finally my new pb is done! it’s the large sized gator, had the small one but bought too many pedals (oops). so from bottom to top:
source audio spectrum envelope filter: amazing, the funk machine. makes you bootsy jr in seconds. 6 presets, infinitely customizable from mild to crazy. make my funk the p-funk.
zoom b1four: you just can’t get away from it. use it more for a rhythm machine than an all in one box, but i do have some sounds in it i use. and i discovered one very important thing for practice that almost nothing i have found has - the aux out plays not just to the headphone jack but also to the line out so you don’t have to wear headphones to practice!
hotone wally plus looper: just the friggin most adorbz thing on earth. and you can record 11 samples of 30 min each (!!!) with it.
darkglass vintage overdrive: yes, darkglass. the metal guys. except this isn’t metal. you can really dial in some mellow tube driven sounds with it. and of course, screaming metal sounds if you want. but it skews more umm… vintage. don’t use a lot of od, but love it.
EHX pog chorus: yes, because i saw it on scotts bass channel. and i haven’t found another chorus that sounds like it. and like scott i (using my zoom) like to use it with a quick slapback type delay, and i throw in a touch of reverb. shimmer galore, really pretty. pog gives you the note you play, the note an octave lower and the note an octave higher all at once for a really big sound.
TC electronic hall of fame 2 reverb: 11 presets and a ton of downloadable sounds through tc’s toneprint app. (see next).
TC spectracomp compression: the secret weapon. so i kept hearing about how every bass player needed compression and to never turn it off. and every compression demo i heard was… subtle. like is this doing anything subtle. but i bought this. and was unimpressed. so before sending it back, i tried the toneprint thing. this uses an app that downloads new sounds to your pedal through your cellphone and your bass’s pickups - super clever (I am using the one called the weapon) and my mind was blown, really tight super punchy tone. if you just tap your thumb you instantly get the larry graham KA-TWANG. if you struggle with getting a really funky sound, compression . and yet still gives a nice smooth fingerpluck, just tight and fat. every bass player needs compression. never turn it off.
Aguilar tone hammer di preamp: it was between this and the tech 21 paradriver, which i also have. i will sell the paradriver, but it was closer than i thought. the para sounds good and makes my ubass piezo pickup sound awesome. the TH also sounds good, you almost cannot make it sound bad but it has a huge flaw. some people say it isn’t a flaw because it’s not what it was designed to do. fair enough, but in the real world it’s what almost everybody expects it to do so i say flaw. it has a gain switch on it, with gain switch on you get overdrive/distortion. gain off, clean/no OD. so you dial in your preamp settings, get to a point in the song that needs a little growl and go to kick in the gain footswitch. you quickly scramble to unclick it, because your bass just got twice as loud. you have to decide if you want to use this preamp with the gain always off, or always on. there is no going back and forth. i have my darkglass for OD so it’s ok with me. but still mind blowing that they wouldn’t have made it unity gain between the two. i suspect a new version will be coming soon.
power is from the cheap but good caline power recommended by Tdub (thanx!). it is dead quiet so far and can power everything from the 18v Aguilar to the 500 mA zoom. i used those little cable organizer things to lock down my cables and keep it neat. the bottom cords that look kind of chaotic are actually tucked under the board lip and do not show when viewed straight on. Switch toppers for Pam. OK WAKE UP, sorry didn’t mean to rattle on. just thought i would share. let me know if this king james bible sized post didn’t answer any questions.
BTW, does everyone know what unity gain means? Cuz I didn’t. If you have any pedal with a volume knob on it (output, master, etc).
Click the pedal on, play a note, click pedal off, play same note, adjust pedal volume so both notes are the same volume. So, duh, now when you kick in your effect, you’re not louder or quieter then before. A free dB meter app on your phone makes it easy, don’t try to get it perfect, close enough is good enough. On a lot of pedals if you change the other settings it will change this, so dial this in last.
