zvex box of metal

vier-personen · #1 02-27-2008, 03:31 AM

anyone tried it with bass yet?

Toasted · #2 02-27-2008, 03:44 AM

I would suggest it probably loses bass

TaySte_2000 · #3 02-27-2008, 03:50 AM

and scoops the mids

Toasted · #4 02-27-2008, 04:16 AM

Scooped mids aren't always a bad thing.

Bass loss always is

roflol · #5 02-27-2008, 04:28 AM

i like mid scooped fuzzzzzzz

vier-personen · #6 02-27-2008, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toasted

I would suggest it probably loses bass

I guess so, but how much? have you tried it or are you guessing?

Toasted · #7 02-27-2008, 04:42 AM

I'm guessing.

Mingus Addict · #8 02-27-2008, 02:41 PM

In the latest Post Your Own thread, Assboglin says the Box of Rock makes a great Bass OD. I don't know if that really says anything for the Box of Metal though.

OhThePeacock · #9 02-27-2008, 03:15 PM

If it's made for metal it may be voiced for dropped tunings which could mean it has adequate low end. But Toasted is much more of an effects afociondo he would probably know better than I.

Toasted · #10 02-27-2008, 03:26 PM

Hey, don't defer to me

. I'm only guessing as much as you are.

OhThePeacock · #11 02-27-2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toasted

Hey, don't defer to me

. I'm only guessing as much as you are.

That's not very reassuringly elitist of you...

Toasted · #12 02-27-2008, 03:47 PM

assboglin · #13 02-27-2008, 03:56 PM

After tweaking it some more, the Box of Rock is THE BEST bass overdrive I've ever played through, and there are a lot of them. This is of course according to my personal taste. You have to roll the tone off to keep the bass, but the way I've got it set up my overdriven sound has MORE bottom than my clean sound although less highs. Perfect for what I want, maybe less so for what you like.

Listening to the box of metal, I don't imagine why you would want to use it with bass, I think it would sound like crap with bass. Pure mush I think. The Box of Metal doesn't appear to have the same tone control as the Box of Rock, so I don't know how it'll hold the bottom. There is a three band EQ but keep in mind their center frequencies are going to be chosen for guitar, so if you're in a metal band with metal guitarists, you may have low end pressure on your own, but you'll probably end up competing with the guitarist over the same low frequencies instead of filling the spot in the mix where bass is supposed to be - not good. It does sound pretty bassy for a guitar pedal though (obviously, it's a metal distortion).

**grygrx** · #14 02-27-2008, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by assboglin

After tweaking it some more, the Box of Rock is THE BEST bass overdrive I've ever played through, and there are a lot of them. This is of course according to my personal taste.

Big words. What else have you tried?

assboglin · #15 02-27-2008, 09:55 PM

Too many for me to possibly remember them all for you, I've been at this for years and spent thousands upon thousands of dollars myself as well as trying whatever guitar pedals my brother has went through, which is more thousands of dollars. You can search for the ones that I've done soundclips for here. That's just the tip of the iceberg, or just some of the pedals I've had since I joined Talkbass. The Box of Rock NAILS the tone I've been searching for for the last several years.

Racermech · #16 02-27-2008, 10:29 PM

My guitarist just got one and totally loves it. I asked if I could borrow it for a spin, and he let me chunk around on it for a bit. Here's a quick review...

Pros:
Gate function is cool
Tons of gritty, gainy distortion
Sustain for days without gate on
Cool look

Cons:
Noticable low end loss
Eq tailored to guitar (bass=low mids, mids=high mids, treble=highs
Expensive

As toasted had guessed, there is a noticeable low end loss. Even cranking the lows does not restore the oomph behind the bass. The gate function was really cool for chunking along, but it was a little temperamental. If I spent a lot of time with the pedal, I could probably get used to it, but it did throw me off a little bit. This distortion is super cool if you are looking for high gain, long sustain, and screaming solos...but for bouncing on anything below an A (not drop A), it totally kills the body of your bass.

I still have yet to find my perfect distortion that beats out my cheapy PD7.

Oh yes...these are all just my opinions, and other people's might differ. I was playing with my EBMM Bongo 4hh with slinkys fingerstyle, through a Mesa walkabout scout 12.

assboglin · #17 02-27-2008, 11:37 PM

Thanks for the info, it figures.

vier-personen · #18 02-28-2008, 01:01 AM

thanks for the report.. I thought so, since zack made pretty clear on his own forum that he doesn´t make "bass pedals", because bassplayers don´t buy many pedals... never mind, I still like him.

But I got some ideas to check out the box of rock again..

TaySte_2000 · #19 02-28-2008, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by assboglin

Thanks for the info, it figures.

Have you made any Box of Rock soundclips? interested to hear it now

assboglin · #20 02-28-2008, 02:37 AM

Unfortunately my brother left on internship this semester and took all the recording gear with him, so I don't have any proper samples with the box of rock set up for a decent bass OD, but I do happen to have a high gain clip with the tone rolled up for a guitarish shredding sound:

http://media.putfile.com/One-Take-on...ong-Im-writing

To be honest, I hate that sound, so I wouldn't judge the Box of Rock based on it. Of course the clip doesn't convey how bright the sound coming out of my amp was at all; you can tell when I make my guitar feed back at then end. The tone needs to be rolled off a lot more to keep the bass. One thing I like about it is how well it responds to the sweep of a wah pedal, any wah pedal I've used through it, each point in the wah pedal sweep is clearly heard.

The Box of Rock is nearly as responsive to dynamics and as "tubelike" as other tube based pedals I've used, including but not limited the English Muff'n. Actually, the sound I get out of it is almost exactly like what I get out of the EBS MultiDrive, except meaner, tubier, and just better. I got it sounding great fingerstyle, fantastically aggressive with thumbstyle, etc. You can check out my EBS MultiDrive samples for reference here:

EBS Multidrive SOUNDCLIPS

So imagine that sound but 100% better.

One thing about it though I personally wouldn't plug an active bass into it or plug it into a solid state head. I think that would just sound like crap. I don't think the pedal is meant for that at all. That's fine for me with my passive jazz basses and ampegs but for others not so much. Take it with a grain of salt because I don't think I'd plug any non-tube based overdrive in with an active bass and a solid state amp.