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3Leaf Audio Club - Episode 2

Santa Clause also came early in Germany
 

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Added to the board . Last missing piece is the Noble.

Doom2 #687
Octabvre MKIII #36/100
Proton #53/100 (will be on the mini board)
Chromatron #123/300
VulcanXL #21/300

These are very, very well made. The enclosure feels like it will be the same in 50 years. Outstanding job.
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Really nice! I hope you fill the gap soon.

My main board currently has one pedal on it (as of an hour ago) after being stable for a couple of years. The rebuild begins.
 
You must have some fast fingers to snag all 3 pedals from this year. Wow...I'm 0/3!

Added to the board . Last missing piece is the Noble.

Doom2 #687
Octabvre MKIII #36/100
Proton #53/100 (will be on the mini board)
Chromatron #123/300
VulcanXL #21/300

These are very, very well made. The enclosure feels like it will be the same in 50 years. Outstanding job.
View attachment 5184512 View attachment 5184513 View attachment 5184518 View attachment 5184519 View attachment 5184520 View attachment 5184521
 
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Amp repairs have me looking into selling my Doom 2, which is a bit sad. It's a bummer when a pedal you enjoy might not be available to you again. It's nice to see Spencer producing more, that might make my chance a bit better. I don't generally sweat selling gear but this one has me thinking hard. What have peoples success rates been for picking up a Doom 2 these days?

Don’t give it a second thought. I just sold mine. The price people are paying is absurd for what the pedal is…sonically it isn’t anything special. I will agree that 3Leaf makes the best OC2 octave and best envelope follower I really don’t see what the fuss is about the Doom or Doom2. I do plan to try to get one in the next batch and go for a high gain to see what’s doing there but there are so many better fuzzes out there. Doom2 seems to be more of a status symbol than about the tone…and these days it seems to be the most valuable POG.
 
I really don’t see what the fuss is about the Doom or Doom2. I do plan to try to get one in the next batch and go for a high gain to see what’s doing there but there are so many better fuzzes out there. Doom2 seems to be more of a status symbol than about the tone…and these days it seems to be the most valuable POG.
That's because the Doom 2 isn't so much a fuzz as a synth pedal. If you want it for fuzz... sure, there are more classic options and their variants; but I haven't found another fuzz that so well emulates an oscillator when placed after a suboctave and before a filter.
 
That's because the Doom 2 isn't so much a fuzz as a synth pedal. If you want it for fuzz... sure, there are more classic options and their variants; but I haven't found another fuzz that so well emulates an oscillator when placed after a suboctave and before a filter.

Do you have stock in 3Leaf…? Romantic partners perhaps?
 
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Do you have stock in 3Leaf…? Romantic partners perhaps?
Yes, Spencer and I are dating. You caught me.

In all seriousness, though, I have no idea what's up with your comment. Maybe you missed the last 20 pages of this thread where I excoriated just about everything surrounding the latest drop? But also ... it's pretty normal to find people who like the pedals of a given company in the literal fan club of said company. Does it surprised you that I think 3 Leaf Audio pedals are excellent? That's not exactly a hot take around here.
 
Just arrived:

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As I’ve said on TB before, the Doom 2 is the pedal that made me want to explore boutique pedals so will always be my favourite. I also think Spencer makes some of the best pedals around - the Pike Vulcan is probably the best OD I’ve used - and I can’t wait to start using these.

(In case anyone is curious, yes I have the Anima preamp, and it is excellent. I have the red module in a Fender American Deluxe jazz with Lindy Fralin stock-wound split coils and it sounds great. The Anima and Lindy Fralins have added heft, clarity and openness compared to the stock preamp and pickups).

Was the cavity of your bass already enough, and did you have it professionally installed or easy for dummies? :)
 
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Olive branch time!

Congrats to those of you who have gotten your pedals. They're obviously good/great pedals and I hope you enjoy playing them. I already made my statement regarding the last minute "tying" and poked some additional fun as well so I won't repeat them again but I will #NeverForget. :laugh:

For those that may still be "less than excited" about the whole charade I offer the following: I've had the Chromatron, Doom 2, and Octabvre III. I sold them all for the typical reasons such as lettering disappearing and offers I couldn't refuse. Now I use the following pedals for synth duties:

Octave:
Aguilar Octamizer - It just works and has a nice Clean Tone Tilt EQ. Fatter bass than Octabvre IMO
Broughton SVD - I was educated on this one to put it AFTER the filter or anything else because it will track without issue and just make the synth sound you already have set up fatter. My teachers were right.

