What pedals have you been let down by lately? What were you really looking foward to and when you played it you were disappointed?


I gotta say that the Keeley Modded Pro Co Rat let me down.

The Analogman w/ deep mod wired in. Just didn't do it for me. I'm on the lookout for a thick flange and a tamer OD, such as the Humphrey modded Bad Monkey.


Dan

great thread.

Big muff pi - not the pedals fault however... i got misinformation on what it sounded like
EBS UniChorus - got a way better sound out of a ****** old Korg AX10B that i bought in my earlier years haha

Only a minor complaint, mind you . . . I was disappointed in the chorus portion of the Stereo Electric Mistress. It's more metallic and not as smooth as I was expecting. I still love the flanger and especially the filter matrix, however, so it's still getting a lot of use. But I'm probably going to need a dedicated chorus pedal in addition

Moog MF101. To be fair, it sounded exactly the way I thought it would. But I had been hoping to be pleasantly surprised, that maybe it would sound much better than I expected.

Also, the Boss CS-1. It's very cool in its own way, but nowhere near the awesomeness people hyped it with.

Also, the Boss CS-1. It's very cool in its own way, but nowhere near the awesomeness people hyped it with.

I fully agree with your compressor review of the CS-1. It is definitely not the compressor I expected. Thankfully, it turned out to be perfect for some other situations so it gets plenty of use. It has its place.

EHX Holy Stain

I was disappointed with the pitch shift section, it had a noticeable delay and the range was smaller than I wanted. The pitch shift was why I was really interested in it in the first place...

Tried my friends Phase 90 and it didn't do anything for me...

um... cant think of any others...

Hi Folks,

This is my first post, so I'll say hello first! Hello!

I bought an Ashdown Drive Plus pedal from ebay that I am massively dissatisfied with. It's not the fault of the seller; it was a brand new.

Anyway, I couldn't get any sounds from it that I actually like hideously trebly highs or nasty farty lows...:hmm:

The VU Meter (which is attached only by a bit of double sided sticky tape) fell into the pedal. :eek:

The screws that hold the whole unit together are cheap and nasty and so the heads of them became stripped when I tried to take the pedal apart to re-fit the VU Meter (despite using the correct screwdriver).:crying:

This is the same for the screw for the battery compartment which I now can't open...:help:

One 'good' thing is that if I turn down the drive dials and turn up the output I can use it a bit like a volume pedal. I just flick the switch for solos to give myself a boost without changing the tone too much...:)

I think I'll contact Ashdown to see if I can get some replacement screws and then I'll stick it back on ebay...

Jamie

E~H Q-tron, at first I kind'a liked it but I always had to go through a lot of trouble to get it to play nice with my other pedals and it just wont sweep low enough for me, even in lowpass and Lo it's still more in the midrange area and with my rig that doesn't jive all that well. Cool watery sounds but no ass.

Probably virtually every overdrive out there. I've tried almost all of them and haven't liked any of them. I've tried the HBE Hematoma, Tubescreamer TS9DX (analogman modified), GK Diesel Dawg, EHX English Muff'n, Sansamp BDDI, Ashdown Drive Plus, Humphrey modded Bad Monkey, DOD Preamp/Overdrive 250 and the list goes on and on. The Fulltone is about on par with most of these IMO but I liked that it could be powered with conventional DC power and didn't take up a ton of real estate. My second favorite was the DOD 250 but it was inconsistent (sometimes you would get breakup and sometimes you wouldn't) and it had a crappy bypass and staticy pots.

I think the problem might lie with my bass though because the Stingray puts out such a hot signal, I think I prematurely clip the FETS. I am in love with the Ray's clean tone so I just have to compromise and accept that I might not be able to get a satisfying Overdriven tone. I currently use a Fulltone BassDrive which is as subtle as I could find. It works but still isn't what I had in my head.

My current favorite pedal is a EH Nano Small Stone. Such a nice texturing effect that I had never considered using on bass previously.

I'm disappointed with my Little Big Muff. It is only usable with the sustain knob almost all the way off, and even then it doesn't sound very good. I suspect this is the same issue that kirkm24 is experiencing; my 18V active is way to hot for this pedal to handle :D

back in the day, i had a DOD bass overdrive that i thought was terrible. i picked up a black russian muff that was nowhere NEAR as good as the green one it replaced, and more recently i got a PBDDI that didn't do what i hoped it would, granted that is my own fault- i wanted to use it as an overdrive, which i didn't like. so, i used it as a preamp which i also didn't like. so, i have to get rid of that now. had to drive to cleveland to get it, because i couldn't find one around here, and now i can't sell it locally for the same reason no one stocks them locally.

wednesday night i picked up a fulltone bass drive and i LOVE it.

