Aguilar Agro pedal, reviews?

[tonymcbony]

Hey folks,
I'm after some more reviews of the Aguilar Agro pedal.
If you've got one, what is it replacing and how does it compare some of the more popular dirt pedals?
How touch responsive is it? Can it do the edge-of-grind thing or is it pretty saturated from the get-go?
Does it lose any bass?
Those are my biggest Q's, any other info is highly appreciated!

[1kinal]

I love mine. I think I finally found a drive pedal I actually like. I first had a fulltone bassdriver, was ok but it did loose bass. Then had the Xotic BB preamp, very similar to the bassdrive but doesn't loose low-end. It sounded great by itself but I was not crazy about it in the mix, it was getting lost and always sounded too blurry.

I then got the agro 3 weeks ago and have since used it a lot at home and on a few gigs. I definately like it. I use it mostly for light-dirt. While the full dirt sounds are superb, I've no real use for it in the bands I play with. Still cool to have it available.

What I like of the agro is that the low-end stays true, like it's not being distorted. It really helps in staying clear in the mix while still having the distortion flavor we like. I've also found that the same setting I use for slight dirt is also awesome for tumb muting. Gives bigger lows and make up for the volume drop generally associated with this technique.

As for the sound of the distortion itself, it's in the vein of the AGS circuit on the aguilar tone hammer (what a surprise) and I'd also place it in the same family of the VT bass tone. I have both on my board and they complement each other very well. When I had the BB, it sounded SO different from the VT. Keep in mind that the VT is extremely versatile and a small knob movement affect the sound a lot so it may just be with the setting I use myself...

While I've not tried that many overdrives/distortion for bass, I'd not be shy to say the agro is one of the best. I know the Xotic BB is highly regarded here but for me the agro is better.

Definately worth a try. Aguilar continues to impress me with their pedals. First the octamizer and now the agro. Haven't tried the twin filter or the comp. That said I'm still not crazy over the form factor. I apreciate they tried to make something new but the over-hanging lid makes using most 90 degree impossible which is the connector of choice on a pedalboard, especially with pedals "tall" like the aguilar line. I came over this problem by using the lava cables pedal kit but it's simply not useful to not be able to use ANY 90 degree cable in case of failure.

[NOLA Bass]

I've got one on the way from Jive Sound. Can't wait to get it, I love the demo videos I've seen.

[christoph h.]

Well, I recently got one, so I didn't have much time to play around with it. I tested it in my homestudio. But my first impressions are as follows:

1) It sounds very natural, not artificial (like a ODB-3, or a Tech21 XXLB).
2) Like 1kinal says, the lowend stays, so there doesn't seem to be need for a clean blend.
3) It can do low-gain grit to over-the-top distorted wall of sound.
4) The presence/contour knobs are very useful to get different sounds and have it sit in a mix.
5) It's active-friendly.

[Eublet]

The Agro is one of my favorite pedals. I used it to replace a VT Bass pedal that I just couldn't get to settle in despite many attempts. The Agro is way more versatile and useable IMHO thanks to the very easy but poweful Contour and Presence knobs. You really don't need Low/Mid/Hi EQ control on the pedal at all.

It is very touch sensitive, which is good. It reacts to your playing which is what you'd expect I think. I have the Tone Hammer also, and I think it's quite different sounding personally. Very little overlap there, and I much prefer the Agro to the AGS circuit.

The nicest thing about the Agro, especially coming from the VT Bass, is that the treble response starts off a bit muted and mellow when the Presence knob is fully counter clockwise. That's a good thing, because you can then add the amount of grind and clarity that you want. With the VT, it was seemed impossible to dial that harshness out. The Agro's Contour knob let's you quickly go from a flat voicing, to a scooped SVT sound, to a mid-centered aggressive tone, with just one knob. The low-end stays present in all settings thanks to the way the circuit mixes your wet signal in over the bottom tones. Even with the Presence fully off, and the saturation set fairly high, it's not muddy or boomy.

The Agro can be set to run pretty clean, but there is a definite effect it imparts as soon as you turn it on. For my basses, running the Saturation around 9 is very clean, with some very slight harmonic OD noticeable when I dig in VERY hard (harder than would actually happen in a giggin situation). I usually set the pedal around 10:30 for a warm but clean sound, which gives me room to get some aggressive bite on dynamics. Works great.

This past weekend, I did 5 shows running a Lakland DJ5 into the Agro which fed a Radial JDI. I was using in-ears on an Aviom system, and the tone was quite simply perfect, both on stage through the IEM's and also into the house. I've played this location quite a bit now, and I've used the Tone Hammer, VT Bass, and Sansamp BDDI here. The Tone Hammer is better than the VT and BDDI, but the Agro is the bomb.

[grimniggzy]

Any word or opinions on how this works with a solid state setup? I've been curious about this one.