As far as I know, it means that the input level and the output level are the same (i.e., no amplification while some kind of sound shaping is done). Active basses often have a unity gain active circuit, such that you can switch from active to passive without a noticeable change in signal level.
Nice, simple, practice set up there. Not like the monster collection I have been building. I actually got a much smaller board on order, to build a smaller one to carry around, and for overflow. Lol
Please explain the epic little device, what is it and what does It do? Is it the DAI like device to go directly from the bass into an Ipad? Or thru your pedal chain and into the Ipad I guess as well?
Why is it epic, how do you use it that makes it so valuable?
I am limited to only an Ipad for anything I do or plan to do for recording and such, so I am interested to know.
Even tho, I went with my neighbor today, computer shopping. He was looking for a 2nd hand laptop to run Abeldon (sp?) on. I had no interested in a crappy little second hand laptop, so I was really only giving him a ride, not planning to find anything.
Then
The place we ended up at had tons and tons and tons of used., certified, refurbished IMac 9.1’s for dirt cheap. My neighbor, who had alway talked down on apple products, and was doing so, even on the car ride shopping for a laptop, left the store with said IMac.
I just paid a ton of bills, and don’t want to stretch myself thin for the next week and a day or two, so I opted not to get one today, but I sure plan to get one very soon.
Then I got home, and he couldn’t download GarageBand because it is one OS lower then the supported version of GB and apple doesn’t have any archives abailable.
I found a possible work around, to load Catalina on the unsupported computer, and that would allow the iMac to down’oad any current apps, GB Included.
If succesful, I still plan to get one, but if I can’t get GB on the dumb thing, I may not.
Although, my other neighbor has lifetime access to abeldon pro or whatever teh top tier version is, and can unlock it on my iMac if I were to choose to still get one, but IDK if I want to dedicate time to learning it. Although, my neighbor / friend is fluent in it, so I could get help learning and using it when needed, so that is optional if GB can’t get loaded on the iMac.
Man were ther a lot of “although’s” in that post.
Added a tc electronic wiretap, fun little pedal. It’s like the modern version of those 80s hand held memo tape recorders you bought at radio shack. Yes the app sucks but not as horrible as I thought it would be. Basically you stomp on it and it records what you’re playing. I could do pretty much the same thing with my Looper but this is much simpler.
Swapped out many di/preamps for the tech 21 q-strip. I really hate the idea of stacking eq’s. You mess with the eq controls on your bass, then out to your preamp pedal, mess with those eq controls, through your eq pedal, mess with that, into your amp with more eq settings, then out to the sound guy who re-eq’s everything. What the F.
I set EVERYTHING to flat - my bass, my preamp pedal, my amp (I actually bypass it) and use ONE eq source. In my case, my source audio 10 band eq. So I really don’t need much from a preamp. I don’t need overdrive (I use my darkglass for that), compression, gain boost, eq, none of that. So why even have one? Mostly because it makes my piezo pickup ubass sound great. And it’s got a nice “house tone” to it.
I traded in the pog for the subnup. They sound very similar (the pog sounds a touch more synth-y, which I slightly liked more, strangely) but the subnup is much more versatile. It has toneprint, and the second suboctave is mildly useful, I have a touch added in to fill in the low end. And I have something new on order…
I feel like my board is basically done, at least for now. I have little or no interest in wah or synthbass, could maybe use a phaser (but the chorus is good for most modulation for me), and could picture switching out the Nether for a digital with faster tracking, even though I like it. But all in all I love every pedal on there.
One of the Darkglass VMT clone kits might be tempting as a side project.
Looking good., First thing I saw on it was your Sub N Up, and lack of POG.
Before I read it. I can’t say one way or the other about liking the POG a little more synth, because I have never played one.
