MXR Super Badass Distortion

Long search ended with the pedal.Heres a long story about my search. I was exploring the world of fuzz.. had a big muff style pedal on my darkside workstation, but it'd get lost in the mix too easily and I didn't want to be forced to run it with a tube screamer.. so then I got a Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom and that pedal is awesome but wasn't itching my scratch if what I was looking for.. so then it's on to rats. Get a Mooer black secret and it's cool for a cheap pedal but squeels pretty easily, so I try tru-fi rat pack, and that was okay but there were things about it I really didn't like, so then I get a black mass electronics 1312 and that pedal is pretty killer (highly recommend if you want a rat type) but rats have this sizzle that I thought i have to try some straight up distortion pedal. I spend hours on YouTube and after going crazy listening to evert distortion pedal video ever made I pull the trigger on this one. A little nervous cause there are obviously a lot of different options but I'm not tryin to experiment I want to get my higher gain stage solidified.. and boom, it does not disappoint. Sounds amazing, very versatile with plenty of gain/distortion on tap.. thick but articulate sounds. Very happy with it.

This has quickly become my favorite distortion pedal! I play a variety of music from blues, to rock, to punk, to country (new and old). Depending on the role and genre I have three different boards, two different amps, and a DI option for playing. Long story short, nothing is ever easy! This pedal has found a place on each of those rigs and sounds great with all options! I would highly recommend this as a main distortion pedal, overdrive pedal, boost, or something to keep in your back pocket. Extremely pleased!

The MXR Super Bad Ass Distortion is extremely consistent and very reliable compared to most other distortion pedals out there on the market. This pedal brings great exponential distortion based on how you dial in the level, and the Low, Mid and Treble settings are so well designed that you can easily scoop higher crying leads, or dial in that perfect thick and crunchy low end....very, very versatile with the EQ. To play devil's advocate, I tried many setting and knob combinations to find a situation where I would need to worry about the performance of the pedal, and I could not find any. This pedal performed exactly as expected with every turn of the knobs. If you're looking for a reliable and consistent distortion pedal, that has a durable chassis and is intuitive to use, I definitely recommend this pedal.

I have a new tube amp that's designed for high-gain modern rock, whereas I'm more of a 70's classic rocker/electronic musician. It's just such a cool amp (Carvin V3M) I decided to see what I could do with it instead of returning it. I use a lot of devices with a extensive pedalboard in front of the amp and a multi-effects unit in the amp's effects loop - all MIDI'ed together. My first choice for a distortion pedal was a ProCo RAT2. They've got a Marshall vibe and have been around forever. I didn't think I could go wrong with it but it sounded terrible through the clean channel of the amp. I realized that both a good modern rock amp (like a Boogie Dual Rectifier) AND a good distortion box have a peak at around 3K, where the upper-mids meet the lower-treble. This is a satisfyingly nasty, raunchy peak that sounds like a metallic "kaCHANG!". My sound was bad because both the amp and the box had the kaCHANG!, so the peak at that frequency was *summed*. Too much of a good thing. I blamed the Rat and bought a MXR Super Badass. Then, I pulled my hair out because it sounded just as awful as the Rat in exactly the same way! Only then did I think of taking the RAT2/SBA Pepsi Challenge through my old Peavey transistor amp that's warm and doesn't color the sound much. Both boxes sounded exquisite but the Rat had a tighter, more "controlled" sound (I actually wanted it to sound like a pedal). The Super Badass sounded more like an amplifier and the center frequencies of the tone controls were just right. If you want to get your main distortion sound from a stomp box, the Dunlop MXR Super Badass is just what you need. It doesn't have the kaChang! but you can EQ it in with the smaller of the MXR Graphic Equalizers. Me? I completely re-tubed my Carvin to lower the gain and darken the tone. It worked. Then, I traded the MXR for an EHX Nano Big Muff to give me a smooth, pure square wave to be processed in the FX loop of my EHX Q-Tron+ envelope filter, and sent the RAT2 to JHS Pedals for their "Pack Rat" mod ($50). I can now get any type of gain from it I want, from a natural clean boost with a hint of breakup, to a 60's fuzztone, to a classic 70's "brown sound", to an ultra-saturated metal solo. The point of all this is that, before you trade in your pedal, make sure your amp isn't the culprit first.

I've gigged with it. Rig is as follows: Tele/Strat > Big Muff > Super Badass Distortion > TS808 > Deluxe Reverb. I use this as a gain stage to emulate a clean but cranked Marshall and stack it with the Muff and Tube Screamer. This pedal is beautifully transparent and hugely versatile. The mid control is an outstanding feature: it helps the Muff push through the mix. It stacks beautifully with the Tube Screamer, producing a very lush and organic distortion. In the lower distortion setting where I have it, and without the other pedals, it is a fantastic overdrive/boost. One caveat: the output is really, really hot. I've cranked the distortion, and it goes into more modern high gain, that while not my thing, does this sound very, very well. IMO, the range of classic sounds is much wider on this pedal than the modern ones, and that suits me fine. A steal for such a great and musical tool.

This pedal is essential in your sound. The equalizer takes you to incredible levels of precision from low distortion to the most powerful you can imagine in a clear way.

Wrong product description. Not battery powered.