TONE HAMMER experience: Great, Good, or just Okay?

phatbass30 · #1 10-15-2008, 02:42 PM

i've been following some tone hammer threads for a while before it came out. i'm very much interested as well. it was the talk of the town before it came out. but now that it's already out, it seems like its gone quiet. i suppose that there's some TB'ers who has one now, right? so, anything to say about it? is it great? or good or just okay? is it worth the wait? i want to hear your thoughts about the pedal. not just how its worth because of the price, its all about the tone. do you like it?

i am on a verge of buying one right now, but i have some second thoughts. specially after reading Munjibunga's thread about stomp box preamps.

Stompbox preamps ~ a heretic's view

which i think has a point, specially for bass players like me who has an active bass. maybe i'm just fascinated by the amount of good things that i read here at TB about the TH, but actually maybe i don't need it at all since i already have an MXR-M80.

i made some mistakes before, i bought some pedals because of reviews and feed backs that i read, without even trying and hearing them. about 3 out of 10, 3 i got lucky, 7 i didn't like it at all.

so now i'm here again on the same situation, maybe i will make the same mistake again, or maybe i'll get lucky.

so, just for those who owns the TH, feel free to write down your experience with it, with all honesty whether you like the TH or its just an Okay pedal for you. maybe this would help me decide and all the others who wants to buy the TH or even other pedals in the future. but then again, YMMV of course. so just some thoughts would be much appreciated.

thanks guys!

phatbass30 · #2 10-16-2008, 12:36 AM

Wow, 58 views and no replies? Hmm...

Usually when somebody here at TB got something great and well loved, the comments and replies just keep on showing up. How come nobody wants to say anything about their experience on the TH? I'm sure there are atleast 10 or more members here who owns it.

This is strange. Well, I'm still waiting.

irvinz · #3 10-16-2008, 01:47 AM

im waiting for mine. i hope i love it =)
i've got the mxr as well. went through the sansamp, sadowsky. and now waiting for this. mxr is currently the standard tho

phatbass30 · #4 10-16-2008, 02:57 AM

i have my MXR for more than a year now and it never leaves my board. i tried it side by side with a SABDDI and i like the MXR better, for my taste. so i want to try the TH but i guess i want to try it first or maybe hear what others think about it.

irvinz · #5 10-16-2008, 03:00 AM

yeah. my mxr has been on my board for over a year too. i'll let u know what i think when mine comes. should be next week!

Andy Will · #6 10-16-2008, 03:09 AM

Hey Phatbass (or Mr. Master of pedalboard-space-management

)!

I've had mine for a few weeks now and used it exclusively for 3 gigs without backline (well.....one with backline but the 'provided' amp sucked big time!!!).
I found that for the main part, my Bass (containing an Aguilar pre-amp) was used to control the tone with the Tonehammer set pretty flat. So, the E.Q. wasn't madly important on these gigs and since I was using it as a D.I., the AGS function wasn't used at all.

Could imagine on a lot of gigs with better P.A. set-ups, you could really sculpt your tone nicely with the e.q. but I was only playing small venues this time around and my Bass always provides about 95% of my tone. I've never really believed E.Q. pedals/rackmounts are necessary in a rig unless something is severely lacking in your Bass or if you have scenarios where you need to adjust between two different basses with tone or volume discrepancies.

I've set-up my pedalboard with the Tonehammer at the end of my signal chain as follows:
Volume Pedal (w/line out to Tuner) => Compulator => Wah => Tonehammer

Then the two purposes of my board are:
a) For no amp gigs: Using the Tonehammer as a D.I.
b) With amp gigs: The Tonehammer is used purely as an overdrive

For me, the Tonehammer is a useful addition to my simplified effects set-up but maybe in your case, isn't necessary as you already have your tone worked out (I've seen plenty of your posts

)

Andy Will · #7 10-16-2008, 03:15 AM

Already posted in a previous thread, but to give you the idea:

phatbass30 · #8 10-16-2008, 03:59 AM

hey Andy, thanks for the compliment. "Mr. Master of pedalboard-space-management", i like that! can i use it as my sig?

well i use my MXR for tone shaping, and i was thinking about the TH for the same use. i never use the DI anyway, most of the time, i use the MXR as an EFFECT pedal. so i think i won't be using the DI of the TH as well. and for overdrive. i use the Polish love and for heavy distortion and fuzz i got the Supercollider.

so i guess for now i won't be needing the TH since my bass has a J-Retro pre, plus the MXR for some more tone shaping.

