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Aguilar Agro vs. Darkglass B3K

#61
I love my B3k, never played an Agro. I've always considered them to be very different beasts from the demos I listened to when I was considering an Agro. But I'm hearing more demos with it as more of an overdrive instead of balls steam ahead distortion. It sounds good to me.

But every time I try and get myself to sell my B3k that grind just brings me back. Nothing else I've tried can get that sound.
 
#64
here's a quick clip of the Agro using the same method and riff as most of my other clips (P bass w/dead rounds, fingerstyle, STM900/2x15 cab recorded on an H4n). it starts bypassed, then minimum gain, 3:00 gain, 12:00 gain, 9:00 gain, and ends with max gain:

 
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#65
great agro post. i was screwing around with the B7K some more and found i could get more agro sounds and less buzz by really digging in on my attack. honestly, my natural attack is probably a bit light to do it all the time. i'm not sure the 3k could do this without the EQ.
Nash JB 63 > Darkglass B7K (bass @ 1 o'clock, treble @ min, lo-mid @ 3 o'clock, hi-mid almost maxed, fat and attack switch engaged, gain maxed) > Buster 200 (minor mid bump in lo mids on the graphic, 1 o'clock gain, mid a treble around 9 o'clock and bass near noon) > Logic.

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#67
I had an Agro and my B3K sounds much, much better. The Agro has much where the B3K can have thickness, but with way more bite.

Ric/B3K/GK800RB/Eden210T/SM57:

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W/drums:
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#69
Interesting...the Agro was the first overdrive I ever owned so I wonder if I had one now if I would like it more. Probably won't bother switching things up as I'm a bit sick of it, but I will be tempted if I see one on the cheap.
 
#70
johnk_10 said:
maybe so, but none of my tube amps have the fine grained fizzy top end that the B3K does.
Click to expand...

That is EXACTLY what killed it for me :( I really wanted to like it, but it just didn't sound "organic"...if that makes any sense at all.
I just scored a custom Greedtone overdrive -- it's black instead of the usual "raw" -- and am hoping this will do it for me.
 
#71
funny, I don't find my B3K fizzy at all...in fact, it seems like it rolls off a touch of highs when the boost isn't engaged. Definitely more high mids, but I don't think of that as fizzy persay. I use if for very low gain stuff though so maybe when the drive is cranked it gets fizzy?
 
#74
andrew said:
I know many on here prefer the simplicity of the B3K but I think the B7K eats the B3K for breakfast.
Click to expand...

I've never owned the B3K, when I finally decided to buy it at the last minute I sprang for the B7K instead, and I'm so glad I did. The sound with the B7K's EQ flat is okay, but the EQ opens up a different world and helps me get the sound I want out of it.
 
#78
cnltb said:
Sorry for the very novice question!...
What is the difference between a high gain and a low gain OD pedal?
I am still trying to find out what exactly it is what I am after.
Click to expand...

It's just the amount of saturation in your signal. So a low gain OD has lower saturation, your raw signal will stay in tact more and the sound will just add a little layer of "crunch" or any other words used to describe overdrives. High gain OD will be very saturdated, taking over the signal completely. Not sure what experience you have. If you listen to johnk's clip above you can hear him turning up the gain slowly as he goes.

Some pedals are versatile enough to handle low gain + high gain. Some are really only suited to do one or the other. That is, a low gain pedal even when the gain knob is maxed won't sound that distorted. VS a high gain pedal like the Boss DS-1 where the lowest gain amount is still quite distorted. I would put both the Agro and the B3K in the category of being able to do both low and high, although maybe the B3K is better suited for low gain than the Agro.

Hope that helps.
 
#79
johnbegone said:
It's just the amount of saturation in your signal. So a low gain OD has lower saturation, your raw signal will stay in tact more and the sound will just add a little layer of "crunch" or any other words used to describe overdrives. High gain OD will be very saturdated, taking over the signal completely. Not sure what experience you have. If you listen to johnk's clip above you can hear him turning up the gain slowly as he goes.

Some pedals are versatile enough to handle low gain + high gain. Some are really only suited to do one or the other. That is, a low gain pedal even when the gain knob is maxed won't sound that distorted. VS a high gain pedal like the Boss DS-1 where the lowest gain amount is still quite distorted. I would put both the Agro and the B3K in the category of being able to do both low and high, although maybe the B3K is better suited for low gain than the Agro.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

So...nothing to do with how much gain it needs before it starts to break up?
 

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