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16 dirt pedals (video)

FretNoMore

FretNoMore

* Cooking with GAS *
Jan 25, 2002
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The frozen north
#1
I'm changing my pedalboard again and need to choose which dirt to use from my pedals, so I hooked them up to a Ditto with a boring sound clip to compare. I thought I'd make a video at the same time. This is recorded dry so I'm not sure how useful it is, but it helped me remember the pedals' sounds. Surprisingly small differences in some cases, with a few pedals that are very different. Obviously there are many sound possibilities with each pedal, I just chose something I feel is representative.

Warning: You may fall asleep watching this. :)



Bass:
Overwater J Series w. J-Retro preamp

Pedals:
00:11 - Empress Multidrive
00:58 - Catalinbread SFT
01:45 - Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop
02:32 - Darkglass Vintage Microtubes
03:19 - Wampler Euphoria
04:06 - Moog Minifooger MF Drive
04:53 - Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian
05:40 - Pigtronix Bass FAT Drive
06:28 - MXR Bass Overdrive
07:14 - LazyJ Cruiser Bass
08:02 - Cusack Effects Screamer Bass
08:49 - Catalinbread 5F6
09:36 - Solid Gold FX Beta
10:23 - EBS Multidrive
11:11 - Tech21 Sansamp Bass Driver DI
11:58 - Tech21 VT Bass DI
 
Last edited:
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#2
hi fretnomore. great video. i really like listening to all the pedals i hv never had the chance to use. and in some cases never seen. i liked the vmt a lot. and the 1:45. 7:14. and 9:49 and also surprised by the ebs multidrive.
thanks
 
#4
MIj6o.gif
 
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#5
Thanks, man! GREAT shootout. I've listened the video a couple of times, and I can say I really, really like the VMT (remarcable good sounding; great sweet mids, tons of low end, very defined tone), SFT (maybe a little too loose on the low end, but with great fat hairy low mids) and both Multidrives (the EBS, I've always loved it; the Empress is great, but sometimes a little too subtle). The Beta and Cusack Screamer are pretty neat too. It's good to find that actually all of them sound good (well, maybe de BDDI, as an overdrive, falls apart of the group).

Thank you so much again!
 
#9
Thanks guys!

triviani said:
Wow.. that's a lot of overdrive!

It's interesting to hear how close they can sound, put the OD on a band mix and I doubt I could tell them apart.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is definitely one observation I made too. I think I will pick out three or four that actually have quite different voices and use those, and maybe sell off the rest if I can make myself do that.
 
#10
FretNoMore said:
Thanks guys!


Yes, that is definitely one observation I made too. I think I will pick out three or four that actually have quite different voices and use those, and maybe sell off the rest if I can make myself do that.
Click to expand...

It has to be fun to make the selection :).

Thanks for the video, was good to watch it. (And count with me if you want to sell the Beta drive).
 
#13
Wow

There is much to like there. I wasn't a huge fan of the Pigtronics or the MXR.

The Moog surprised me. Sure there are lots of other sounds on tap there. The VMT sounded great as did both Catalinbreads. The Barbershop was awesome as usual and I admittedly really liked the Beta. The EBS had a cool phasey sound to it. Oddly I liked the sound of the BDDI over the VT.

How many are you going to put on your board in the end? This could be tough.
 
#15
Mosfed said:
...
How many are you going to put on your board in the end? This could be tough.
Click to expand...

I have typically had the VT Bass DI last in the chain, plus three other overdrive pedals; two for differently voiced mild overdrive and one pedal in the Wonderlove loop for more synthy sounds. I have not used fuzz at all previously but now with the TFR and the MF Drive I'm leaning towards putting one of those in the filter loop, and the Beta probably goes on the board too. That leaves one open spot and massive decision anxiety. :)
 
#16
Excellent video!

triviani said:
It's interesting to hear how close they can sound, put the OD on a band mix and I doubt I could tell them apart.
Click to expand...

A band mix is actually where most of the differences happen, I find. Bass overdrives tend to do the tube-like blossoming thing, which is what is sounding the same, and why ones that tend to keep the edge together better stand out. It often comes down to voicing or EQ, though, in how those overdrives cut in your band mix. Two may sound similar solo'd but completely different in a your mix.
 

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