Octave Fuzz:
Hiero BEAD - A bit trickier to dial in than the D2 but also more options and placed in the Broughton Filter FX Loop (mine doesn't have the LPF trimpot) this thing is tame-able and does great. Also have a Spaceman Nebula which I wish had a gate; I may look into modding it...

Other non-octave fuzzes I use include the Mastotron (of course), CB Bliss Factory, a Chunk Brown Dog clone which just fills out the sound perfectly when filtered.

Filter:
Ftelettronica EF/TF - the big blue beast. This is a Meatball clone and I had an original Meatball at one point and wanted one again. This does the trick. To me, it wants a strong signal going in so the Sens knob can be used to alter the response. Otherwise with a passive, low output bass the Sens knob almost has to be dimed. The Ft gets juicier than the Chroma IMO but the expression inputs are not as good. From what I remember, even without expression the Chroma had a better Attack range, allowing for a smoother, longer transition while opening the filter, if desired. The loop feature of the Chroma reigns supreme allowing it to be used in bypass mode. If I want a similar thing on the Ft I have to turn the Trigger switches to OFF and Down and the Filter switch to Hi and perhaps change the Colour knob. All of that isn't going to happen on a fast moving gig but at home recording I can still have access to what is in the loop without filtering.

New to me, thanks to our favorite dirt and synth journalist, is a Chunk Agent 00Funk clone. This thing is a gooey, funk machine and may end up becoming my favorite for synth as it can be fat and juicy yet also get into very focused high end craziness. It's in the shop so I'm hoping a simple footswitch swap fixes it. No expression input however the sweep can be set slow enough to open the horizons.

I also had an XD and enjoyed the sound of the XD over the Chroma, which was the tamest of the 3. The XD's slow sweep is top shelf.

Hope this helps give everybody a few choices. I wouldn't mind owning the 3L pedals I sold again but I've made do without so it wouldn't bother me if I don't get the chance in the future.
 
Was the cavity of your bass already enough, and did you have it professionally installed or easy for dummies? :)
Helpfully, the American Deluxe series cavity and battery-well were just the right sizes and even had holes for dip-switches on the front. That helped make it an easy job. I recognise that it may not be that easy for other basses and, regardless of how good a preamp is, I’m not sure I would want to intentionally do that much violence to a bass (expect the one I’ve just finished deconstructing, paint stripping and sanding for a project).
 
Olive branch time!

Octave Fuzz:
Hiero BEAD - A bit trickier to dial in than the D2 but also more options and placed in the Broughton Filter FX Loop (mine doesn't have the LPF trimpot) this thing is tame-able and does great. Also have a Spaceman Nebula which I wish had a gate; I may look into modding it...

Other non-octave fuzzes I use include the Mastotron (of course), CB Bliss Factory, a Chunk Brown Dog clone which just fills out the sound perfectly when filtered.

I'd add the Prunes & Custard to that list of fuzzes to try. The P&C can feel similar but also way different than the D2, it has tricks up its sleeve the D2 can't touch. The same can be said for the D2 too though.

They are both are unique but share some overlap. They are both really fun.
 
I'd add the Prunes & Custard to that list of fuzzes to try. The P&C can feel similar but also way different than the D2, it has tricks up its sleeve the D2 can't touch. The same can be said for the D2 too though.

They are both are unique but share some overlap. They are both really fun.

Agreed on all points, except I only have experience with Doom 1. The P&C is an exceptional fuzz imo.
 
New to me, thanks to our favorite dirt and synth journalist, is a Chunk Agent 00Funk clone. This thing is a gooey, funk machine and may end up becoming my favorite for synth as it can be fat and juicy yet also get into very focused high end craziness. It's in the shop so I'm hoping a simple footswitch swap fixes it. No expression input however the sweep can be set slow enough to open the horizons.

I’ve an original. Best filter ever IMO, and has a key feature most filters unfortunately lack which is an output volume control, though I tend to use a 3L GR2 day-to-day for the easier carry and it’s less valuable.

No love here for MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (M288)? Sound and works great for me, and has that sweet mid boost button. Luckily I bought that early in my search and never looked back.
 
No love here for MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (M288)?
I used to run one of these as my go to for octave-down sounds. When Spencer put out the original Octabvre I immediately bought one from him. It had tracking issues, so I went back to the MXR. He resolved the tracking issue so I bought another MKI Octabvre and did a shootout between it and the MXR. For my purposes the Octabvre sounded significantly better than the MXR, so I kept it and sold the MXR despite the size of the MKI Octabvre eating up more of my pedalboard real estate. The MXR is a fine pedal, but for my purposes the Octabvre simply outpaced it in the tone department.