HNW Pedals. (Not Vintage, Not DM).

[HNW_UK]

Usually when the topic of HNW Pedals comes up anywhere the suggestions revolve around the DOD DM Series. Does anyone have any suggestions for Pedals that are still being produced now that operate well within a HNW environment?

If I'm in the market for a pedal I usually go for an 'older' second hand time tested suggestion (Death Metal, Grunge, ETC) and whenever I have gone for a new purchase (Eyemaster for example) it's been very disappointing.

Does anyone have any success stories from blindly purchasing a 'new' pedal?

Is it just my own sub-conscious bias now placing these cult pedals on a pedestal?

[timdrage]

Digitech Death Metal is fine tho. Use the 'amp' out not the 'mixer' one

[timdrage]

ENO (or other chinese non-brands) 'Myomorpha' Distortion is a great and cheap Rat clone which I believe even uses whatever correct original op amp the guitar nerds go crazy about. Anyway i got mine for like xc2xa312 and it works great

[¾ dead]

Will report back on this cutie whenever it gets here:

I mostly ordered it because it's adorable, though.

I think your preconceived notions ultimately boil down to psychological baggage and placebo worth letting go of, though I stress the modifier, "ultimately". I think a lot of us, including myself, are as guilty as any "tone connoisseur" in terms of mythologizing, misguided novelty-seeking (case in point: the Razor) and honing in on subtle minutiae that serve no greater purpose than to reinforce our own confirmation biases and hype-clouded sensibilities. It doesn't mean the subtleties don't often exist, but no one else is going to notice them. And there's a whole big philosophical merry-go-round of cognitive dissonance you can take a ride on if you want to pose the question of "why does that matter?", but I'm not interested. It's too early.

It boils down to collecting fetish objects versus valuing them for their basic function a lot of the time, either way. You don't necessarily need to use distortion pedals at all to make "HNW". The idea of "proper" and "best" HNW pedals/basic setups/"guidelines" is really very strange and sets a lot of pointless limitations from the outset.

"It's not the tools, blah blah blah".

PS: Gonna check out that Myomorpha pedal...

[HNW_UK]

Digitech Death Metal is fine tho. Use the 'amp' out not the 'mixer' one

I like the Digitech Death Metal. I own two of them and they see as much as use as my FX86B's which does say a lot about how well they apply themselves to chains. I think I prefer the lows on the Digitech Death Metal's against the FX86B but I suppose it depends on the application.

I think your preconceived notions ultimately boil down to psychological baggage and placebo worth letting go of, though I stress the modifier, "ultimately". I think a lot of us, including myself, are as guilty as any "tone connoisseur" in terms of mythologizing, misguided novelty-seeking (case in point: the Razor) and honing in on subtle minutiae that serve no greater purpose than to reinforce our own confirmation biases and hype-clouded sensibilities.

The mythologizing of pedals is definitely a genre wide occurrence. I think I was moreso attempting to see whether there are newer pedals that can contend with the classics. My experience with modern pedals (Eyemaster, Data Corrupter, Some Behringer) is that they don't perform as well in a HNW setting. Is it modern manufacturing techniques essentially making the pedals 'too good' and rendering them not so great for HNW (probably not, just a theory) or am I just getting unlucky with my pedal choices (most likely).
And of course You don't NEED distortion pedals (or any pedals) to create HNW. The typical HNW 'sound' is undoubtedly derived from Distortion Pedals though.

[¾ dead]

Improvements to modern-day, cheap op amps probably means a much tighter, more clinical distortion "break up" (I mean spatially, not tonally. Less "sputter-y")

So it may very well be a case of components being "too good" these days.

[FAP]

Digitech DMs arenxe2x80x99t bad, but theyxe2x80x99re overrated and overused... unless you have a chain of like twelve of them, I guess.
Proco Rat imo is a total dud. I have no idea what noise people see in it: to me itxe2x80x99s a more boring fab metal distortion, and thatxe2x80x99s already a pretty lame pedal (unless you circuit bend it of course...)

