Love for the Disnortion. Anybody else?

[newbold]

So it seems that every time i open a thread on 'what kind of dirt should I get' I wind up chiming in about my Pigtronix OFO.

So in trying to be a bit more conscientious about my posting in a self-indulgent way, I started to really think about why I like what I have and I've got to say that although I think it's neat to have 'boutique' pedals (only a couple) - that I can have some of the best toys going - that it's more than a novelty about quality for me - and I'd presume about 95% of us here as well.

Why do I like the Pigtronix OFO Disnortion??

Well...here's a list.

1. Parallel dirt. Like a concrete countertop manufacturer using different sized granules to fill in those tiny spaces and set his/her product faster and stronger, I can get so many useful sounds together and apart...

2. Great sounding individual Drive, Fuzz, and Octave distortions.

3. Fuzz and Overdrive channels provide clean boost if needed. ..this also helps a player introduce a clean blend into the circuit...

4. ...for instance, the Fuzz has 6 'EQ' settings. This helps blend fuzz with drive or get different grit effects from, say, an octave pedal to really work well for pseudo-synth tones. This also provides a lot of opportunit for the Fuzz channel to work really well as a subtle EQ/tone shaper. The mid-scoop really opens up the tone of my Mexican Fender.

5. Touch sensitivity: Advertised as 'more tube than tube' and I thought that it was a bit ballsy to suggest that but I think that they're pretty bang on. Once set, a player's touch can really work out a range of tones and responses. Makes it reall fun to dig in on any of the distortions.

6. Octava plays well with others: Whether it's the almost gated effect of this distortion working the rest of this pedal or any pedals afterwards (*cough* BMS *cough)) or really making an impact on effects before (for example - bassballs' 2 filter sweeps get the Octava channel going), this is definitely one great surprise for anyone buying this unit for drive and fuzz.

7. It's not way too big. Sure it's about twice the size of my hand, but at least it's not ridiculously huge.

8. Clean out - This is kind of the reason I bough this pedal. I justified it with a 'parallel distortion' and 'i don't need to buy a green ringer' and a 'this will tame an octave down' and this and that...but I send the clean out to the trigger in of my EP-1 so that I could introduce any number of boxes between. I put my BMS in there since it controls the picking dynamics so much that an envelope follower would otherwise have to go in the front. This would also be great for tremolos, flangers, and other pulsey effects.

Who's got anything else for this unit?

[gastric]

I personally only like the fuzz channel on the Disnortion. The octava is basically useless since there's no level control when used simultaneously with the fuzz. Just to be clear it provides an INSANE amount of level boost when enaged with the fuzz. The OD I've never liked that much. But I don't like the Digitech Bad monkey either. Those are the only two OD's I've tried and I've liked neither. I don't know how you actually get a CLEAN boost from the OD either as even with the gain all the way down it still provides quite a bit of OD sound push.

With all of that said I've tried a few different muffs and other fuzz and this has always stayed on my board. But apparently what I really need is a fuzz-only version of this. I'd be even more happy if the fuzz-only version was 1/3 the size of the Disnortion.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by gastric

I don't know how you actually get a CLEAN boost from the OD either as even with the gain all the way down it still provides quite a bit of OD sound push.

Maybe you're using a very high-output bass? I had no trouble using the OD channel as a (fairly) clean boost.

Originally Posted by gastric

apparently what I really need is a fuzz-only version of this. I'd be even more happy if the fuzz-only version was 1/3 the size of the Disnortion.

Talk to Dave Koltai, he may be able to hook you up. After all, due to popular demand he put the OD channel into its own little individual pedal (called the "Polysaturator"), so maybe with enough consumer demand he might put out the fuzz section too.

I really liked the fuzz and OD sections of the Disnortion, and pretty much hated the octave section. I'm tempted to buy a Polysaturator at some point.

[gastric]

I think "fairly" clean OD boost is the proper phrase, with "fairly" being the key word. To my ears it's certainly not a "truly" clean boost.

[TripleDouble]

Agreed with Gastric, it's "fairly" clean even with the gain rolled all the way down-enough to boost into something like an weaker envelope filter or to push a tube amp straigt down to hell, but not super clean on its own.

I'm a fan of this pedal, it's a victorious master of no one thing, but does a lot of different things very, very well. The bass setting on the fuzz is really quite close to a bass muff too with it's own identity. And Mr. Koltai is one cool dude to deal with too, which never hurts.

[gastric]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Talk to Dave Koltai, he may be able to hook you up. After all, due to popular demand he put the OD channel into its own little individual pedal (called the "Polysaturator"), so maybe with enough consumer demand he might put out the fuzz section too.

Took your suggestion and emailed Pigtronix my thoughts on the Disnortion. Really, I only like the fuzz section. I do love the octava sound, it's just too much of an uncontrolled volume boost. And I wish the OD could be run in series with the fuzz for an actual boost rather than layered as a separate sound simultaneously with the fuzz. I dislike how it kills the fuzz sound. Maybe if I was more of a straight OD user I'd enjoy the OD section of the pedal.

