TC Electronic Dark Matter Distortion Pedal Reviews

I love it! Good price, good build, great sound.
I'd agree it maybe should have been called a "drive" pedal rather than a "distortion" pedal but just use your own ears, watch the many demonstration videos online and decide if it's right for you.

Does a great emulation of early Boogie tones. Will it do thrash metal, no. But hard rock is its favorite. It's so natural and responsive compared to other distortion pedals. And here's the best part. I like those early dark Boogie tones. I had a Mesa F-30 and while running this through the clean channel, I got an exact replica of channel 2. Virtually no difference popping off the pedal and clicking over to the dirty channel. This caused me to sell my heavy F-30 since it was only the tone I was after, not the wattage. The description says plexi, but IMO it's an F-30 in a box. Accurately replicates the sag of 6L6s in a combo amp. Soundgarden no problem. Weezer yep. Chevelle Wonder What's Next with some especially hot pickups. And it is an amazing boost. I'm gonna buy a backup.

So yeah, this not a metal pedal, it's a really solid rock pedal that also works great as a clean boost. It has a great tonal range with plenty of crunchy gain. I love the fact that it's not mid scooped so much as it keeps your mids in their lane. The magic really happens when you gain stack this pedal with a Klon clone.

Good to push into my big muff.the eq is the main reason I got it. The extra gain is just a lovely bonus. Then I run it out to delays and reverbs for crazy full sounds.

This Distortion pedal is useful for anything it can be an overdrive and also a High gain pedal that doesn't sound over saturated or digital. Great just great 5 stars !!!

I like low gain, but only like the hard clipping of a distortion, and don't like a pedal to color the sound of the amp. I have a couple vintage distortion pedals that do that very very well, but those are hard to get. Out of everything on the market right now, this is the only pedal I have found that matched my fav vintage distortion.

This pedal is just perfect for me. It does low gain perfectly (fav position for gain is around 11 oclock). It does not add anything to the sound. It sounds like whatever amp it is in front of. No color at all. The Bass and Treble controls are subtle and just enough.

This is my new favorite pedal.

I run it as a clean boost and it nails Jimi, spot on.

This pedal is so good, you can use the entire range of bass and treble for different tones. Very rare.

I own boutique pedals and amps. This is usually first in line, especially for clean-aggressive blues. Totally love it as a clean boost for Albert and clean Jimi ! 'Nuff said.

Excellent Plexi drive pedal - individual Treble and Bass controls give a good tonal range and the Gain control easily takes you from JTM to JMP and on to JCM mode. Don't be fooled by the price it's a great Brit voiced pedal -- it's not a super gain metal monster - look elsewhere for that.

This pedal has a great tone and tight distorted sound.

Very easy to dial in a good sound.the voice switch does add a noticeable difference in tone along with the eq.where other distortion pedals sound harsh this one does not.

No compression, no added color.... This pedal will give you the vintage cranked amp sound!

It"s great, works with my Yamaha keyboard

I think there are probably better distortion pedals, but with the gain around 9-10 and at unity level, this pedal is a fantastic slight break-up overdrive. Very amp like and doesn't change the tone of your guitar. A great open sounding pedal.

This little guy. Its probably the best distortion pedal I've ever used. It does everything its advertised to do. The tubey goodness really shines through this pedal, much better than the tubescreamer. The distortion is aggressive but at the same time it has this creamy kind of airy sound. Stacking it with a tubescreamer throttles it a little and adds some additional grit but I think the TS compresses the signal and you lose a lot of the area where the pedal shines. I haven't used it in a band setting yet so I don't know if that would just be useful to use a TS as a boost to punch through the mix or whatever.

I like the gain at 3, level unity, bass/treble untouched (I have a 10 band eq for that).

What it is not: METAL \oo/

It almost gets there and maybe its my amp (1 watt blackstar 1x12 stack) but it just doesn't have that special something. maybe I'm just failing to configure my setup properly. this by NO MEANS is a ding to the pedal, it does everything else on a level that I honestly did not think was possible with a pedal.

