TC Electronic Rottweiler – Filthiest Dirt Box

Hello there, and welcome back to yet another guitar pedal review! Recently, I have started purchasing guitar pedals, mostly overdrives, distortions and boosts. After switching to tube amps and reactive loads, I wanted to try as many pedals as possible. I eventually would like to stop; however, I also want to share my experience with you throughout this journey. So we are going to continue with a pedal that is long-forgotten, TC Electronic Rottweiler! Like most other pedals featured in this series of articles, the Röttweiler pedal was also discontinued; however, I will feature it here nonetheless. As I always do, I will provide as many details as possible about this pedal, along with a brief demo video, in this article.

TL;DR

Trying as many boosters/drives/distortion pedals as possible is an inevitable phase for guitar players who are looking for the holy grail of guitar tone! My main goal is to find usable unique and also traditional guitar tones in combination with my Marshall JVM410HJS and JVM410H.

Sometimes I look for pedals that can be used as a boost or as an overdrive/distortion on its own. TC Electronic Rottweiler turned out to be a one of its kind type pedals that doesn’t like to be used as a boost.

TC Rottweiler features a really smart design with two voicings as well as a very effective EQ section. The notches on the EQ section is pretty cool as you can easily position the controls at noon.

Although one may go for the TS type of settings to test its boosting capabilities, I must say it doesn’t really work. The pedal has so much gain to offer and even at the minimum gain settings, it roars!

TC Electronic Röttweiler is one of the highest gain pedals I have ever tried. You may see a lot of reviews and comments on the internet that are mostly negative on this pedal. However, I think this pedal is a very unique one and should be used according to what it has to offer.

This pedal is an absolute monster when it comes to generating very edgy, modern, filthy and industrial types of hi-gain tones. I can easily see how this would fit in a specific genre without the need for anything else.

However, for my style, this pedal is a bit overkill. I don’t use this much gain and type of gain in any of my playing. With its highly effective EQ settings and two voicings, it’s very versatile and can be used with any type of electric guitar on clean amp settings. I would also prefer a Mid knob to further adjust mid frequencies as well as a wider range of gain setting.

cigilovic.com approves the TC Electronic Rottweiler distortion pedal, however, would like to inform guitar players with the facts mentioned above. Rottweiler definitely serves a very specific music genres and it’s not for everyone.

Let’s start with a quick introduction to this legendary brand, TC Electronic, for those who have never heard of it!

About TC Electronic

TC Electronic is a Danish manufacturer specialising in high-quality audio equipment, including guitar and bass effects pedals, studio processors, amplifiers, and audio interfaces. Known for its innovation, pristine sound quality, and cutting-edge technology, TC Electronic has become a go-to brand for musicians, sound engineers, and producers worldwide. Their products are particularly revered for offering professional-grade audio tools that balance creativity with technical precision.

TC Electronic was founded in 1976 by two brothers, Kim and John Rishøj, in Aarhus, Denmark. Their initial aim was to create high-quality audio gear that could stand out in the growing professional music industry. One of their earliest innovations was the SCF (Stereo Chorus + Flanger) pedal, which quickly gained a reputation for its exceptional sound clarity and became a favourite among guitarists. Expansion into Studio Effects (1980s-1990s): As TC Electronic grew, the company expanded its product range beyond guitar pedals to include studio effects and signal processors.

In the 1980s, they launched the TC2290 Dynamic Digital Delay, a groundbreaking piece of studio equipment that became a classic in the industry. This delay unit was renowned for its versatility and high fidelity, becoming a standard in professional studios and used by artists like U2’s The Edge. In the early 2000s, TC Electronic introduced the G-System, an advanced multi-effects processor for guitarists, which allowed them to seamlessly integrate effects into their live setups. This product set a new benchmark for multi-effects processors with its combination of flexibility and high sound quality.

