Aguilar Agro. Need more opinions...

[FaithNoMan]

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Had one with a Putnam clean blend mod installed for a long time. Really nice drive tone, but it isn't the kind of pedal you can switch on and off mid-song. And even with the clean blend mine had, the bump in the mids still made the low end sound diminished by comparison. As an always-on OD, it's magnificent. It strikes a really nice middle ground between the VMT and B3K, while (I feel) sounding more natural/organic than either.

I think everyone has a different opinion of what "natural" sounds like to them. I like clank in my tone, but what I can get with my VMT/B3K combo seems very amp-like to me. Granted, a brighter, solid state amp. But that's ok with me

Like this
Dropbox - 13016.mp3

 

[Rocksolid]

Be sure to try both before and after your comp. makes a huge difference.

Totally agree. I usually run my comp before dirt, but I recently swapped my agro to before my Aguilar TLC comp and it is much better.

 

[King Weapon]

I've long maintained that it's my favorite OD/Distortion (and I've tried MANY). With my setup (Fender P/Ampeg SVT Cl) there is ZERO low end loss (it even ADDS bottom when you lower Contour and Presence). It is a very unique pedal with its own sound for sure, and is VERY sensitive to the setup you are using. In that sense, I can see how it might not work well with certain basses/amps. But for me, the thing is a MONSTER... perfectly mingling with my bass and carrying out the tone that's in my head. The diversity of tone is another plus for me... doing the natural tubey breakup sound to a very aggressive distortion. The compression it adds with the Saturation knob is common, but you can always add more punch and clarity with an LS-2 if needed. All in all, it's at lease worth a try.

 

[jcburn]

Might resurrect this thread. My main basses are G&L L2000s. Super hot output. I use the Agro as always on mild-medium OD.
I love the nature of the drive, which can but changed depending on the settings of the Presence and Contour. Something I think it does do well is due to the way it naturally compresses - I feel it "tightens" the low end rather than loosing any. Subtle difference I know but sometimes my L2000s can be a little "boomy" in some rooms. The Agro cleans that up nicely, but never looses the thump or punch a bass player needs.
It also stacks well with my other drives, either into my Maxon Bass Drive or the drive of my MXR M80.
I'm thinking about even grabbing a second Agro to stack.

 

[Driven Crane]

I got one and thinking about Tone Hammer. Agro is a killer!

 

[jcburn]

My opinion only....the Tone Hammer is a great bit of kit as a pre-amp/tone shaper/DI but the overdrive sound did nothing thing for me. Woolly and dark.

Also the TH can't be used as a 2 channel clean/distorted device as when you engage the AGS the gain boost is so much that the volume levels change too much to be useable. Because of this I sold mine and grabbed an MXR M80 DI+

I'm not saying don't get it...it is a great unit, I guess I'm just saying it is quite different in flavour to the Agro.

I just had a play-along in my garage downstairs to some old Metallica with this Agro set Level - 4 o'clock, Saturation - 12 o'clock, Presence - 9 o'clock, Contour - 2 o'clock.

Roaring with plenty of punch and definition.

Making me think again about stacking another....might have to put in a request for fathers day!

 

[King Weapon]

Might resurrect this thread. My main basses are G&L L2000s. Super hot output. I use the Agro as always on mild-medium OD.
I love the nature of the drive, which can but changed depending on the settings of the Presence and Contour. Something I think it does do well is due to the way it naturally compresses - I feel it "tightens" the low end rather than loosing any. Subtle difference I know but sometimes my L2000s can be a little "boomy" in some rooms. The Agro cleans that up nicely, but never looses the thump or punch a bass player needs.
It also stacks well with my other drives, either into my Maxon Bass Drive or the drive of my MXR M80.
I'm thinking about even grabbing a second Agro to stack.

I love using the Agro this way as well! But I also use it (mostly) with the Saturation maxed. With the Level set a little above unity and the Presence and Contour turned back a little, the low end and punch is insanely thick and "natural".

 

[el murdoque]

As you can imagine, doing a search on here will yield a TON of information about it. There are also a lot of excellent YouTube demos of this pedal, so you are in pretty good shape in terms of having access to advance data.

Prices on them used are super reasonable IMO, and Aguilar gear is hard to beat in terms of reliability, so it is probably a safe purchase to make.



This seems to be the general consensus on the tone, that the richness of the mids gives a perceived low end loss to some, but there really isn't any, at least that's what @johnk_10 says and I believe him because he's a genius.

I've not had the pleasure of owning one of these yet, but I'm sure some day I shall.

This.

 

[dannybuoy]

The Tone Hammer is great as a warm and mild OD on the edge of breakup. Gotta keep the gain under 10 o'clock though, it does not sound good when pushed beyond that.

 

[blindrabbit]

The Tone Hammer is great as a warm and mild OD on the edge of breakup. Gotta keep the gain under 10 o'clock though, it does not sound good when pushed beyond that.

I agreed with you up to the gain thing. I always ran my Tone Hammers at noon on the gain, and that was a beautiful place for them to be. Wouldn't surprise me though if that setting varied from rig to rig, and player to player.

 

[dannybuoy]

I agreed with you up to the gain thing. I always ran my Tone Hammers at noon on the gain, and that was a beautiful place for them to be. Wouldn't surprise me though if that setting varied from rig to rig, and player to player.

Depends on how hot the bass is I guess. I've not tried it with my newest acquisition, a Squier CV Jazz which has a relatively low output level, I'd bet that gain at noon might suit that particular bass (of course I'm talking about the AGS being engaged also as its clean without it).

I wish they'd update the pedal with a variable AGS just like the drive control on their amps...

 

[blindrabbit]

Depends on how hot the bass is I guess. I've not tried it with my newest acquisition, a Squier CV Jazz which has a relatively low output level, I'd bet that gain at noon might suit that particular bass (of course I'm talking about the AGS being engaged also as its clean without it).

I wish they'd update the pedal with a variable AGS just like the drive control on their amps...

Amen on the variable AGS, I would LOVE it if they did that. They could still keep the AGS foot switchable (with the variable amount), or they could turn the second footswitch into a simple boost or something. Anyway, yeah, variable AGS is the shiz.