Got the Dark Matter pedal with my THRUST BQ250 and the name reflects the sound!
So very Dark and DOOMY! Perfect for Doom Metal it's already "dialed in"
The voice switch, however subtle, does make a difference in attack and "voicing".
Turn up the GAIN and it is as heavy and full bodied as any amp overdrive sound I have heard!
SO HEAVY AND DARK! Sounds Great! Thanks AGAIN TC Electronic and SWEETWATER!

I love this pedal! I had the mojo mojo for years, and I'm so sad I didn't try this pedal sooner. It's the bees knees! Mojo mojo is muddy, the dark matter is clear and full in comparison. It's another winner from tc!

I love this pedal...just sounds amazing..big range..screaming lead notes..score yourself a nice Xmas gift

I really wasn't expecting this pedal to be anything special and that is based solely on the price tag. I have an Egnater Rebel 30 MKII; it's a great sounding amp and it really doesn't have much in the way of "grit". I have been trying a parade of pedals to get a decent dirty tone and nothing had worked up until I put this pedal in front of it. There's a lot of tones you can get with this pedal and you're really not going to beat that price. I haven't gotten the chance to try this in front of an all out metal amp but with the way it dirtied up an amp that didn't have much to dirt at all I'm fairly certain it can do the job.

I got one when they first hit the market it colors just about any amp into a Marshall plexi so it is not transparent , get a Wampler Tumnus if that is your need I love mine ..ok Back to Dark Matter, I just bought another one just to have a back up ,and because it is a part of my life I mean that it !! It is on all most all my live work and the big plus for me when I'm forced to use a vox or fender it changes the game in my favor as I'm all about the Marshall plan .I never set the gain past 1 0clock .Bottom Line If you hate the wide open Marshall sound this is not for you ,I hope this helps

This pedal is amazing! Its not [imo] a true distortion pedal, but produces a very different effect.
For example, if I run this through an Orange amp on the 'dirty' side of the amp, everything set at about
12:00, the pedal level, bass, and treble set at noon, the gain at 10:00, using a Schecter with EMG pickups, I get the guitar sound from Enter Sandman. The pedal does a lot more, give one a try, its great!!!
Thanks, Bill

I like it as much as the Fulltone OCD. It is a very nice pedal for some great rock tones! Buy one and Enjoy!

Simply the best distortion pedal I have ever used, the tone controls are very active in tailoring your sound. It really sounds organic like your amp is playing at it's best with tubes properly biased and speaker cones broken in, they really nailed the sweet spots! Best bargain you can find right now... These pedals are guaranteed to have a cult following of tone connoisseurs! I am a seasoned studio engineer and guitar player, this pedal works great on tube tweeds, Fender twins, Supros, and really helps a solid state fender amp get harmonically smooth drive tone. You can't lose with this one. My hat is off to T. C. electronics .

....Pedal companies take note! Keep it simple and make it sound great...TC got it done right. The name made me assume it was a "Death Metal" pedal. Nothing wrong with Death Metal at all. I bought this pedal along with TC's "Mojo Mojo", which is one hell of an awesome overdrive. Basic set up: Gain, Level, Bass, Treble and a 2-way voice switch (which tapers off some low-end). Ran this pedal thru my Roland Cube 30x on the clean channel. I test ALL of my pedals thru this amp. I had this amp for 8 years and the clean channel is a taylor-made pedal platform. The Bass and Treble knobs work in conjunction with the volume. You can play any genre of styles thru this pedal. For the price YOU cannot go wrong. Much grander tone than most boutique pedals. Also ran this pedal thru my Fender Blues Junior and i had the same awesome results as i did running it thru my Cube 30x. Get yourself this Dark Matter Distortion as well as their Mojo Mojo Overdrive.

I was very impressed with this pedal. From slight gritty to slightly beyond classic rock distortion.

I think TC missed the boat on marketing this. The name, right or wrong, has a metal connotation, and subsequently doesn't get a second look sometimes for the versatile OD that it is. I was looking for a low gain, fuller range drive to counter the many mid heavy TS clones. This fits the bill and then some. Very versatile, well built, and $ 49 ? No brainer.

