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Anyone into these overdrive stompboxes?

B

babagau

Jan 2, 2007
19
0
44
Volos, Greece
#1
I am into buying an O/D stompbox and I am between
(from the cheaper to the most expensive)

Guyatone BB-1 / BB-X bass driver
DHA purist
Owen Electronics bass gremlin
Swell B-tod
Labsystems BassKadet
EBS ValveDrive
Lovetone Cheese Source

I want a soft, warm, jazzy, low-mid overdrive, don't care for tremble distortion & fuzz, at least not this time!
Any advice?
 
#4
I've tried the DHA pedal, found it quite nice very good at that light tube grit and adding that extra harmonic content to your sound.

Never really liked the Sansamp just sounded a bit flat to me.

Not tried any of the other pedals in your list, but I highly recommend the Black or Silver Barber LTD depending on if you want the mid hump or not.

Hope this helps
 
#5
While I haven't actually used one, the clips I've heard of the Ezekiel by D*A*M are fantastic. You can get a great OD and pretty much anything else out of it. Just blew me away. I'm sure Toasted or Tayste will know more about it than me as Toasted has a custom Ezekiel (drool).

Good luck with your search.
 
#7
While for the most part, I agree with you, I think the Ezekiel sounds killer on bass. I was disappointed by the Meathead (dlx) and the Ram Head, but the clips of the Ezekiel I heard sounded very impressive.

Here are some D*A*M clips on bass Link Removed

FYI Some of the clips were mismatched at one point, but I spoke to Ryan Thomas of matamp.com who said he'd fix them soon.

EDIT: Looks like the clips are all in order now.
 
#8
I base my opinions on what the owner/kinda creator (Since it was his custom order) of the first Ezekiel said and that would be my good friend Toasted. Whose views I remember being more of a it's a good pedal but with all those knobs there isn't that much range of sounds in them.
 
#9
TaySte_2000 said:
I base my opinions on what the owner/kinda creator (Since it was his custom order) of the first Ezekiel said and that would be my good friend Toasted. Whose views I remember being more of a it's a good pedal but with all those knobs there isn't that much range of sounds in them.
Click to expand...

I agree about that. If you listen to the multiple settings of the Ezekiel, all of them sound very similar imo, but they all sound good. He also added a preamp to his Ezekiel if memory serves which seemed somewhat unecessary to me, but he probably had his reasons. I'm not sure how much difference that makes in his sound, but I'm sure either one of you could tell us.

Actually, Tayste, because of your old sound clips, I'm this close (*makes hand gestures*) to buying a Hotcakes XLF. I asked Paul about the XLF Bluesberry, and he said he didn't remember making one with both mods (?). He also said that anyone would be hard pressed to tell the difference between an XLF Blues and XLF standard, though, so I'm planning on getting a standard XLF. I plan on mixing that with my dry signal to see if it gives me what I want. I think that's why I like the Ezekiel's sound so much (the blend function).

I'm also wondering if the reason I like your Hotcakes clip so much because of the pedal or your bass. In your clips of the Tonefactor Mule, you still have sort of a grunt, especially on the lower notes... just not as much as the Hotcakes (at least that's how it seems to me). This may be your active bass, playing technque, or just awesome pedals. We'll see. I'll probably actually buy it by the end of March (hoping to have enough cash by then). We'll see then.
 
#10
I defo had the XLF Bluesberry and it must be the only one in the world if he doesn't remember making it. In his defense he does make a lot of Hotcakes and I bought mine well over a year ago.

I reason why I prefer the Mule to the Hotcakes is because it can do the same gain things the Hotcake can but it is much more open in the higher end, the Hotcake always seemed a bit muted to me and couldn't really stand out in the mix. Hard to explain really I guess its more of when you want to dig in and get that extra bit of aggression and touch into your sound the Hotcake doesn't really deliver.

Just my opinions

FYI the Preamp Toasted had built into the Ezekiel was a Bassman pre and I don't think it really affected the overall tone of the unit.

Generally though we (Me & Toasted) progress through gear so what we had isn't as good as what we have in our humble opinions of course.
 
#11
I have the Lovetone Cheese Source. It's actually 2 different pedals housed in one box.

