why you don't just have your friend bring an amp back?couldn't he just lie and say it was his and he was just bringing it back?

maybe that traynor that scott offered you?

you know, that and the pedal?

that said, i think the ibanez metal charger has similar characteristics to the rat big john was discussing, in that, it can go from boost(cleanish if you mod it.) to over drive, to full freak distortion..
plus it has a nice eq.. a weirdo at that.. pre distortion hi..post distortion hi, post distortion low..

haven't put it against a rat tho'

pretty weirdo..
cheap!

thanks for that description of the rat big john. and by the way, thanks also for the recommendarion for the yamaha magic stomp. i finally bought one. does exactly what i wanted to, plus i have delays, tremolo, and a tuner.
rock1rock2: sorry but i had a hard time understanding the first part of your post. my amp? why? to test it with pedals?, yeah, i could do that. my friend? what friend? *confused*
sorry!

this amp that scott offered you..

scott wrote:Benny,

If you're interested, I have a early/mid-70's YBA-1A I'd sell to you for $350, what I paid roughly 5 years ago. It's either 1972 or 73, I think. Modded with a master volume control. I like it with the master at full, or maybe 85% or so. It's a great amp for being full and present sounding. Shipping may be a bitch, I don't know. I'll pack the shit out of it, too, so it arrives safely. Lemme know.

that one...remember?

Benny wrote:i have a friend that is going to the usa soon and i want to ask him to buy a distortion pedal to me.

that friend.

The turbo rat is a extreme rat with a compression circuit inside. I don't care for em much but with the mod which uses electrical tape to cover the led on the compressor it sounds crazy. But not rat like.

If you look at the Rat circuit it is set up the same as a tube screamer with the same asymmetrical diode thing. It is a useful pedal but I guess somewhat dated now, a lot of people with Marshall's and playing punk rock swear by em, knew one guy who had the rack mount with two rats for lead and rhythm.

Also like the Zoom Ultra Fuzz it is kinda extreme though. The Yard box is getting the most use but it is a fuzz not a distortion but I like that.

You got a Magic Box! I am glad you like it and it did what you wanted. I love the echos recently found a site that has all the presets set up for all and I mean song by song for all the Hank Marvin and the Shadows records (60's english band). Since I love that band's sound I have been goofing arround with those presets a bunch.

There is also a Yahoo magic stomp group I belong to if you IM me I will give the info they have all the other presets on a yahoo group site for download for the bass and acoustic guitar magic stomps + ubstomp among other stuff (all the magic stomps are the same so you can use the presets from any of them).

One of the presets on the Magic Stomp is a recreation of the rat it is pretty accurate. (If you want I will look up which one it is) it near beginning of the electric guitar presets where they also have the big muff - Maestro fuzz and a fender blender ("smashing pumpkins fuzz") recreations all are pretty accurate.

Glad it did what you wanted I have a lot of fun with mine.

(answer to rock1rock2)
you are a clever guy.
well, is not exactly a friend, is the father of a friend. i don't think that convincing him to drag a 25kg amp to Uruguay would be reasonable. my friend will ask him to buy a pedal, so he can buy probably two.

dang..

you'll find something i'm sure of it..

i too know the pain of importing musical goods..

though it's to spain..

you go into that customs office and it's like a mob shakedown..

on the other hand, my friend came to visit me early this year, and he brought about $4000 in equipment and walked right threw the door with it..

people in the states have no idea how easy it is to find amazing amps and guitars for nothing..
dicks

ChristopherM wrote:Has anyone tried the Ibanez SM-9 Super Metal?

I'm really interested in trying one out...but haven't read a whole lot of reviews. Just the ones on Harmony Central. It's got the JRC chip. Theoretically it should sound really good.

I use the SM-9 as an overdrive (as in, between levels of "boost" and "distortion"). Its Tube Screamer roots are immediately evident, but this is a unique creature. Think more the multiple TS-whatevers chains of say, PJ Harvey than the hard rock/blues bullshit. A few things to keep in mind:

1 - More compression, maybe not as much as a Route 66, but definitely more than any TS made by Ibanez/Maxon. Remember this was made for metal. Or whatever was called metal in 1979.

2 - Higher learning curve: three whole more knobs than any TS before the DX version, gasp! Essentially, the "attack" and "punch" control the compression, and the "edge" is a high-end filter, like that found in a Rat. But backwards.

3 - At a higher drive setting, it can sound pretty dated and cheesy. You get something like the "classic" TS sound up to about 12:00, then the "multi-TS" sound up to about 3:00. Anything higher than that and you sound like a garage band playing Van Halen covers.

4- The output is a lot lower than most modern distortions. Not such that it would get in the way of using it live, but expect to keep the "level" up if you want to blend it with anything made more recently.

5 - You get the Ibanez midrange hump and drive sans association with Stevie Ray fucking Vaughn. Easily the best selling point.

Big John wrote:The turbo rat is a extreme rat with a compression circuit inside. I don't care for em much but with the mod which uses electrical tape to cover the led on the compressor it sounds crazy. But not rat like.

If you look at the Rat circuit it is set up the same as a tube screamer with the same asymmetrical diode thing. It is a useful pedal but I guess somewhat dated now, a lot of people with Marshall's and playing punk rock swear by em, knew one guy who had the rack mount with two rats for lead and rhythm.

I thought teh Turbo rat just used LEDs as clipping diodes, but the rest of the circuit was pretty similar.

Also, the RAT is much closer to an MXR distortion + than a tube screamer. The Tubescreamer has the diodes in the negative feedback loop of the op amp. In the RAT, the clipping diodes are between the signal path and ground after the op amp.

Ben Adrian

I don't mean to sound like a cantankerous old bastard, but it really doesn't matter what distortion pedal you use. Learn to appreciate the characteristics of your amp and play to those strengths. If you don't like your amp, buy a new one.

Maybe buy a tubescreamer.

Really, it's mostly the amp.