Ok. There's a million different distortion pedals you could choose. I chose this one because I'm a very loyal TC electronics fan and I needed a separate distortion pedal in my signal chain. My main rig is an 84 Gibson Standard into Marshall DSL40C with a Creamback speaker. That's no way I can improve on that however, I use an A/B switch to a pair of Peavey's for my Clean channel and a looper. Enter the Dark Matter. It's perfect for my style and preference. The separate bass & treble controls are a plus. It's super well-built and designed which is typical for TCE. Not all distortion pedals fit all players and equipment but this is a brand that you can trust so it's worth a try. This is my 4th TCE pedal and not my last!
Rock Out.

First one I have owned and so far I like it and it works great!

I bought this opened the box when it arrive plugged it in to my amp modeling Digitech GSP1101.
it does old tube amps very very well.
first into the 57 Deluxe ... Bingo! Them the Twin with a coarse amount of grit, then light touch . mmmm nice. smooth
then the JCM 800 oh my a nice big clear sound , smooth , no fuzzy edges, wonderful.
I like what it does with my gear.
I bough the Dark Matter and MOJOMOJO at the same time, they arrives promptly free of charge
at my front door.
The customer service is great. This is where I shop for music gear Sweetwater Music setting the bar very high for great customer service.

This Dark Matter Distortion works well for both guitar and bass. Plenty of grind when you need it and you don't lose any low end punch. Not for metalcore or other extreme metal music this is ideal for classic rock from the 70's and 80's. Really good eq and there is a voice switch to change the character of the grind if you like. Pair this with either the Spectra Comp or the Hyper Gravity compressor to make your guitar or bass sound huge!

This was my first pedal, and I just love it's versatility and the overall variety of sound I can produce. Highly recommend.

$45? Super price for this killer pedal. I recently bought a Mojomojo (also $45) and the more expensive Spark Booster for my rig. Three awesome pedals. I'm very impressed with tc electronic. As for DM, the individual bass and treble knobs, in conjunction with the voice switch, really allow for sweet solo tones. Great deal. Highly recommended. Thanks TC and SW.

In one respect, distortion pedals are like clothes... they each impart a unique style to your tone. Some distortion pedals will make your sound just plain bad, others are workable, and then just a few classics have a sound that makes your tone sharp... these pedals make you want to play more and explore your tone in even greater detail. The Dark Matter distortion is this latter type... difficult to disable because it quite simply sounds good with everything!

Within the past month, I have become a huge TC Electronic fan! Years ago they had a free reverb VST that was better than many commercial products! My first purchase was the MOJOMOJO and the sound was perfect. Next, I snagged the Dark Matter distortion... again, it does nothing more or less than what you want your favorite distortion pedal to do. I was so please with these two pedals that I have since purchased the TC Electronic Alter Ego 2 Vintage Delay and the Hall Of Fame reverb. All I can say is, if you buy these pedals, you won't be disappointed.

I was interested in what different stomp boxes for guitar would sound like .
(The descriptions in magazines and on line were interesting and stoked me up to get them) . Last year I purchased the Roland GR-D and was very pleased the way it preformed. I was looking at an e-catalogue and saw the TC Electronic Dark Matter box that looked very promising and well under what I thought it would cost. The next week I talked myself to purchasing it. The video pushed me over the edge. Besides I could always send it back. I received it in the mail (days before I would have started looking for it to arrive). The sounds that came out of my amp were great. It was a $50 It has a very big range of distortion sounds for the size and cost. I am now two for two and am saving up for my next box. And you can bet I will buy it from Sweetwater.

This is my fourth TC Electronic pedal, and they are all among my best. The Ditto Looper was my first, great. Then I got the Alter Ego Vintage Echo, fantastic studio quality sound. Next was the MojoMojo, which is the best low overdrive pedal I have yet tried. Because I liked the MojoMojo so much, I had to try the Dark Matter. Just got done ripping away with this through a Fender 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, and all I can say is, it did not sound like a Fender Amp; more like a high end metal amp. Maxed out the bass on the amp and the bass tone control on the Dark Matter, and Wow, I was off into Metal Fantasy Land. What ever you are doing TC Electronic, please keep doing. Four pedals so far from them, and as good as or better than pedals I have paid 200 dollars for. High quality tone shaping.