I was looking for Phasers today, and I mean across the other TC Electronics Octave / pitch shift pedal, and I started thinking about trading the Sub N Up in for it. You lose the Sub 2, but gain Detune, Wah, T1-T2 (whatever that is) and Phase along with polygon pitch shift, plus you can go up semi tones.
I am not convinced that the Dial on the Sub N Up is not just going up semitones, but it might just be full octave and just adding how much to add. if that is the case, the semitone control could be cool.
I doubt I will switch, it was a fleeting thought as I was looking over my orders to see what needed to be sent back.
I always look at my
MXR Envelope Filter
Sub n Up
and
San June
Think really quick, then say, no way, they are here to stay
When I get a fleeting thought about returning the MXR Bass Envelope filter, this is one of a few I would consider purchasing in its place.
#1 - SA Spectrum Envelope #2 - EHX Bass Balls. (maybe less is more, one nob and a toggle) #3 - EHX Qtron #4 - EBS Bass IQ (this is really #1, but. super expensive if can even find one)
But the MXR is very versatile for a pedal that can’t hook up to an app and add things to it. The separate Low and Hi controls are very very good.
This is on @JoshFossgreen board, and he has talked about how much he likes this pedal, particularly the hi and low control, in a video on his site where he walks thru his pedalboard. good enuf for TEACH, good enuf for me.
This is the Verb that I really want. I can’t find it for a decent price, I think New was going for $242 on Amazon, and used for $140
I got the Boss RV-6, partially on @howard 's recommendation, and partially because how impressed I have been recently with some other Boss pedals.
I have a hard time with reverb. I don’t like the weird shimmer or modulate, the dynamic is ok, and TBH, I have not given it a good tryout, playing hard and soft to get used to the effect, or dial it in right, but I am not very motivated to do so.
I am good with the Spring, Plate, and Room. Hall is OK. The Delay is about as close as I see myself getting to a delay pedal, unless I were to add another multi modulation pedal (I am looking at the JOYO VISION for other reasons, and things like it), so I may find something with more delay, but I don’t see myself ever getting a delay pedal.
so I am not sold on the Boss RV-6 yet. I am thinking of maybe getting something that is a “less is more” pedal like the EHX Holy Grail, like the BassBalls, it is one control and a toggle. I don’t think I will look at EHX Oceans 11. It $20 more to purchase Amazon Prime, and not go thru a 3rd party, and that makes it $200, which is $50 more then the Boss, and it has some of the effects that the Boss has that I know I don’t like.
The things I like about the HOF2 are A) 3 tone print slots B) Expands on the other TYPES I like like Room, Hall, Church, Etc… So I may like them and they could be useful C) It, like the HOF2 mini has 3 control nobs, as opposed to the HOF mini that I have already tried.
I liked the HOF mini to some extent. I liked the Factory installed tone print reverb, it sounded good, but the one single nob just to add how much effect you want seemed limiting ( I know I said that maybe the EHX, less is more pedal might be better for me, but, if I am going to go all out for a tone print pedal, I want more control, period), and some of the Toneprints that I “Sort of” liked, might have dialed in nicely with added controls?
So I know there are TonePrint Reverbs that I like, I have some saved in my app, but I only really want the HOF2. the HOF2 mini is available, I am sure that I would like it, because there are some tone prints I like, and some I may like with the extra controls, BUT, if I am spending for this pedal, I WANT the selection and tone print slots that are ONLY on the HOF2.
The HOF mini has no tone print slots either, and the HOF has the added nobs for dialing it in, but it only has ONE tone print slot, not 3. It cost more then list right now too, and if I am gonna pay that much, I want the HOF2 only, the other 3 will not do.
BUT
Reverb is NOT THAT important to me. I could be happy with a Spring verb pedal, or a Plate Verb pedal, or one that has only Spring, Plate and Room. I am at a fork in the road here, I don’t know weather to send back the Boss RV-6, and get one of the cheaper ones, like the GOKKO Creepy I tested. I actually liked the verb I could get from that pedal. It was less versatile then the Boss, but It probably would suffice for me.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.