In 2010, TC Electronic made another breakthrough with the release of PolyTune, the first polyphonic tuner that allowed guitarists to tune all their strings at once. This innovation simplified the tuning process and became a best-seller, further cementing TC Electronic‘s reputation for creating musician-friendly solutions. In 2015, TC Electronic was acquired by Music Tribe, the parent company of brands like Behringer and Bugera, owned by entrepreneur Uli Behringer. Despite the acquisition, TC Electronic retained its commitment to quality and innovation, continuing to develop new products under its brand name.

It was actually back in 2008 or so when I first met this brand and started using their products. TC’s rack processors were the thing back in the day and considered an industry-standard product for any aspiring guitar players or studio engineers. I used to own a simplified version of their multi-effect unit, TC Electronic G Sharp, and used it both at home and live.

The company also used to run giveaway campaigns, and I remember acquiring their legendary TC Electronic M30 reverb plugin. Interestingly, this 32-bit hall reverb plugin still works without any problems on modern DAWs. I also featured the plugin here and added it to the download section. In recent years, I also bought their impulse response loader pedal, TC Electronic Impulse, and one of the most popular, affordable fuzz pedals on the market, TC Electronic Rusty Fuzz guitar pedal. Lastly, I tried one of their best sellers, the booster pedals, the TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster, as well. As you can see, I’m pretty much a big TC Electronic fan! 🙂 You can click on these product names and check out my reviews. 

TC Electronic Rottweiler

The TC Electronic Rottweiler Distortion pedal was released around 2011 as part of TC Electronic’s broader line of guitar pedals aimed at providing high-quality tone shaping for various styles, particularly metal. So it’s a pretty old pedal! Although it wasn’t widely documented, it appears that the company discontinued this pedal late 2010s and eventually removed it from TC’s product catalogue.

TC Electronic Röttweiler is a distortion pedal that provides crushing, high-gain tones aimed at replicating the sound of modern metal. It’s part of TC Electronic’s lineup of guitar effects pedals and is known for its tight, punchy distortion that cuts through the mix, ideal for down-tuned guitars and heavy riffing. The Röttweiler focuses on delivering a saturated, harmonically rich distortion without losing definition, even at extreme gain settings.

Before we dive into the review, let’s look at the tech specs first.

Tech Specs

As you can see from the tech specs table, it’s a pretty straightforward pedal with standard controls and a modern & vintage switch. On the first row, you have your Gain and Level controls as well as the voicing switch. This switch in the up position gives the Normal (up) setting gives you a more open-sounding, sludgy crunch you may know from bands like Mastodon, The Sword or Kyuss, while the down position, which is called Vintage (down), gives you a more classic, super-tight, aggressive mid-scoop you know from the bands like Metallica, Pantera and Slipknot.

The EQ knobs have a centre notch feature, which allows you to centre these controls easily. You only have Bass and Treble controls on the second row. Rottweiler also features a custom hammerhead rugged, die-cast aluminium casing for extreme durability on the road, as well as a True Bypass switch.

On the back, there’s a one-screw battery access feature, which allows you to change batteries really quickly without the need to carry a screwdriver. You can also see that the TC Electronic Röttweiler was made in Thailand. As you may know, the current TC Electronic pedals are made in China. So basically, the company used to prefer a different manufacturer back in the day.

Unlike most people complaining about Röttweiler being cheap and low quality after they were acquired by the InMusic company, this pedal was still made in Thailand, not in China. Let’s get this straight! 🙂

Pedal draws around 15mA, which is pretty low. This means that you can use this pedal with a 9V battery for ages under the condition you don’t leave the jacks plugged in :).  However, if you have a pedalboard and a power supply system already, you can also use the power input. The input is pretty standard and features a negative centre polarity.