I'm pretty much a tone freak everything's got to be perfect I used Ampeg SVT VR Heads all tube avatar 410 cabinets with the Delta pros and 14 watts RMS.Warmoth basses the cost me over 1800 dollars a piece.for bass guitar this pedal does it all I can use it as just a clean boost the little bit of grind that breaks up like an old SvT or full distortion which is still in a weird way crystal clear and without losing any low end I don't know how they did it but this is the only pedal I found that can do what I just explained hats off to TC Electronics I have 3 other pedals after I bought the dark matter I gotta jump into tc dreamscape chorus and the tc poly tune tuner which is unbelievable tuner.you can't go wrong with TC Electronics every Pedal i have tried from them has sounded way better than the rest.

I have been using in the box effect unit for years but in front of those units like the PODHD 500 and my tube amp (Peavy Vypyr 120w) this is a great addition. I can't believe how kicking this on even with a distorted chain adds more power and definition and just awesome boost and tone to what already is a good dialed in sound. In all my years I have never got a bigger sound for shredding and leads. It just boost, distorts, and gains nicely and just makes the rig sound bigger and better. With all knobs a1 12 o'clock and the voice switch in the up position it's as close to the Petrucci sound I have been after for years The line 6 has a Mesa amp simulator and then you can add the units effects like delay and reverb to nail that tone. As described this is distortion, not fizz, not overdrive,so it really performs and sounds like it's supposed to. Dark Matter is a cool name for it too and as usual tc electronics products are of the highest quality. John Ptak and Sweetwater was great as usual and it arrived at my front door 73 hours after the order was placed. Impressive.

I read alot of reviews saying this is not the most aggressive gain pedal andsince purchasing the Dark Matter I would say that is a relative statement. On it's own into a clean amp it is capable of fuzz-like distortion to my ears.

I run a Catalinbread Octapussy > TC Spark Booster > Dark Matter and must say I can get just about any flavor of distortion, EQ boost, volume boost that I need. I still get GAS for Fuzz Pedals but I know the tone I need is probably already on my pedalboard, in my amp, and more likely best discovered through honing my playing technique.

this is what a distortion should sound like.
and at this price,Yes! i finally got it right.
its not meant as a metal pedal.
it makes my amp sound high end for sure and
the two separate tone controls,the only way to fly.
if this is your first distortion quest,BUY IT!.
other experienced guys,you owe it to yourself to try it!

The Dark Matter Distortion is not a typical fuzz type distortion pedal. It is more of a distortion tone pedal, meaning it gives you the same type of tone and distortion effect you would get in an overdriven tube amp. As such, it is responsive to how hard or how soft you play. In addition, it is more of a natural sound with variant intensity in the distortion itself.

The distortion is not oversaturated like some distortion pedal effects. This is more old school. TC Electronic keeps the quality high end and offers more traditional rock or blues like tonal options in this pedal. You won't get insane metal distortion out of this box. On the other hand, TC Electronic offers those who need more distortion the Rotweiller Distortion pedal, a high gain intense distortion sound compared to the Dark Matter.

I am pleased with Dark Matter Distortion as I am with all the TC Electronic stompboxesl. Highly recommended.

Not quite as much distortion as I had hoped but perhaps I need to work with it a bit more. Well made pedal though!

I bought this... expecting what I got as a distortion pedal. HOWEVER, I have
always been looking for a booster with juuust enough drive and treble to put before my
Freidman and Wampler pedals. Lo and b-hold it works great; kind of like a Range Booster.
I set the drive just above -0-, treble is dimed, bass is -0-, and volume pretty hi 3ish.
This is the best support pedal I have found with no noise. Adds just enuf treble drive
and-volume to taste, for a great tone enhancer. If you can afford to chance this in this
manner, do it.

This pedal sounds great, but it's more of a plexi-style overdrive than a distortion pedal. Serves well to change up my tone when I swap my Tube Screamer out for the Dark Matter. Still, not the sound I was hoping for, but would certainly still recommend it.

