Still no decision on RC into BB or response from Xotic on this.. Started looking into Rusty Box. Anybody blend the Rusty Box with unaffected signal, as with Xotic X Blender?
I'm going to take a wild guess that the answer is...probably not. The Rusty Box is a preamp. Actually, it is the circuit of an amp in a box. Not exactly sure why you'd want to blend it? Maybe if you are using it as a dirt pedal...but even in that case, the Rusty Box is truly a full range pedal and sounds great on its own. No blending needed.
Yeah, as a dirt box. I'd like to get something that goes from real light overdrive to fuzz. I guess the Source Audio OFD digital pedal could do it, but the Rusty Box caught my attention. It is pretty individual sounding. Can that clanky tone be tamed a little bit? I guess I'm just assuming you could blend Some clean with it to get the fuzz on top, bass below bi-amp sound so many seek.
Well, it isn't a fuzz pedal, and I suppose while it can sound "clanky" (?), what you are getting is the sound of the amp is it emulating/modelled after, which is exactly what people want it to sound like. That said, based upon what you are now describing, I'm going to suggest that the Rusty Box isn't the right way to go, and you consider a ss/bs TAFM instead. This is a great fuzz that has an integrated blend, the capacity for two "channels" thanks to a gate switch that allows for a low gain and high gain setting, and sounds fantastic when run as an overdrive and as a fuzz.
The Rusty is my longtime favorite preamp I use for light to medium overdrive. I would second that fuzz would not be the best application. It can get really distorted, but don't think it's the best tone for fuzz. As far as blending, you could do so using the main output; the line out might cause a problem as it is inverted as well as being the full volume out (something like 10-15V peak-to-peak). IMO blending (or post-eq) could help a bit with the lows as I find them a bit lean from the Rusty (perfect for aggressive driven tone, but less so for fully round clean or fuzz IMO). My approach is to drive a fuzz (like a muff) set at low gain with the Rusty; the muff acts as a post-eq bringing out the low bass. This makes for a good "slow 'n low" metal tone, more aggressive than just the muff on it's own.