thump'.
If you're using an EQ pedal with the OD I would say look at simpler pedals around the 3 knob mark. I really like the Boss SD-1 (mine is MIJ but i don't know if that even makes a difference and even those aren't expensive).
The mini is a great pedal but if you're going for something a bit less contextually specific there are probably better options, having said that i think it's worth considering because it has a distinctiveness that can be quite inspiring for some people which is maybe more than can be said for a lot of run-of-the-mill popular OD's.
The elements is amazing but it's the sort of dirt pedal i would put in the EQ position rather than as the main OD, it's amazing at pushing the right frequencies into other pedals and covering a huge gain range.
Also i don't know if you've tried EQ pedals aside from the Tone Job but maybe consider trying out things like the Boss PQ-4 or Empress ParaEq or even some graphic ones, only because having more control over which frequency ranges are accentuated can make a huge difference in coaxing different overdriven tones from other pedals placed afterwards. There's a hell of a lot you can do with a comprehensive EQ paired with a simple overdrive pedal.

goroth wrote:What sounds are you after? Light or heavy drive? Hifi or lofi?

I was thinking somewhere between light-medium drive, probably more on the hifi end. Like I said, versatility is the main thing for me. I don't go for super heavy overdrive gains, I usually just go with fuzz when I want to get heavy. I have been playing a lot of genres lately, so I would love an od that could do some nice light drive for blues and Grateful Dead type of stuff, something that could do some nice rhythm work, and can get somewhat heavy nicely (with a boost, if necessary). I also sort of forgot to mention that I'm on a bit of a budget; since I'll need money for next school year and I need to get my laptop repaired this summer too. So I guess around $150 would be the high end of my budget, used is definitely an option.

Also, thanks everyone for your suggestions. I have some good food for thought now

Maybe one of these:
Blackout Effectors Mantra (low gain)
Earthquaker Devices Monarch, White Light
Fulltone OCD
Henretta Engineering Pinkman (low gain with tone control)
Liquid Gain Hydra
Menatone Red Snapper
MI Audio Blues Pro
Mooer Flex Boost, Hustle Drive
Way Huge Red Llama

Smallsound/Bigsound - Mini
INFANEM - Driving Notion

The first time I tried either of these, I said, out loud to no one:
"I will never need another overdrive."
(Forgetting of course about the other pedal, and everything in the world).

And now I own both and there is nothing else.

Mini is more straight-up just good sounding, and the Driving Notion is more distinct and gets weirder.

Mid-Fi Electronics Overdrive

Crowther Hotcake sounds great into an AC30. It sounds poo at higher drive settings, but lower od settings into vox style amp is great. Simple op amp overdrive.
Elements is great. Op amp OD, or your choice of clipping diodes.
Frazz Dazzler, depending on how hot your pickups are, will get into low gain fuzzy drive. Combined with the mix knob you can get some pretty jangly tones all the way up to brooootz. Transistor clipping fun.
SS/BS Mini is great. It sounds good with all rigs and is a really nice JFET overdrive which can get really lowfi with the bias, or maintain good fidelity.
Fuzzhugger Arc Flash does everything from clean boost to amp frizzle fry destruction. Despite being a fuzz it doesn't get very lowfi when used as a drive, it's always got a nice clanky chimey tone, and the newer versions have a treble roll off knob thinger, which could be good for your amp.

Driving Notion is really cool and has a really wide tonal range. It gets kind of lo fi and gnarly if you crank it but you can dial it back and it can be really clear.

Its meant to work well with complex chords too so it's a lot of fun.

Maybe one of the Catalinbread foundation od's? Had the DLS (v1) for a while, and it was great for the kind of sounds you mention. Also awesome stacked with fuzz.

My favorite OD

/thread


Just get the Talons again if you like it so much. It's a great versatile pedal indeed.

Eivind August wrote:Catalinbread DLS (v1)

This was my gut reaction as well. The Rock/Rawk switch takes it from low-gain to chunky, and it plays nice with a boost / EQ out front.

fever606 wrote:

Eivind August wrote:Catalinbread DLS (v1)

This was my gut reaction as well. The Rock/Rawk switch takes it from low-gain to chunky, and it plays nice with a boost / EQ out front.

Yeah doods but those are leik $5000 used.

I followed the suggestions of many an ILFer, and now have a Mini and Elements. My only complaint is that I can't play then constantly. Those 2 + nasty fuzz = every dirt tone I could possibly want.

MEC wrote:Yeah doods but those are leik $5000 used.