This pedal doesnt seem to get any mention on talkbass, but with this little piece of info after trying one out today i hope it can get more exposure
I traded my blackout effectors mantra o/d for it. While the blackout mantra is imo a great, great od pedal for guitars it doesnt really cut it for me on bass. For one, it is rather high gain for a od pedal. Doesnt help that im using high output humbuckered bass, its getting into distortion territory with my model j jazz bass at lowest gain setting. And it sounds too compressed for my taste as well.
Seeing it is a good deal($$$-wise), I traded my mantra for the creamtone without hesitation. Last time I checked a new one goes for 270 usd excluding shipping on ebay
pretty costly even by boutique standards. I intended to just trade for it, sell it off and use the cash to get a barber ltd sr which I have tried in a store and digged.
I wont go into details about how the paint job, u can google it if you want. Basically it is a low-mid gain od with a second switch for the guitarist to get a volume boost when he goes from rhythm to solo. Pretty nifty if your playin guitar, but I personally doesnt have much use for it. Inside the pedal theres 2 mini switch(trimpot???) you can adjust it for more/less bass or gain on tap.
On the surface is as usual, the volume and a gain knob which are pretty standard as well as a tone knob. The tone knob functions sort of like those on muffs variations however it is definitely more subtle.
I first played with less bass and more gain adjusted on the trimpots( I didnt know they existed) and surprisingly theres only minimal bass loss. Even when I crank the gain. With the gain all the way down theres some breaking up between the notes, and with it all the way up its inches away from distortion territory. I am using a high output active bass, so I wouldnt know how a passive bass will respond but I can imagine it cleaning up better but with less gain on tap.
I was pretty pleased with the tone, it sounded abit like a xotic bb guitar preamp with bass at 3oclock and treble at 9o clock. A little bass cut, but still full nontheless and has abit of solid state grind to it.
With the trimpots of the bass increased and the gain decreased, I plugged in my bass again. This time there was NO low end loss at all. Even with the tone knob cranked all the way the low end is still pretty much intact. As for the gain, it is significantly lower as well. Notes starting to breakup around 12 o clock, and around 1 to 2 you can get a mid distorted grind to it. Totally dig it.
To me, it sounded similar to the barber ltd sr except for the fact that with the tone knob cranked theres still not much bass loss. Compared to the mantra is sounded much more open and has much lesser gain. Compared to the xotic bass BB is sounds warmer. The xotic bb sounded too 'clean' and transparent for my taste.
All in all its a great sounding o/d, but I wouldnt recommend buying it new since you can get a barber ltd sr for much cheaper. However, if you can find a used cheap one do give it a shot, you just might be pleasantly surprised ; )
