There was a small plot twist in DORCAS this week.
I had been treating the MXR Custom Shop Il Torino as a guest gain pedal, comparing her mostly against the other guest gain pedals: the VOX Cooltron Bulldog, VOX Straight 6, EHX Crayon and Russian Green Muff Pi. I had even been listing her for sale.
Nobody wanted her.
Perhaps they knew something I didn’t.
The obvious comparison, as it turned out, wasn’t Il Torino versus the Voxes. It was Il Torino versus the ThorpyFX Team Medic.
That comparison had been sitting right there in DORCAS all along.
So I finally put both pedals through a proper test.
Lady went into DORCAS, then the Fender Pro Junior IV, with the Bugera PS-1 engaged. The amp was kept at volume 7/12 and tone 11/12. The Bender was first in line, followed by either Il Torino or Team Medic. At the back was the TC Electronic Infinite Sample Sustainer, used simply for slapback.
The purpose wasn’t to compare the pedals as standalone overdrives. I already knew both could do that. Both could boost to my liking and both could produce overdrive I enjoyed.
The question was more specific:
Could either pedal shape the JHS Legends of Fuzz Bender when the Bender was deliberately pushed into thick, woolly territory?
I set the Bender’s tone and attack at zero and turned her volume up until she produced that thick, woolly fuzz I wanted to tame.
Then I gave Il Torino and Team Medic exactly the same settings in boost mode:
- Volume: 2 o’clock
- Gain: zero
- Treble: 4 o’clock
- Mid: 2 o’clock
- Bass: 10 o’clock
The difference was immediately interesting.
Il Torino reduced the Bender’s thick woolliness by only a little. But that small amount was enough. The Bender remained fuzzy and thick, but became more musical. The roughness stayed. The personality stayed. The fuzz was simply easier to hear.
Then came Team Medic.
She did the job more aggressively. The wool disappeared, and the Bender became clearer, more precise and more sharply defined.
Technically, Team Medic did an excellent job.
But I didn’t like the result as much.
The Team Medic version was clinical. Il Torino’s version was musical.
That was the surprise.
For years, I have tended to think that a cleaner, quieter and more refined pedal is automatically the better tool. And Team Medic certainly has greater power and refinement. She is quieter. She has more authority. She can sculpt the signal with greater precision.
Il Torino is rougher.
She has more hum. Her overdrive is grittier. Her presentation isn’t as polished.
And yet, when I asked her to shape the Bender, that roughness turned out not to be a flaw.
It was part of the sound I wanted.
I don’t want the Bender corrected into submission. I want the wool trimmed just enough that the fuzz becomes musical while remaining a fuzz.
Il Torino understood the assignment.
It was almost funny. I had been thinking about selling her because I thought she was redundant. I had compared her against the wrong pedals and hadn’t realised that she was actually competing for Team Medic’s job.
Now I am wondering whether Team Medic is the redundant one.
That doesn’t mean Il Torino is objectively better than Team Medic. Quite the opposite: Team Medic is the more refined and technically capable pedal.
But DORCAS isn’t a technical specification sheet.
DORCAS exists to make music.
And my ears seem to prefer the rough one.
So for now, Team Medic is coming out of DORCAS.
Il Torino gets the seat.
The next step isn’t another comparison. I don’t need to put them side by side every evening. I simply want to play DORCAS normally for a while and see whether I miss Team Medic.
If I don’t, then the decision will be obvious.
The pedal I had been trying to sell may have finally found her proper place.
And perhaps that’s the funniest part of this whole episode:
Il Torino wasn’t redundant. I was simply asking the wrong question.