Audio Kitchen - The Root and Branch Thread

[Charlie Tuna]

It seems appropriate to start a thread for Audio Kitchen since us bassists are finally finding out about the company and how well their pedals work for the low end. Guitarists have known about AK for some time but we seem to have been left in the dark and that's a shame because the pedals sound and feel great on bass.

The mastermind behind Audio Kitchen is Steve Crow, a man with a long beard and a penchant for making amps and pedals that are inspiring and sonically lush. He's built up a client list with up-and-coming acts like AC/DC, Radiohead and U2 among others. Seriously, how has AK managed to slip through the cracks? Secrets be damned, here's what I've added to my board:

I purchased the Fake Plastic Trees (FPT) after hearing this YT video showing a bit of the FPT's flavor on bass:

The thing that is not apparent in the video is how the pedal feels. It has a push-pull feel to it that is addictive and the four knobs go a long way. Here's a more in-depth review of the FPT here on TB by our favorite jounalist el murdoque.

And here's another review from Sound on Sound, with some more insight about what's inside the box (which is deeper than a standard enclosure).

After playing the FPT my GAS flared up so I snatched up The Small Trees DI (TSTDI). I wanted a small tube DI and this fit the bill.

The FPT and TSTDI go together like P-bass and flats so of course I wanted MOAR!!! I began chasing the dragon, reading about The Small Trees' bigger brother, aptly named The Big Trees. Bigger brothers plural plus cousins would be a better descriptor because The Big Trees basically contains The Small Trees within it plus a 2.5W tube amp, which was the inspiration for the solid state Fake Plastic Trees. The amp side can be run without a cab attached, just like a normal pedal, with the bonus of having the amp output included in the signal. I'm going to let Sound on Sound provide the details on The Big Trees HERE.

After some self-reflection I decided to hold off on getting The Big Trees. I had enough preamps, dirt and fuzz pedals, pedals with tubes and needed to show some self-restraint. But then I came across this pic on the interwebz:

A DI'd The Big Trees or TBTDI?!? GAS went into inferno mode so I reached out to Steve at AK and asked if he could make it happen again. He obliged and after some emails back and forth I ordered one:

TBTDI has become my goto for home playing through headphones. It sits the bass in the mix in a way that remind me of the LA-1A but has a wider range of sounds thanks to it's 3 tubes. From the AK site: "The 2.5W amp, built around ECC82 and ECC83 pre-amp and single EL84 output valves, generates harmonic-rich tone, sculpted by its Baxandall-based EQ, and 'EL84 headroom control'. The Line output (incorporating a valve line driver stage) is either post power- amp stage, or discreet all-valve clean stage for empyreal DI tone." In short, The Big Trees DI sounds great and simplifies my playing process. I feel comfortable just plugging into TBTDI and forgetting about everything else; no more analysis paralysis or gain staging mess. It's no wonder this pedal has found its way into many a studio.

One last pedal from Audio Kitchen that I have not yet tried yet is The Flying Squirrel (TFS). If anyone has played one please share your thoughts on it.

I hope many of you will get to experience Audio Kitchen's goods and be inspired by them as much I have. Cheers!

 

[el murdoque]

Good idea to start a thread about that English Cook who seems half Mad Scientist and half Wizard.

I have had the Small Trees DI @Charlie Tuna is fond of for a while, and I can call myself the proud owner of a Fake Plastic Trees.
If FPT would not cost as much as it does, I'd get a second one, and maybe even mount that on the same board.
There are just so many sweet sounds you can milk from it.
On nearly every pedal I ever tried, a while of experimentation revealed those knob positions that work best in my setup and usually there is one single thing each pedal (except of course multi fx things) does that becomes my favorite, and I will use it for that.

With FPT, I have that beautiful low gain sound that sounds a lot like an amp breaking up, which is very dynamic and touch sensitive. I love to use it for chords, double stops and licks played over open string drone sounds, because the note separation and distortion feel like broken glass, but in a good way.
Then there is the high gain. Push the root and the gain, and you get a synth like sound with a heft that will result in a solid hit in the chest when you play it through ample means of amplification. The branch knob works magic, too - you have the sizzly top end of a synth just there and can dial it in and out of the mix to your heart's desire.