My recent disappointments:

EHX Nano Clone: they need to discontinue and reissue this one to be like the Small Clone... I don't know what they were thinking when they made this disaster!

Blackbox Quicksilver Delay: Don't get me wrong - it's not bad-sounding. It's just not great. It didn't blow me away. The modulation was okay, and the delays weren't as clear as I would've liked. It did have some great features if you're into vintage delays. But the high price tag... oy. :hmm:

Other than that... I haven't had the cash to spend recently... too busy with work, school, and law school applications.

I playe with an LBM at a music store and brought it home with me. The second I plugged a Wal into it...POOP CITY!! It's still a neat little pedal with most basses, though.

I've been disappointed with everything BOSS has made since 1996. They used to have the greatest selection of some of the craziest pedals - this was before I started using EHX - and now it's limited to about fifteen crap-ass boxes.

DOD bass tech should have called it just dud Thats why they stop making it

just had this terrible buzz

I playe with an LBM at a music store and brought it home with me. The second I plugged a Wal into it...POOP CITY!! It's still a neat little pedal with most basses, though.


A WAL!!! :eek:

A WAL!!! :eek:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p91/thombrady_bass/Picture009.jpg

Three, actually. :smug:

I gotta say that the Keeley Modded Pro Co Rat let me down.

That pedal has been the biggest disappointment of ANY pedal I've had.

EHX Holy Stain

I was disappointed with the pitch shift section, it had a noticeable delay and the range was smaller than I wanted. The pitch shift was why I was really interested in it in the first place...

Tried my friends Phase 90 and it didn't do anything for me...

um... cant think of any others...

yep yep. I bought it, its a cool pedal but just lacks the edge i need. The distortion wasnt to bad but it gave me a whole lot of feedback and i thought the pitch shifter and the tremelo were useless i dont know why they put them on there.

Tbh, my Turbo Rat is beginning to lack the sound I want. Sounds too muffed together.

Then again I was playing Hysteria when I made that decision, but I dunno. Might plan on buying some other pedals soon. All my pedals seem to be ****

:rollno:

I've been slightly disappointed wit my FX35 only because it's broken on me for the second time now, I love the tone on it.

[keeley RAT] has been the biggest disappointment of ANY pedal I've had.

Mines gone too. Sounded great to me blended with the tweeter OFF, but even with the filter all the way down there is some HF squizz that sounds nasty through a tweeter. Definitely a guitar effect.

Got an AGRO now, and its the ****.

So, Pickles is chasing me around and he's going to throw me under the bus for this post just like he did on the AGRO thread, but...

I sent back my Octron 2. I bought it because I was interested in the octave up. In truth, the octave up tone sounded very overdriven and fuzzy, and I could not figure out how I would be able to use it. The rest of the pedal's functions were exemplary, but I couldn't justify the cost.

My tone must have been lost in translation on that other thread ... extra smiley added to clarify that I was yankin your chain ;)

My tone must have been lost in translation on that other thread ... extra smiley added to clarify that I was yankin your chain ;)And I yours. :D

I love most anything Ehx puts out, but not so much the micro Qtron, or any nano pedals other than bassballs.

MXR Octave. Thought that I would like it alot. When I got it...not so much. I am still playing around with it...It does seem to thicken up some modulation effects. But now I GAS for an Octave Multi Plex or a Micro Pog. Maybe both eventually. That is a WHOLE nother can of worms though.:confused:

the AMT electronics Capitalist pig. was the loudest overedrive ive ever heard interms of just noise. also a very hollow tone.

MXR Octave. Thought that I would like it alot. When I got it...not so much. I am still playing around with it...It does seem to thicken up some modulation effects. But now I GAS for an Octave Multi Plex or a Micro Pog. Maybe both eventually. That is a WHOLE nother can of worms though.:confused:

I just shows how not everything works for everyone :D, I have a MXR M-88 Bass Octave and really like it but I also have a MULTIPLEXER on the way. I'm probably going to do thread of short reviews on the MULTIPLEXER, M-88, OC-3, Chillidog and FX 35 when I get it.

Is there any chance you could fit the micro POG in there to? I've been gassing for one but I don't really know how it is in comparisson to the FX35.

Nope sorry, my list is based on pedals I own [and have in the post].

Also I have never really had much interest in the POG, I've just never really been captivated by the samples I heard of it. If I was going to spend that kind of money on a octave I'd get a Octron.

my sansamp seriously disappoints me. its defiantly not as great of a box as everyone makes it out to be.

my sansamp seriously disappoints me. its defiantly not as great of a box as everyone makes it out to be.

