Ever had a pedal . . . ?

#1 02-01-2009, 09:09 AM

Ever had a pedal that you weren't too thrilled about at first, that you thought might even be a piece of crap, but then wound up using all the time?

What's the story?

Mine is the Tech21 XXL Bass Edition.

For an overdriven/distorted tone, I always strived for an edge of grit rather than fuzzy-wuzzies or buzz-saw. To achieve this, I usually tweaked knobs until I had my tweak-sequence down to about twenty seconds. Despite the shortened tweak time, I HATE tweaking, and having to walk over to my rig, bend down and tweak knobs on my pedalboard, etc. I always found this really annoying, because it busts my groove.

For the hell of it, I plugged in my XXL pedal (which I NEVER USED) one day, just for the hell of it, I dialed the Drive knob to almost nothing and the Warp knob to about 10:00. Presto. Compliments all around, and satisfaction on my part.

Is this even an interesting topic? Is it boring? Should I clam up and go away?

Just curious . . .

Jared Lash · #2 02-01-2009, 09:22 AM

I wouldn't say I thought it was a piece of crap, but I'd nearly forgotten that I owned a Boss OC-2. The EBS I bought later has such a warmer and more natural tone. But for the stuff I'm doing now (and for Pino like fretless playing) the OC-2 is fantastic.

Another one would be the SansAmp, though that was my fault more than anything. I bought it at the suggestion of a friend thinking it was an overdrive and was pretty underwhelmed. But I came to find out what a useful tool it could be.

**DosiYanarchy** · #3 02-01-2009, 09:36 AM

I just got the XXLbass and because I've got a Green Stache for fuzz-fuzz, I thought I could make it into an overdrive, however even with the drive on minimum its still pretty distorted. I only got it yesterday but have discovered that even with the minimum drive, i can get a 'distorted tube amp' sorta tone, which i really like as its opposed to the engulfing fuzz of the stache, so its definitely gonna stay on the board as i dont yet have a middle ground between my slightly dirty VTbass tone and the Stache's nuclear fuzz.

My XO Bass Micro Synth is one of the sort of pedals you describe, although TBH ive always loved it, think its incredibly versatile, however i've had the same setting on it for the last couple of months as i've been using it in one song with my band (it gave me a massive distorded filter sweep). So because i was using it for that one sound, i wasnt using it for anything else

Yesterday i was messing around with it and took away the filter sweep and *viola* got a great dirty synth distortion.

MakiSupaStar · #4 02-01-2009, 11:12 AM

The q-Tron. I'm still debating about putting it up on the blocks. I have essentially three envelope filters on my board. I have the filter section of the EHX Bass Micro Synth, I have the Moogerfooger Lowpass Filter, and I have the q-tron all sitting next to each other. The q-tron is big, I don't use it very much, so I was thinking about canning it. I still might. Although yesterday, I got nice and heated and watched some youtube vids with people and the q-trons and went back and tweaked with it again, and now I'm back in love with it. I now have three distinct envelope filter sounds (four if you count my digitech bass synth wah).

varunkapahi · #5 02-01-2009, 11:28 AM

happens with me all the time

The Ethanator · #6 02-01-2009, 12:40 PM

my digitech bass synth wah. at first, going through the modes, it was interesting. but then my interest in it kinda dropped off, being a metal bassist and all. but now i use modes 1, 3, and 4 almost all the time. since i use mode 1 alot (envelope filter mode), i may buy a q-tron so i can tailor that sound a little more, and have the bsw on a seperate setting so i have multiple synth tones at my feet without having to bend over and change them in the middle of a song

Soloshchenko · #7 02-02-2009, 12:36 AM

I had a Boss BF2 flanger in my cupboard that I bought years ago for guitar. I never liked the pedal's sound when used with guitar, way too "sweepy" for my tastes.

In the process of building my first board and looking on here saw lots of people using BF2's in their setups so dusted it off and had a jam on my jazz bass and was blown away.

Flanger sounds a million times better on bass than guitar, it's a far more useable sound when coupled with bass. I'm glad my old pedal is gettin a new lease of life.

eshears · #8 02-02-2009, 04:12 AM

Emma Discumbobulator. When I first got it I plugged it in and thought...that's it?

Then I took it to a gig, stepped on it, and brought the mo-freakin' funk!

I had it on for half the gig, which was probably a little excessive. The Emma's just not a super wet filter, so it can sound a little underwhelming solo. But in a mix, it's funky as hell and cuts like a knife (but it feels so right)!

theunknowndude · #9 02-02-2009, 04:57 AM

mine for me was my weeping demon,...

I thought I was a smart arse and knew what I was doing, I turned everything up full and got lots of buzz and annoying high ptiched treble clank... took it to my teacher who fine tuned it for working well on the practice amp there with a clean sound,... but when I took it home and played it through my rig sounded awful... was almost going to box it up and leave it for a while when someone on here said to run some dirt into it first and put some subtle settings on it,...

taken me a long time but realised that fine tuning it works a heck of a lot better than putting everything on full! got a really evil tone for pulling teeth solo and now practising the when and wheres of using it in a band setting