I will say of the 3 the proton is my favorite. It’s just funky fun.
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3Leaf Audio Octabvre MK III
- Thread starter remcult
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- 3leaf audio octabvre octave
The Proton would probably be next. Also looking at the MXR bass envelope, but I'm 100% against clicky footswitches.
As far as the Doom, I currently have an Earthquaker Plumes, it's OK but I'm not 100% thrilled with it on bass. Also have a green russian but that's a bit too dirty/muddy for what I generally need.
First time posting in...ten years? I still lurk here and there and occasionally buy the odd pedal or two.
I almost made a post about my interactions with Spencer but coming out of the woodwork to air out my grievances seemed weird.
I'm truly disappointed in my interactions with Spencer and the level of (lack of) customer service he provided.
I personally am a one man business and work for myself so I definitely give folks the benefit of the doubt.
I emailed Spencer two weeks into January saying I was excited about the Octabvre, asking if he had any kind of eta (as it was now mid January, not early January like the site quoted when I purchased the Octabvre, maybe a minor detail but worth noting), and also offering my design services as I think what he does is rad. He said that I should be receiving a tracking update any day. This was the one instance when I heard back.
Two weeks later no pedal, no updates, and I see on his site that products are expected to ship February.
This would have been all fine and good but I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. In my opinion, which might differ from yours, this warranted an email to his pre-orderers or any orders that had been placed prior to change the delivery date. It's not hard to send out an email blast, you don't need to hand draft each email. It's a small gesture that goes a long way and a practice I see regularly in the boutique world. People are reasonable and understanding. I think at this point we've becoming conditioned to expect delays Also, personally, when I spend a premium on a piece of equipment theres a level of customer service that I think ought to come with it. Again, I understand someone being busy but if you are running a business you have an obligation to your customers who have already given you their money.
I send an email asking for an update. No response.
Another business week goes by. No tracking, no updates, no response. I sent an email cancelling my order and asking for a refund.
The following day he said he sent it and asked if I had gotten tracking. I didn't, nor did he provide it in his response.
I ask again for my order to be canceled and a refund as this was more than a month after my order and two weeks of radio silence. And I still hadn't received tracking.
No response. But! I did receive notice that my card had just been charged for my purchase. I'm pretty put off at this point. I disputed the charge with my bank and email him again.
Now, he provides me with a tracking number and apologizes for not responding to my previous emails and poor communication and we begin a regular timely, correspondence. At this point it's pretty clear that my bank had reached out.
My Octabvre showed up yesterday. I refused the delivery and its en route back to Spencer. I was beyond excited about this pedal but I'm pretty over it.
Maybe I sound like an unreasonable person here. I realize this isn't a microwave or a vacuum cleaner but if you plunked down a pretty large chunk of cash for something, and are provided by the manufacture with an eta, and received no updates and intermittent radio silence for over a month, you'd probably cancel your order. And when they then process your order AFTER cancelling? Feels pretty bogus.
Now, I'm not saying don't spend your money at 3Leaf. If you do you might have a perfectly fine transaction. I'd just be prepared to feel bent out of shape.
I almost made a post about my interactions with Spencer but coming out of the woodwork to air out my grievances seemed weird.
I'm truly disappointed in my interactions with Spencer and the level of (lack of) customer service he provided.
I personally am a one man business and work for myself so I definitely give folks the benefit of the doubt.
I emailed Spencer two weeks into January saying I was excited about the Octabvre, asking if he had any kind of eta (as it was now mid January, not early January like the site quoted when I purchased the Octabvre, maybe a minor detail but worth noting), and also offering my design services as I think what he does is rad. He said that I should be receiving a tracking update any day. This was the one instance when I heard back.
Two weeks later no pedal, no updates, and I see on his site that products are expected to ship February.
