I went to the RMI site and then to Am Musical, Zzounds, Gohliur and then Sweetwater.
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anyone have a Basswitch Sonic Spark yet?
- Thread starter Kevinlane
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- lehle sonic spark
To my knowledge they are on their way to Sweetwater Music and Gollihur can order them for you too
Regards
Jacques
Regards
Jacques
- Jul 19, 2000
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- Owner/President, Gollihur Music LLC
I have a few in stock, we're planning on playing with one in the next day or so...
I believe there is a video demo of this pedal up online now…. 
Yes, I believe you are right Ed 
, and I must say you completely nailed the sonic capabilities of the Sonic Spark. That is it, that is what I tried to achieve since years, I have invested an awful amount of time and money into this project but I am completely happy with the result and your demo shows perfectly what the Sonic Spark can do, wether you like it or not is up to you guys that follow this post.
, and I must say you completely nailed the sonic capabilities of the Sonic Spark. That is it, that is what I tried to achieve since years, I have invested an awful amount of time and money into this project but I am completely happy with the result and your demo shows perfectly what the Sonic Spark can do, wether you like it or not is up to you guys that follow this post.
The Sonic Spark sounds so sweet! Like a tone enhancer if you will. I know it does more than that but from watching Ed's video, it sounds like it adds a lot to your tone. Its kind of hard to mess with Ed's tone to begin with, sounds so clear, punchy and articualtely awesome as it is. Add the SS to it and whoa, just plain amazing sounding. Me likey.
MICRO REVIEW:
Dont usually buy "boutique" pedals, but seller gave me till end of January for returns (!), so I figured why not.. I must say that I was initially goofing around with this and thinking "do i really need this thing, doesnt seem to do much" and therefore cannot justify it being added to my rig.
I then took out my Tech21 Bass Driver (which i carry maninly as a DI box if needed) and realized why i dislike the BassDriver. It colors the sound more than i want in every part of the freqency. The Basswitch, on the other hand, is a subtle tweek, with very few "bad" sounds possible.
For me this seems to be as close as I have gotten to finding a real tube-preamp-sound in a small box. The high end sparkly really is there and the low end fattens up without getting at all muddy or overdone. The only downside i find is that the bass/treble control seems to have a very short throw for enhancing bass while most of the roation seems to enhance the top end. I have found two decent sounds: one is the mid cut tube sound; the other is a slightly agressive sound, close to a lightly pushed tube amp. Both of these can be dialed back by blending the uneffected signal, and the bypass really does sound transparent.
In the studio i can hear the difference and like how it changes the dynamics/playing style. I will see how it will work live in my rig in combo with my EBS multicomop compressor pedal. Would not try to use this for tube overdrive, as I suspect the Tech21 VT Bass pedal is more suited.
Generally I would encourage folks to check this one out: thumbs up!
Dont usually buy "boutique" pedals, but seller gave me till end of January for returns (!), so I figured why not.. I must say that I was initially goofing around with this and thinking "do i really need this thing, doesnt seem to do much" and therefore cannot justify it being added to my rig.
I then took out my Tech21 Bass Driver (which i carry maninly as a DI box if needed) and realized why i dislike the BassDriver. It colors the sound more than i want in every part of the freqency. The Basswitch, on the other hand, is a subtle tweek, with very few "bad" sounds possible.
For me this seems to be as close as I have gotten to finding a real tube-preamp-sound in a small box. The high end sparkly really is there and the low end fattens up without getting at all muddy or overdone. The only downside i find is that the bass/treble control seems to have a very short throw for enhancing bass while most of the roation seems to enhance the top end. I have found two decent sounds: one is the mid cut tube sound; the other is a slightly agressive sound, close to a lightly pushed tube amp. Both of these can be dialed back by blending the uneffected signal, and the bypass really does sound transparent.
In the studio i can hear the difference and like how it changes the dynamics/playing style. I will see how it will work live in my rig in combo with my EBS multicomop compressor pedal. Would not try to use this for tube overdrive, as I suspect the Tech21 VT Bass pedal is more suited.
Generally I would encourage folks to check this one out: thumbs up!
Hello Duke2004,
thank you for your very kind words, I totally agree with your review except for the word "boutique pedal". I do not feel my products to be boutique pedals, they are more expensive than other pedals mainly because of the components and technical design.
I fully agree with you that the Sonic Spark is not thought/build as a tube overdrive, the Basswitch Overdrive is in the works
Have a nice day
Jacques
thank you for your very kind words, I totally agree with your review except for the word "boutique pedal". I do not feel my products to be boutique pedals, they are more expensive than other pedals mainly because of the components and technical design.
I fully agree with you that the Sonic Spark is not thought/build as a tube overdrive, the Basswitch Overdrive is in the works
Have a nice day
Jacques
Prymaxevintage has carried these for a little while. I've gone back and forth extensively. The only thing that's stopped me is the price, not that I think it's overpriced, just out of my price range, currently.
The only way I could afford this is if replaced my Verellen meatsmoke preamp.. Could this work as my preamp if I ran a JDI after it? Enough gain to drive a power amp like crest pro lite?
The only way I could afford this is if replaced my Verellen meatsmoke preamp.. Could this work as my preamp if I ran a JDI after it? Enough gain to drive a power amp like crest pro lite?
Like all RMI pedals the gain of the Basswitch Sonic Spark is cut and boost (-14/15db), so you can place it at the beginning or the end of your signal chain, place it in an effect loop upfront the amp or in the effect loop of the amp. If you want to run directly a power amp, I would suggest to place the Sonic Spark at the end of the signal chain as other pedals might not like the high gain needed to drive the amp.
Yes the Sonic Spark can serve as a preamp and has enough gain to drive a power amp. It is however the RMI pedal that colors the sound most, so I would suggest to watch Ed Friedland's demos of the Clean Boost, Classic Boost and Sonic Spark on Youtube before taking a decision.
???
I can imagine the Sonic Spark to do a lot of things, except making a bass sound thinner, just listen to Ed Friedland's demos on Youtube.
If you are a Sonic Spark owner and you have that kind of problem we can either discuss this topic here or, if you prefer, you can email me at [email protected]
The sound files show exactly what the Sonic Spark does and we might have a problem of terminology here, if you would say scooped, I would totally agree.
There is a reason why we developed three different boosters ...
I was even showing this video to my wife. After 5th time she has understood the difference. But even she believes that clean Jazz sounds better. It's a miracle. I used to use a lot of boosters, drives and etc. on bass - but it seems this pedal will be lost in mix...
