T-Rex Dr. Swamp

Two independent overdrives, both switchers a very good to use.

From low to full distortion the sound is full, guitar sound is fully transferred, very low hum. My sound chain is: Telecaster 52 relic (customshop)-> boss tuner TU2 (not so good, I will change it) -> Dr.Swamp -> Fender Custom Vibrolux ReverbAmp. All Cables are Klotz. As power supply I use T-Rex Fuel Tank Junior. The sound is perfect...

No problem after one Year usage.

Local reseller is very informed...

My eperiance is, that other gutarist are telling me, that the sound is perfect :-) After 15 yers of experimenting with chineses low cost product I have found, that quality cost some money...

two distortion channels, one overall tone knob, one overall volume knob and a distortion knob for each channel. simple!

I own the old version of dr. swamp - the one with only one tone knob. I run it as one of the first pedals in my chain, with a Fender US stratocaster and a peavey 112 amp.
I really like the sound of this thing. the sound is amasing for solos. combined with a delay/reverb effect you can realy get that nice Gilmoure like sound.
it has a nice sustain and it is easy to make the tones scream with the right picking technique and the distortion knob at 3'o'clock. I do miss some low end when you role back the tone knob.

Seems to be fine. bought it used and it has survived for about 3 years so far.

don't know.

but it's from Denmark which is very good thing!

I play noise rock, shoegaze, post-rock, electronic and rock. the pedal is very good for rock and solos.

but for noise rock and shoegaze, where you need that big distorted sound of chords, I dont think it matches completely.
I think the proCo Rat is a better match here. I also own Carl Martin Crush Zone which is very nice as well.... But the Dr. Swamp is perfect for rock and soloing. the two-channel thing is a very usable feature!!!

Easy to use. Not much to tweak, which is good. Tone knob is interesting - it doesn't do the very bright to muddy thing that a lot of distortion pedals do. More of a high cut only. I like the footswitchable channels. A nice feature is that you can turn the pedal off with either switch.

Tried it with a Top Hat Club Royale with a 78 Telecaster with a Florance Voodoo hot vintage pickup. Not noisy. It has a really wide gain range. It can do light overdrive to fat singing sustain. My complaint is that it's probably useful more as a lead boost or heavy distortion pedal with my set up. I thought I could do a lead/rhythm set up through one pedal. But it has too much of a mid-hump to do the rhythm thing for me. I guess I want more of the Pete Townshend kerrang thing for my rhythm sound. But for lead, high-gain or power chords, it's cool sounding. Has a "soft" attack, not unlike some of the Fulltone pedals (OCD, Fulldrive, Distortion Pro, etc.)

don't know yet. Looks well built.

See sound category. I'll probably use something else for my rhythm sounds. I guess I've been on a quest for a "do-it-all" OD pedal, but in actuality that probably doesn't exist. I can say that I've tried some of the other newer dual ODs on the market including the dual AC Boost, the dual BB Preamp and the Fulltone GT-500, and this one worked with my set up the best. But my amp tends to be picky with pedals. The standard mid-hump Rat and TS pedals can be a little harsh sounding. So if I were rating this as just a single function high gain, smooth overdrive, it would get a 9 or 10. But since it's not quite as versatile as I was hoping for I'll give it an 8.

Ease of Use

Very good And Very good

Basically a twin OD-Distortion pedal, independent Gain control, shared Tone and Level, two switches one engages gain A, the other engages gain B. The two channels are alternative to each other (can't have both of them engaged) so it's easy to go from clean to crunch/lead or back to crunch/clean with just ONE click.
The tone control is very effective and it might take a while to tweak and reach your sweet spot, but it's definitely easy to use for anyone who ever used an OD pedal and even for the rookie.

The sound is fantastic. I tried and had tons of OD pedals, mostly boutique pedals (Keeley modded SD-1, BD-2, TS-9; Menatone Blue Collar, King of Britain II, Workingman Blues; Retro-Sonic 808 screamer just to mention a few), but I always ended in keeping this one. It delivers a generous gain amount (more than I actually need playing Blues and Southern Rock)and the sound is always well balanced and never becomes muddy unless you turn the tone control fully counterclockwise.
This is my live rig: self built Strat with Kinmans/PRS SE Singlecut > Menatone Red Snapper > T-Rex Dr.Swamp > Tech 21 Boost DLA > Fender Blues DeVille 4x10/Marshall 1974x. It sounds great with both guitars and both amps and really exalts the tonal character of them.
The only compliant is that it's a little noisy and that's the reason that pushed me into the quest for another one (I can't stand Noise gates: they suck your tone and sustain as hard as a 20$ b..ch!, but tend to be much more expensive).
You can go from that sweet dirt-on-clean-tubes to high gain, always very rich harmonically complex and transparent and nail any sound you like from Clapton, BB King SRV to Gary Moore, Santana, Zakk Wylde (!). I couldn't believe anyone saying he took a bad sound out of this GREAT little box.
This is the best OD-Dist pedal I ever had and it's gonna stay in my rig for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong time, just like my Menatone Red Snapper.
I don't give it a 10 just because of the noise.