According to TC Electronic, this pedal can turn any amp into a cranked metal amp. Also, it’s claimed to generate ultra-tight thrash to down-tuned sludgy guitar tones as well as modern crushing sounds. I reckon you guess where the name comes from! 🙂

TC Röttweiler features an all-analogue design with a distortion circuit based on soft clipping. But don’t be fooled by the word soft clipping, as the pedal is capable of generating enormous amounts of gain! As you can see, it’s a pretty straightforward pedal with a nice set of features built in. Before we jump to the review section, let’s listen to the demo I prepared for this pedal.

For the demo, I used the already-recorded loops that I stored in my EHX 720 Looper pedal, as I just wanted to do a very quick demo. In these loops, I used my Fender American Standard Strat, Ibanez AR300, Ibanez RG565, Epiphone SG Custom Ebony and Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 guitars. Apart from the guitars, I used my usual setup featuring my Marshall JVM410HJS, Two Notes Torpedo Captor X SE, RME Babyface PRO FS and Genelec DP8020 DPM. For the effects, I also applied the Lexicon Native Reverb plugin in the post.

Sound Demo (no talking)

I hope you enjoyed the demo video! Let’s continue with the review section.

Review

I purchased this pedal 2nd hand and without any original box or box contents. As I mentioned, my goal is to try as many pedals as possible and also feature them there. As the Rottweiler is not an easy-to-find pedal, I immediately got it without researching too much about the sounds because I didn’t want to miss the opportunity! Normally, this pedal would not fit in my playing style; however, the more I played, the more I started liking it. I can easily say that TC Electronic Röttweiler has been the filthiest dirt box I have ever tested.

Although I started liking the sounds that this pedal generates, I’d like to mention that it has a very narrow palette of sounds. There are a couple of reasons for this, in my opinion. First of all, there’s no Middle knob to adjust these critical frequencies for the guitar. You only have Bass and Treble. The only way you can alter the mid frequencies is by using the voicing switch. Even though the voice switch doesn’t have a drastic effect on the tone, it changes the character and makes some of the mid frequencies more audible.

Secondly, the Gain knob offers a crazy amount of gain even at the minimum setting. I would prefer wider possibilities in the gain range rather than this narrow choice of dirt. I think TC Electronic should come up with an alternative design for the Röttweiler v.2 and implement these features. If you are thinking about using this pedal as a boost, please stop! You won’t be able to use this as a clean/mild boost to alter your clean or crunchy guitar sounds, just like everyone does with every guitar pedal out there.

It’s simply introducing so much gain and character that whatever channel or amp setting you have, it will be overwritten by the Röttweiler, and it will start sounding exactly like the pedal, not the amp! 🙂 Also, regarding TC Electronic’s claims, I don’t really agree with some of the bands mentioned in the product description. I mean, there’s no possibility that this pedal would sound like Metallica. Not even close, it’s completely different. To me, Rottweiler sounds like a filthy, industrial, aggressive and pissed off at all settings.

You may be asking why on earth someone would use a Strat with this kind of high-gain pedal. The only goal was to feature as many guitars as possible, so you can really hear how this crazy hi-gain pedal reacts with each of them. I think even with a simple chord progression played on a Strat, this pedal can surprisingly add a lot of character while still allowing us to hear the strings separately.

It absolutely doesn’t allow much of a chugging and palm muting, but ideal for extreme filth generation with playing strings without muting (in an open playing technique). I would highly recommend you get one if you are into the extremely dirty, filthy, modern and industrial sounds. I think this would also be a great pedal in a grunge setting as well. If you are into traditional guitar sounds and mostly prefer crunch, hi-gain sounds, you may be disappointed.

Pricing & Availability

As mentioned, the Rottweiler was discontinued a long time ago. However, you may still find one in the used market. Expect to pay around 50 to 90 EUR, but it varies wildly as it’s difficult to find these pedals all year round.

Check out TC Electronic Röttweiler on Reverb here

So I suggest you check out Reverb regularly if you are after this pedal. Currently, there is a couıple of Rottweiler pedals listed by different sellers in the EU. Hope you like this brief article and find this helpful! Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!