Not Super DARK as mentioned in other reviews but plenty of distortion for me using a Blackstar Ht5r. I've only had this a couple weeks now so review is probably not comprehensive by any means and I've only used it on the one amp so far. I've coupled this along with the MojoMojo in my pedal chain. I've found these two pedals to be somewhat similar as stand alone pedals but when coupled next to each other there are some impressive sounds that are possible. Now as for price which is always a concern both the Mojo and the D-Matter are priced very reasonably these days but if I had to choose just one I'd get the D-Matter. I know one is an overdrive and the other a distortion but for my tastes and my current set-up the D-Matter gets the job done of the distortion and overdrive! Hope this helps some but like I said this is basically just a short term impression review so take it "for what it's worth" (Hey Buffalo Springfield, if you don't get it find it and listen, it's a great song from my youth!)

This pedal has the classic Boss DS1 sounds plus a wealth of others because of the eq controls. Though the name suggests metal only, with the gain at 11, a compressor in front of it, ant the eq adjusted to the demands of your ears and gear, the Dark Matter provides a beautifully lyrical lead tone. It far surpassed my expectations.

You are not likely to find a better sounding, more versatile distortion pedal at this price. Not a modern metal pedal. Classic hard rock, and traditional metal is about as far as it goes. That works for me, cause that's as far as I go. It also seems to work well with amps that are fussy about distortion pedals. The voicing switch helps with that. Overall it's well-built, low noise, Sounds good...

Purchased this for my first pedalboard. Before this, I had just been using a digital multi-effects pedal where I could really tune into any kind of tone I wanted. It was a special tone that I'd use for one hell of a goodsounding overdriven, distorted guitar that still had clarity. I'm happy to say that pairing this Dark Matter with the TC Mojo OD pedal can still come close to that sound. In fact, they seem to add even a nice "fuzz" effect when used together. So don't let the price fool you, playing is believing.

Genres I play: Punk, Skate-punk, Post-hardcore, Post-rock

For the price, there's literally no risk in buying this btw. You can always upgrade in the future if you really want, but this gets the job done. I don't see myself buying another Distortion pedal for another 1-3 years. (Although pedals are like candy :"D...<3 )

Looking around Sweetwater for some gear I ran across this pedal. At first sight what caught my eye was the amazing price it has. To me it works fine considering my gear ( Fender Champion 40 and a Squier CV Telecaster). Yeah. Is not the most expensive of gears but a can get some good tones with it. It almost sounds like a Fuzz pedal but a bit more pleasent to the ear. If you crank it up full gain you are going to have a realy big distortion tone. Wouldnt recomend it if you are looking for a bluesy tone. The switch in it can seem to find its use. Cant notice much of a diference. Great pedal for the price. God bless.

The Dark Matter covers a lot of bases. I expected it to cover rock sounds well, (which is does,) but I wasn't expecting the great low gain sounds. With the gain between nine and noon, it has really great dynamic response and stacks well with other pedals. (I use a TS-9 in front of it, but the EQ is flexible enough to work with most ODs I imagine.) The vintage/modern switch is cool. TC calls the down position a bass boost, but to me it feels like an entirely different EQ curve, with a bit less mid-range. As of now, I run it a little hot with my guitar volume rolled back a bit, in the off-clean territory. I can roll up my volume for more gain or kick in the tube screamer for a tighter sound with sharper mids. It really is a great all-around distortion, with some OD and boost potential and a great EQ section!

Great pedal for just lighly roughing up the egdes of your signal to give any bassline needed growl and punch.

I am still experimenting with the different tones one can get from the Dark Matter Distortion. It has a wide range of sounds from rattling rat-like to smooth and creamy distortion. I have not tried the Tone Print function, as yet. I will when I have more time to spend with the unit.

The only reason that I am not giving this stomp box the 5 stars it rightfully deserves from my tonal perspective is precisely that it is a distortion that might not appeal to everybody. Some of the critiques are valid in other words. This is a dirt box not meant for those who like a more compressed and very consistent sound, certain metal players for instance. Having that said, since I lean more towards blues rock, punk and that more marshall like guitar tone this distortion has been pure sonic heaven since day one . I love how it responds to every nuance of your picking and how the pedals eq options plus the myriad sounds you get by rolling down or up the guitar volume make this pedal more than just a very affordable intro to those passionate about guitar tone. The pedal is able to sound bluesy specially with the neck pick up selected, warm for hard rock, lead work and yes even metal. This pedal gets a bit into the territory of the Boss DS-1 and the ProCo Rat while leaving enough room for experimentation and personal tweeking
This is a keeper.