Andy thanks for the reply it helped me to decide whether to take it or not. but i'm sure that the TH is a great preamp for passive bass players.

hey irvinz, what do you think of the Sadowsky preamp DI compared to MXR?

irvinz · #9 10-16-2008, 04:14 AM

mxr wins hands down. not even taking into account the drive/boost channel. just the eq is better voiced you could say. the mids control helps too

Andy Will · #10 10-16-2008, 04:16 AM

No problem! Bought the Flatliner Six after our chat about powersupplies a few weeks ago. Is really cool!

Feel free to 'Sig' away and let me know if you have any other questions!

1kinal · #11 10-16-2008, 07:25 AM

I've had mine since a few weeks but haven't played around with it a lot. From what I heard, at this point, I'm not completely all over it.

The eq doesn't seem as powerful as my DB-924. To hear a change in sound I have to run the eq controls close to maximum. Having the variable mid was the deal maker for me but if the general sound is not as good or better as my DB-924 I probably won't keep it. Please note that I haven't done direct A/B (which I plan to do). Regarding the EQ controls, center-detent would have been cool in order to start from the flat setting as the eq is cut/boost.

I have not tried the Tone Hammer DI yet...

Also, I'm really sorry that the AGS circuit produce such a high volume boost when used. Such REALLY cool sounds can be made using the AGS, but without a dedicated volume control it's not usable for me where it counts: on the gig.

The construction is solid, altough I was surprised to see plastic jacks on it. Finally, the design of the casing makes it hard to use right-angled cables (my DB-900 DI have the same problem).

I also have the EBS Micro Bass II which seem to have a clearer sound and a more powerful EQ.

I'll post my comments and hopefully some samples when I get a chance to compare the TH, DB-924 and EBS preamp.

Oh! Henry · #12 10-16-2008, 07:56 AM

subscribed!

I'm about to pull the trigger on one of these too, but I'll see what people have to say about it first. I'm mostly looking at something to shape my tone, and use as a backup incase my amp blows.

Ebelow · #13 10-16-2008, 11:25 AM

Thanks Andy! same purposes here, so my TH on it's way, tomorrow delivery says the ups. Same PTjunior setup I have. When you got the Eclipse please share your experience with it!

phatbass30 · #14 10-16-2008, 11:29 AM

few months back i wanted to order the TH at bestbassgear.com, and that time i was really willing to buy it straight right away because of the hype here at TB. fortunately there's a reservation, first come first serve basis. then i've been informed few days ago by Brian of bestbassgear that its already my turn. meaning, its available for me to purchase.

i've been following some threads here about the TH, and i noticed that it became really quiet lately. that's why i started this thread because i am really curious why all of a sudden a very hot thread just got quiet now that the product is available for everyone and some of the members here has already made the purchase. it made me think that maybe its not as what everyone here were expecting. or maybe its just another preamp DI like the others. i love my MXR but i am willing to experiment and try something new. but my philosophy is, i won't get something to replace my stuffs unless its better. i was using my SABDDI for 6 years. i replaced it with the MXR because i think it sounds much better to my ears. and like all the other guys here, i spent a lot of money buying pedals and experimenting and looking for the right sound and set up. for now i am happy with my set up. i got the pedals that i want. then came the TH, i got confused again!

so, just feel free to leave your comments and experience of the TH here, i'm still interested but i guess i won't buy it that soon.

**grygrx** · #15 10-16-2008, 11:37 AM

What? Hype on Talkbass.... say it ain't so!

phatbass30 · #16 10-16-2008, 11:47 AM

sorry dude, maybe i said it wrong. what i meant was its been very popular here. sorry for the word.

peace!

stflbn · #17 10-16-2008, 11:51 AM

If you do not need the D.I. function I'd highly recomment a VT-bass pedal. I use two of them on the same small board for tone shaping choices. One with a warm tubey sound with just a hint of tube grit. The other with more of a clean, smooth bassy sound for country/reggea, etc. My standard bass/amp sound is quite modern, so I have that nailed naturally by my gear. The two VT's give me alot of different tone options.

However, in the next few months I'll probably pickup an M-80, or Tonehammer for yet aother option of tone shaping.

**grygrx** · #18 10-16-2008, 11:52 AM

I was just being silly!

phatbass30 · #19 10-16-2008, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grygrx

I was just being silly!

dude, you just gave me a heart attack! i almost died of fear!

CElton · #20 10-16-2008, 12:13 PM

I picked on up about 5 weeks ago. It's really a nice preamp/DI. I don't do distortion, but was hoping the AGS would add some warmth and it did. It would give a nice little "tube give" thing if used sparingly. In the end, I flipped it and just got a Radial JDI. Both of my basses have preamps so it was a little redundant. I think it's a good tool, and can help warm up a tired rig, or provide additional tone sculpting but I just didn't need it for that. Had it had the abiltity to engage the AGS without the dB boost, I might have kept it around.

Edit: I just wanted to add that this is a quality preamp/DI and the price is very nice for what you get.