Today’s guest review comes to us from Harrison L. – find him on Instagram (@Harrison_xx), Twitter (@Harrison_Caesar), Facebook (HarrisonCaesar) or his band’s website (The Baxter Loop)!
The TC Electronic Dark Matter distortion pedal is an OUTSTANDING distortion and drive pedal. With it’s sleek black finish and variable controls over Gain, Level, Bass AND Treble, not to mention a ‘Voice’ switch to change the sound from a classic distortion sound (Think Eddie Van Halen / Brian May) to a modern distortion sound (Think Michael Paget / Mark Tremonti), the Dark Matter is a versatile, creamy, yet crisp, DISTORTION TONE MACHINE!
Smooth tone – two words to describe how this pedal sounds. I must admit, it took a bit of fiddling to find that perfect sound out of this pedal. I had one intention for this beast, and it was to shred! One of the biggest sellers on this pedal was the fact that it has a Bass and a Treble control on it. Most other distortion pedals in this more compact form usually only offer a one knob ‘tone’ control, frequently only adjusting mid – high EQ ranges. With the two separate Treble and Bass controls, you can dial in just the right amount of middle ground that most guitarists look for – hearing the crisp and deep sound of the lower three string and also hearing the smooth highs of the upper three strings. Versatility makes this pedal a huge winner in my opinion.
If I could use one word to describe the Dark Matter as a whole, I would say ‘CLARITY’. Too many distortion pedals out on the market can get lost in being the loudest or most over-driven pedal that they can be – sounding muddy and messy. Not the Dark Matter though. You could run the most complex, quickest and trickiest scale you know from the low string to the high, and through the Dark Matter, you will hear every single note! Same goes for chords – if you were arpeggiating chords, even with the gain past half way, you could still hear every single note of the wonderful harmony. The gain on this pedal has such a huge range to control that’s it’s almost impossible not to find the right sound. All the way feels like all the way down, like it should be! All the way up roars like it’s all the way up, like it should be! From chugging rhythm to shredding lead, this pedal can do it all.
Versatility, Clarity and the looks to match. With a retail of only $74.99 (USD) this pedal is extremely hard to pass up! I’ve played many a gig with it and it has survived through the most thorough of foot stomping. I put it on the board and it has never come off. What more could the tone chasing guitarist want, than a distortion that just does the job.
Who Uses It: Richard Kruspe (Rammstein), Jona Weinhofen (I Killed the Prom Queen), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)
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