Thank you.

I'm confused, is the octave multiplexer a sub octave or octave up?

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Stompbox Tuner

I'm confused, is the octave multiplexer a sub octave or octave up?

One octave down, but it has high and low filters, that's where the magic comes in.

Probably virtually every overdrive out there. I've tried almost all of them and haven't liked any of them. I've tried the HBE Hematoma, Tubescreamer TS9DX (analogman modified), GK Diesel Dawg, EHX English Muff'n, Sansamp BDDI, Ashdown Drive Plus, Humphrey modded Bad Monkey, DOD Preamp/Overdrive 250 and the list goes on and on. The Fulltone is about on par with most of these IMO but I liked that it could be powered with conventional DC power and didn't take up a ton of real estate. My second favorite was the DOD 250 but it was inconsistent (sometimes you would get breakup and sometimes you wouldn't) and it had a crappy bypass and staticy pots.

I think the problem might lie with my bass though because the Stingray puts out such a hot signal, I think I prematurely clip the FETS. I am in love with the Ray's clean tone so I just have to compromise and accept that I might not be able to get a satisfying Overdriven tone. I currently use a Fulltone BassDrive which is as subtle as I could find. It works but still isn't what I had in my head.

My current favorite pedal is a EH Nano Small Stone. Such a nice texturing effect that I had never considered using on bass previously.


i own a stingray and i must also say that i have trouble getting a good overdrive sound with it.. i also own a rickenbacker and it sounds great with an english muffin and a band monkey but they pedals do sound rubbish with my stingray. i actually found a good stingray overdrive by using a boss blues driver or a marshall blues breaker in boost mode. maybe combined with an EQ pedal to EQ out some of the harshness..

the blues pedals work well because they are quite low gain pedals that retain the low end well.

Moog LPF. Sounded good, but the design drawbacks were just too much for me to stomach.

i own a stingray and i must also say that i have trouble getting a good overdrive sound with it.. i also own a rickenbacker and it sounds great with an english muffin and a band monkey but they pedals do sound rubbish with my stingray. i actually found a good stingray overdrive by using a boss blues driver or a marshall blues breaker in boost mode. maybe combined with an EQ pedal to EQ out some of the harshness..

the blues pedals work well because they are quite low gain pedals that retain the low end well.

Try the AGRO. Its the first distortion I've used that doesn't seem to care if your bass is active or passive, it always sounds great. Seems like the first bass distortion where they really thought through what a bassist needs out of an overdriven tone.

i own a stingray and i must also say that i have trouble getting a good overdrive sound with it.. i also own a rickenbacker and it sounds great with an english muffin and a band monkey but they pedals do sound rubbish with my stingray. i actually found a good stingray overdrive by using a boss blues driver or a marshall blues breaker in boost mode. maybe combined with an EQ pedal to EQ out some of the harshness..

the blues pedals work well because they are quite low gain pedals that retain the low end well.

Really? I have the opposite. With passive basses I can't get enough drive to get overdriven. Whereas with my Stingray, it's got so much juice that it overdrives really easily and nicely.

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Stompbox Tuner

I want one, can u tell us why it was disappointing??

Dear Deep Impact-
I really wanted it to work out between us, I thought I could love you forever with your big sassy writing and sexy redness. I thought if I just kept tweaked you, you'd be able to do everything I wanted and more. the truth of the matter is that you just don't float my boat like an OC2, Rat and line6 fm4 do. I know, I have no sense of decency or class... .. but I just can't handle the denial any longer.I'll always remember you, but it's time you got back in your box and headed over to ebay. Goodbye.
Tom.

The Big Muff was a major let down :crying:

The Big Muff was a major let down :crying:

USSR?

Dear Deep Impact-
I really wanted it to work out between us, I thought I could love you forever with your big sassy writing and sexy redness. I thought if I just kept tweaked you, you'd be able to do everything I wanted and more. the truth of the matter is that you just don't float my boat like an OC2, Rat and line6 fm4 do. I know, I have no sense of decency or class... .. but I just can't handle the denial any longer.I'll always remember you, but it's time you got back in your box and headed over to ebay. Goodbye.
Tom.

+1

i did the DI thing twice. and both times my Octaver, OD/Fuzz, and Envelope Filter combo overtook it. Great minds think alike:D

USSR?

i will have to say... EVERY muff for me... i tried to love them... but i went through a usa, russian, old green muff, LBM... and i couldnt justify keeping them.

This will probably piss some off... but I'm finding the Boss BF2 Flanger to be disappointing me lately. Mine is a Taiwanese made one. it doesn't loose low end when engaged, but it certainly boosts treble and adds this high-end harsh metallicness that I cannot stand. I also find the flange to not be strong enough for my liking. I want something thicker. Maybe analogue is the direction I need to go in...