Fist of all ~ I love Sweetwater! Tried out 3 or 4 pedals, settled on this one. I'm a Blues player so I don't need a lot of distortion but do like it's drive effect. This one does the trick, plus tonal control, and if I need a lot of distortion well, this is a distortion pedal. Plus I got the demo and $ off! What a deal! Once I got it home, I'm very pleasantly surprised at the range I can get out of the pedal. For $ Yep, well worth the $'s paid. Thank you Sweetwater!!!

I ordered this one night after a night of "celebrating", and didn't remember I had until it arrived at my door. So naturally I was a little apprehensive given that I had pulled the trigger on this thing in a less than clear state. Well, I had nothing to fear! This pedal does sound great. I have an OCD pedal which I love for drive, but this pedal brings a sweet flavor of gain. Build quality is solid. The low price makes me wonder why TC can't offer more of their pedals at a discount. Would love to see the flashback or HOF offered for something close to this!

Really is a great pedal even if it cost more it would be a good deal. Very versatile pedal and despite the name it's not one of those one tone mid scooped pedals that are single focused. At $100 usd you'll have a hard time finding a better deal.

the name is a bit misleading (although i like it), the pedal has a great overdrive quality up to ripping distortion. Very open sounding, not compressed. As stated it does a killer job of acting like a real tube amp, play lite and it cleans up, dig in and it crunches. Same idea happens when you roll off the volume. This is a very musical pedal with a variety of tones (SRV to Rhodes), highly recommended.

Not bad at all,
We bought this for my boys keyboard to get some old driven organ tones and it is pretty cool

its a bit of a "One Trick Pony". But it's a good trick! if you want a Crunch, Crispy distortion give it a shot. I'm keeping mine. the price is right.

This sounds good on it's own, but doesn't sit well in the mix in a band situation.

I'd call this a lighter distortion. Doesn't get super heavy. You can still hear every note when turning up the distortion. It doesn't get super muddy like with some pedals.

Very Good Variety of Overdrive and Distortion

Ive been looking for a pedal that has a nice low level distortion, smooth and musical for lap steel with tone controls. This works. It can get nasty, but also works well with just a little gain. This seems very well built too, nice thick paint, good feeling switchs and knobs/pots. It"s a lot of pedal for the money, and it sounds like music, not noise. Red LED is way to bright IMO.

i really like the pedal ,and stack it with the mojomojo it has that little bit more of a edge for harder sounding
distortion ,and a uniqueness to your sound

I've been enjoying this pedal since I got it. It has a warm sound that still has enough cut to make it in a band. The tone controls have enough range to give a wide variety of sounds. It seems to work well with both single coils and humbuckers. I have a large collection of fuzz and distortion pedals and the Dark Matter is a welcome addition to my pedal board. There is enough variety with the voicing and tone controls to get some unique sounds. This pedal is capable of giving you a high level of distortion tunable by the EQ which works well for a raging lead. It also plays well with other pedals I've put compressors, fuzzes, and ODs both before and after the Dark Matter with good results. I recommend this pedal to anybody as it goes from OD to a grinding distortion and it's from TC Electronics and you can't go wrong with them.

I left only 3.5 because it didn't move me enough to keep it on my board, it's great for the money and just listen to Chelsea Constable use it with a Suhr Hedgehog on her Cliffs of Dover lesson, it really delivers some great tone. My main issue with it has more to do with its feel, to me it lacks a little bit of immediacy in it response to touch, or maybe it's more of just an overly open or loose tonality that makes it feel that way. Anyway, I may need to try it out on some other amps before I decide to resign it to the unused collecting dust collection.

Sounds great as a sustaining boost or as a stand alone rythym distortion. Keeps your tone in tact and the low end is nice. With high gain settings on the pedal it is easy to overload your amp if you use high gain amps causing serious low end build-up on lower strings. Other complaints would be the treble control seems to have little effect on the sound whether is at 0 or 10. Also when you buy true bypass pedals you have to deal with the popping noise they make when turning them on and off. Great pedal but not mind blowing.