Not sure, I may keep the Boss, I may get the Holy Grail (cheap used one at GC right now)
Oh well, it is OK TO HAVE QUALITY PROBLEMS.
This was the first TonePrint pedal I tried. It was OK, but like the HOF mini, just not enough tonal control for my liking.
I have always been intrigued by the Spectra Drive DI / Comp. I have heard some YT reviews, and I liked the tone prints they were getting for it.
But. I am very, very very very very very happy with my Compression Options. My Always On San June, and my Compress IN YOUR FACE Boss BC-1X for that extra pop.
PLUS
I had the Behringer BD!-21 as a good enuf DI (more on that later).
So, To me, the SpectraComp is (don’t take this the wrong way) a CUTE LITTLE COMPRESSOR. Yes, I could use it as an ALWAYS ON compressor, but for me, I would still need another compressor on my board.
Did yours work out of the box?
Mine would connect to Bluetooth, I could see the factory loaded samples, and I could see a bunch of blank recordings for the ones I tried to make. but the input was basically dead.
This concerned me because I tried the pedal after it was too late for a free return, I thought I was going to have to deal with TC E’s CS. This was also before I got my iMac computer, but I found a neighbor with a MacBook, and logged onto the TC E website, and I did. the update. After updating, I took it home, and it worked like a champ.
Yes, it is a FUN and CUTE little device. You can’t help but to shake your head and laugh at the way they name your loops, somebody over there was ON A GOOD ONE when they developed that naming algorithm, I would’ve to shake his hand.
About the App.
I am on iPhone, and iOs. All the horrible complaints I read were from android users. I am not sure if the app is BETTER on iOs then Droid
or if it is not as bad as everybody says?
It is very useable. when connected, you can start and stop recording, so if it is more convenient for you to press your phone button then tap the pedal with your foot, it can come in handy. this is the case for me most of the time. You can edit the track by cutting off dead time before or after the sample. that is a decent feature, can come in handy as well. You can categorize your samples, which is Ehh? kind of a simplified way, and you can’t do things like put them in folders or rename them, which makes it only OK.
I CAN select the loop I want to play from the pedal and start and stop the loop. This is VERY HANDY, and quite possibly the BEST FEATURE of the App.
Otherwise, it is GUESSWORK to go back and forth searching for the loop you want to work with.
All in all, if it had ONE MORE FEATUR, it would be a decent app, however, without this feature, it renders the app, how can I say it? it doesn’t make it useless, CLOSE, but not useless, it makes it, um…LIMP.
It SHOULD ALLOW YOU TO DELETE LOOPS FROM THE APP. All the mess ups, all the dead loops from starting recording, but not playing, everything but what you want to keep (so for me, about 80% needs to be cleared out and 20% is what I wanted to keep) should be able to be deleted from the app. you should be able to swipe left, and hit a delete button and it should disappear.
But there is no way to delete from the App, and this is a pain in the ass. It actually is a missing feature, that should be there, but the lack of it makes you need the app, so you can find the loop you want to play, otherwise, you need to use the arrow buttons on the pedal and just search (blind) til you find what you want.
I have yet to export the files from the pedal, so I can’t comment on how that a works and if it is any good.
All that aside, it is a GREAT pedal, at a very nice price, and is WAY WORTH it, especially if you don’t have an ACTUAL loop pedal. I relied on the Zoom B1-four, but you are limited to like, 60 or so, seconds. So this is GREAT
I just got that DarkGlass, Alpha Omega Ultra.
Enuf said.
They have these in stock at GC for $33. I was actually looking today cuz I was on the site looking at bass pedals and I ran across it, and checked stock, cuz last time I checked on Amazon (yesterday) it was 3rd party for $75, which is a bunch of BS for a pedal that is clearly marked for retail sale at $33.
