tc electronic Dark Matter Distortion

I use this pedal as my main distortion pedal on a Fender Hotrod deluxe mkII with a Fender telecaster special from 2010. It sounds exactly like advertised. It's a good distortion. It's quite transparant so it makes your guitar still sound like your guitar!
The knobs are pretty straight forward: gain, volume, bass, treble and a toggle switch that kind of shifts the mid emphasis to a more modern sound. To be honest the down position will probably have troubles cutting true a bandmix
But there is plenty gain on tap in this pedal
It also likes to be booster by a tubescreamer the potentio meters from the bass and treble controls are center detent. This means you can cut and boost the bass of treble frequenties. This is quite handy if you have a super shrill or bassy amp. Of if it lacks bass or treble you can boost them. The build Quality is good. The Paint work is good. And the sound is good. Foto the price what more do you want?

Pros: cheap, good sounding distortion goes from overdrive to distortion to fuzz alike tones, you can cut pro boost bass and treble. Plenty of volume on tap, and pretty transparent.

Cons: to bad there is no mid control. Except for the Toggle switch., The distortion is not for everybody: it's quite hairy and probably doesn't deliver modern metal tones.

That said it's a pretty good investment and it's dirt cheap.

I got to choose this distortion as a birthday present from the bandmates and I did not regret at all. It immediately became a great addition to my rig and tone. I use it to enrich the high end when soloing or as a booster on heavy riffs, where the main drive comes from my amp.
I didn't really get the usage of the little "voice" switch, it cannot make much difference, except for a little boost in the high-mids.
It is actually great that I have a little EQ option with the bass and treble knobs, The distortion is equally reactive on single coils and humbuckers, but sounds more like an OD on single coils, where one can play very heavy riffs with humbuckers.
It looks and feels quite sturdy, body made of metal and the pots move smoothly.
The LED indicator is bright enough, one can easily see in direct sunlight.
I would recommend the distortion to anyone who seeks rich tone and heavy distortion as well as booster and addition to existing distortion.

It's a strong, durable pedal that looks like it can handle a beating.

The bass and treble controls allow for a little EQ customization which is cool. The mini toggle switch does something that is not very noticeable, I have spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. Sonically, I prefer it in the vintage position. Maybe it's because I am a little prejudiced. Features like the knobs having a little notch at 12 o'clock, the easy opening thing at the back for replacing the battery, the soft yet sturdy switch are all signs of fine design and construction. Everything (apart from that mini toggle switch) is very responsive.

I haven't managed to dial in a nice sound by plugging it in straight into a clean amp. I either need a nice, tube amp to be broken up already or to use an overdrive with it. I like it in a booster - light distortion mode before my MXR overdrive for soloing or heavier rhythm parts.

This pedal most certainly needs a good amp and a cabinet to go with. Otherwise, it'll sound somewhat harsh and muffy if you crank the gain knob too much. The EQ is kind of meh, and the "voice" switch does little to compensate for the lack of mid-frequency controller, because the change in its two positions is barely audible (up - slightly more mids, down - slightly drowned mids).

It's a good pedal to shape your tone a bit while adding a considerable portion of distortion to be later nuanced further by your amp. It's not the best pedal for starting your heavy tone, however, due to its somewhat peculiar and specific sound.

I'd recommend trying it out in real settings - borrow it from someone for a few moments, or find it somewhere in your local shop to see if you'd want that kind of sound. I wasn't expecting it to be exactly what I needed, but it's a fine addition to my newly started pedalboard, anyway.

Initially, I was torn between this one and the "Fangs Metal Distortion", but Fangs seemed more like a set of typical metal tones and I wanted something more to experiment with, without those limitations of having only super-distorted sound.

Dark Matter Distortion is capable of acting as an overdrive pedal, or, I'd say, it's somewhat in-between those overdriven and distotrted sounds. It has a nice warm and fuzzy feel to it when cranked to higher gain levels, which can be very suitable for something like sludge and stoner metal/rock, or some experimental indie stuff.

I am not 'into' boutique pedals, but then again I am also not into 'cheap and cheerful' pedals, but the quality of this pedals makes the price gap between the two even bigger.

Since this is now being sold at 1/3 of the price which originally came out as, the pedal is bargain. The distortion goes from a slight overdrive to an all out distortion, but not clipping to take it into fuzz.

The bass and treble controls give a wide range of tones, and the switch, I now is supposed to be subtle, but to my ears it is so subtle I personally can't hear the difference (maybe also due to years of blasting my ear drums with similar pedals).

Based on the price, you will find pedals which are 3 to 4 times the price of this, but will not sound significantly any better. I don't think it would be my only distortion pedal but for a beginner it is a great starter into the word of distortion, or a player who only dips now and again into the 'dark' world then also a nice to have.

It is very well built, as I have found all of the TC pedals are and are made to last.

But as I say for the price, drop it in the gig bag and one day you might be surprised and find you use it quite a bit for fun. Anyway, it is a common fact that you cannot have too many overdrive or distortion pedals!

Highly recommended