I've been gigging regularly for 1 1/2 years before writing this review and it never let me down.
It seems well built to stand the next Ice Age, but I don't think I'll be there to control...

Never dealt with them. I heard street talks about slow response in CS matters, but I don't pay attention to these talks and most of all I don't think I'll ever need them. I prefer people building unbreakable pedals rather than kind and talkative guys that make glass-like solid stomp boxes ;-D

As I wrote, I play Blues and Southern Rock and been doing this for 30+ years. My style is perfectly matched with this box and if something should happen to it I'd rush and buy another one as fast as I can! And so should YOU do: go and get one, you won't be disappointed!

Just plug and play. It's very simple to use. But the tone and volume to 12 o'clock and gain to somewhere between 8 and 2 o'clock. And that's it. The SOUND is there.

My setup is Ibanez SZ520 (with SD Jazz Set) and Peavey Valve King Combo.

I did some comparison between Mudhoney and Dr.Swamp at local music store. They are quite different pedals. While Mudhoney is little 'muddy' Dr.Swamp's sound is nicely open at the top. Gain can be adjusted from mild overdrive to even high gain distortion. Sound is close to Tweed with nice crisp (not Marshall). Pedal adds some middle which is quite common to every OD pedal. Middle boost is in my opinion fair mild. This pedal makes your guitar sing.

Hard to say yet.

Same as above.

I have played guitar over 20 years and I can't even tell you how many pedals I have owned. I think this is something very common among the guitarists (When sound doesn't please, reson must be with equipment). The sooner you realise that reason for your maybe unpleasant guitar sound is yourself the better. OK, I admit that gears have something to do with it, but you got my point.

This is anyway very fine sounding pedal. Probably best I've ever heard. At least it fits my setup perfectly. I think Dr.Swamp is far superior to for example Fulltone's FD2.

The pedal is very easy to use. Guitar in and guitar out as usual. It has two footswitches. Each operates one overdrive. Only one overdrive can be active, so it's either A or B. There are four dial controls. Two seperate Gain knobs and a shared Tone and Level control. Nothing but plain simple plug and play and you'll find out in no time.

A blast..!!! This thing has a fantastic dynamic range. I am experiencing a new level of sound. Setup: Strat SRV, Twin Reverb (76).
I was using a Mesa V-Twin, RAT and TS808, but now just this Dr Swamp pedal and the TS808. I am absolutely stunned by the quality. The way this pedal puts my guitar through to the amp is giving me that nice tube-like overdrive. The dynamics are making the sound of the guitar come very alive. I absolutely love this pedal. I even find the TS808 lacking that range in dynamics, but well.. it's all vintage and together they still make a nice couple. But this Dr Swamp pedal will sweep you of your feet. In sound you can compare it with the Hendrix sound or Stevie Ray Vaughan. Some tweaking and turning and the pedal will give it to you. This thing is here to stay.

I would say I won't expect any problems. I have this pedal for a little while now and it seems to be able to survive some wilder adventures.

Never been in touch with these guys. I bought the thing in a store in the Netherlands. I don't expect to have to contact these people. Making this Dr Swamp pedal is support enough for me.. Thanks.

I like playing Hendrix licks and did some Stevie Ray Vaughan, but Hendrix is the favorite at the moment. I have been playing for 27 year now. Not that it counts for my experience, but when I play I listen very carefully to the sound I want to make. I found a lot of overdrives blurry at some points or like I said earlier, they tend to break down the dynamics in the sound. This pedal keeps that range intact and keeps the sound of the Strat alive. With this pedal I am able to get that sound that I want. It surely improves my playing, cause I truly can hear that nice open sound I have been looking for. A must try !!! ..

Not to difficult.
Easier than a rat because of the tone knob.

I am quite certain that this is a rat design.
It is not a clone, but it reacts like the proco pedal.
So it is an overdrive, a distortion and a fuzz at the same time, just like the rat.
T Rex uses different op amps though and made some modifications.
The Swamp is more polite, it is easier to play. The sound is nicer.
This might be an advantage to some. I personally prefer the barking tone of the rat.
It has more balls with a tad more dynamics.

Cannot judge. Just had it a couple of days.

Features:
All mentioned already: 2xDrive, 2xfootwitch, level, tone.

Use:
Plug in, dial up, play, grin (or cry...see below!)

Leraning Curve:
Approx. 30 minutes to find your sweet spots, slight danger of dialing in sounds that lack punch, so better watch that tone control (controls upper mids & highs). Looks simple to operate, but needs you to balance drive/tone w/ caution.

