TC Electronic Magus Pro | 3 great-sounding Rat circuits in one tiny box for $80/€80? Review & Demo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- This is the TC Electronic Magus Pro distortion/overdrive/fuzz pedal - an extremely tiny and remarkably affordable take on the iconic Rat circuit!
Get the Magus Pro here: thmn.to/thoprod/517945?offid=...
Pretty much every guitar player will be familiar with the legendary ProCo Rat pedal. Since its original release in 1979, guitarists of every shape and size have used the Rat - and now the modern-day Rat 2 - to turn their clean tones into raging walls of thick distortion, tight overdrives, and even sputtery fuzzes. It’s an incredibly versatile pedal, and still loved 40+ years on.
This also explains why many other builders make their own versions of the Rat. The Magus Pro actually contains three Rat-type sounds, offering Classic, Fat and Turbo modes. Classic mode gives you that classic Rat sound, while Fat mode boosts low end and revoices the mids, and the Turbo mode adds two LED clipping diodes into play, delivering more headroom, less saturation and a big boost in volume.
Apart from that, it’s a simple pedal, with Gain, Volume and Filter controls. The Magus Pro is also tiny, like a chunky mini pedal, and it features top mounted jacks, so it’s designed to fit into the smallest possible space on your pedalboard.
At under $80/€80, this seems like a lot of pedal for the money… but how does it hold up? That’s what we’re going to find out! In the video, I put the Magus Pro through its paces in as many different musical genres as I can, from pop and blues to indie, classic rock, punk, metal, and more.
Using my Fender Telecaster for single coil tones, and my humbucker-equipped Epiphone Les Paul, I also try the pedal into a dirty amp, and I also do a couple of loops with the pedal to test the extremes with the settings. Finally, I have a little bonus loop for you where I run the Magus Pro up against the classic ProCo Rat 2 to see how similar - or different - they sound.
Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:
00:00 Hello!
00:14 Introduction to the TC Electronic Magus Pro
01:27 Pedal controls and features
03:45 Today’s rig and plan
04:55 Clean reference tones and turning on the Magus Pro
05:56 60s rock rhythm tone
06:07 Blues progression
06:29 Ascending droning indie chords
06:42 Indie rock barre chords
07:06 Southern rock arpeggios
07:16 Garage rock riff
07:32 Indie octave chords riff
07:57 Kings Of Leon riff
08:09 Fat indie rhythm chords
08:38 Airbourne inspired rock riff
09:00 AC/DC inspired inspired classic rock riff
09:15 The Darkness riff - I Believe In A Thing Called Love
09:34 Groovy classic rock riff
10:00 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff
10:16 Classic rock riff
10:38 Classic fuzz rock tone - all controls on 10
10:57 Classic hard rock riff
11:15 Hard rock melodic lead
11:37 Hard rock riff
11:53 Glam rock riff
12:09 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock riff
12:26 Alternative rock riff
12:50 Nirvana inspired grunge riff - gain maxed
13:18 Pop punk riff
13:43 Less Than Jake inspired punk riff
13:55 Punk rock power chords
14:08 Modern rock palm-muted power chords
14:31 Progressive rock riff
14:46 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff
15:02 Metal chugging riff
15:19 Heavy metal lead sound
15:34 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
15:46 Hardcore punk riff
16:01 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
16:15 Classic metal/sludge riff
16:51 Magus Pro as boost into an overdriven amp
17:32 Cleaning up the tone with the guitar’s volume control
18:25 Fender Telecaster indie rock loop
23:28 Epiphone Les Paul classic rock loop
27:07 Magus Pro vs ProCo Rat 2 loop
31:00 My thoughts
31:34 Sounds and versatility discussion
33:17 The three different modes
33:55 The Magus Pro vs the Rat 2
34:28 Other things I like: build quality, size, top mounted jacks
35:20 What I don’t like
36:29 What other Rat options are out there?
37:53 My conclusions on the Magus Pro and why you should buy it
38:45 Thanks and goodbye
My setup was as follows: I ran the Magus Pro into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head. That went from the amp’s Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. No post-processing on the sounds was done. I used my Boss RC-10R to play the loops.