Of Cours that is normal circumstances, not in days of COVID.
I like the pedal, but I have to be honest, I don’t use it much. May be because I don’t know how or why to use the DI yet, and I usually have the sound shaped the way I want it before I get to it.
I think, and I don’t know if this is right, wrong or indifferent, but I think I am going to use it towards the beginning of the chain, where the OD and Fuzz go, and then keep the BDI-21 at the end, for Boost, if nothing else.
I love the Darkglass. it is the first drive / distortion / Fuzz even, pedal that I have used, for bass, that I have been able to get the sound I want without any compromise, quickly and easily. I like my Plumes OD, and I can get good drive from it, and I like the EHX Bass Big Muff. I have a hard time finding a good combo from them tho. They each have a TONE dial, but it is hard to color one and get the other right.
Thru the Darkglass, it is perfect right away.
So, all this said, My board is kind of a mess right now. I have new, and am making changes, and waiting to get more and waiting to decide on other stuff to get.
1- My first change (not the reverb thing, that is its own issue), might be to trade in my EHX Bass Big Muff to GC (180 day return policy) because they have two used EHX Deluxe Bass Big Muff’s for less then the cost of the Bass Big Muff. They are $79.99, and the Bass Big Muff was $81.99.
I am thinking I will go there tomorrow with the BBM, and turn it in, and have them order the DBBM, and have it shipped to me. It will be a pretty even swap, I will only have to pay about $15 to ship.
2- I am thinking to add a Phaser. I am not totally sure that, with the MXR Bass EF that I would need a Phaser, but I may want one anyway. But because I have the Envelope Filter, I may just get a Phaser in a multi effect pedal. One that will do a little Phase, Flanger, Trem, Vibe. Basically effects that I don’t know if I will use much, but if I can have them all, why not? Yes I have the B1-Four that can do this in a chain, but I really like the hands on Pedals, what can I say. I am looking into this for a Phaser and this for a 2 pedal in one, multi modulating pedal that can run in series or parallel.
I like the Aural Dream because you can select the shape of the sound wave.
I am not sure about the JOYO, but it looks fun, and since I can get it and test it and send it back if I don’t like it, I am gonna try it. This is another possibility for a Phaser
3 - I need to figure out what I am going to do about a Chorus pedal. right now I have the Zoom MS-60B set up as the TC E Tri Chorus pedal. I tested them side by side (no tone prints loaded) and when I had the settings matching, they were identical. I could use this as a chorus pedal and be done with it.
Chorus, another effect that I only like just a little bit of. Like I said the Corona model it OK, but I tested it agains the GOKKO Angel chorus pedal. the Angel had 2 controls, mix and effect level. TBH, I liked what I got out of the Angel better then what I got out of the Corona Model. That said, the Angel was not the pedal for me.
I like the idea of, and want to get, one probably will go with the EHX Bass Clone. But I am not going to get it from Ebay, they don’t have it prime unless you pay $40 more. Ebay has it cheaper, 2 day free ship and return within 30, but you have to pay return shipping. So I want to be sure before I get it. The Joyo pedal has several chorus models between both sides, so I want to give that a go first, and if I like it, that will take care of that.
I also will try this pedal, it its a Bass Chorus Pedal and is only a few bucks. It has the advantage over the Gokko Angel chorus pedal because it is made for bass (the angel dropped the lows) and it has added control nobs.
Thats it, I will shut up now. I will update this in the future on my UNBOXING._ PEDALBOARD BUILD THREAD.
P.s. @itsratso. Don’t go and buy both of the Deluxe Bass Big Muff’s from GC. on me, leave me one please.