ATTENTION:
This is NOT an amp modeler!!!
If you're after amp-like Drive (be it Marshall or Fender), you'd better buy something else! Same goes for you metalheads (imho)- this is no buzz-saw!

Sound(s):
I bought it because it sounds like a TS with more drive plus "pound/punch" (the TS lacks bass/highs imho). Nice (if you like it) soft drive, never stingy or hairy. Fuzzy @ high gain settings (there's a t rex site w/sound samples, you best try it yourself though).
Tone is very complex, with enough bottom & low mids, high mids & highs to be dialed in (the tone-knob is really what you should play with to find your sound).
Upper mids ("in your face") are rather satin-like, so the drive sounds rather "round" than "edgy" & can become muddy w/gain set too high - therefore not necessarily recommeded for Heavy Stuff.
W/tone around 12 o'clock, I get overtones and flageolets out of my strat in no time. Two channels sound very similar to each other, so don't expect two worlds out of it, but who cares when you can find one sound-heaven...;)
A word on volume: You will have to compromise between the two drive settings, since there's only one level-knob. Works fine though if you set it to crunch vs.lead OD/distortion (got mine on 9 o'clock for bluesy-crunch / 12-1 o'clock for rock-leads). Turns a 1-channel HIWATT into a 3-channel rig. Gigantic boost potential, mine delivers equal volumes @ 9 o'clock and boosts from there on. TRex say +15db, I believe w/out a doubt...

Overall:
TS like w/ more drive and SINGS rather than screams. To me, It's what I've been looking for for more than 20 years...

Backup? BACKUP???

ROFL!!!

Just open the thing, take look inside, and relax.
I may kick off the knobs @ sometime, but hey, then I'll never have to mess w/ the controls anymore...seriously, that's the only area for improvement here.
The knobs look a bit flimsy to me...I've kicked off knobs before...

No probs yet, no contact w/customer care yet...

Reason Why:
As said I wanted TS like tone w/ more versatility.
That's what I got.
Moreover, this is a small, convenient box, built to last. I dig the two channels. As mentioned in some other review here, a second volume would be the perfect improvement (as would be sturdier knobs).

Use:
Great for Blues/Classic Rock sounds. Since the tone is rather soft and warm, it's your responsibility to avoid muddy sounds that don't cut through with your band.

Pricing:
Pricy, but replaces two pedals, so think twice (sry, pun intended).

About me:
Playing Blues/Rock every night, for the last 20 years or so.
Currently using it w/ my stage rig: 62Strat, Biacrown Hiwatt Custom 50. Effects-chain: JH1 Wah, MXR Dynacomp, (DrSwamp), Nobels TR1 Trem (get one if you can!).

Direct competition:
For comparison I would suggest the TS9/808 and the green TS with the expanded drive range (forgot the name).
This box just delivers more...way more...HEAVENLY!

My recommenedation is - as always - try before you buy, and take a bit of time to get acquainted. I hope this review was interesting & useful for you!

This box is to be used as a double overdrive pedal. 2 buttons, 2 gain settings for each channel. One tone dial and a level dial.

Easy to use, just dial in your settings and of you go! If you are having troubles operating this device: Consider other activities, like collexting stamps.

Not good: Once you engage it I lost a lot of my mid range. Not possible to use the knobs to get the sound I wanted. I was quite dissapointed here. it is not my gear because the H&K TubeMan does the trick quite well..

Well built, no problems

dunno, never dealt with them

I play garage rock, we play our own songs. I use several guitars: Fender Toronado, Squite Jagmaster and Squire Super Sonic. My amp is a Marshall JCM800 2x12 50watt. I've been playing for n7-8 years and Im ailways looking for a better sounding rig. I thought this device would give me a warm natural overdrive. Currently I am using a Tubeman for my sounds but I have the feeling that this device adds to much unwanted colour to my sound, so I wanted a true bypass overdive pedal.


I have to keep on searching, becasue this thing sucks. All 'punch' dissapears and the distortion is not compressed enough. This device is WAY to expensive for the quality it produces. Ill try a fulltone next!

Very easy to use no mystery here.

I will make this short and sweet. This pedal sounds very good if you want two very similar Tubescreamer voicings in two channels in one box. They are so similar you might as well have two TS9's. I sold the pedal after a couple days because of each channel being so similar. I bought Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde it was ok but the quality of sound was not there. I have since found what I believe is the ultimate Toadworks Death Rattle II. It has a real misleading name and sounds like it should be a middle schoolers first pedal. It goes from tweed to plexi in two channels and has a nice boost for a third. Check out its reviews if your looking for a two channel high quality hand made overdrive stomp box that sounds great.

It appeared to be very well built and hand made.

No idea at all they are in Denmark.

Playing forever. This is a rael nice double tubescreamer nothing more nothing less. Gets a 9 since it is as advertised.

