Recent faves:
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- BB Preamp 1.5, compared to the Blumes, sounds dull and woofy both 9 and 18v.
- BlowerBox, compared to the Blumes, muddy and overly compressed, not enough range on the top end or gain knob, it's either not enough or way too much, even at 18v. Also missing that mid range punch that the Blumes has.
- Amptweaker Bass Blues Fuzz Jr, compared to the Blumes, it's smooth, and even running at max gain, it's still pretty tame, can't get the attack, top end bite, or mid punch of the Blumes, even with the mid knob cranked.
- Scorpion, incredible attack and clarity, prob the best I've ever tried, but I never got along with the EQ. Found myself constantly fiddling instead of playing. The Blumes has that same attack and clarity, but goes from cleanish boost to all out fuzz without any drama. Don't even need to touch the EQ, sounds perfect for me at noon on each of the settings.
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The Blumes has soo many tones inside. I can basically replicate/replace all of these pedals but with more clarity, MUCH more top end chunk, and a simple set & forget EQ. I don't usually find myself jumping between different modes on pedals, I like to pick one and live there. With the Blumes they all sound great and different enough to be useful.
It also cleans up very well with the volume knob and sounds great with with my SS and tube rig. Can't say the same for the others.
Truly shocked. I've had a BB preamp for wow.... probably 20 years now, few versions of the first one, and got the new one right when it launched. Really can't believe how good the Blumes is. Immediately knocked the BB Pre and Blower off my board, wild.
It has a fairly transparent EQ curve (can set it to 100% transparent switching on and off) but simultaneously clears up the muddy low mids on both my amps. Fantastic!!!
Excited to try this out with my guitar rig as well. Lotta folks have been saying how great it is for both bass and guitar.