by aarondavis » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:26 pm
IMO, the MRD is very close to the DRD. They share some of the same tonal characteristics and about the same amount of gain. The MRD has a little scoop in the mids making it a bit more ?modern or 80?s rock? oriented. Compared to the stock DRD the MRD has a little less bass (my DRD is a modified version with more output and less bass). Another aspect is that it actually has a little less gain than what I expected; for example not as much as a RAT or Boss DS-1. At it?s highest setting though it still has enough gain for almost anything.
One of the best features of the Dyna Red is that it has a beautiful crisp treble. Something not present in most distortion and OD pedals. The Mighty Red retains this seemingly identically but the tone control allows for much more attenuation, which is great for bright amps like mine (TopHat Club Royale)
Only drawback with the MRD is it doesn?t respond as well to rolling down the volume control. The gain goes down nicely, but the clarity goes away. BUT the good thing is that the type of gain I wanted out of the MRD it?s just an on or off pedal anyway. If you wanted it as your only distortion pedal into a clean amp and wanted to change gain with your guitar volume control it may not be up to snuff. The DRD however is *perfect* in this respect. Another issue is that for some reason my TopHat?s need to see more output than stock Mad Professors and BJF?s. My requirements my be different than many with these pedals, but I will be modifying the MRD with a boost on the output stage.
Bottom line, the Mighty Red Distortion has to be one of the best higher gain distortion pedals available. I?m just as pleased with it as I am the Dyna Red Distortion.