With the bass, treble and gain knobs all the way counter clock and the level on full this is a good, well made, inexpensive, and very clean, Clean boost. I don't like the distortion.

3 stars is because it's not bad or great, it's just average. After the Mojomojo overdrive (which I feel is a much better option than Dark Matter) and the Spark Booster, I was expecting to be blown away with TCE's dedicated Distortion pedal. But I just felt so underwhelmed and kind of disappointed by the sound. There is no real way to achieve a dark sound (despite the name Dark matter) other than slightly thickening the bass control. You can slightly boost the mids with the voice control, but event that's not really as bright or crunchy for a true classic rock tone. The treble control is very subtle. It's not bad by any means, but I found myself needing to use more gain in my amp, an e.q. pedal, and the treble boost from my spark pedal just to get the same tone and use that I got from my Boss Mega Distortion alone.

TC Electronics calls this a distortion pedal, but it's not. This pedal is an overdrive. Compared side-by-side to their MojoMojo, it's a lot alike. That being said, it is a solid overdrive! However, I'm reviewing it as it's advertised.
The EQ response is very musical, and keeps your overall tone intact. The gain can get pretty dirty, but again, it's certainly not "distortion" compared to modern distortion pedals. If you want high gain distortion, go with the MXR Fullbore, the Wampler Dracarys or Keeley Filaments...otherwise, this will do well on your board as another overdrive!

I have a number of TCE pedals and really like them. But the Dark Matter pedal was a clunker for me. I bought it for distortion, but it sounds like an overdrive to me. But worse, even at lower volumes up to ear bleed, there is a sound artifact that is at the tail of the "distortion" sound. Imagine if a cricket could bellow out one very long chirp. That's what I hear as the "distortion" is fading. The only way I can avoid it is not to stop picking which of course is impossible. So, it is now an elaborate paper on my desk.

My Dark Matter is currently collecting dust. I would rather just overdrive my Champ amp with a Boss OD-3 or if I want to go heavy, plug in my Boss Metal Core. The Dark Matter sounds like a bad, noisy plexi amp to me. All the noise with little payoff. Fizzy and thin sounding. Not impressed.

So, I don't think this pedal is objectively bad; I just think it's no better than its price. It's nothing special, and I couldn't get a lot of the classic rock tones from it after a couple hours of messing with it (Fender American Pro Tele through a Fender DeVille and then an Orange combo). A-B'd it with a TC MojoMojo and had the same problem with that pedal. These pedals are entry level. Honestly, I like my Boss DS-1 better for the price. They lacked grit and true crunch, then when the gain was turned up, there was this weird "space" between the waves of breakup/distortion, almost more like tremolo was being added to the distortion. TO give the benefit of the doubt, these are German engineered, so maybe the Germans enjoy their OD/D this way; but these aren't the greatest for classic American rock/blues.

Got this for my son. We doubted quality of his built-in overdrive on his amp. Truth is, we both gave each other that "look" after trying it out. Wow, not any better than the built-in overdrive/distortion on his amp.

Well,I would send it back, but it isn't defective, and sweetwater deducts shipping from any refund. By the time I pay to have it shipped back, and deduct prior shipping cost, told him we just as well throw it back in a drawer somewhere and lesson learned.

I have several TC pedals and I have my favorites, the Dark Matter displays the great look and feel of a well made product, the average score is based on the thin sound it produces. The distortion sound is what I expected but the voice switch does not seem to offset the thin sound. When I put it behind the MojoMojo pedal it works out.

I play through a Fender Champion 20 amp and an MIM Strat with Humbuckers for home studio recordings. I got the TC MOJOMOJO previously, and thought this would a good logical companion to the TC DM Distortion. The MOJO is a wonderful pedal. After experimenting for a while with both pedals together along with the amp settings, I just couldn't find a suitable sound resembling anything playable. Not the distortion I was hoping for at all, plus no matter the settings the distortion was always muddy. I didn't have this problem with combining the MOJO with my Outlaw Widow Maker distortion pedal, so I don't think it's a problem with my amp itself. It's something about this pedal that doesn't play nice apparently with my amp. This may be a great pedal for somebody else, and the build quality is solid (which is why I give more than 1 star), but it just didn't work for me. I'm returning it.