TC Electronic Dark Matter Distortion

I was very surprised finding this quality for such a price. The Dark Matter might be a digital pedal (which I'm usually not a very big fan of), but it has a wide range of sounds. It varies from a light overdrive type of sound to a heavy crunching sound. I also like the bass and treble knobs. But please TC Electronics: Get better on/off switches on your pedals, because they are very fragile!

If a pedal is a distortion pedal, that doesn't mean it's a high gain metal monster. The TC Electronic Dark Matter Distortion could easily be mistaken for a high gain metal monster, but that isn't its purpose. The true purpose of this pedal is to emulate the tone and feel of a cranked 1970s Plexi. Just by turning the gain knob, you can go from borderline clean to a fair amount of dirt. You may think that the pedal would be heavily compressed and have no dynamics, but even with a fair amount of gain, you still have a touch sensitive tone that maintains clarity; In the studio, it cuts through nicely, and doesn't need any EQ. This pedal is designed to sound like a cranked Plexi. The dynamics and clarity are present, but there's a two band equalizer; not just any, but a very usable one. Turn back the bass for a tighter tone, or turn it up for a warmer tone. Turn back the treble for more warmth, or turn it up for a more glassy tone. I feel this pedal is misunderstood by many. It's meant to be a low to medium gain Marshall style pedal, not a modern metal monster. For me, this pedal performs best in blues-based rock music, so if that's what you play, go ahead and get it. If you're looking for a metal pedal, this is not for you. Overall, I recommend this pedal. If you get the chance, try it out, I bet you'll be impressed.

Dark Matter Distortion aims to give you that powerful, super-musical roar of an early plexi - a sound that will satisfy even the pickiest players out there. We are confident we have achieved just that, and this is one of those pedals you have to try to believe what it can actually do for your distorted sounds.

Dude. Lady.

Stop reading this and go buy a TC Dark Matter. Right now. It's worth it.

Whether you want an easy and simple lo-gain for post time-effect creaminess, or you want to front load your amp with an array of dark and throat lows all the way up to shrieking and squawking hi's. Get this. It's not a metal pedal, so don't fool yourself into thinking you're going to gain town, but this rock-minded distortion will carry you through any classic song on its own, or can be used with other friends to build great shoe-gazey goodness. It's a fully responsive, dynamic, and powerful distortion pedal. Keep the level above noon for unity or boost, or cut your volume down to size and get gainy after some other great effect. This pedal sounds great all over the board, and it's ridiculously cheap for the effect contained within.

This pedal sounds more like an Overdrive. Of course you have a distortion, but you can clean the sound almost 100%! We never have that with Distortion pedals, only with Overdrive pedals. I trusted some videos on the YouTube, but when I tried by myself, I only got to those great tones using a little bit of crunch on the amp, so the pedal was pushing the sound. The pedal alone has a lot of low-end, and when you try to get rid of it turning down the BASS knob, you will end up with no body at all, just a skinny sound. I think you need to try it before buying. It ended up as a medium drive option to me, so I still use my Mooer Rage Machine to high-gain distortion. Maybe when I get an Overdrive pedal to push the Dark Matter, than I can stop using my Mooer.

I don't use it much, but comes in handy when I need a Paramore, Fall Out Boy type of tone. Great pickup for $50

This pedal is, well, a distortion pedal, and the only real reason I bought it was to hear the difference between overdrive and distortion (my amp has built-in overdrive). It's a good pedal, but it adds a lot of midrange, which is not what I look for in a distorted song (I love midrange, don't get me wrong). There's also this "voice" switch that doesn't really do anything, as far as I can tell

I use this as a gain boost into a BBE green screamer. By itself it has more scooped mids but pushes the bbe nicely.

Nothing really more to add but that. ..............(40 character minimum :)

the gain is horrible and sounds like a muffled wet fart, do not buy if you like high gain metal only good for a lead boost with amp gain