This would have been all fine and good but I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. In my opinion, which might differ from yours, this warranted an email to his pre-orderers or any orders that had been placed prior to change the delivery date. It's not hard to send out an email blast, you don't need to hand draft each email. It's a small gesture that goes a long way and a practice I see regularly in the boutique world. People are reasonable and understanding. I think at this point we've becoming conditioned to expect delays Also, personally, when I spend a premium on a piece of equipment theres a level of customer service that I think ought to come with it. Again, I understand someone being busy but if you are running a business you have an obligation to your customers who have already given you their money.
I send an email asking for an update. No response.
Another business week goes by. No tracking, no updates, no response. I sent an email cancelling my order and asking for a refund.
The following day he said he sent it and asked if I had gotten tracking. I didn't, nor did he provide it in his response.
I ask again for my order to be canceled and a refund as this was more than a month after my order and two weeks of radio silence. And I still hadn't received tracking.
No response. But! I did receive notice that my card had just been charged for my purchase. I'm pretty put off at this point. I disputed the charge with my bank and email him again.
Now, he provides me with a tracking number and apologizes for not responding to my previous emails and poor communication and we begin a regular timely, correspondence. At this point it's pretty clear that my bank had reached out.
My Octabvre showed up yesterday. I refused the delivery and its en route back to Spencer. I was beyond excited about this pedal but I'm pretty over it.
Maybe I sound like an unreasonable person here. I realize this isn't a microwave or a vacuum cleaner but if you plunked down a pretty large chunk of cash for something, and are provided by the manufacture with an eta, and received no updates and intermittent radio silence for over a month, you'd probably cancel your order. And when they then process your order AFTER cancelling? Feels pretty bogus.
Now, I'm not saying don't spend your money at 3Leaf. If you do you might have a perfectly fine transaction. I'd just be prepared to feel bent out of shape.
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You were right, that is weird for your first post in 10 years.
I’d certainly be irritated as well, although I had no illusions of an on-time delivery when I ordered. I’ve seen that his usual communication is via an update on his website. That where I got my info, and when he updated it stated early February. Mine arrived yesterday.
If he hurt you that bad, don’t order his stuff. No need to come out from under your rock just to crap on somebody. Damn. Just trying to enjoy my new pedal here.
I’d certainly be irritated as well, although I had no illusions of an on-time delivery when I ordered. I’ve seen that his usual communication is via an update on his website. That where I got my info, and when he updated it stated early February. Mine arrived yesterday.
If he hurt you that bad, don’t order his stuff. No need to come out from under your rock just to crap on somebody. Damn. Just trying to enjoy my new pedal here.
Odd that you'd interpret my cautionary tale as an attempt to crap on your pedal party.
Like I said, if you had a positive interaction thats dope. I hope everyone does. This is a place to share our experiences.
Like I said, if you had a positive interaction thats dope. I hope everyone does. This is a place to share our experiences.
Spencer makes great pedals, but 3leaf is literally a one man operation. When I ordered my Proton, I did so knowing it was going to take a long time...and it did, but I got it and it is awesome. Totally worth the wait IMO.
I just received a Doom 2 from 3Leaf this week and also have a Plumes and Sovtek Tall Font Green Russian and can attest that the Doom will give you a lot of usable tones, while being a marked improvement from the Plumes. The Doom has so many options and both cleans up and fuzzes out nicely. The EQ us huge and in bass mode it can be overwhelming. It won't get a gnarly as your Russian, but that's why you have it. Different flavors, which is why I still have my Plumes. It's a cool cheap Tubescreamer that has usable settings for bass.
All that to say...I think you'd like the Doom 2.
Yeah that’s exactly the sort of tone I was looking to get with the plumes. It’s perfect on guitar but not as many usable bass tones.
Touch of clean drive, not too in your face, just a bit of sparkle while retaining the low end. Got plenty of wooly fuzz with the green Russian, as you said.
I don’t have any filter yet, so probably would spring for the proton first. Plumes isn’t quite there, but it’s not terrible either.
I agree that was a strange first post in a decade, but I'm glad to have read it. It probably won't change any buying I may do, but it's worth knowing about.
Yeah, not a lot to say on a bass guitar forum when you're not playing bass guitar.