The aforementioned push/pull characteristic of that pedal works wonders here, too. The decay of your note feels like you've pushed the pedal into the dirt with your initial attack and now it pushes back. The note clears up in that process, which reminds of an envelope filter closing down. I have used the FPT into a Fuzzrocious BDPG into a Cali76 comp for synth parts in a dub session and the other players really liked it, bobbed their heads and asked me to bring that pedalboard again next time.

 

[arvegrinden]

Looooove my FPT. Totally killed my GAS for other drive pedals.

 

[sifrancis]

LOVE all the Audio Kitchen stuff!

I have The Big Trees, Fake Plastic Trees, The Small Trees DI and The Flying Squirrel. All of which are wonderful and in regular use in my live and studio playing.

I have a short direct clip of the FPT here:
Simon Francis on Instagram: "A quick haphazard demo of the new Audio Kitchen "Fake Plastic Trees" pedal. '83 Yamaha Broad Bass VI Direct unprocessed signal from pedal."

It is incredibly convincing at achieving the same sound and feel of The Big Trees.

As for The Flying Squirrel - it is probably my favourite of the three drive pedals. Beyond the different implementation of the tubes, one of the other key differences to TBT and FPT is that the EQ is post-gain. SO where boosting the "root" (bass) on TBT increases the saturation of the low frequencies, The Flying Squirrel is able to boost low end without increasing saturation. Where things get interesting for my tastes is the Boost switch - which when in the "Hi" setting gives a strong treble post pre-gain, giving lots of grind. Trimming the "teeth" (treble) can then soften the clank, whilst retaining presence, and then a healthy boost of the "tail" (bass) can really bring some deep clean lows to the mix. I LOVE this tone.
I even have a capture of this on the Neural DSP Quad Cortex Cloud for those that would like to experience it for themselves.

The Flying Squirrel can also deliver absolute fuzz brutality if you should require it too!

 

[Charlie Tuna]

As for The Flying Squirrel - it is probably my favourite of the three drive pedals.

Fueling the fire! We need clips of TFS and a family shot. Thanks for the FPT demo, you got some nice tones with the pick and used some settings I haven't tried yet. I'll have to give them a go.

 

[el murdoque]

LOVE all the Audio Kitchen stuff!

I have The Big Trees, Fake Plastic Trees, The Small Trees DI and The Flying Squirrel. All of which are wonderful and in regular use in my live and studio playing.

I have a short direct clip of the FPT here:
Simon Francis on Instagram: "A quick haphazard demo of the new Audio Kitchen "Fake Plastic Trees" pedal. '83 Yamaha Broad Bass VI Direct unprocessed signal from pedal."

It is incredibly convincing at achieving the same sound and feel of The Big Trees.

As for The Flying Squirrel - it is probably my favourite of the three drive pedals. Beyond the different implementation of the tubes, one of the other key differences to TBT and FPT is that the EQ is post-gain. SO where boosting the "root" (bass) on TBT increases the saturation of the low frequencies, The Flying Squirrel is able to boost low end without increasing saturation. Where things get interesting for my tastes is the Boost switch - which when in the "Hi" setting gives a strong treble post pre-gain, giving lots of grind. Trimming the "teeth" (treble) can then soften the clank, whilst retaining presence, and then a healthy boost of the "tail" (bass) can really bring some deep clean lows to the mix. I LOVE this tone.
I even have a capture of this on the Neural DSP Quad Cortex Cloud for those that would like to experience it for themselves.

The Flying Squirrel can also deliver absolute fuzz brutality if you should require it too!

Hahaha! @Charlie Tuna
It seems you need to complete your collection now, after reading this!

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Hahaha! @Charlie Tuna
It seems you need to complete your collection now, after reading this!

My wallet is regretting me opening this thread. Resistance is futile…

 

[sifrancis]

Rough and ready video comparison of The Big Trees and The Flying Squirrel - was at the end of a recording session, so using the setting on The Flying Squirrel I had been using.
Pentode (5) mode, w/ hi boost.

Alnus Bass 50's P style - Curtis Novak H22 Pickup - GHS Pressurewound strings - Dunlop 1mm Nylon Pick
Cranborne Audio Camden 500 preamp (mojo off) - UAD Apollo Twin

I then set the The Big Trees to a similar sort of sound, and feel this highlights the differences well.
I also show off the FLY setting, Triode (3), and various boost and EQ sweeps of the pedals.

