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Who has used a Green Rhino?

Musicman1901

Musicman1901

Jun 1, 2012
2,190
2,183
Rochester, NY
#1
I have become quite intrigued with the green rhino overdrive lately. I have watched a few videos but would like to hear from somebody who has used it personally. I currently use the mad professors blueberry overdrive and am considering making a trade for the green rhino or selling mine to fund a green rhino. Has anybody used this pedal? What are the CONS of this pedal, if any? I like the blueberry but it's almost a little too vintage sounding if that makes sense. Thanks guys
 
#3
Great pedal with no cons. To my ears it sounds like a nicely dialed in tube screamer.
It's a bit more aggressive than the Pork Loin and the the 100Hz tone correction allows to put in just the right amount of bass. It's also touch sensitive and capable of mild to wild distortion.
 
#6
What didn't sound good about using it with a Wal? My main bass is a Wal MKI. I would like to hear what you thought about the pedal with your wal. Alot of my effects act very differently with my wal than my other basses. What did you like and not like about the rhino with your wal? Thanks for any information man.
 
#8
I had a green rhino. Best tubescreamer ive tried with bass, and sounded to me to be the most natural overdrive sound for the GK head I was using at the time. since - moved on to tubes and a b3k, cant comment on how it works with that setup.
 
#9
Great video! I'm thinking about trading my blueberry for the green rhino. Seems like a better fit for me overall. The pork loin seems like an interesting pedal as well but it doesn't really seem to drive to hard. It might be cool to layer over another overdrive or distortion to intensify it or it would be a great pedal to make a dirty channel.
 
#10
Best OD pedal on the market (and I've had them all, I think!). You can adjust it to get any sound you want. I have mine adjusted for slight dirt and no too much jump in output and I use it on choruses to add some zing wothout having to dig in too much. I highly recommend it. I actually have one on my bass pedalboard AND my guitar board!
 
#13
Musicman1901 said:
What didn't sound good about using it with a Wal? My main bass is a Wal MKI. I would like to hear what you thought about the pedal with your wal. Alot of my effects act very differently with my wal than my other basses. What did you like and not like about the rhino with your wal? Thanks for any information man.
Click to expand...

First off, I should say I play with a pick, which sometimes is left out of the discussion when comparing gain pedals, and unfortunately for us pick players, lots of demo videos. Also I use Mesa cabinets which are pretty bright.
The Rhino broke up in a great way with my Jazz bass, and brought out some scream in the mids where it's a little lacking. With the Wal, the tone itself is pretty ringy like a piano string and the active signal is hotter, so I didn't feel like I could turn down the gain enough. In general, when I'm playing one of my passive basses with gain, and I shut off the distortion pedal, it suddenly seems dull and less dimensional. This is not the case with the Wal really, so I end up using not much gain, and the Rhino didn't excel in that department. The Pork Loin was just OK.
I've had a similar experience in that many of the gain pedals (MXR M-80, Bass Drive, Green Rhino, Elements, Rat Tail, etc..) I used with J's and P's didn't work well with my MK1. My best guess is that those pedals add a fair amount of color to the sound, and that's not what I was looking for with the Wal. Also, it's possible that because screamer type pedals and the Rat Tail are pretty mid prominent, and the Wal is so full range, not a little weak in the mids like some J's are.
That wouldn't explain why the M-80 isn't so good for it, because it's distortion side is pretty scooped, but then a lot of people aren't too crazy about the gain sound in general. I think the Darkglass works well as long as long the drive isn't too high. Right now I'm using a VT Bass, because you can turn the gain down and the EQ works pretty well, but still on the lookout for the right thing. Also, the Rusty Box (totally different from the VT) is working well. Honestly, and this can be a daunting task, what is sounding best to me right now is combining pedals, even for low gain, i.e. M-80 (gain on or off) or Rusty Box, with pedals, even guitar pedals like M-80 with MXR GT-OD, or Rusty Box with B3K. Maybe Rhino with M-80? I haven't tried it.
Sorry to be so off topic, but I figured I would share some Wal info.
Good Luck!
 
#14
I reread this thread after I posted, and I think we're looking for different things. I see your response to the Pork Loin/Rhino video was that the Pork Loin maybe didn't break up enough, whereas for me, that's plus for the Wal. On the E string, I could get away with a fair amount of gain, but the A,D and G, string started to get a little fizzy and the Wal goodness was lost. Not to shamelessly plug myself, and if you're interested, here's a short video (iPhone) of the Wal with the VT with gain set pretty low, around 9 o'clock. It's the tone before the fuzz kicks in.

Anyway, I don't want to disparage the Rhino just because it didn't work out in my specific low gain situation.
 
#15
Wow thanks for such an in depth response. The tone in that video is awesome. I know the quality is mediocre cuz its on an iphone but you can hear the core of the tone and its beautiful. Makes me want a new amp lol. Anyways I think your right in the fact that were looking for different things. I do have a turbo rat i use for light grit but I am looking for something that really breaks up alot for when i want to get a really crunchy sound. I appreciate your time to explain all that and you've made me want to take a closer look at the VT!
 
#16
Gmclachlan said:
My best guess is that those pedals add a fair amount of color to the sound, and that's not what I was looking for with the Wal. Also, it's possible that because screamer type pedals and the Rat Tail are pretty mid prominent, and the Wal is so full range, not a little weak in the mids like some J's are.
Click to expand...

Reading this thread I think another option if your using a bass like the Wal is to look at a mid scooped overdrive like the Fuzzrocious Oh See Demon as it can achieve great distortion/overdriven tones between hardly any dirt to full on.
 
#18
I'm still thinking about the Green Rhino.. My Swollen Pickle seems to get buried in the mix, but I just adjusted the internal pots to try something different(see how that goes Friday). I like the SP fuzz for some songs, but I want to pick up the GR for lesser fuzz/OD/slightly dirty sounds. If GC would carry the Pork Loin, I'd already have bought that. They do have the GR in stock though.
 
#19
I would agree with you punisher911, I find alot of fuzz pedals get buried in the mix and i'm not sure why. My overdrive and distortion cut fine but when i kick on my fuzz i feel like it struggles to break into the mix. I'm thinking about buying a booster to put on the same loop as my fuzz so when i kick it on it gets a little volume boost to make it more assertive in the mix
 
#20
I have it, and it's my favourite pedal. It dials a very harsh and mean Overdrive, and as other have mentionned, you can dial the amount of bass you need, but also the mids, ideal for cutting through! I use a Bad Monkey for a more tubey overdrive, and this little fella for mild to wild distortion, just so I can have both options in the same song, but the Green Rhino can also be very tubey with the gain on minimum, but it's not exactly a ''subtle'' pedal!
 

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