Started playing regularly again at the beginning of covid.
Started playing regularly again at the beginning of covid.
Agreed. I don't know when it became unpopular to share a viewpoint that isn't all apple pie and motherhood on a DISCUSSION FORUM, but I've encountered this in a few threads. I get it, the fan bois lurk heavy in the builder specific threads, but at the same time...prospective customers should know what's up. Whilst most of the big time fans don't mind a delay, it's valid to be able to go into a transaction eyes open. And clearly with Spencer, these days at least, expect delays and spotty communication...if you are cool with that, order away, but if you aren't cool with that, this should be the place that you learn that's what to expect.
I think you did the right thing by posting and sharing your experience, and you walked the walk by also cancelling your order and speaking with your wallet. I'm sorry you had a bad experience...hopefully you'll get to try out the pedal at some point...and hopefully Spencer realizes that while he can do no wrong in some eyes, there are people who are starting to get annoyed with the way he is handling the customer support of his business and hopefully he makes a change so he doesn't encounter more people speaking with their wallet. I've definitely cancelled an order or two due to lateness when expectations were set on a date. Piss poor communication is usually how those horror show threads start where people wait for years and years on custom basses/amps - I'm not making that leap here, but it's good to know what to expect.
Lol well I’m certainly no fanboy (first purchase), but a few weeks extra wait in a pandemic is no big deal. It’s no secret he hasn’t been communicating well. I understood that when I ordered. He updated on his front page (per usual), which is where I anticipated getting my updates.
This dead horse has been beaten enough is all.
Not really your call to make is it? Discussion, when respectful and on topic, is good. We all love the positives of 3 Leaf, seems there are some occasional negatives for a small few too. Such is life.
FWIW, my experiences last year buying a more mature product when it was in stock were excellent.
Did I say it was my call? Discussions involve voicing opinions whether the discussion is or isn’t productive. Spencer’s poor communication/customer service as of late is certainly no secret. No need to dedicate an entire wall of text or page of posts to it.
Agree or not, you do you. Guess if this is the direction this thread is now taking, I’m out.
Have a great rest of your weekend.
Lads, lads.
Anyone else run into issues with a Diamond Bass Comp Jr going into an Octabvre? It's kind of a neat effect, but it gets almost too fat to be useful.
Also, is it standard operating procedure to run passive if you have the choice into an Octabvre? My Nordstrand preamp colors the tone through the octave more than I'd like in most situation. I'm glad it's switchable.
And finally, as someone with a Wonderlove on the way: other than the obvious dirt options, what else are folks running through the loops of their big box 3Leaf filters?
Anyone else run into issues with a Diamond Bass Comp Jr going into an Octabvre? It's kind of a neat effect, but it gets almost too fat to be useful.
Also, is it standard operating procedure to run passive if you have the choice into an Octabvre? My Nordstrand preamp colors the tone through the octave more than I'd like in most situation. I'm glad it's switchable.
And finally, as someone with a Wonderlove on the way: other than the obvious dirt options, what else are folks running through the loops of their big box 3Leaf filters?
I had no idea that Spencer was a flake when it came to emails. I had to learn the hard way.
I have my Octavbre, woolly mammoth fuzz clone, and mooer E7 synth running through my effects loop.
Without going into a lot of detail, I will say that while I do own 4 pedals "made by" Spencer, the communication I have had with him has left a bad taste in my mouth as well. I'm a purchasing agent for a music retailer, so I'm well aware of the supply chain delays that almost every single manufacturer/maker/retailer is dealing with these days. That said, I'm also well aware of how easy it is to send out an email to your customers and update them when things are taking weeks/months longer than you told them they would. I also firmly believe that it really doesn't take a lot of effort to be polite and cordial in your written communication, even when you don't mean it. I get it, he's a "one-man operation" but it says right on his site that the enclosures, screen printing, PCB manufacturing and PCB assembly are all outsourced. Seems like he could answer an email two while the bulk of the work is being done out-of-house.
Never mind. I bought it... It’s going against my XD.
