my little review on the Hartke VXL Bass Attack Pedal

ghostjs · #1 09-25-2010, 06:26 PM

so for my birthday I ordered a DI/pedal cause i've been dying to own one for a while now. I found the cheapest yet most effective DI/Pedal i could find and ordered it with very little knowledge. Sweetwater delivered it to me yesterday and today i tested it in the band setting.
(note: this is my first effect so.. i might be just overly impressed as i just dipped my toe in the world of effects)

WOW! i'm impressed with not only the improved quality of the pedal, but all the thick sounds i can get with this! I first tried with only the shape effect finding a really thick sound that made my peavey sound like a tin can compared to it. after that i fiddled around with the distortion side and found some extremely usable tones from thick tube to blazing solo when i adjusted the "brite" control to 3 o clock and the harmonics around left and right.
the shape knob is most sensitive at its 12 o clock position but i found between 11 and 1 o clock really made a difference in tone.
overall, every knob has serious response in tone and i'm very happy with my purchase. if you're considering buying this, I'd probably jump out to say yes, but I don't have years of experience on effects to do that... but if you're just starting to enter the world of bass effects, i'd would say this was worth every penny and to go for it.
(extra note: before i ordered this, i tried out a MXR M-80 and i wasnt very impressed)

Larry Hartke · #2 09-25-2010, 06:42 PM

ghostjs,

Thank you so much...where do I send the check?

GrooveWarrior · #3 09-25-2010, 06:46 PM

I tried a friends VXL and found it, too, exceeded my expectations. You just reminded me that I should really pick one of those up.

allenhf · #4 10-06-2010, 11:46 AM

I just purchased one of these pedals, and I could not be happier. I actualy had the oppertunity to try one out beside a Sans Amp Bass DI, an MXR M80, and an Aguilar Tone Hammer. The MXR imo, sounds too "singy". Almost like a cheap solid state guitar amp when the distortion is turned on. The Sans Amp sounded good, but not great. While the Tone Hammer did sound slightly better than the VXL, it was not by much. I think most bass players, if given a blind test, would choose the VXL. I just with they would make a 3 or 4 channel programable version.

ghostjs · #5 10-10-2010, 07:55 PM

yeah i've been excessively playing this baby since i got it! i just love it!

wetzelman1 · #6 10-10-2010, 08:34 PM

I had one back when I only had an Ampeg B2R. Definitely made it sound much much better, but since I bought an SVT 2 Pro, I have had no need for it.

It was great at what it did and it's cheap. I'd love to be able to still use at in my chain as a stomp with the harmonics cranked, but the volume spike is too much. This is a turn it on and leave it on kind of pedal.

my most fond memory was, *ahem*having food poisoning*ahem* and cranking the harmonics and just sitting on the floor with my back on the side of my 810. For about 3 hours.