Very easy to use. At first you need to check out the matching volume spot and treble for taste (seems it is neutral at 11-12 o'clock). Then you tweak the gain A and B for taste. For gain A I set the gain at 12 o'clock and B at 4 o'clock. Very easy to use.

For a long time I've been looking for a pedal to replace my Boss SD-1 (used it since 1982), but I have never found it untill now. I've also been looking for another pedal for mild distortion or slight overdrive. I was going to try Boss OD-3 and a Boss BB-2 but saw this pedal in the store, a little pricey but a double pedal and indeed not more exspencive than the OD-3 and BB-2 together. Great sounding pedal and a different set of gain A and B is overall very good balanced. I'm very satisfied by the quality and sound of this pedal. My guitar is Ernie Ball Musicman Axis Sport and my gigging amp for the moment is Vox Valvetronix AD120. I use the amps effects but use Boss GE-7 and Dr. Swamp. I still have my SD-1 in the chain, and I will use it as a backup, as my Boss delay, Boss chorus, and Boss flanger if my amp would breakup. Dr. Swamp has more gain than my SD-1 and is better sounding, a warmer and fuller sounding either for chords or notes.

I think it is reliable. Very sturdy and well constructed pedal. I'm sure I don't need a backup, but if so my SD-1 is ready as a backup.

I've never dealt with T-rex but the music store in Akureyri Iceland Tonabudin) is absolutely first class and friendly company. So if there were a problem i would go there. The rating is for Tonabudin.

I play all kind of music. In my gigging band we play dance music, from polkas to rock'n roll. Mostly tunes from sixties, seventies and eighties. At home I play blues, funk, hard rock and metal. I also teach guitar and bass.
Anything you wish it had? Not really. Maybe it would be a good alternative to have different volume for A and B - that would be an extra feature.

If you have any experience, playing with distortionpedals (like boss), you'll have no problem getting started - just plug it in!
The manual is a single piece of paper that briefly explains how it works - would be nice, if there was some examples of settings, so that you could easily try out the different sounds possible with the Dr. Swamp. Still okay, though, since the pedal is so easy to use.
The color makes it stand out on stage, but might be one of the ugliest ones ever used on a pedal (still, if you are already in love with the sound - who cares about the color?).

As for the knobs, there are two (2!) gain settings - one for each, and two overall settings (tone and level). When you turn the gain all the way up, my experience is, that the sound turns a bit too muddy - eventhough the tone is crancked all the way up... makes it a little hard to get that screaming lead sound. Very crunchy, though.
Would be nice, if there were two different tone settings, so your solo etc. will stand out even more.
The sound is very transparent, and since I bought it (and new, better cables), I have eliminated aprox. 90% of all the unwanted noise I had with my old, crappy Zoom4040 multieffectpedal. LOVE IT!
For all the danes, T-rex pedals are great to get the "Tim Christensen sound", but I just wish that the Swamp had the BOOST button known from the Mudhoney.

With all that said, The Swamp is absolutely fantastic!!!

As all T-rex products, it's really solid - don't think I'll ever break it. Open it up, and you will see true craftmanship!
I use it with no backup at all!

Done a lot of research, and never had a problem with them. Very nice, and quick response.
Haven't had any problems with the pedal (only came out this spring), so I wouldn't know.

I play a lot of genres, but primarily pop/rock, and it suits pretty much all of my needs. Have been playing for 17 years (since I was 6), and I use it with my Telecaster and Marshall JCM900. Also play a lot of accustic instruments. No effects other than the Swamp right now, cause I am saving up to buy a TC G-major.
If it was stolen, I would beat up whoever stole it (maybe even beat him with the t-rex - just to give him a lesson), and buy a new one. Maybe even get a mudhoney on the side to change the sound even more (as if I need that...).

It's easy to get a good sound of it, just four knobs; Overall Level and Tone and two different Gain knobs (A&B). You can switch between the two gain settings.

My set-up: American Standard Stratocaster; Dr.Swamp, Rv-3(Boss reverb/delay), DM-2(Boss analog Delay) CE-3(Boss Chorus in a Fender Silverface Princeton Reverb or a Mesa Boogie DC-5.
This is a very simple set-up: I have: a clean sound and with the Dr.Swamp on gain A i have a good rythm sound (think overdrive/distortion) and by hitting Gain B you have a good lead sound.
My setting are: level 9:00, tone: 10:00 gain A 2:00 gain B 4:00.

It's looks very sturdy, and i use it without a backup.

I haven't dealt with the company.

I paly pop-rock style , santana, clapton, knopfler with this pedal i get a good sound.
I play guitar for 20 years and have had all kind of stuff like Marshall JMP-1,MB Studio preamp etc. But now it's time to play with a very simple set-up and with the Dr.Swamp that's easy !