Now, it can be said- the Noisemaker Effects Plus

Ok, you may recall that I got this for my birthday, more than three weeks ago- so, why so long to talk about it is that it was a bit defective. Matt was very candid with me, and admitted to me that he never got particularly excited about the design on these, as he wasn't really operating on his wheelhouse- duplicating old designs wasn't really his bag. So, I suspect with his mind on other things, it wasn't his best work. So, he offered to have me send it, and he'd fix it, free of charge. Now, keep in mind, I didn't buy it from him- I bought this second hand at Reverb- which, by the way, has serious problems, and I wouldn't suggest going there- and he still was going to fix it. So, again, his customer service is incredible, and, I strongly suggest you patronize him, if you need a guitar effect.
But, that takes time, so I only got a chance to really try it out, today. The executive summary is that it's a great, but limited pedal. To get it out of the way, no, it doesn't sound like a MXR Distortion Plus. Quite frankly, that's impossible. The MXR Distortion wasn't just one set of circuits, nor even a consistent set of components- a 1974 will not sound like a 1978, and even two 1978's won't sound exactly the same. So, no, you cannot clone a Distortion Plus. You can get close, and get inside the range they cover, but you can't nail down that moving target. That having said, this is aimed toward a distortion plus, but definitely is voiced differently. Some things the MXR does better, others the Noisemaker does. What it does exceptionally well is a medium gain midrange distortion ( with some small fuzz characteristics) that still has great note clarity. We're talking American Hard Rock crunch distortion. It's a great sound- and the way to dial it in is not intuitive. See, the limitation is that you can't really get great high gain, nor low gain sounds- you crank both gain and volume near to all the way up, and there you go- a "Marshall' kind of gain, but with presence. You also can't get that nasally bite that is most associated with the MXR- Randy Rhoads. Add an overdrive before it, and an EQ afterwards, and maybe, but my MXR can generate that tone by itself. So, no, I wouldn't use it to replace my MXR, but I will be using it- mostly with humbuckers at high volume.
Now, Matt has discontinued the pedal- you most likely will never own one which means that my point is not to get you to buy one. My point is two fold- the first, and primary one is this- with anything creative, whether making electronics, or sculpture- you're far better off with something original- duplication is never exact. The second point is that , at their best, products are a reflection of their producers. Matt is a good guy- that shows is how he conducts business, and in the products he sells. You cannot go wrong in dealing with a good person.