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3Xfx Fatman/V2

Willem

Willem

Dec 26, 2005
2,055
10
Belgium
www.myspace.com
#1
Since I saw that link the 'let's give spankypants more gas' thread, I've been thinking about getting this pedal. It seems awesome!

I also read in that thread that there are people here who have ordered the pedal. I've got a couple of questions about it...

- How is it with bass and with active basses?

- Is the light sensor something that would brake easily?

- Do you need flat soles under your shoes to make it work right? My current pair of shoes have some relief on the soles and I'm afraid that I won't be covering the entire sensor when I step on it because of the relief... (you understand?)

- How does the light sensor react to a dark room and dark stages? Does it act the same as in a room with lights on?

- How do you know in what mode the pedal is when it's off? It seems kind of stupid to me that they didn't install an extra led to show which mode the pedal is in.

- The sound of the fatman mode... when I hear fat I think scooped mids and the clips make me think that... So do you get lost in the mix when engaging this pedal... when playing with distorted guitars?

Thanks!
 
#2
Willem said:
- How is it with bass and with active basses?
Click to expand...

I really like it on bass. The different between active and passive basses seems to be how well the signal passes the oscillator in 'lead' mode. My passive bass really needs a little bit of a boost before going into the pedal or it doesn't push past the volume of the oscillator. My active bass didn't have this problem, but I think Jetpack mentioned one of his actually overpower the oscillator totally (I'm sure he will pipe up)

Willem said:
- Is the light sensor something that would brake easily?
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem like it. Time will tell I guess.


Willem said:
- Do you need flat soles under your shoes to make it work right? My current pair of shoes have some relief on the soles and I'm afraid that I won't be covering the entire sensor when I step on it because of the relief... (you understand?)
Click to expand...

How covered or not covered the sensor definitely effects the tone of oscillator. But it's not an on/off type of situation. It's more a matter of degrees... so your choice of footwear will have some impact, but you probably arn't going to notice.


Willem said:
- How does the light sensor react to a dark room and dark stages? Does it act the same as in a room with lights on?
Click to expand...

I have no idea. I've not gigged with it yet, and I never thought to play in the dark. Maybe I'll give it a go later. I would guess that in a darker room, the extreme low pitch of the ossillator when the sensor is fully uncovered would be less overpowering (which would be a good thing)


Willem said:
- How do you know in what mode the pedal is when it's off? It seems kind of stupid to me that they didn't install an extra led to show which mode the pedal is in.
Click to expand...

You don't. I think 'stupid' might be a little strong, but yeah... accidental sonic chaos is possible.

Willem said:
- The sound of the fatman mode... when I hear fat I think scooped mids and the clips make me think that... So do you get lost in the mix when engaging this pedal... when playing with distorted guitars?
Click to expand...

Not sure which mode is "fatman". They are described as "rhythm" and "lead" in the manual. Lead is the wild oscillating mode. The rhythm mode maintains bass very well and short of blending is about as good a bass distortion as I've used. Lead mode sucks some bass, but I'm not sure it bothers me because as it's a setting I think needs to be used judiciously anyway.
 
#4
Willem said:
With fatman I mean rhythm...

I thought fatman = rhythm and V2 = lead.

But have you tried it in a band setting? Are you lost in the mix or sit well in the mix or do you cut through the mix in rhythm mode?

Thanx for all the answers so far!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I use it with the band. I think it cuts very well, I knocked the big muff off the board with it (which was NOT cutting well). I'm only vs. one loud guitar though.
 
#5
Willem said:
- How is it with bass and with active basses?
Click to expand...

it's awesome with bass, and definitely awesome with a hot output active! both modes react very well to my Sterling. as grygrx said, the oscillator tone in lead (V2) mode can overpower a lower output, but the Sterling either cuts right through it, or mingles with it to create a whole new sound (this is especially true with a low oscillator pitch... you'll understand better when you experiment for yourself!). the rhythm (FatMan) mode works quite well with a passive or active bass.

Willem said:
- Is the light sensor something that would brake easily?
Click to expand...

doesn't seem like it. it's a well-made pedal, through-and-through.

Willem said:
- Do you need flat soles under your shoes to make it work right? My current pair of shoes have some relief on the soles and I'm afraid that I won't be covering the entire sensor when I step on it because of the relief...
Click to expand...

not at all. your shoes will work just fine. also, he's included a switch to go between photo-eye oscillator-control and manual (knob-twiddling) oscillator control... both work very well, and the knob (i've found) is quite easy to turn with your foot.

Willem said:
- How does the light sensor react to a dark room and dark stages? Does it act the same as in a room with lights on?
Click to expand...

how the oscillator reacts is dependant on the amount of light coming in... if you cover the whole eye, the pitch will be very high... with alot of light coming in, the pitch is low. so it follows that a dark room will produce a higher pitch than a well-lit one. i bet you could get some freakycool effects with an awesome stagelight show, as well... i haven't had the chance to test that out yet. also, i haven't had a chance to try different coloured lights on the photo-eye... hmmmm.....

Willem said:
- How do you know in what mode the pedal is when it's off? It seems kind of stupid to me that they didn't install an extra led to show which mode the pedal is in.
Click to expand...

an extra LED would be helpful... but i don't think it's absolutely necessary. if you really want one, he might be able to do a mod for you.

Willem said:
- The sound of the fatman mode... when I hear fat I think scooped mids and the clips make me think that... So do you get lost in the mix when engaging this pedal... when playing with distorted guitars?
Click to expand...

this pedal cuts through quite well. it's an awesome bass distortion!

Willem said:
Thanks!
Click to expand...
no prob. http://[malware url removed].net/vicious-smiley-1815.gif
 
#9
grygrx said:
This is one of my concerns with it actually... I wish it was the other way.
Click to expand...

i'm kinda diggin' it more and more like it is... but i've been using the knob control oscillator mode alot, too. i like to set it to a pitch (maybe the root of the key, or the fifth, or even the seventh), play over it, and let the bass sound die out and "become" the preset oscillator pitch. it morphs into it in a cool way.

it's so hard to explain how this works... words fail. :hmm:
 

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