Hah wow that’s a lot of stuff. Let me respond then later I’ll go through it again more thoroughly. I really got to tell you that I’m hardly a pedal guru/expert but it seems that one company that puts out a killer product (their higher end ones at least) is source audio. The new eq pedal is all I use to sculpt my clean sound, and the spectrum is top of the mountain imo. I’m not alone in thinking it, check out the basstheworld rave YouTube review. I like phaser but really wouldn’t get a dedicated pedal, the one in my zoom is good enough. I have an android phone, in the couple minutes I played with the wire tap app it froze once, which isn’t good. But it works although it is glitchy and counterintuitive (you record on your phone and then save it on the pedal it seems, weird). You can have the big muff, way too heavy for my tastes (BTW I grew up on hard/heavy music, but I just prefer my bass sound to be on the cleaner/warmer side, even for crunchier stuff).
Been crazy busy at work, haven’t had a lot of time to mess around. Barely had time to play my new bongo. BUT WHEN I DID…
That single humbucker with the 18v preamp nearly took my head off.
Waiting for some sound samples when you get around to it.
I love Source Audio. I did buy one of their pedals, and it was GREAT, but I returned it because it was too clumsy a design for my taste. But it Was a Soundblox 2. I got the Bass Micro Modeler, which has been replaced with the AfterShock in the new 1 series pedals. had I got the Aftershock, I would have kept it, and I would not have a Big Muff Fuzz pedal and probably would not have traded for this Alpha Omega ultra, cuz I never would have ordered the Agiular Agro in the first place.
The thing that killed it is the way you have control over High / Mid / Low in one nob, that has no tracking, is either all the way CCW or all the way CW.
you select with a button which you will adjust, but when yo get to that control, you are where the dial is. if it were a continuous wheel, it would not be a problem, when you his Bass, you move which ever way you want, and go from there, but if you put the bass all the way on, so all the way CW, then you want to add a little treble, you press the button to select HIGH, but you can’t turn the dial anymore CW, cuz its all the way over.
you see where I am going with this.
For this reason, I could enjoy EVERYTHING about the pedal, but I could not EQ it, only thing I could do was set it to flat, any adjustment from there is guess work, or a compromise of back and forth adjustments to try and get what you want.
I sent it back. If it were the AfterShock, 1 series, I could dial everything in Exactly how I want it on my phone graphic interface.
I would have to send my MXR Envelope filter back tomorrow, and order the SA envelope filter (for $50 more) and not have it here to test side by side, because tomorrow (today really, it is 2 am) is the last day I have to return it to amazon.
Should I go fo it, and return the MXR and get the SA?
little help here @itsratso
Damn it, I don’t know anybody else that has the wiretap app on iPhone. I think it works just fine then on iPhone, so it must be the droid app for it that sucks royally
Do you have an iPad? if so, you could try it on that
What do you mean you record on the phone?
The phone gives you a remote start stop. it is just the same as starting and stopping the pedal with your foot.
The phone shows you a list of what is on the pedal. Every time you make a recording, it is stored on the pedal. The pedal generates a weird name for what you just recorded, and it displays on the phone if you are on the app, connected to the pedal.
You can also select any of the recordings from the list, in the order they were created, and you can play it (thru the pedal) by selecting it and pressing play.
you can do the same on the pedal, but you are blind to the track names and can only scroll forward or back til you find what you want to play.
Finding and playing what you want to is the best feature of the app IMO.
remote start and stop is 2nd
What is lacking is the ability to rename the track, or delete it. You can trim the length, or you are supposed to be able to, but I have not figured that out yet.
That is why I want the Deluxe Big Mugs, more ways to tone it down and get your usability out of it. I like it on the more subtle settings, but that means turning it down to the point it starts to suck volume. the Deluxe has 1 a toggle for active bass, and a cover, and more ways to get a more subtle fuzz.
as it is now, in my playing around with it, its too much of an all or nothing.
That is an exaggeration for sure, but I think it will be a way better pedal for me, and If I can get a good warm subtle fuzz, it might double with the DarkGlass AOU
. and yet still gives a nice smooth fingerpluck, just tight and fat. every bass player needs compression. never turn it off.