The EHX NANO Dr Q sucked for me. That went back in two days. I couldnt get a decent sound out of that one to save my life.

The DOD FX25B. This is the bass one with three knobs. I guess it was okay, but not enough wetness for me. I also like a pretty sharp filter attack, and it couldnt give it to me.

My 20.00 Danelectro Wasabi. I was expecting a poorly built trash pedal that I wasted 20 bucks on.

Heavy Duty, decent sounds, and 20.00 bucks. I am highly disappointed I didn't pay more for it.

Tried out the current Digitech Whammy pedal. Didn't give me the smooth pitch bend I've heard so much on various RATM/Audioslave records (but then again, it's not exactly the same Whammy pedal used by Tom Morello). However, I was told that the pedal wasn't calibrated. So I'll try it out again later on, calibrating it first.

The EHX NANO Dr Q sucked for me. That went back in two days. I couldnt get a decent sound out of that one to save my life.

+1

i owned one at one point and I also could not find a usable tone on it.

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Stompbox Tuner
How was this disappointing?

Thank you.

im glad someone else agrees with me.

Here's my list, though not all have been "lately", and some of them are pretty minor disappointments...


DOD FX25 (the original version) - waaaay too thin-sounding.

Dunlop Bass Crybaby - too thin, not enough range, not enough wah effect.

EBS OctaBass - tracking ability seems pretty overhyped; for me it still struggles with double-stops and anything below A-flat or so... not much better than my Boss OC-2.

EBS UniChorus - The flange option doesn't do it for me, sounds too much like the normal chorus; otherwise the pedal is very nice, once you open it up and adjust the internal blend trimpot to taste.

Tech21 Bass XXL - my guitarist uses the original version and it makes his Tele sound HUGE, so I tried the bass version; it really rips, but somehow lacks the right meatiness.

Tech21 Bass Compactor - couldn't handle the hot output from my G&L; interesting as a wet fart emulator however.

Zvex Lo-Fi Loop Junky - the vibrato is pretty hard to hear with a bass.



To the Stingray people with overdrive problems: try out an EBS MultiDrive. Great for getting just the right amount of breakup/grind/edge/grit/dirt/whatever-you-wanna-call-it, and has an active/passive setting for hot basses. I'd like it a bit better if it had some treble boost ability, but there are other things out there to handle the EQing if you're just looking for something that can get you the right breakup.

the AMT electronics Capitalist pig. was the loudest overedrive ive ever heard interms of just noise. also a very hollow tone.

Hey man, can I get more info on why this sucked. I've been dying to find out about this pedal...:confused:

My DOD 250 was far less impressive than I had hoped for... course... it's a $40 pedal built for guitar, so what the heck. My stingray didn't really agree with the pedal to start, but even my MIM jazz didn't sound all that hot through it. Don't get me wrong; the overdrive/distortion is usable, just not fantastic.

My fulltone bass-drive, however, has made me a happy man. With that said I don't find the "boost" channel to be of much use since I like the "vintage" (tubescreamer) setting best. I wish there was a way to make the boost channel a volume boost rather than an additional gain boost, but that's ok... pedal still sounds fantastic to me.

What pedals have you been let down by lately? What were you really looking foward to and when you played it you were disappointed?


I gotta say that the Keeley Modded Pro Co Rat let me down.

Sansamp BDDI. Couldn't handle my hot pickups (would fart) or would be too scooped. when blend was low the effect didn't give an inspiring tone i was bummed

Lately:

Aphex Bass Xciter - Loved what it did for my tone, hate the construction. Having it start to fritz out on me during a show was the last straw.

Music ElectroniX MessDrive - Loved some of the fuzz tones that it could get, hated how I couldn't control when they came. It worked better with my Hematoma than with my Bass Drive, and I won't get rid of it.

Fulltone ChoralFlange - Loved it when I bought it, hated the flange from the beginning and grew dissatisfied with the Chorus over time.

EHX Clone Theory - Liked the Chorus 2 sound, hated that I didn't love it enough to hang onto it. Also thought I lost too much lows when it was on.

Boss BF-2 and BF-3 Flangers - See Tbirdbassist's post. Given that what I really want is Gallup's sound with the Cure, I'd think that these would be the pedals for me...but it just didn't work out.

Hmm.. the Digitech Bass Synth Wah really didn't do it for me at all.. just found it harsh and annoying sounding. Then I tried a BMS and I liked some of the sounds it came out with, but just SO complicated and had some tracking and triggering issues with it.