Right now it's a really large fuzz box for me.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a tiny MXR or BOSS sized box that can produce a similar fuzz to the Disnortion? It's muff-like, but more mellow with more cleans mixed in or something. I tried a LBM and Bass Big Muff and prefered the Disnortion's scooped fuzz over both of them. It'd be great if I could find something in a smaller form factor and reclaim what's basically 2/3 of the pedal unused for me.

[newbold]

If you want it to function better, Dave will certainly mod the pedal for you.

I have had some great results using the Fuzz for a clean boost/clean tone introduced to the drive section.

I've had some great results with the Octava...but also found that it adds a lot of gain to the rest of the pedal.

It's the one pedal I find I have on the most and I rarely have it really gritty.

Maybe it's a master of none, but it does everything really really well.

[gastric]

You were correct, Dave said he could mod the pedal to accomdate ALL of my desires.

1. Make the OD series to the Fuzz instead of parallel
2. Enable the Octava level control to be active all of the time.

BAM! Still have to find out what the cost would be, haha.

More interesting he said they already have a fuzz-only pedal coming out. And I quote:

"... it is called th Aria and it will be out very soon."

[newbold]

I would recommend having a series/parallel switch instead of a swap, as you could also have a switch controlling which side the octava feeds...so having a parallel distortion or dry blend would be very useful.

[newbold]

So I dug into my bass a bit more with the volumes up (I tend to pull my volumes back to set most of my tone so that I have a bit f extra oomph left when I need it) and I figured out why I liked using my Fuzz channel for a boot...

...and it's becuse it's not totally clean...

So the OFO doesn't work as a true clean boost...but at low gain, it colours my sound - really nicely.

I sure hope that Pigtronix comes out with a pedal to rival the much loved Bass RC Booster. I can only presume that Mr. Koltai and his crew would make some amazing stuff tailored specifically for bass.

There's AC and BB covered with the fuzz and drive units by Pigtronix...

My guess is that Pigtronix is looking to make units that are at least fairly revolutionary.

what next??

[gus1894]

Time to revive a somewhat stagnant thread... I am considering a Disnortion - where else will I get OD, Fuzz, and Octava for as reasonable a price as $215??

Just a question, and pardon me if it comes off stupid, but I just need to be sure - the Octava doubles the direct tone? Or does it change the direct tone and replace it, so to speak?
Also - I inderstand that it isn't a true bypass - how much does it affect things? All of my other pedals are true bypass.

Thanks!

[M@ddest_H@tter!]

I have been wanting to try one for a while...but another TB'er told me they cut low end pretty bad

[gus1894]

interesting - I've read and heard the opposite.ould be time to find out for myself..

[gastric]

I have some clips available. Check my sig below.

I eventually sold mine. I only used the Fuzz and it took up way too much board space for just that feature. IMO the pedal would be a lot more usable if they make a couple of seemingly minor tweaks as I noted previously in this thread.

To their credit Dave @ Pigtronix was very willing to make those tweaks for me at a moderate cost. It involved replacing the entire board and doing a few manual additions. I just wasn't that in love with the pedal overall to justify putting a bunch of money into making it what I thought it should've already been.

[gus1894]

tx!

[newbold]

The Octava is 100% wet so it very much changes your tone.

I think it's incredibly useful and worth it.

I use the Overdrive a whole lot (on low gain with high output so I can turn my bass down and play quietly and get huge fat tone) but have found it all to be incredibly useful most of the time.

This past week I was playing a lot of 120 bpm/house/electrojam and it was all awesome.

I use the octava way more than I ever expected to.

I would like to have a master blend and be able to control which side the octava gets routed to, as well as cascade grit throughout...(see the pigtronix mods thread for a bloated wishlist that would probably require a second control pedal)

The Fuzz is great and plays well with octave, as does the overdrive.

For rock or electronic (and probably a whole lot more) I wouldn't want anything else.

[bassman1185]

I just picked up a Disnortion from Ebay, and I was able to give it a run through my full rig at practice last night.

Initial thoughts:

I freaking LOVE this thing! The "bass" setting on the fuzz with the gain at about 3:00 is exactly what I've been looking for, and what my Cherry Pop just couldn't quite give me. The overdrive is killer toon with more clarity and depth than my HBE Hematoma. The octave section can sould pretty cool, especially running into the fuzz, which creates a world-crushing wall of fuzz with a much stronger attack than I expected. It doesn't sound so great into the overdrive, IMO, but it's a really cool touch.

[newbold]

Of course, tone is subjective -0 but try the octava into the overdrive at a low gain setting. You might change your tune.

Also, when using parallel fuzz and drive, try the 'mid scoop' or the treble selection (#3 i think) to have a punctuating fuzz with a rich drive alongside.

Works great with octave down in front.


Glad you like it, bassman.

[Sound Chaser]

I've been set on getting one of these ever since I saw that youtube video of Phil Lesh playing with it at NAMM.

[jordak]

https://soundcloud.com/jordan-kantor...d-of-pain-good
Here's a little recording I did on it - Zoom H1 style.
I hope this is helpful to anyone considering this pedal, also check out the samples on pigtronix.com