ToadWorks Death Rattle III

I found this pedal quite easy to get to grips with, no hassles with multiple E.Q. settings, which although good for creating vast variations of tonal definition, can get either too 'muddy' or too 'flat' on the mids, the single tone knob gives more than enough tonal control. All the other features do exactly as described in the advertisements although probaly the one thing that really stands out is the amount of boost control, it's vast

Initially I was a little disappointed with the lack of gain as I had sort of thought that this pedal would be as 'ballsy' as any of the other distortion and overdrive pedals that I have, too many to mention, but with this unit it's not about the 'dirt' of the sound, if you will, but the sheer quality of the sound. If you are looking to replicate the authentic sounds of some of the greatest players to use Tweed or Plexi amps without actually using their amps, you will go a long way to beat what this pedal gives you. It's not a distortion unit, don't let the name put you off, or hook you in, depending on your persuasion. If you ar lookingfor the authentisity of those amps, this is most definitely for you. If you are looking for a classic sound, this pedal is for you. If you arelooking for a distortion pedal, this pedal is not for you.
The primary need that I had initially was a dual channel pedal with a strong 2nd channel for cutting solos,this unit gives me this in abundance. The boost control, which not only boosts the Tweed and Plexi channels but also the clean sound when effect is disengaged, so it actually gives me much more variation for than I had hoped to find in a stomp-box unit. My only gripe would be that it could do with just a little more headroom on the gain, although I compensated wth the aid of a Boss Compression/Sustainer, but if it's gain your looking for then use your overdrive or distortion in conjunction with the DEATH RATTLE, as I previously said, this is not a distortion unit.

Early days yet, but the DEATH RATTLE is built like a tank, I would be very surprised if this pedal doesn't out-live any other that I have previously purchased.

If you are looking to recreate the sounds as defined in the advertisements, which make rather heavy claims to do such a good job of creating TWEED and PLEXI amp sounds, then you MUST get this pedal. You know better than anyone else the sound that you are looking for, I have been on a quest for many years to find MY perfect sound ( I have been playing now for 26 years and I am into everything, ROCK, JAZZ, LATIN, FUNK, CLASSICAL and just about anything, so that's a big sound that I am looking for ), and in all honesty, this is NOT the pedal that I was looking for, but having tried it out of curiosity in the store, I knew that this would become a valuable part of my set-up, and I am very happy with it's addition.

The Toadworks DR III has two overdrive circuits and a separate booster channel that you can use either pre-drive (to cascade) or post-drive for a volume boost. It's pretty simple to use with it's 3 DPDT switches: on/off, tweed/plexi, and boost. Like most stomp effects, the pedal is self explanatory and it behooves you to fiddle around as much as possible with the settings to get the desired tone.

I have had mixed results getting a "good" sound out of this. Through my Fender Hot Rod, it did not sound as good as I'd hoped since this was really the first "boutique" pedal I purchased. Then again, no distortion/OD pedal really sounded good through my Hot Rod. Through my Boogie Rectoverb, this pedal flat out rocks. So I'm giving it an 8, but hopefully you understand why. A pedal is at best a preamp effect that sits in chain with the preamp section of your amplifier. It will only sound as good as the preamp section of the amp you plug into.

My only gripe is that the tone knobs are easy to turn, like a typical pot. My knobs are never in the same position when going transporting. I had to, like many people do, tape little arrows as place markers.

As mentioned above, the DR III did not sound as good as I'd have hoped through my Fender Hot Rod, however it sounds incredible through the Boogie. As a whole, I think Fender's Hot Rod does great clean and slightly overdriven, tubescreamerish tone, but it doesn't provide the best platform for heavier overdrive that are especially in the plexi-side of the DR III. Through the Hot Rod I felt like the tweed side sounded very natural, a lot very transparent tube screamer. However, I felt like the Plexi sounded like a vintage fuzz pedal. I think this has to do with the opamp in the Plexi side. I've heard in the past that opamp based OD pedals sometimes can sound good and sometimes bad depending on the amp you're plugging into (and guitar).

Well all that aside, through the Mesa, the Tweed side sound very similar to a TS808-type overdrive. I actually put these two pedals in the same signal chain see if I could get the Tweed side to sound like the Tubescreamer. I was able to dial it in dead on but the 808 had a bit more gain. I could only get the Tweed to distort heavier when pushed with the booster in pre-mode. Responds great to the nuances of your playing. Great overdrive!

Onto the Plexi side, it sounds very "Marshall" like (as advertised). Again, not so Marshally in the Hot Rod amp, but very nice in the Boogie. The tone is thick, rich, and heavy. In this setting I keep the gain at about 2 o'clock (no boost) so that I can get a nice fat overdrive. It doesn't do the Metal Zone thing if that's what your looking for. In essence it's an overdrive. Back off the gain knob and you'll the signal will clean up. Place a boost in front and it will react very much like a saturated tube amp. Sound great with a wah in front. Also, I have a germainium treble boost that I sometimes cascade in front to give it a nice edge. Like the Tweed side, the Plexi reponds very well to pick attack and the nuances of your playing. It sounds warm/organic and alive.

Honestly, I was thinking of pulling it out of the chain if I had to continue with the Hot Rod, but since I switched over to the Mesa, it's the only OD/Distortion pedal I have in my chain.

Built by hand and very durable. The knobs are metal, the switches are DPDT... you could run over this thing with a truck and I think it'd still survive.

Never dealt with them, but they are a small company with a good warranty service. I'm sure they'd be more than pleasant to deal with if anything were to go bad with my pedal.

I've been playing for over 10 years and I have gone through a lot of gear. I'm discerning about my tone , but not like "studio session" guitarist anal retentive. I currently play a Strat with an HB in the bridge through a sea of effects. I think this pedal is one of the coolest I've owned yet. I'm not into the pedals that have tubes inside them because I'm with Klon (Centaur) who finds that you don't get the best tone out of cascading a tube preamp into a tube preamp. I think you gotta work with the amp you have.