Then I tried out an Ibanez SB7, the cheapest of the bunch, and it tracks the best and is the easiest to get a good sound out of. I'll be buying it soon :)

Recently I'd have to say the

TECH 21 XXL BASS EDITION.

No matter how I set the tone knob it seemed to cut a ton of bottom. Other than that the distortion was a little too crackly and not meaty enough. Sold it on ebay.

my sansamp seriously disappoints me. its defiantly not as great of a box as everyone makes it out to be.

I would have agreed with you four years ago. Now I use it constantly. So consider holding onto it. ;)

I have to say the Sansamps were a disappointment to me too. On their own I would use one for quick recording with bands I don't really care enough about to haul my rig to the studio, but through my rig they give shrill, ear piercing highs even with the treble and presence set to minimum, and even though I use a fairly dark sound to begin with, treble rolled off a bit, no horns.

...Fulltone ChoralFlange - Loved it when I bought it, hated the flange from the beginning and grew dissatisfied with the Chorus over time...

I'm sorry to hi-jack but I just gotta know what you replaced it with.

Thanks

I'm sorry to hi-jack but I just gotta know what you replaced it with.

Thanks

The Analogman Bi-Chorus w/deep mod :D Haven't looked back since

Moog MF-103(For bass) It was superb on guitar though.

My biggest pedal-related disappointments were Electro-Harmonix Small Clone, Black Russian Big Muff Pi and Mini Q-Tron. All of them had serious construction issues. The Mini Q-Tron sounded awesome but I couldn't get past the HUGE volume increase.

I was also really disappointed with the Visual Sound H2O. No matter how I set it up, either the chorus or echo side sounded really bad. Maybe I just got a bad unit?

I tried the BMS in a store and found it pretty useless. It was so bad that I'm thinking something must have been seriously wrong with the pedal or maybe with the bass. It just didn't seem to respond very well at all. I'm hoping someday that I'll try one again and have a better experience.

I tried the BMS in a store and found it pretty useless. It was so bad that I'm thinking something must have been seriously wrong with the pedal or maybe with the bass. It just didn't seem to respond very well at all. I'm hoping someday that I'll try one again and have a better experience.

It's one of the few pedals where trying it in a store is the worst way to try it. Its gain trimpot (accessible through a hole on the bottom) has to be adjusted for it to work properly with the bass you're using.

the old (black) digitech bass wah.

crackly, fizzy and weak

rather noticable click when disengaged too

It's one of the few pedals where trying it in a store is the worst way to try it. Its gain trimpot (accessible through a hole on the bottom) has to be adjusted for it to work properly with the bass you're using.

Hey thanks for the info! I wanted to like that pedal.:hyper: I'll have to find a way to spend some more time with one.

Ashdown ovtave barely tracked anywhere on the neck.
Black Cat Bass Octave fuzz successfully removed all the low-end of any bass, came with no paper work and missing a screw brand new.

All the other pedals I've sold have not been a disappointment they just weren't my bag.

The Boss RE-20, which is sad, because I wanted to like it so bad. Its not that it didn't sound good. For someone into what it did, it was fantastic, but the delay constantly warped the pitch, not just when I was messing with it, and using the tap delay essentially did nothing, because the pedal seems to want to just do weird stuff instead of give me straight ahead repeats. I fiddled with all the knobs, tap tempo, nothing got it to be anything other than weird for me. :(

How was this disappointing?

the TU-2 sucks your tone because it uses an electronic bypass. If you listen to the TU-2 when in bypass mode and then play minus the pedal there is a clear difference in sound. I had mine modded by the fxdoctor, it was like 50 bucks with shipping if I remember. They basically build an internal a/b switch to make it a mechanical bypass rather than an electric one.

The biggest disappointment I had was my Ampeg SCP-OD pedal. To be fair, I was looking for a real gritty overdrive, and the scrambler is a fuzz, but still, you have to keep it around 9-12 on the dial to get decent bass tone, and it gives a huge volume boost. I actually used to use an a/b running into the two channels of my V4 which were set at different volumes so I had an equal level.

