MXR MICRO AMP
The Micro Amp is a signal booster, first and foremost, and it does a fantastic job. Basically, by running it before all the rest of my pedals, I get a sparkle that none of my effects have on their own- put another way, it makes my pedals sound more like themselves, I guess. The Micro Amp is also extremely useful as a volume boost for jumping over the mix during a solo, and when it's dimed it creates a crunchy rhythm overdrive that shimmers like crazy but cleans up nicely for bright, sustained lead tones when used with my compressor.I bought this pedal for 40 bucks brand new on CL, and that was a steal... the guy who sold it to me had bought it thinking it was a distortion pedal, and then decided to sell it after using it once. Even at the higher retail price, I'd say it's pretty essential, especially for a smaller board, because it provides a lot of versatility both on its own and in conjunction with other pedals. It's an MXR, so you can't go wrong there in terms of quality craftsmanship and overall bulletproofness. Also, I dig the white, slightly textured box.
I have few complaints, but when it IS cranked, it gets pretty noisy (especially with a compressor set high as well), but I don't really see how that could be avoided... I'd like to see how it works with a noise clamp like the Smart Gate, also by MXR... That might be a purchase I'll be making soon. Also, I wish MXR would stop putting their 9v DC jacks on the side rather than at the top of the box. It makes running a daisy chain a huge pain in the ass. But whatever. All in all, this pedal is one of the most integral parts of my board and my sound overall.
PROCO YOU DIRTY RAT
This was the first distortion pedal I bought, and I picked it solely on a Gearmandude review on youtube. I really had no idea what type of distortion I wanted, and I was intrigued by the fuzzy roar that this pedal produced in demos. But when I first got it, I had little idea how to use it, especially since I was running it through my solid state Fender, which tends to be really muddy. I got so frustrated with it that at one point I put it up on Ebay, but no one bought it, and now I'm really glad they didn't.
The first thing I think anyone should know about this box is that it LOVES tube amps, and sort of hates solid state, based on my experience running it through both my Peavey and my Fender. Although I eventually got a tone dialed in with the Fender that I liked ok, this pedal never showed it's true colors until I ran it into the Joyo American Tone amp modeler that I recently purchased- now it's probably my favorite distortion/overdrive pedal, producing a huge range of tone that it particularly suited to the neck pickup of my tele. I can only imagine how good it must sound through a real vintage tube amp.
The Dirty Rat takes a basic RAT pedal tone and crams some fuzz and extra body into it. It's not a fuzz pedal though, like the Fuzz Face or similar. It's just a fuller, fuzzier distortion than your average dirt box. The filter knob is the key to this pedal, and it can be used to sort of scoop the mids and highs, taking the tone from a dirty but harmonic metal sort of tone at 9:00 to dark turbid mayhem at 3:00. It also has some extra compression built in, so the sustain is amazing and even oscillates nicely on long bends with the filter knob around the 12:00 position. Built sturdy as a concrete bunker, this box seems pretty indestructible, and has a killer reputation for consistency and durability. The only thing that sort of sucks is that it has a 1/8" DC jack, which requires a special adapter. If you buy the 1Spot power source package you get one that works, but I still think it's lame that Proco didn't just use a standard Boss-style jack. All in all, this is a box that I'm still learning about, due to it's huge versatility, and every time I use it I discover some new tone, which is a lot of fun.
OK, next up, the Boss SD-1. Coming soon...
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