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I've got an Amp Grinder arriving Thursday. It looks like my dream Rat from everything I've seen/heard. I'd been using various other Rats in the upper loop of an XO, and it can sound great (and very satisfying), but it's still a workaround that chews up space and comes with the normal limited useable range of Rat knobs. And I tried a Jam Rattler, but I have seen folks describe it as "too polite", and that's my feeling as well. The low blend and control ranges will hopefully make this my final Rat!
Bottom line is I should have more Damnation stuff. Gonna need a bigger board. More ripping and grinding please.
oh! Damnation is now at Perfect Circuit 
might need to hit the current 10% sale and go grab a Spite Box...
might need to hit the current 10% sale and go grab a Spite Box...
Which Rats have you tried? I'd be interested in how the Amp Grinder compares to the Volt Thrower, Locust Star, Tremond, Bass Mountain, or Blower Box. Basically, any of the other big "boutique" Rats! Those just happen to be the ones I have the most familiarity with.
As stand-alones, I've tried Jam Rattler Bass, Blower box standard (had one a long time ago, it sounded massive, had one more recently and it just sounded strangled), and a Cat Tail (which I just never got on with, might have been my own lack of understanding about how to better dial them in, it was a while ago).
I did the LS-2 thing with ProCo and clones, but never was able to dial out that "hitting a chain link fence with a baseball bat" thing in the highs. Recently it's been a Black Mass 1312 in the upper loop of the Great Eastern XO, but not always easy to dial in (but is capable of sounding amazing).
I hear nothing but good things about the Jam Rattler, but there are just not many Rats that I'm interested in these days as I have so many good and versatile ones. The Amp Grinder is about the only exception!
I also had the Blower Box ages ago, and the Deluxe about 2 years ago. Both sounded amazing solo, but the grit was lost in the mix for me. But they sounded excellent for a punchy tone, and really livened up the bass. And I could never dial out the high end hiss, which I never enjoy on any pedal. I also had similar experiences with the Cat Tail a few years ago when I first started going down the rabbit (or is that Rat?) hole. For whatever reason, I could never quite get my Fuzzrocious Pedals to quite work for me, though I know they were hugely popular for a long while. I don't really hear much about them these days.
The Comodoro Rat Bass is another good one. It was my favourite until the Amp Grinder came along.
I only had a chance to get five minutes on it, bit I think this is the One Rat to Bind Them All. It's big, satisfying, doesn't get harsh unless you want it to, and the control ranges are indeed optimized for bass. Loud of God sounds in it, and maybe no bad sounds. (I meant to say "lots of good sounds", but I stand by the typos).
Thus far I only tried a p-bass, will be very interested to try with L2K later tonight or tomorrow.
Thus far I only tried a p-bass, will be very interested to try with L2K later tonight or tomorrow.
I was immediately searching for "Loud of God" on Spotify...
Future Doom Band 110%
Since it was my typo, I expect royalties of 10% of the overall Loud, payable in Damnation Audio picks.
Probably an alter-ego of the band. Like GWAR and RAWG.
Got this thing in the mail a couple days ago. Stoked to put it through my loud stuff at the prac pad.
Drive and blend knob labels have changed back to gain and clean as they were originally.
I've been able to put in more time with the Amp Grinder, and here are my observations:
-It does indeed have Loud of God
-The calilil demo is dead-on, it sounds EXACTLY like those examples. The only thing I think it doesn't quite capture is just how beefy it can be
-It passes the Ace of Spades test and the Lateralus test with flying colors. It loves doomy riffs, and sounds great with power chords
-It sounds really good with all of my basses (p-bass, L2K in all modes [incl. inner and outer coils), and even my fretless jass with ground wounds. This is notable because my previous arrangement with the crossover sounded great with my p-bass, but never sounded right on anything else.
-Even at higher gain, the personality of the instrument still came through and was differentiated between basses
-It stacks well with OD or boost in front of it
-The way the clean blend works, the slow menacing sweeps from the Microsynth earlier in the chain still come through
-The volume level is unchanged when switching between modes I & II
-It's not finicky, it's really intuitive to dial in
-It's the lowest-noise Rat I've ever used, by a significant margin
So, needless to say it's a keeper, Velcro went on it last night.
-It does indeed have Loud of God
-The calilil demo is dead-on, it sounds EXACTLY like those examples. The only thing I think it doesn't quite capture is just how beefy it can be
-It passes the Ace of Spades test and the Lateralus test with flying colors. It loves doomy riffs, and sounds great with power chords
-It sounds really good with all of my basses (p-bass, L2K in all modes [incl. inner and outer coils), and even my fretless jass with ground wounds. This is notable because my previous arrangement with the crossover sounded great with my p-bass, but never sounded right on anything else.
-Even at higher gain, the personality of the instrument still came through and was differentiated between basses
-It stacks well with OD or boost in front of it
-The way the clean blend works, the slow menacing sweeps from the Microsynth earlier in the chain still come through
-The volume level is unchanged when switching between modes I & II
-It's not finicky, it's really intuitive to dial in
-It's the lowest-noise Rat I've ever used, by a significant margin
So, needless to say it's a keeper, Velcro went on it last night.
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