I ended up selling the SCP-OD and getting a Greedtone. I saw Minus the Bear and Cory was using one with a P-Bass through a Mesa 400+. Sounded balls to the wall. I'm not a fan of Mesa amps in the least, but this sounded good, so I decided I had to get my hands on one.

construction:

ebs valve drive, the bypass switch cuts out somtimes when switching the effect on, I have to slam it hard to engage, dissapointing for such a big bucks pedal, tone is no problem though. EBS did send me a reaplcement switch though, but I still did not find the time to get it changed

so now I switch it with a banzai effects loop switcher ... :rollno:

ebs wah one: the top pedal is so heavy it does not hold its position in a spot! its impossible to set in a spot unless you jar it in place with an object - sound was good though. sold

sound:

boss odb3, its fizzy not fuzzy too my ears and with my gear. sold

complicated:

tech 21 pbddi, it only sounds useful in a studio environment as a direct box for me and then its great!, but used in a live setting very harsh and unfitting,I know a million people use it live I dont know why I cannot? (still a keepedr though)

tech 21 xxl ... I love how screamingly angry this pedal is, but it really prefers certain gear and settings. others not and then it sounds a bit lame. (still a keepedr though)

i got a cheap rogue wah/volume pedal a few years ago as a christmas present, and was really disappointed in the entire thing, not only did it sound horrible, but it was extremely cheaply built, and the unshielded wiring in it was picking up air traffic talk from the airport a block away from my old house.

sadly, i got rid of it, because distorting the air traffic would be great for a friend of mine's noise-music project.

+1

i did the DI thing twice. and both times my Octaver, OD/Fuzz, and Envelope Filter combo overtook it. Great minds think alike:D

+2 underwhelmed

Sansamp BDDI. Couldn't handle my hot pickups (would fart) or would be too scooped. when blend was low the effect didn't give an inspiring tone i was bummed


+1 , tried to like one, but it did not work with my G&L. Then I tested Para Driver.. It was like designed to my hot MFD pickups. Now I get the sound that I was always trying to achive with BDDI..

:bassist:

Here you go:
SYB-3 Bass synth
SYB-5 Bass Synth
Ashdown Suboctave
EHX Octave mutiplexor
Boss OC-3
Ibanez Synth pedal
Fulltone Octifuzz

The list goes on and on...

I have been very impressed with:
Russian Big Muff Pi
Russian Baseballs
Akai Intelliphase P1
Kaoss Pad (silver full version, K2???)
Boss OC-2
Akai Deep Impact
Zvex Woolly Mammoth

I need a Bass whammy, the DI and woolly mammoth and I will be forever in sonic bliss...BTW, I am running a kaoss pad throught the effects loop of my marshall 7400 DBS head...

All I have to say is... GET ONE!!!!

I must say the SYB-5 was somewhat of a dissapointment to me too, It took me the longest time to even figure out how to make it work at all and when I did the sound (methinks it was a buzzsaw mode) it just sounded like a farting speaker.

unfortunately - most things i've tried by Electro-harmonix (except the MicroPOG- that's a keeper)

russian bassballs - faulty switch (didnt always switch)

Little Big Muff - not really a bad pedal, but could never get it to cut through a band mix, and the tone i liked out of it meant that the low end was seriously compromised

Stereo Electric Mistress - had alot of cool functions, but i felt like my bass chorus did the chorus better, and my boss flanger that i used to have did flanging better too (always in my opinion), the filter matrix was crazy (in a good way) but i felt there was some low end loss- never tried it in a band so i could have been wrong.

Steel Leather - again never tried it in a band, and i actually thought the pedal was cool but i didnt think it was worth what it costs.

Metal Muff - not for bass

English Muff'n - actually, this is an awesome pedal and i want mine back, although a true bass version would convince me further, i felt there were some lows lost sometimes (the BASS control is low on a guitar but a bit muddy on bass IMO, same with the Metal Muff) - also its 24v power i think, so a wall wart is required and the pedal is MASSIVE so isn't ideal for a small pedalboard

Mini Qtron - huge volume boost that i just couldn't get rid of :(


other brands

boss metal zone - currently using that with a clean blend, still cant get it to cut through. gonna keep working it tho, im gna try messing with the EQ more.


Sansamp BDDI - well this is a mixed bag really, i still love it and hate it too- i think i want a more natural bass sound back, ill keep it though, because it has loads of applications, and i can use it with the blend down as preamp/DI to tweak my tone before sending it to my amp (which i usually keep flat) and a mixer



although i said all that stuff about EHX, i love the look of their pedals and alot of the time they sound great in theory, but just never seem to work out for me. i've got the (black) russian Big Muff on the way, and a ElectroniX MessDrive Hybrid and Submarine pedals on order too. im gonna try out everything then get rid of what i don't think works for me. (the messdrive hybrid clips in the WIKI sounded awesome- kinda like a more natural version of my MXR Blowtorch)


all this stuff is always in my own opinion, blah blah blah, you get the idea

Boss ODB-3.

I think I have a new answer:

The Russian Bassballs. I'm not so much disappointed with the sound, as I am with the fact that it doesn't work. At all. I'm sending it to NYC once I get a full-time job, and if that doesn't fix the problem, then it goes bye-bye, and I try the Nano model (which I should have done in the first place).

