For those with huge dirt arsenals

[neonblack]

Ive noticed a lot of boards around here have like 6 or 7 dirt boxes on them. I dont know what I would do with that much dirt. I have basically 3 gain stages that I use right now. Low/Medium gain OD, open mean fuzz, and gated sort of synthy fuzz. And one has an octave up so I guess that's 4.

So my question is, for those of you running that much dirt, what do you use them for? When I have more than a couple, I either try to force them into songs or just end up neglecting them.

I guess I could see myself running one or two more. Maybe one oscillating fuzz and one fuzz for running after reverb or delay.

Really, I'm trying to justify my desire for more dirt. I have bad GAS for a couple different things, but also worry that I wouldn't find a use for them.

[DarkAxel]

I think it can also depend on the number of guitars/basses the people use. Certain things sounding better with some than others you know

also since i started playing bass, I feel i am more open to having more fuzzes, I find them reacting a bit more interestingly with the low end frequencies maybe? So right now, I know I'd be really into having a muff sound, a rat sound and a brassmaster (preferably Malekko Diabolik or B:assmaster if i rob the bank) sound.

[01010111]

I used to run that many because there were sounds I could get by combining them that I couldn't get otherwise. I gave up on that because it was pretty inconvenient to step on three different dirt boxes to get that perfect fuzzed out solo tone mid-song.

When I record I'll still do stuff like that, though. And if I can work some clean, or "clean", blends into the signal

[AxAxSxS]

I have 4 separate dirt tones I like. They consist of a Pharaoh on low gain, a cranked little big muff clone, ocd>Quantum Mystic>Revelation, Volt Thrower>The Destroyer.
I control them all via a 5 channel looper. Channel 5 is just boost. I can get all kinds of different vibes going on with how huge it sounds by combining channels. Pharaoh is typically always on and is my go to for lower gain sounds. It makes all the other ones sound better.

[frigid midget]

Cause it's fun. Gives me a choice, lets me pick the shade of dirt I feel like using that particular moment. Stacking pedals can be cool too, but for me it's basicly about my GAS, and about being undecisive in my pedal board choices. There's just way too many sweet and slightly different sounding fuzz pedlols out there, I can't bring myself to put only three on my board.

I brought it down to four though, 'cause I'm rocking a small-ish board and I'm getting into modulation these days

It's ofcourse ever changing, and I'm not sure about the order, but at the moment I managed to limited things to this:
Mastotron>FZ-2>Hotcake>Fuzz God II.

[neonblack]

I forgot to mention, my chain right now is Mini - Unpleasant Surprise - Buzzz, but in a few days the US is getting replaced with a TAFM.

But Im also GASing for a Marsh Chapel for my Muffy needs. I was looking at a Eau Claire Thunder but I think the Marsh Chapel will be better at a lower price.

I had a Diabolik and flipped it, but I would own one again. Was really good at cutting through and played well with fast runs. I've tried a Depth Charge and an Oxide, but i just preferred the Diabolik.

Ive wanted something crazy huge, like a Megalith or a Magnetar, but I can probably get similar tones stacking. And something crazy, like a Great Destroyer, an Improbability Drive or a Loud Button WTF.

In a perfect world, my chain would have a clanky low gain OD, chunky high gain OD, a really responsive cutting distortion, a big open fuzz, a gated fuzz, an octave fuzz, a crush everything ridiculous fuzz, and an oscillating fuzz or some other "wild card" dirt box.

So, dont think Im judging or anything. I was just curious about how/why other people did it.

[goosekevin]

Yeah I get overwhelmed with too much dirt but I would love to have as many options as possible, so I dig it when I see dirt filled boards

My chains gonna be like yours except with a fully grown fuck instead of the mini
And then I have a muff I can chuck in if I want more, it's pretty huge though

The reason I'm going all ss/bs (apart from them all being fucking rad) is that I presume they'll all stack excellently together
I feel like I have all the bases covered except oscillating which isn't necessary (for me) (but now I wanna trade for an ab synth hnnnng)

[neonblack]

Yeah I get overwhelmed with too much dirt but I would love to have as many options as possible, so I dig it when I see dirt filled boards

My chains gonna be like yours except with a fully grown fuck instead of the mini
And then I have a muff I can chuck in if I want more, it's pretty huge though

