Magnetar/Devi Ever Bass Fuzz Question

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Has anyone used both the Magnetar and the Devi Ever Bass Fuzz/Supermassive Black Hole? The Bass Fuzz was Mountainking's circuit that's apparently gone into the Magnetar, but the control scheme on both of them is pretty different. I have a Bass Fuzz and dig it. Anyone know if the Magnetar can cover the exact range of tones the Bass Fuzz does? Are the additional tonal options on the Magnetar different enough on the Magnetar worth the upgrade price IYO?

[DeltaPhoenix]

All I know is that the Magnetar is in my top 3, an AMAZING FUZZ for sure.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I had a tiny bit of board space open up, so if it's a marked improvement I'd like to try it myself. Looks plain as hell though- I'd have to paint one if I got one.

[Dark Barn]

I've never owned the SMBH but the input control alone seems worth the price of admission for the Magnetar. At the lower end it tightens the gate and at the higher end it compresses the fuzz and loosens the gate. The Slope control is is sort of a see saw tone filter and can give you insane low end, the midrange notch filters are more for fine tuning which I love to be able to do, gives you alot of sonic tweakability to dial it in just right. I sold my Magnetar to fund a new bass purchase but I already have another on order.

If size is no issue I think the extra features on the Magnetar are all worth it, especially the input and slope controls. Never having owned the SMBH I can't make a strong comparison but the Magnetar is 'The' gated fuzz, for me.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Ah- I had thought the Input control was a "standard" input gain control to compensate for your bass' output.

I'd probably still pick the Oxide as my preferred gated fuzz, but that Mountainking circuit is a whole different flavor that I also like- it's got an unapologetic a-hole sound to it

[Dark Barn]

Well I think it is 'standard' but it interacts with the circuit how I described, in my case with an active bass.

[Gero]

Magnetar destroys all. Even in the thinnest settings, it's huge. Probably my favorite fuzz for guitar and bass. The controls are very interactive.

[gastric]

Question related to the Bass Fuzz / Black Hole / Magnetar.

I just picked up a Black Hole and discovered if I simply roll my passive P-bass volume down about 1/3-1/2 the gate tightens significantly, the fuzz becomes much more focused, and way more synthy sounding.

Is that what the Input control on the Magnetar does? Lowers the input to the circuit to perform that same tonal / functional control? What I'd really like to do is modify the Black Hole to have an available control or permanent modification to function the same as lowering my instrument volume. I'm sure the Magnetar is awesome, but I like the sound out of the Black Hole and the chassis is super tiny so an easy add to a board.

I emailed Mountainking asking the same questions, I'll post the response here if / when it is received.

[Dark Barn]

I think that's how it works Gastric, I'm curious what Alan has to say.

[gastric]

Here is Alan's reply:

If you put a 100k trim pot, set up like a standard volume control (a.k.a. voltage divider style) before the input cap, you'll have the same type of control that the INPUT control is on the Magnetar.

I'm still trying to determine how to accomplish that. There's plenty of space inside the enclosure for a micro trimmer or even a micro external control to be installed. I'm just not totally certain where to install it in circuit yet.

Unrelated this is one of the best pedal builds I've seen. Super clean, no glue, pots are attached to the PCB to hold it into the chassis, excellent wiring and soldering. Attached a crappy iPhone photo.

[gastric]

Finally got around to playing with the input trim modification. I first alligator clipped in a 250k pot as a simple resistor and played with the pot until I found what I thought was the sweet spot, then measured with a multimeter and came up with around 200k of resistance. I don't currently have a micro-sized pot, thinking something like those real skinny plastic ones found on Way Huge pedals, so I just wired in a couple series resistors for around 200k resistance. After taking the attached photo I wrapped the exposed soldered areas with electrical tape and viola!

Makes the regular fuzz sound very vintage, makes the gated synthy fuzz sound wayyyy better. You can still roll your instrument volume down even further for real sputtery gating if you so desire.

Sorry for the bad photos, iPhone 4S takes horrible macro shots.

* Remove black lead from top left footswitch lug (that's the input to the PCB)
* Insert resistor or pot
* Put it back together