And I found a newish BOSS pedal I like: The RE-20 Rotary Ensemble. Paid for by the good taxpayers of Dane County, WI, it gives me that sound I never knew I wanted.

Fulltone Bassdrive

Fulltone Bassdrive

:eek: MOSFET or the old version?

-Eric

Boss ODB-3 - way too dry for me, seemed to suck the life out of your tone.

morley dal bass wah not enough sweep for me

Digitech BP 200 multi effects. Yuck :spit:

I was dissapointed with the sans amp stomp box ...

the lack of a mid control and the lack of compression were annoying ... and I didn't like the distortion it has ...

I am also usually dissapointed with most chorus and flange bass effects and phase shifting on bass seems counterproductive ...

these day I split my signal and run it into a bass pod where I model the old flip top ampeg amp and I model a rat distortion pedal and the other signal goes through a MXR bass di+ ...

...Und it's the RT-20, not the RE-20. My bad. The RE-20 is the new Space Echo, which I neither own nor desire to own.

Ashdown Sub-Octave.

Tracks poorly. Drive feature is actually pretty cool on its own, but useless in a band setting.

Sickenly cool to the eye though, and built like a tank.

EHX Micro Pog
Line 6 DL-4

(coming from a non-solo bassist perspective)

They're great pedals, just not for me.

Ibanez AW-7. But only vibe-wise. It's still a fantastic pedal, but... now it sits on my board next to a 3rd-gen DOD FX25 and does nothing. I hate to say it, but the AW-7 is too usable, it just doesn't have personality or stank.

I know I'm gonna sell one of them, otherwise I'd talk about how cool it sounds to have them both on :D

Fulltone Bassdrive
+1
Played the MOSFET version in the store.......not the sound that I was expecting.

This and the Tech21 Bass Compactor....the noisiest comp ever!

EH Freq Analyzer.

As far as a ring mod goes it is just weak. I never bought one but i played it in store and was thoroughly disappointed. Anyways, it seems like there are some patterns of disappointments here, which is kind of interesting. EH seems to have shown up a lot. I think they do have some great pedals, but also have some clear let downs as well.

J

haz labs MuTron III+ (reissue). my noob ears thought it sounded pretty cool when i got it back in the early 90's (at a whopping 300 bucks new) but over time i was less and less pleased with it.
2 of them back to back sound pretty good, but by itself it just sucks signal and the envelope really has no pop to it. it works pretty good as a mid boost in most settings.

my other main disappointment was the bass balls (black). "twin dynamic filter"...please. more like twin dynamic icepicks into each ear.

For straight "wow...I'm never using this - I should dump this pedal" - the ODB-3.

On the more serious side - I LOVE my Sanford and Sonny Bluebeard fuzz, but so much of the time, my amp volume has to stay low because of where we play, so I don't get the sound out of my Bluebeard/amp in combination. Not the pedal's fault - just the nature of the situation along with two much other overdrive amongst the other band members.

HOWEVER, running the Bluebeard into my Sansamp BDDI totally fixes my problem. I wanted the Bluebeard to be a standalone pedal. For many (including me) under different conditions, it would be. I'm just finding that I need to combine it to get the right tone quality.

Maybe I am not spending enough time tweaking the settings but, I recently bought the Sansamp clone from Behringer (that supposedly sounds just as good as the real thing) and I was like...oh, ok, meh.

The overdrive doesnt really work well unless you crank it up all the way then it sounds too distorted, and all it seems to do is make the sound really "scooped". I bought it to warm up my sound a little and add a "pinch" of overdrive and so far i am disappointed. If this is what the much more expensive Sansamps sound like then I am glad I only spent $30 on the Behringer.

boss bass synth sby-5 or something like that its called, i think the digitech is much better to be honost.

line 6 mm4

pedals that i've taken off my board out of frustration:

EHX Nano Clone - simply sucks on bass

Danelectro Spring King - doesn't handle the bottom end well, though stomping on the kickpad is fun when run through lots of other FX.

Digitech bass synth/wah...

I guess I just expected a little more color

pedals that i've taken off my board out of frustration:

EHX Nano Clone - simply sucks on bass

Sounds like someone failed to notice my incessant warnings about it. :D

Why does it have to suck so much? Why won't EHX fix it? :(

copilot android. hmmmm. maybe it just takes more time to tinker with.

