EarthQuaker Devices Westwood vs MXR Super Badass Distortion
The EarthQuaker Devices Westwood and the MXR Super Badass Distortion are both pedals sharing transparent, clean boost, dynamic. The MXR Super Badass Distortion leans crunchy and tight. Current prices: $179 vs $99.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.36% — somewhat different
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Genres both listings are associated with.- Blues
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- transparent
- clean boost
- dynamic
- sustaining
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$179via Reverb
$99via Reverb
The EarthQuaker Devices Westwood Translucent Drive Manipulator is a transparent boost and overdrive that pulls harmonically rich drive from an amp while preserving the guitar and amp core tone. With its active EQ set flat it is genuinely transparent and amp-like, with a natural, tubular, almost flute-like quality and strong note clarity, each string cutting through with dynamic sustain. It offers more gain than typical transparent drives, pushing from squeaky clean boost to thick overdrive at the edge of distortion, ideal for soaring leads. An active EQ gives up to 20dB boost or cut around 2kHz treble and 80Hz bass, adding sizzle, beefy low-end thump and woman-tone, or taming shrill single coils, and it stacks seamlessly with other pedals.
The MXR Super Badass Distortion is a versatile analog distortion with a three-band active EQ and a wide gain range, designed to cover decades of dirt from one box. With the distortion low it produces a bold, beefy clean boost and light crunch, and as gain increases it moves through classic-rock midrange grind into harmonically rich, saturated, scooped-mid metal roar. The Bass, Mid, and Treble controls reshape the voice dramatically, going from thick and beefy to bright and aggressive while staying tight rather than flabby. Notes remain clear and dynamic, responding to picking. Suited to rock, blues, punk, and metal, it is praised as a do-it-all distortion with warm, sustaining tone. Its only real coloration is a trace of modern distortion character across its range.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Jazz
- Indie
- Country
- Classic Rock
- Rock
- Metal
- Punk
- crunchy
- tight