Here’s some links to those bits of gear:
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H&K Black Spirit 200 head: thmn.to/thoprod/447827?offid=...
Boss RC-10R Rhythm Loop Station: thmn.to/thoprod/470055?offid=...
Focusrite 4i4 (the new 2i4): thmn.to/thoprod/467952?offid=...
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Enjoy!
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Backing music from the TH-cam Audio Library: Duck In The Alley - Track Tribe.
#TCElectronic #OverdrivePedal #MagusPro #RatPedal #ProCoRat LM308
Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!
@tcelectronic - เพลง
Here's your timestamps:
00:00 Hello!
00:14 Introduction to the TC Electronic Magus Pro
01:27 Pedal controls and features
03:45 Today’s rig and plan
04:55 Clean reference tones and turning on the Magus Pro
05:56 60s rock rhythm tone
06:07 Blues progression
06:29 Ascending droning indie chords
06:42 Indie rock barre chords
07:06 Southern rock arpeggios
07:16 Garage rock riff
07:32 Indie octave chords riff
07:57 Kings Of Leon riff
08:09 Fat indie rhythm chords
08:38 Airbourne inspired rock riff
09:00 AC/DC inspired inspired classic rock riff
09:15 The Darkness riff - I Believe In A Thing Called Love
09:34 Groovy classic rock riff
10:00 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff
10:16 Classic rock riff
10:38 Classic fuzz rock tone - all controls on 10
10:57 Classic hard rock riff
11:15 Hard rock melodic lead
11:37 Hard rock riff
11:53 Glam rock riff
12:09 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock riff
12:26 Alternative rock riff
12:50 Nirvana inspired grunge riff - gain maxed
13:18 Pop punk riff
13:43 Less Than Jake inspired punk riff
13:55 Punk rock power chords
14:08 Modern rock palm-muted power chords
14:31 Progressive rock riff
14:46 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff
15:02 Metal chugging riff
15:19 Heavy metal lead sound
15:34 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
15:46 Hardcore punk riff
16:01 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
16:15 Classic metal/sludge riff
16:51 Magus Pro as boost into an overdriven amp
17:32 Cleaning up the tone with the guitar’s volume control
18:25 Fender Telecaster indie rock loop
23:28 Epiphone Les Paul classic rock loop
27:07 Magus Pro vs ProCo Rat 2 loop
31:00 My thoughts
31:34 Sounds and versatility discussion
33:17 The three different modes
33:55 The Magus Pro vs the Rat 2
34:28 Other things I like: build quality, size, top mounted jacks
35:20 What I don’t like
36:29 What other Rat options are out there?
37:53 My conclusions on the Magus Pro and why you should buy it
38:45 Thanks and goodbye
I think I got the last Magus Pro in my country that was available around two months ago and it's still out of stock everywhere. I paid a bit more than usual but man this pedal is starting to become my favourite. It's just so darn fun with single coils into clean amps. The amount of things you can do with this pedal is astonishing. You can boost (especially in Turbo), go from overdrive to distortion and fuzz, and with the fat setting and filter you can dial in a staggering amount of tones.
Yes, great comment! I totally agree with everything you've said here... the Magus Pro is such an amazing sounding and versatile drive. Like you say, it can turn a sterile clean amp into any kind of monster you need. And not just with single coils either, although my Tele absolutely loves it. I guess I'm not surprised it's been selling out! Based on that, I think it turns out you have 100% made the right decision... what price can we put on the musical inspiration a pedal like this gives us? Cheers and rock on!
At least a review that just show how it sounds without showing boring ego. Thanks a lot, it helped me very much in my choice to buy it or not. :)
No worries, thanks for watching and I am glad you found my video useful! I do try and leave my ego at the door when recording, but sometimes it shows through a bit ;) Cheers and rock on!
The Magus has got a lot going for it. In my case I was able to find mint Rat for $40.00 USD. I have no regrets. I thought I would like it but I never saw it as permanent fixture but I do. I especially like putting an exciting unruly Fuzz stacked on it for massive sound that the Rat tightens up so it handles like an OD.
