There are a few reasons we don’t see more of them.
All their stuff is expensive. The Tone Hammer pedal is $259 new.
They are more than a little behind with the technology. For instance, none of their stuff comes with a headphone out or aux in, which have become standard for just about everybody. Korg bought them recently, so maybe that will change.
The Zoom multi-effects offers so much functionality for such a cheap price. Since this is, primarily, a beginners forum, it makes sense that people will go for something like the Zoom before they start looking at Aguilar.
When it comes to higher end gear, Darkglass holds the position for industry darling right now. I’m not hating. It’s well deserved. They’re an incredible company.
As for the Rumble amps, if your in the US, I haven’t found anything that compares as far as price for quality and features. I may like some things about other amps but those amps usually have a more demanding price tag. This is also part of us being a beginner forum. You can get a Rumble 40 and have everything you need.
I get why it isn’t more popular here but I keep hoping more people will try them out. Maybe, one day, we will even have a dedicated Tone Hammer thread.
Yeah, this is everybody’s biggest complaint and it comes down to poor marketing. People assume it’s a preamp with a foot switchable gain stage. Which makes sense because that’s exactly what it looks like. And that’s exactly how they market it.
In practice, it’s more like having a single preamp with two different modes of operation. Like the amps that come with clean and dirty channels. You set it up to play with the AGS (Adaptive Gain Shaping circuitry) either on or off and then you don’t touch it for the rest of the song.
Thanks for the recommendation everyone. I got it today and hooked it just like @howard suggested, and everything works great. And it sounds awesome!
My only complaint, it didn’t include any sort of user guide, so most of the knobs are a mystery. I’ll see if I can find something online.
I look forward to hearing what you think of it once you had a chance to play around with all the knobs. Particularly what you think of how it can modify the sound going through the Rumble. It’s supposed to make it sound warmer.
Thanks, but I’d still like to have some sort of user guide on hand. I like to be able to fully understand each knob rather than have to come on the forum and ask.
I looked for you for Online, couldn’t find one specifically for Caline. Here is the Behringer equivalent.
The difference is only knob names. Harmonics=Presence Mix=Blend. High low is treble and bass EQ. Then it’s just volume and Gain/overdrive (same kinda on this pedal)
It’s the same guts in a different case…so this should be pretty accurate for you.
Yeah the Aguilar stuff is definitely in an other price range! I do think the prices are justified for what you get. If I’m thinking about Aguilar it’s mostly about their amps and pickups. The Tone Hammer amp series is already 10 years old, so I think the Aguilar product cycles are way too long. Not to include a headphone or aux in could also be a design choice. For example Mesa Amps don’t have them either and on others forums you have players also commenting that they prefer that (50/50 I would say). Personally I also prefer an aux in and headphone out on my amp.
And wow I didn’t knew Korg had bought them! All my tuners are Korg so maybe we will get an amp with a built in tuner.
Darkglass gear sure is nice and very well built too. But after a while I kinda lost all interest in DG pedals. Even sold my AOU and I don’t miss it at all. Source Audio seems to pick my interest these days. I own a Zoom B1 Four and U22. I think the DAI’s are top notch but the Zoom B1 Four felt to me more like cool toy/gimmick than a serious pedal. Maybe I’m just spoiled with my Line 6 gear. The Fender Rumble amps are super popular in Europe too, that’s why I bought one for my son and I got one somewhere stashed away
They are about $45 on Amazon, when they are in stock and provided by Amazon.
Wine Cellar is still a bit cheaper, abs Behringer is still a bit cheaper too.
But if you can’t get one, and can’t get the other, there is yet another to choose from
Funny that you mention Mesa. The last bass amp they put out, before they were bought by Gibson is the Subway TT-800 which has headphone out, aux in, and usb power outlet for charging… whatever… you want your bass amp to charge.
All four of these pedals are, supposedly, using the same circuit.
To me, the Wine Cellar and Sparrow sound the same.
The SansAmp BDDI and BDI21 sound the same.
But the videos are too different to tell if the pairs are the same.
We need a video that takes one from each of these videos for a final comparison.
Best part of the Source Audio pedals is that you can load community presets that others (Including Nathan) put together. Love that ability on my Aftershock. One of their modulation pedals is probably next for me.
I just played “Billie Jean” , “Money” and “It’s getting near Dawn” (my 3 main warm up riffs), though the Wine Cellar DI and with my Tube Screamer engaged with the drive cranked up all the way. Wow, unbelievably wicked overdriven tone, with no feedback from my amp.
This is awesome! Thanks @howard and @T_dub and whoever else recommended the Wine Cellar!
