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Am I missing something? (B3K)

#42
Worldeeeter said:
Cannibal Corpse - Alex Webster
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There's also the Periphery guy and his B7K, and Billy Gould of Faith No More has endorsed Darkglass (though possibly not actually recorded with it yet). Maybe not the most famous guys in the world, but guys of some note.

Also, the question itself was flawed. Lots of "famous" people "just use what works" instead of obsessing about their gear the way we do. You'll find tons of Boss and other cheap stuff on the boards of famous people. It doesn't mean those are great pedals (though I'm not necessarily saying they're all bad, either).
 
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#43
I first learned about Darkglass from a Periphery rigrundown. He was using the B7K as a tone sculpting device. After that I started searching the internet and it led me to here.

I was on the hunt for a rat that worked well with bass, and found the BlowerBox. It's still on my list, but I'm being a bit more careful with these hyped up pedals. The builder is trying to get them into the hands of some Canadian dealers, so hopefully that will happen soon. The exchange rate is really killing me, and I usually get stuck with customs fees. So by the time the quite affordable Blower Box gets to my door, It's the same price as everything else.
 
#44
i think the best thing i ever did to get used to the B3K was go to through all the presets they recomend. this gave me insight as to how the settings/knobs work as i was totally lost trying to just plug and play with it.
 
#48
Is your B3k current or old school OP? If it is an original Finnish one that popping noise you hear is expected operation with true bypass pedals. My B3k pops. I had an American VMT that had the new buffer, this stopped the pops.

I love mine but I totally get why somebody might not like the tone, especially depending on how the switches are set.
 
#50
The B3K doesn't lock you into one particular tone. I am able to pull 4-5 very distinct, unique tones from it, from light grind to full, obnoxious fuzz. There are a lot of fuzz pedals out there that are one-trick ponies, but the reason I bought the B3K is the ability to dial in a few different distortion sounds. I use it with my ZOOM B3; sometimes I stack it wtih the tube screamer effect, sometimes with the SVT amp emulator. I really like the responsive level knob on the B3K; I can turn it up a bit higher than my clean level, so that I don't get washed out in the mix. Any distortion is going to cause your bass to get washed out to some degree, when you're playing with 1-2 distorted guitars, cymbals, etc.
 
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#53
It has a nice bite to it and a nice mid scoop (very similar to what you find in some vintage tube amps). A little light on the lows but people seem to make do.

I can only assume the Microtubes name comes from the CMOS circuit elements that have been used in "tubey" sounding amps and pedals for 40 years.

Doug just combined a nice pleasant tubey overdrive sound with Sansamp style EQ to create this beast.

It has a pretty singular sound and I find it hard to believe anyone who heard the demos can be surprised by what it sounds like.

For people who don't "get it", there's always the VMT.
 
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#55
The biggest issue I see us the marketing slant. It is a good tool for some. However, there is nothing tube-like about it. Call a spade a spade. It's clear what this thing is by the listed users on the website. CCorpse isn't a benchmark for tubey sound.
 
#57
bassboysam said:
I totally agree with JohnK's assessment of the B3K. "Microtubes" was/is a very poor choice for the name, it sounds nothing like tubes or a tube amp. I use it because it sounds nothing like my other gear, and gives me more of a modern metal sound which I can't easily achieve with my other OD pedals.
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hmmm...although you are one of the TB'ers i tend to agree with i have to disagree on this. i was able to dial in as close to a tube sound as i've ever been able to. of course nothing compares to my actual tube amp, but it was dang close.

still playing too loud for people at practice?
 
#59
That's why there are a million drive pedals on the market. Try the Barbershop, ......or the WllO, ......or the Ginger, ......or the Micro Red Dragon, ......or the OCD, ......or the Tube Screamer, ......or the Pork Loin, ......or the Bad Monkey,,......or the BBOD,......or the VT,......or the SFT,...... etc., etc.
 
#60
I use a B7K and lean back and forth on it. I spent a good while the other night dialing it all over the place and re-figuring out the best ways to work it with my Mesa Bass 400.

In general I find that my Cirrus (18v active electronics) runs a dash hot and the pedal is more dynamic if I roll my volume off a bit. With my bass volume on full the Drive gets immediately saturated.

I have particularly enjoyed the B7K as a standalone preamp into a power amp for a great aggressive-leaning rock sound (I find the 100Hz bass to be nice for punch and the low mids/high mids are both more like what I call "upper mids"). This is in contrast to my Sansamp BDDI which I wouldnt use at all as a standalone preamp (for me it's ultimate use has been in my FX loop).

With my Bass 400 the B7K works well for boosting mids/bringing out fingerstyle in an aggressive mix if I want a more cutting sound while also using a lighter touch. The 400 definitely has it's own voice (which may/may not be an ideal match for the pedal's design) and I am curious how it might sound through a much different amp like say Ampeg B100R.

I was kind of hoping for a cool well-blended grindy sound out of it (check some of the Nolly clips! No idea how he does it-) but seem to get more of a soft fuzz as John K mentions.

 
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