As for you guys reading this. Rich busts his butt to give us really great gear often things that are ahead of the curve. SO it takes a second for a thumbs up and 2 seconds to Subscribe. So come on just take that blink of an eye time and do it. 😊
Oh yes, $40 for a Rat is a no-brainer, absolutely! They're so worth it, and they do stack well with other things too, especially fuzzes. I actually need to make a video about that sometime 👍
And yes, Paul is right everybody! Any and all subs appreciated - it only takes a second of your time but I will appreciate you for ever 😊 Cheers!
Really like how you go through many presets in bite sized format👍
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed the format!
So far an interresting pedal. Thank you for your work and passion to do this datailled tests. If I want a closer look at some product i always check out this channel. In my opinion your work deserves more viewers and subs. So keep on doing this great videos THX :)
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed this one! I love Rats and I think the Magus Pro does have its own cool thing going on - it's definitely worth investigating. And yes, I think I deserve more views/subs too 😉 It's growing slowly, hopefully more people will find me in 2023! Thanks for the support and rock on 😊
Very nice demo man. congrats.
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic playing
Thanks a lot, really glad you enjoyed it!
Great Review..
Thanks a lot, glad you liked it! Great pedal too, which helps make things easy ;)
Agree the Turbo setting is my favourite, with my Vox ACs. The Fat setting is most useful for bass guitar pedal rigs. Especially, as you mention, when using a Tubescreamer type pedal in front. So sometimes I can bring this over to my bass pedal rig, along with an Earthquaker Devices Plumes. And carve out a really nice Kim Gordon style dirty bass sound that's more old school and punk sounding than using my more modern / clean dirt Dark Glass Alpha Omicron. Plumes into Magus Fat sounds pretty good on single coil Mustang into Vox AC too, where otherwise Plumes can make that sound thin/edgy through a Vox AC.
greetings Rich Nice sounds from that little box and of course a nice selection of guitars !! but in the end it's all about Fingers 😉🤘👌✌
Oh yes, thanks Stjepan! You're totally right though... at the end of the day it's the player who makes the difference 😉
I'd say the RAT has more low end, but the Magus is tighter and crisper overall. There is definitely a difference 1:1 between them, but it's subtle.
And in a full band mix, the mid-forward cut of the Magus may actually be preferable.
You're right, and you've got more flexibility with the Magus when it comes to mixes/band sounds too. It's a really decent little pedal!
What are your thoughts on the foot switch on this pedal?
Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of the way it switches on/off - it's OK but you need to get used to it timing-wise. It's the same on some of the other TC pedals like the Zeus too... I talk about that here in the video: th-cam.com/video/Qwo2hLUXkyI/w-d-xo.html
(By the way, build quality wise it's great! It's just that timing thing that bothers me a little... I suppose you've found the same thing?)
With so many cool rat pedals I’m surprised JHS hasn’t done a bonsai style multi flavor version called the rat king or ball of tails or something?
Sarcasm?
@@skypekai more a hopeful incantation to manifest a product. A multi layered PCB with 8 or 9 flavors of that classic clipper.
But I do typically enjoy a nice dry glass of sarcasm.
@@PooNinja Copyright that idea now, before Josh steals it! I'm actually considering something similar for my multi Firehorse pedal. I'm thinking of calling it The Herd.
@@RichWordsMusic burnin herd 😂
@@PooNinja I plan to label the on/off switch Yay or Neigh 😎
👍🏻👍🏻
My thanks as ever - cheers for watching!
What is the model of your Tele? Thanks
Hey Denis, it's a 2014 Fender FSR Standard Satin Telecaster in Ocean Blue Candy (made in Mexico)! I put the neck humbucker and the three-saddle bridge on it - you can see the original look and info here: www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Fender-FSR-Standard-Satin-Telecaster-Guitar-Ocean-Blue-Candy/TOA
It's an amazing guitar if you can track one down!
it sounds good, but it doesn't get that sputtery RAT thing that drives me to RATs in the first place. oh well, i'm just being picky, i suppose.
I actually know exactly what you mean. Even on the really fuzzy riff here with all the knobs on 10 it doesn't quite sputter out the way the Rat 2 does so well... still, we are being a little bit picky I guess ;) Cheers and rock on!