The Cheese section gives off Fuzz anywhere from light mild fuzz to buzz saw fuzz to a big muff type fuzz. You can change the amount of gain, tone (low to hi), master volume, and there is 3 selector switch for 2 different fuzzes and then the "Cheesy" Fuzz. THis is ultimate Fuzz and then after Noon it gives this AMAZING gated fuzz type sound, that is one of my favorites (paired with an envelope filter).

The Source section gives off the Overdrive. IMO the overdrive goes from light grit to Overdriven. The Overdriven tone is NOT over the top or heavy distortion. It has the same controls, Gain, Tone (Low to hi), master Volume, 3 Selector for different types of Overdrive.

Both sections can be combined (used at the same time) which literally creates some insane distrotion/fuzz out of this world crunch.

Hope this helps. Check out Lovetone's website for good sound samples.
 
#12
TaySte_2000 said:
I defo had the XLF Bluesberry and it must be the only one in the world if he doesn't remember making it. In his defense he does make a lot of Hotcakes and I bought mine well over a year ago.
Click to expand...

I can definitely see how that could happen. Either way, I'm probably just going for the standard XLF. Both you and Paul have said that the difference is probably too subtle to matter much.

I reason why I prefer the Mule to the Hotcakes is because it can do the same gain things the Hotcake can but it is much more open in the higher end, the Hotcake always seemed a bit muted to me and couldn't really stand out in the mix. Hard to explain really I guess its more of when you want to dig in and get that extra bit of aggression and touch into your sound the Hotcake doesn't really deliver.
Click to expand...

Hmm... that's definitely an important aspect of distortion. I'm looking for something that really preserves the nuances and dynamics of your bass tone and technique. To me, it seemed like the Hotcakes achieved that. What's your opinion about the filter knob on the HC? Very useful, or are you just fine without it (ala Mule)? Personally, I tend to boost the (low) mids of my distortions, how are the mids in the HC? Maybe the standard will have a different higher-end response (as the Blues had a less buzzy drive)?

I may have to go sit down with both of your clips and think a little more about this. Hmmm...


FYI the Preamp Toasted had built into the Ezekiel was a Bassman pre and I don't think it really affected the overall tone of the unit.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for clearing that up.

Generally though we (Me & Toasted) progress through gear so what we had isn't as good as what we have in our humble opinions of course.
Click to expand...

Such is the nature of buying pedals ;-D The Hotcakes is supposed to be a replacement for my current distortion pedal. Just trying to upgrade. I've really been searching for "my" distortion sound. It's been taking a while, and it's not done yet. I'll probably spend a lot more time and money before I really find that sound(s) in my head, but in the end, I think it'll be worth it. Or at least I hope so! :D
 
#13
I can do some more clips of the Mule if you want something a bit rauchier as when I do clips I do then with how I set them for live use and I use fuzz for the more balls to the wall sounds.

The Hotcake I couldn't really get the mids boosted that much the presence knob just didn't do it for me, I don't know I was fine with the hotcake till I got the mule and then it was like wow blanket off my dist tone sorta thing.

The hotcake is a good pedal and I know I go on about the Mule but I very much stand by what I think is the best which so far is the Mule, just like the Huckleberry beat the arse off the Analogman Sunface I got recently. But thats another story.
 
#14
Haha Tone Factor does own. I'd appreciate it, though, if you'd record some more Mule demo's. I saved the HC demo you made, so I still have something to compare it to.

How responsive was the presence knob? What exactly did it do? I've heard a few different people say different things about it.

If I really need to, I'm sure Brad Fee will throw a tone knob on a Mule for me. He's pretty backed up with stock stuff, though, so a custom may take a little while longer. Either way, I have at least a month to decide (if jetpack stops sending me eBay acutions on Hotcakes) ;-D
 
#17
As per the OP's query...

I have, and like very much, the Guyatone pedal (which I believe is discontinued?).

It's very quiet and chock full of controls, including an all-important mids knob with variable freq selection. It allows for blending of the driven signal with "normal" signal, as well.

Has a broad range of tones, from clean to obnoxious fuzz. It's a knob twiddlers delight, and the controls are extremely interactive.

The down side is you can spend hours working the knobs and not find the exact same tone two days in a row.

I have'nt played the other pedals on the list, but the Guyatone may be a rare enough bird that anyone's experience with it could shed some light.

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