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I'm looking at two pedals right now: The Stone Deaf PDF 2 and ZVEX (Vexter) Double Rock. I know they have different purposes and such, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with either (or both). Any help is appreciated.

Haven't tried the Double Rock unfortunately but I've tried out most of the Stone Deaf range as they're only up the road from me. I love love love the para-EQ features on all of them but don't always get on with the drives - the PDF in particular has an odd grittiness to it that can be emphasised or minimised with the EQ but not totally removed. It's not exactly unpleasant sounding but it's something you'll either enjoy or hate.

Out of the rest of the range, the Trashy Blonde was a cool MIAB but didn't have enough gain for me; the Kliptonite is an INCREDIBLY gated fuzz which I did like but the Mirror Mix function rarely had settings that made both sound good; I didn't get much time with the Warp Drive but I admittedly don't do high gain drives anyway. The Fig Fumb was the only one I really clicked with and may actually have been my favourite muff sound of all time. I think they're almost worth the money just for the EQ options by themselves though - just run them after your favourite drive.

I have a Double Rock that I'm borrowing from a friend while he's away.

I've never really found a use for having both Rocks on at the same time, I tend to just channel switch between them but stacking them tends to get muddy. Otherwise it's a nice compressed JTM sound, very flexible and easy to play with.

If it were me I'd probably just get a Box of Rock, but even if you don't use both rocks at the same time it does have a bit of an edge over the BoR cause you have control over the low end like on the Distortron, and you can switch the SHO/Distortron order unlike the BoR that has it fixed.

Thanks for the replies, both of you. Making it harder for me to decide.

@borntohang One of the reasons i'm drawn to the PDF is the crazy EQ stuff it does, and from the demos I've heard, I actually like that "grit" i'm hearing. Did you happen to play it with the expression pedal at all?

@601210 The reasons i'm thinking Double Rock over BoR and such is because of the bass control. My main amp is a Vox AC15 and I don't really buy into the whole "bad pedal amp" thing but I do think the low end is a bit finicky. Do you hear any huge difference when you run distortion>boost as opposed to boost>distortion?

I thought it did pretty ok with the lows on my AC10, to be fair. I actually quite like the different dimension it brings to the Vox sound.

As far as order of distortion and boost goes, it's the usual: Distortion -> Boost: Louder; Boost -> Distortion: More compressed.

IMO the PDF is a bit more garage-y and the Double Rock is more classic. Can't really go wrong with either.

601210 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:10 pm

I thought it did pretty ok with the lows on my AC10, to be fair. I actually quite like the different dimension it brings to the Vox sound.

As far as order of distortion and boost goes, it's the usual: Distortion -> Boost: Louder; Boost -> Distortion: More compressed.

IMO the PDF is a bit more garage-y and the Double Rock is more classic. Can't really go wrong with either.

You might have sealed the deal on getting the Double Rock. I'm curious to see what you mean by that haha.

I'm also a huge J. Mascis fan so it only makes sense

MC3 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:02 pm

@601210 The reasons i'm thinking Double Rock over BoR and such is because of the bass control. My main amp is a Vox AC15 and I don't really buy into the whole "bad pedal amp" thing but I do think the low end is a bit finicky. Do you hear any huge difference when you run distortion>boost as opposed to boost>distortion?

I hated the BoR with my AC30. The boost side was great, but the distotron side not so much. It loved my Princeton though.

The Double Rock! is great IMO.

Lots of flexibility in it, and it really seems to have that little bit of Mascis sonic je ne sais quoi to me... That can be its only weak spot for me as it feels slightly uncomfortable playing tone mimic too precisely.

I generally go w/ one side set to boost and the other to drive and will use the boost quite extensively by itself as the final level setter in a drive chain w/ a really nice EQ to it most commonly. The drive has a fair amount of tweakability to find what you're looking for w/ different guitar & amp voices. The way I use it the most, it's pretty similar to my BoR to my ears, but w/ a bit more jangly character to it and a good bit more options for frequency sculpting.

I don't know if you're made your final decision but I'll add my two cents worth.

I'd get the ZVEX Double Rock, and I'll tell you why. I have one, well I've had two, and I'll explain that also.

1. It's sooooo versatile. I mean, it may be the most versatile pedal on the market. Just watch any GOOD review on youtube, especially the CME review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5UqH-0DyrQ. It's short but it provides soooo much info. . 2 boosts, 2 distortions, 1 boost into one distortion, 1 distortion into one boost, control over bass.

2. Over the years, I've owned a Box of Rock, a Distortron, then a second Distortron, to use exactly as the DR is used, but this was before the DR was released. SO I was using 2 Distortrons just as ZVEX was releasing the DR.

3. So i've owned 2 DR. I had a Vexter version. Then recently Thorpy FX released The Dane, and I love, love Danish Pete. So I wanted one...bad. You know how it goes. Well, to fund it, I had to sell the DR, which I did. Bought a used Dane off reverb so I didn't have to wait the back order time. Got it....played it exactly 30 minutes and knew it was not a replacement for the DR. But I didn't want to rush to judgment. Played The Dane again the next day and decided I hated it. Not just because the distortion was different than the DR, but The Dane made me realize JUST HOW VERSATILE the DR is. Sold The Dane, took a HUGE hit, and then found a really great deal on a Purple (not the purple sparkle though) Double Rock. Bought it, and it's simply never NEVER NEVER EVER leaving my board again. I would have bought a Vexter again if I hadn't found the purple one for the same price as a Vexter (I mean, really, the dude had the purple one listed WAY below market value).

4. the sound is classic. the DR is not crazy like a Fuzz Factory, which can do normal fuzz too. It's just...it sounds so great. From Hendrix to SRV to Green Day to so many others. It sounds so good through my Fender amps and my 5E3 clone.

Get both if you can. Double rock has great plexi tones and is super versatile as stated, But the PDF-2 will make it even more so. It's got so many great sounds in it on it's own, but it's really designed to be played with other pedals and can make any drive pedal sounds a miriad of different ways. It's also the best live pedal I've ever used. You can find a nice frequency space for lead stuff that means you can be heard, without overpowering everything.

I want to thank everyone that has provided info and experience with both pedals. I visited CME and they had a Double Rock, and in the room with an AC30 I got to sit down and really play with it. I really enjoyed it, and it sounded awesome.

I'll probably go with the Double Rock at this point once I have the funds to purchase it, but I'm still interested in playing a PDF2