I was let down by the Pigtronix EP-1. The build quality was simply horrendous: I heard a very loud click when I activated and deactivated the effect, which didn't work. And, by loud, I mean louder-than-the-volume-on-the-amp loud

The Polish Love/Bogdan whatever pedal. I had high expectations, and there was nothing really wrong with it, just not the sound I was looking for. So I traded for a hematoma. Not sure if I like that one either, though :D

Not exactly in the close past, but the Boss PH-3 was a real bust. Added to much noise, not enough whoosh, and killed the bass freqs on wooshy settings.

The Attack Goat and Hematoma didn't really let me down per se, but they don't really fit my sound at the time. I kinda wish I'd kept the hema in many ways (ive gotten a better amp since then), but the AG was definatly to wild to be tamed/toned down, without sounding like **** anyways :p

T-Rex Fuel Tanx Classic and Junior - Can't power up my Moog Bass Murf

One Spot - create hums when used with my Moog coz it doesn't provide isolated power supply

Moog Bass Murf - Create hums when it's unhappy with power and needs 9V and 300mA

Aphex Bass Xciter. Not my cup o' tea.

construction:
ebs valve drive, the bypass switch cuts out somtimes when switching the effect on, I have to slam it hard to engage, dissapointing for such a big bucks pedal, tone is no problem though. EBS did send me a reaplcement switch though, but I still did not find the time to get it changed


So EBS sent you a replacement switch, but you're to lazy to install it, yet you're complaining about the pedal. Yes, you should not have a switch problem, but if it's an irritant to you... just get off your rear and fix it. They did their part.

.

Zvex Fuzz Factory, Fulltone "70", Ehx St Elect Mistress, Clone Theory, and Qtron.

mxr phase 90 is the only one recently that really bummed me out.

Boss Dynamic Wah (i think its like AW-2 or something?)

and most of the boss GT-6B...just wasnt satisfied with the sound of most effects, as nearly all of them were actually guitar pedals it was emulating (blues driver, vox guitar wah, turbo OD, etc.)

Mini Q-Tron - volume spikes from hell
Polish Love - not really OD, not really fuzz, more like shredded cone.

mxr phase 90 is the only one recently that really bummed me out.

Is it the stock version? If so, clip the R28, C11, and C12 resistors, and I will sound 10x better.

mxr phase 90 is the only one recently that really bummed me out.

I just borrowed one, now I am looking for one to buy.

So EBS sent you a replacement switch, but you're to lazy to install it, yet you're complaining about the pedal. Yes, you should not have a switch problem, but if it's an irritant to you... just get off your rear and fix it. They did their part.

.

I guess I'm not the only one with construction problems.

My EBS Wah-one died within a week of purchase. =/

Disappointments:

Akai Headrush E2 - don't get me wrong it's a great looper and digital delay, but the unit is too big and the analog/tape sound is lacking. Replaced it with the MXR Carbon Copy. I'm disappointed with the modulation, but it's a great sounding analog delay.

BOSS BF-3 - the flange was not strong enough to be heard in the mix. Replaced it with an MXR analog flanger and am much happier now. :D

BOSS ODB-3 - too fizzy and trebbly even at the lowest settings for me.

Chunk Systems Agent 00Funk Mark I - This pedal sounded great, but the settings were incredibly hard to keep stable enough to use it. Many of the settings were not great for bass either. Currently waiting for a Barge Concepts Grinder to come in.

DigiTech BP-80 Bass Multi Effects Processor - HUGE disappointment here. Every setting killed the bass and sounded really nasty and digitally processed. Lots of noise problems as well. Replaced this with a Digitech GNX4, and so far I am liking this unit much much more.

Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synth (larger version) - No matter where I set the gain, it would only fart out with my Stingray. Not sure if they fixed it in the XO sized model.

Electro-Harmonix Dr. Q (NYC) - This thing sucked out a major amount of the lows, and the envelope didn't have much of an opening/closing effect.

Maxon AF-9 - Too subtle for my tastes. I liked my EHX QTron more, but it was too huge and needed 24v power.

Lament getting rid of:

D.O.D. FX32 Meat Box - I really miss this little box. I got rid of it because I wasn't using it at the time, but it sounded great after an od/dist/fuzz, or envelope filter. The sounds that it punched out were wild and over the top, but it tracked really really well and sounded great. :( If there were another company that was cloning these, or I could find another for a reasonable price, I'd probably purchase it.

Tech 21 Bass Compactor - produced a very cold, mechanical and squashed sound no matter how I adjusted it. Very disappointed. Returned immediately.

Tech 21 BDDI - due to hot pickups, it couldn't NOT distort the tone. I had to pull the effect almost all the way out. Also, it scooped the tone so that a lot of articulation was gone. To it's credit, I did get a very cool recorded tone from it once with a passive P bass. But overall I had to turn it off most of the time. I believe the para driver DI would have been a better choice on the midrange front.