The reason I'm going all ss/bs (apart from them all being fucking rad) is that I presume they'll all stack excellently together
I feel like I have all the bases covered except oscillating which isn't necessary (for me) (but now I wanna trade for an ab synth hnnnng)

I can say from experience that the Mini stacks well with both. I'm sure the Fuck will too. I have to play with placement though. Stuff going into the Mini gets a little squishy sometimes but depending on the pedal it can be a good thing. I'm a big fan of Buzzz into Mini. On the other hand, Mini into something else tends to brighten it up some and add some sharp attack to whatever its pushing. Again, this can be good or bad depending.

Also the bias on the Mini affects stuff in different ways. I'm sure the crackle will as well. I just need to get a Fuck and round out the set. I just flipped my Fuck Mountain because I don't need two overdrives right now, but let's face it, who doesn't need 2 ODs?

[ChetMagongalo]

I used to have a lot more than I do now. but for me it's just because dirt is my favorite type of pedal for guitars. and there's so many good ones! I probably wouldn't play a show with that many but it's not really about that for me

[backwardsvoyager]

The reason I'm going all ss/bs (apart from them all being fucking rad) is that I presume they'll all stack excellently together

I've found this to be true. The ss/bs stuff never seems to stack in a way i don't like, they all interact nicely with each other and it's pretty straightforward trying to plan how to stack them when you're after a certain sound.

Because my board is constructed for the sounds I need in my main band, there's sort of a limit to how many different dirt tones I would use because to me it just feels offputting when the character of my guitar tone changes drastically on a regular basis without having some sort of order to it.
So its like:
mini - regular 'dirty' tone used often
bit commander -> mini - dirty bass sound used for lower register monophonic lines
elements - thrashy distortion for grindcore toanz or manipulated feedback
buzzz - buzzy sounding leads, gnarly octave leads, or with reverb for heavy shoegazey toanz
all of them at the same time - 'i have no idea what i'm doing lets just make noise'

i rarely use combinations other than that. they're definitely more focused around a certain tone to compliment a certain playing approach than anything else. so if i use something else it's because i've incorporated another playing technique into a song and it suits a different gain staging setup.
having said that, i'm curious about the approach of other people in bands that use more than 4 or 5 dirt pedals. for home use it makes sense to have all the fuzz because you don't have to worry about suddenly dropping out of the mix or throwing off listeners or whatever.

[Derelict78]

For me it's all about stacking. My favorite dirt sound ATM is 3 overdrives stacked into each other (DS-1 -> lowfuzz -> KP) I have found myself leaning away from high gain stuff and towards stacking lots of low gain stuff. I realy need to pick up a darkboost or two.

[skullservant]

I used to heavily stack stuff, but I don't with the live stuff that I do. Just an always on Rangemaster that pushes and brightens up my Fuck. At home and when I'm jamming I stack pretty decently, but I just find the tones redundant after about 3 pedals

[julius_deane]

It's about combinations of my basic pieces. For example, an AB-Synth really only work for me at the front of the chain, while I can put a SM behind delay, reverb, modulation, and other fuzz.

[Casavettes]

like others have said, its fun to have those tonal options.
nowadays i like restrictions better. i've been trying to keep it down to 2.
one as a main "general" fuzz tone and the other a little more wacky.
right now i have a pharaoh which i haven't tried out yet but have high hopes for
and a mini which i plan on putting at the end of my chain and rolling the bias all the way back

[Wes Mantooth]

I've got four dirt pedals but three have multiple circuits so it's more like7. I always have the Sparkle Motion on bass and add it to tighten things up when I'm playing guitar. The Phantom Ring gives my octave and weird fuzz tones. The Robot Devil gives you that sick octave down and the Eau Claire Thunder is my main fuzz, it's so fucking good and the built in feedback loop is an awesome feature. Then the Dirge Tonal Destruction gives me some nastier fuzzes in the Torns Peaker and the good ol' FY-2 circuit, they both have blends so they work great on bass. It's all about fun and variety. Maybe you don't use a certain dirt pedal for a while but then you go back to it and you're just like: "Fuck yeah, this is rad, fuzz is rad, I should buy more fuzz...."