OP, try Boss Metal Zone: itxe2x80x99s like the long lost brother of DDM and they make a beautiful racket together.
Also worth checking out is Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive. Itxe2x80x99s apparently a bit pricey now (I think I bought mine fairly cheap, with original box to boot) but it should give you what youxe2x80x99re looking for, if Ixe2x80x99m understanding you correctly.

I mean truthfully you could use anything for HNW. If you can solder, try circuit bending that shit. Or build your own from a plethora of online schematics of home brew fuzzes.

And donxe2x80x99t underestimate the power of an EQ pedal, even a shitty one; hell, get a few, one for bass EQ for sure then a more broad EQ and maybe a third one. Really letxe2x80x99s you sculpt your noise.

[HNW_UK]

Improvements to modern-day, cheap op amps probably means a much tighter, more clinical distortion "break up" (I mean spatially, not tonally. Less "sputter-y")

So it may very well be a case of components being "too good" these days.

I'm glad you support what I wrote, I didn't know whether it was an illogical theory. To skirt this I've picked up some 'handmade' pedals from eBay/Various Sites and the results where much more HNW friendly compared to modern mass-produced pedals which makes me think this theory has more weight to it.

Digitech DMs arenxe2x80x99t bad, but theyxe2x80x99re overrated and overused... unless you have a chain of like twelve of them, I guess.
Proco Rat imo is a total dud. I have no idea what noise people see in it: to me itxe2x80x99s a more boring fab metal distortion, and thatxe2x80x99s already a pretty lame pedal (unless you circuit bend it of course...)

I do get a lot of mileage out of my Digitech DM's. I agree with you on the Proco Rat. I had mine for years & just couldn't get much joy out of it. I've found pairing it with Mid Range frequencies (DigiTech Grunge) is where it shines for me. Making use of the Filter Function has been very beneficial in making it useable.

OP, try Boss Metal Zone: itxe2x80x99s like the long lost brother of DDM and they make a beautiful racket together.
Also worth checking out is Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive. Itxe2x80x99s apparently a bit pricey now (I think I bought mine fairly cheap, with original box to boot) but it should give you what youxe2x80x99re looking for, if Ixe2x80x99m understanding you correctly.

I mean truthfully you could use anything for HNW. If you can solder, try circuit bending that shit. Or build your own from a plethora of online schematics of home brew fuzzes.

And donxe2x80x99t underestimate the power of an EQ pedal, even a shitty one; hell, get a few, one for bass EQ for sure then a more broad EQ and maybe a third one. Really letxe2x80x99s you sculpt your noise.

I do like the Metal Zone and I own two ODB-3's. The ODB-3's are easily one of my favourite pedals for creating the 'classic HNW' tone. I definitely support your comments about the EQ's. I own a fair few and they are all used very frequently.

[timdrage]

Proco Rat imo is a total dud. I have no idea what noise people see in it: to me itxe2x80x99s a more boring fab metal distortion, and thatxe2x80x99s already a pretty lame pedal (unless you circuit bend it of course...)

I just use mine as a not-actually-clean 'clean boost' of sorts alongside more interesting pedals, useful for controlling gain in chains.

[¾ dead]

I've never used a Rat before, but the FAB Metal is legit... ._.

The only thing that's stopped me lately from re-buying one (and a bunch of other cheap Danelectros--I miss my Black Coffee too!) is the fact that I can't prioritize cheap-and-cheerful stuff as much anymore, because real-estate has become more valuable than actual gear at this point. As much as I like having 31 flavors of cheap distortion to play with, I have to balance what I sacrifice in terms of functional space with what I am paying for in terms of features (Not that I stick to this anyway).

At any rate, stock or bent, FAB Metals have maintained their incredibly low value at ~$20 a pop. Still a viable option. And it sounds like itself. It has its own unique character. Yes, it's a 90's/early-aughts metal distortion with a lot of mid-range skronk. It's a "generic" sounding, mass produced effect. But I could probably still pick it out if comparing it to the dozen-or-so distortions I've personally owned and extensively used over the years. It didn't sound quite like any of them. There's something to be said for this, even if you don't like the particular treble-y, nasal tone of it.

It also has a "fluffy", "fizzy", *other food-related adjective here* break up, if nothing else. Not at all tidy, despite being pretty monochromatic. So maybe it scores a few HNW points?