[Eublet]

Originally Posted by grimniggzy

Any word or opinions on how this works with a solid state setup? I've been curious about this one.

Is there something particular you are concerned with?

The PA I use it with is all SS. I also put the Agro into a Berg IP310, which is all SS. It makes the thing sound like a giant 810 with a Tube head on top of it. Warm and forgiving, depending on how I set the saturation and presence knobs. The Agro softens the transients much like a Tube head does. The harder you push it, the more it does this. This is typical of most OD pedals, but of course the are variations in opinions on how well they accomplish this. The Agro to me is stellar. I've also used it into the power section of an RH450 (also SS), and have plans to run it in front of a LMIII or F500 in the future. I've used all my tube-emulation pedals like this with SS heads, and they work fantastic as long as you like the sound of the pedal and head individually.

[grimniggzy]

Just concerned with it possibly sounding much weaker on a SS setup.
I've noticed between playing my friends SVT CL and my Sunn Amps that different pedals do very different things depending on which amp I put them in front of.

PS, thank you I think you may have talked me into it

[blastjv]

So far it's been an animal with anything I've put it through. Both solid state and tube.

-John

[Eublet]

Originally Posted by grimniggzy

Just concerned with it possibly sounding much weaker on a SS setup.
I've noticed between playing my friends SVT CL and my Sunn Amps that different pedals do very different things depending on which amp I put them in front of.

PS, thank you I think you may have talked me into it

Yeah, that's for sure. If you love the sound of a DB750, then putting the Agro in front of it will definitely be beefier and more organic sounding than putting it in front of a iAmp for example. The head still imparts it's color to whatever the pedal sends it.

FWIW, the LMII was the best SS head I had for use with OD pedals. I think that's because it is very warm sounding on it's own, despite being ultra clean. This seemed to work well with pedal and modelers in general since it let the tone of those devices come through clearly without sounding sterile. Brighter heads (such as the Shuttle 6 for example) didn't seem to match as well, even though they sounded great on their own. That's just personal experience, particularly with the VT Bass and Shuttle. The VT's harsh treble response combined with the upper-mid articulation of the Shuttle was overly clackety. With the LMII however, the VT worked much better, and the VLE on the LMII really helped tame that VT down quite a bit.

My guess is that the Agro would work much better with the Shuttle, but I don't have it anymore to test. Just giving you an example. Generally speaking, the Agro isn't trying to simulate anything. It dials in some saturation, then you set how much presence/grind you want, and finally you contour the sound for a scooped, flat or mid-centered sound. There's your basic tone. Now can EQ that tone on your head to give it more/less bottom. That's about all I do, and it simply kills for me. But then again, I love the sound of my basses (Lakland DJ's) with no tone modification whatsoever. So the Agro isn't making it sound like something it's not. It just sounds like a jazz bass with some overdrive that hasn't had the bottom sucked out of it. It's a pretty universal but highly effective tone IMO, with a hint of that Aguilar signature warmth.

[Low_blow]

A good pedal, very tweakable, you can get quite different sounds from this thing, but, in my opinion, it does higher gain dist better than light OD. The EQ knobs (presence and contour) are wonderful, more useful than two-band active Eq on the BB Preamp, for example. So, after using it for a few days I sold mine to a friend, who plays metal. He loves it very much.

[Eublet]

Originally Posted by Low_blow

A good pedal, very tweakable, you can get quite different sounds from this thing, but, in my opinion, it does higher gain dist better than light OD. The EQ knobs (presence and contour) are wonderful, more useful than two-band active Eq on the BB Preamp, for example. So, after using it for a few days I sold mine to a friend, who plays metal. He loves it very much.

I can totally see how some would have this opinion. Because of the way the Agro doesn't start sucking bottom end out, the OD effect can be much more subtle at lower settings than many pedals. I find this to be a plus. Folks wanting a light OD effect that does more on the bottom might not be as impressed.

[Low_blow]

Originally Posted by Eublet

I can totally see how some would have this opinion. Because of the way the Agro doesn't start sucking bottom end out, the OD effect can be much more subtle at lower settings than many pedals. I find this to be a plus. Folks wanting a light OD effect that does more on the bottom might not be as impressed.

Xotic BB Preamp doesn't suck low frequences at low gain settings, too, but, for my taste, the Agro is a bit more harsh sounding at low gain settings than the BB Preamp. Though, I can nail the sound similar to one of the settings of the BB Preamp on the Agro due to its tweakability.

[Filip Burdon]

Have anyone tried the Agro pedal against Fulltone bass driver?

[BassMister11]

I'm interested in hearing that too, I've used the Fulltone but never the Agro. I want to hear if it can get more aggressive.

[Eublet]

This demo covers the Agro tone pretty extensively. Aguilar AGRO Pedal - YouTube

[tonymcbony]

I actually bought and sold the Agro. It certainly did the grind but somehow sounded too flat in a mix.