Three EHX pedals on my board, big fan of the company here.
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I have one and am planning on adding one more for sure. I have the Big Muff and am planning to add the Bass Clone Chorus pedal
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So what you’re telling me is if I buy the Soul Food, I’m on a slippery slope to major pedal expense down the line as I’ll want to add more 
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Thats true of any pedal
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pedals (and drugs) are bad… mmmkay
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Well I finally got my hands on the Bass Soul Food pedal today, courier dropped it off earlier. Needless to say I took a break from office work and plugged it in.
It’s not going so well…
The footswitch takes real pressure to get it to engage, and it does so with a hugely audible and mechanical click (audible both in the amp signal and just generally as it’s so loud) that is not acceptable.
Even on max drive, there is almost no effect added to the dry signal (even on max blend) so the overdrive itself is not working properly. And the tone pot is scratchy as hell, again audible in the amp.
I hope this isn’t indicative of EHX build quality. Disappointing start.
I have a replacement turning up on Monday.
If it’s not completely different to this unit, I’ll be looking for recommendations in the same price range!
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Yeah, not normal for EHX in my limited experience with them. Usually good build quality, good sound.
I have the Plumes by Earthquaker Labs.
I like it a lot. it is a great little unit. Superior quality, hand made in the states.
most of their pedals are over $200. This is a Tube Screamer with a toggle switch to give 3 different clipping modes. The Tone shape more then just goes from high to low. all in all, it is a superior OD for a great price. I actually got mine when they were $88, and now they are $99, but still its a deal.
Only thing is this is not a BASS only Overdrive. It doesn’t drop the bottom out like many guitar pedals will, but a BASS overdrive may be a bit fatter in the bottom end.
EHX also has the Bass Blogger Over Drive pedal, for around $70 I think, let me check. I can’t say either way on that one tho, only it is EHX and is usually good.
let me see what else I can find for you.
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I’ve had nothing but good luck with EHX. But it sounds like you got a dud for sure.
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Hope so @howard just unlucky and a dud, I never buy anything without a conscious decision in terms of checking reviews, and I did like the sound of the Soul Food.
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Good luck with the replacement, hopefully will be fine. I’ve bought two used and one new EHX pedal and all have been perfect for performance.
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Thanks @howard.
To try and seduce me, EHX included in their Soul Food pedal box a little cute booklet of all their pedals. I’m sitting scanning through that, reminding myself that I was intending not buy any more pedals after the Soul Food for a while (well if the HOF2 went on sale… or TC finally shipped some Ditto+ units I might be swayed…)
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Thomman’s has hundreds of reviews of this pedal, and didn’t see it mentioned much. But there was this:
So hopefully it is a somewhat isolated problem. I do love the sound of that pedal, but I do think the effect may be more subdued in the real world then it sounds in demo videos. My similar darkglass vintage pedal (check it out too) was somewhat like that. And I agree that ehx usually are very high quality, it’s unusual. As for a stiff button (heh) one of my favorite pedals, my audio source spectrum, has almost no click and is a little difficult to engage, which is probably worse. You get used to it.
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Thanks @itsratso for digging that out. Interesting to see others have noted the same issue.
I didn’t like the pop sound through the amp when engaging the pedal at times, will see if the replacement is any better.
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I do just the opposite for many of the pedals I get. I will listen to some YT reviews, but I prefer the no talking playthru’s.
One - I know that I have a good chance of returning the pedal to Amazon.
two - I want to have a totally open mind when checking out a pedal I don’t want to be biased one way or the other. I want to know for myself if I think it drops out the bottom end, or if the tracking is poor, or if the compression sucks, etc… I want to formulate my own opinions.
This does not mean I don’t ask peoples opinions of thing, and I read most of the threads here, so I am not going into something completely blind at all.
the example would be, I am testing reverb pedals. I know of the ones people here use most, the TC E Hall of Fame, Boss Reverb, Zoom Multi’s, etc… I know people like their pedal usually…
so, I get a TC E Hall of Fame mini AND Joyo Atmosphere AND Valeton Coral Verb.
I do know some reviews of the TCE Hall of Fame, but I did not go and read anything about the Joyo Atmosphere or Valeton Coral Verb
I am just pointing this out so you don’t think I don’t listen to any reviews or read up about any pedals I am trying, that would not be accurate. I do know a bit about the main pedal I get for a pedal showdown, but I don’t check up on the other brands prior to playing with them.
Thanks for the review, I’m really interested by this pedal, I’ve 3 in my mind, this one, the Ampeg Scrambler bass overdrive and the boss odb-3 overdrive 
If anyone else have try the other your opinion is warmly welcome!
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I really, really didn’t like the Scrambler on my Ampeg SCR-DI. So much that I sold the whole thing just because I didn’t like the scrambler.
I’d pick the ODB-3 over the Scrambler any time.
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I have the Earthquaker Labs PLUMES. I really like it and highly recommend it.
There is the Ibanez Tube Screamer Bass,
I also have this, which is more awesome then you can imagine, but the price tag…well, yes, some would call this 'Sticker Shock"
I got it in a trade, and what I traded was over $125 less then the retail cost of this pedal, so It was a great deal, for me.
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Thabks for the advices! I will try to test each in order to find my favorite!
Still one question, regarding the powersupply for pedals, is there huge difference between a first price and a very expensive one?
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YES and NO
First, I assume you are talking about Power Supply Bricks with Isolated outlets?
Yes, There is a difference between the lower cost Power Supplies (PS) when compared to each other.
Yes there is a difference between the lower priced ones and the expensive ones.
does it always matter NO, but sometimes YES
Take a look at 3 Power Supplies
A - Caline CP-05 - 10 outlet - $28
B - Caline CP-202 (36w) - 8 0utlet - $39
#1 - A
has 10 Isolated outlets (so it says, the are not true isolated, but they use a block of some sort (@howard knows the right term for this) that makes them OK. This one does not say the overall power, but it has nine 9v 100ma outlets, one of which you can select to be 9v/12v/15v/18v - and it has ONE outlet that is 9v 500ma.
Pros - 1 - cheap
2 - 10 outlet
3 - 1 outlet it 500ma
Cons - 1 - 10 outlets - less overall power in the brick, it is not a full 36w 1. 0 2 - 500ma slot not selectable, many 12v/15v/18v need 300/500ma
Conclusion - Depending on what pedals you are going to have, it COULD work - personally I would look for more out of a PS then this
#2 - B
Like the one above, it is cheaper then the next level of PS’s. This one has more pros then cons that matter to having flexibility in the way you power your board.
Pros 1 - Cheap
2 - All outlets are 300ma (one 500ma)
3 - 2 selectable outlets 1 is 9v/15v/18v other is 9v/12v/15v
4 - I use them and can stand by them, others here use them too
Cons. 1 - Isolated outlets are not true isolated
Conclusion - this will do the trick, and offers flexibility to how you build your board and what pedals you can use. I recommend this
#3 - C
MXR - it is TRUE Isolated outlets. Cons are big IMO and outweigh the Pros
Pro - true isolation
all outlets 300ma except the selectable is 800ma
Con - Price - expensive
only has 5 outlets
Sold separate - cost about another $50 to get the wall plug, and all the necessary power cables.
conclusion - Money better spent elsewhere.
Disclaimer.
This is my opinion from my experience which is limited. I do not know everything and am only passing what I know. if you were or are, a stage performer and you rely heavily on this pedalboard, you might NEED better power supplies then what is even shown here, IDK, I don’t have that experience.
Hope this helps some, if any
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