Hope it's helpful.

I can do more of a similar video production value pretty easily, so feel free to make requests.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

@sifrancis Google says we need access.

 

[sifrancis]

@sifrancis Google says we need access.

Ah no - I'll get this sorted.

 

[sifrancis]

Should be working now.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Should be working now.

Thank you! I'll give a better listen through headphones tonight but I do like what seems to be a bit thicker bass on the TFS.

 

[sifrancis]

Thank you! I'll give a better listen through headphones tonight but I do like what seems to be a bit thicker bass on the TFS.

Yeah - the bass is thicker, and the treble can get brighter, but also harsher. I often pair this with a cab sim, or put it through an amp.

Whereas The Big Trees sort of tucks in the low and hi end a bit more - focusing the midrange a bit more.

Less tonal range in TBT compared to TFS, however there's some magic amongst those trees for sure.
Not even getting into the fun of running these in series and parallel...etc.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Yeah - the bass is thicker, and the treble can get brighter, but also harsher. I often pair this with a cab sim, or put it through an amp.

Whereas The Big Trees sort of tucks in the low and hi end a bit more - focusing the midrange a bit more.

Less tonal range in TBT compared to TFS, however there's some magic amongst those trees for sure.
Not even getting into the fun of running these in series and parallel...etc.

Just wanted to say thank you again for the video comparison; my delayed reply is not consistent with my appreciation. And the GAS burner on the stove is lit. Nice playing and cool-looking P BTW. It has just a bit more mojo than my Oly White Fender. I loved seeing the camera go in and out of focus just slightly from the playing. I know it sounds really nice in person.

IF you have any time to show off TFS at lower gain settings (9-12 o'clock) through the various toggles and fairly 12:00 to max on the tail knob I would love to hear it. Not that I need any further nudging but I would like to hear the low gain O/D sound and such. Cheers!

 

[Stellvia]

Welp, I placed an order for a Fake Plastic Trees this morning and it should be here in a couple of days, on the strength of @el murdoque and @Charlie Tuna praises! Last spot on the board and I wanted it to be something good!!

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Welp, I placed an order for a Fake Plastic Trees this morning and it should be here in a couple of days, on the strength of @el murdoque and @Charlie Tuna praises! Last spot on the board and I wanted it to be something good!!

Nice! We'll have to see the rest of the board though; no cliffhangers.

 

[Stellvia]

Nice! We'll have to see the rest of the board though; no cliffhangers.

Fair enough! This is where it's at at the moment, Dagger arrived this week and an Infinity left the board for the final time.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Fair enough! This is where it's at at the moment, Dagger arrived this week and an Infinity left the board for the final time.
View attachment 5411753

Very tasty! It looks like you have a lot of bases covered with the board but I have no clue how the order of the chain actually goes aside from the first and last pedals. I'm curious of your thoughts between the Super Vintage and FPT when you get it. I have the Bassrig '64 and like it, but am not using the DI out.

 

[Stellvia]

Very tasty! It looks like you have a lot of bases covered with the board but I have no clue how the order of the chain actually goes aside from the first and last pedals. I'm curious of your thoughts between the Super Vintage and FPT when you get it. I have the Bassrig '64 and like it, but am not using the DI out.

I've played around with the order a bit but pretty happy with where it is now. Tuner -> Spectrum -> top row of Jive to Ictineo -> back to bottom row of MBD, Dagger, Slotva then the FPT before finishing with the Super Vintage. I'm pretty much only playing through headphones/IEM's and running amp less so the SV with its cab sim is my amp sound! I'm also curious to see what the FPT is like with the SV and whether I run it into the SV or run it more like its own amp and just use the cab sim on the SV. Board covers pretty much everything that I need for what I play (and I've tried a lot of different effects over the years to narrow down what works for me)!

 

[Charlie Tuna]

@Stellvia Thanks for the "rig rundown". That makes more sense than what I was thinking. I'm using headphones at home as well so I'll suggest also trying the FPT without the cabsim on the Bassrig if you have another DI out. Maybe even the FPT on its own just to get an idea of the feel of it. I use a passive P bass and have found the FPT is quite responsive to different volume and tone setting on the bass and well as where I pluck. Hope you enjoy it.