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Bearfoot FX Blueberry questions

vivaknoxvegas

vivaknoxvegas

El Duderino
Supporting Member
May 6, 2002
4,184
8,495
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Knoxville, TN
soundcloud.com
#1
I am pretty ignorant to these pedals, except for one really good youtube demo with a British guy. Educate me. Are the new ones, $199 at Prymaxe for instance, OK to purchase or is it only recommended to get the older ones that are used?

I don't have a pedal that is strictly an OD pedal and I'd like to add one. I have been using a few others at low gain to achieve this. What other pedals should I be looking at for OD like the Blueberry?
 
#3
I love the Blueberry. Disclosure: I have a JohnK clone, it is based on the newest version but has a little more gain on tap. It's a nice tubey OD that doesn't color your tone -- well, some say it's a little dark, but I barely notice.

In that same vein, I highly recommend the Creation Audio Grizzly Bass -- currently on sale for $195 through the manufacturer. The Grizzly can go from barely-on subtle tube warmth to fairly heavy crunchy distortion. It has an overdrive control for subtler OD, and a distortion control for heavier: these 2 controls can be used independently or combined. In addition, it has a high cut control and a mid scoop control -- both of which can be bypassed by turning the knobs fully clockwise. Overall the pedal is flat, and delivers transparent overdrive. It's extremely dynamic: easy to set so that if you play lightly you don't know it's there, but you can hear OD when you play hard. That's how I use it.

The Barbershop is highly rated 'round here. I have not tried it because I've heard from a couple TBers that it isn't a good match for active basses -- some disagree, but that's a moot point because you have passive basses.
 
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#4
Lots of threads on this. It depends what you're looking for -- if you're happy with your unprocessed tone and just want some more girth, fattening, what-have-you, this means you want something transparent, which (IME) the Blueberry is not. It has a boost going on in the mids that I was never able to dial completely out. If that doesn't bother you, it is otherwise a great pedal. For transparent OD's, the Grizzly is by far the most versatile one I've tried and can vouch for what @Fuzzbass says. The Blueberry does not approach the Grizzly's capabilities at higher gains. Others will vouch for the Smallsound/Bigsound Mini, which is also supposed to be quite transparent and able to cover a wide range of gain.

I can't speak for the Azure Drive, but from what correspondence I've had with Josh and what others say, it sounds like a terrific pedal -- from the man himself, responding to a question I had about its transparancy:

"Yeah the Azure Drive can get the Blueberry sounds but I made it capable of being much clearer. I would say it is more transparent than the Blueberry, but can also get more extreme in the gain settings. The tone control is more intuitive; it is a simple boost/cut of treble, rather than a low end boost/fuzz like on the original."

If all you want is a transparent low gain pedal, the Barbershop is a great option. I have one and have been using it as my always-on low gain OD for a couple of months (the Grizzly handles the high gain for me). Because I am an inveterate tinkerer, however, I also picked up a TC Spark Booster, which I'm testing against the Barbershop in the always-on role. Difficult to say yet which I like more from a tone standpoint, but one thing I like about the Spark is the bass and treble knobs, which give me some more flexibility at my feet. It's also about half the price of a Barbershop, so there's that.

If transparancy isn't a priority for you, I can't really provide much input --you just have to try a bunch out to see what you like. There are literally hundreds (thousands?) of options. A Source Audio Aftershock might be a good route that would allow you to try a bunch of different sounds without dropping tons of cash on pedals -- I just grabbed one for precisely this reason. It's digital, but early reports are glowing.
 
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#7
Just remembered the Lehle Sonic Spark. It was very high on my wish list before the Grizzly put an end to my low gain OD search. It's highly rated by TBers I trust, along with Ed Friedland's video demo. The controls are interactive, somewhat vague in nature, and have unusual partially recessed knobs... and it's also a bit pricey at $300. Still, what I've heard sounds great so I think it should be mentioned here.


Crazy Otto said:
something transparent, which (IME) the Blueberry is not. It has a boost going on in the mids that I was never able to dial completely out.
Click to expand...

I suppose it does... maybe that's why I like it. :D
 
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#8
If youre looking for a more inexpensive alternative that is along the same lines, and much smaller, the Green Hookers Bassmachine by One Control is a great alternative. It is also designed by BJFE. It is very awesome. I really liked it when I had it. I sold it somewhat hastily though. It is a very nice tubey OD. I also had a JohnK BBBOD clone which was quite awesome as well. They are all great ODs. Some are quite different from others though. Like the Mad Prof, is NOT the BB that Barefoot makes. At all. So make sure you get all that straight beforehand if you move on something.
 
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#9
gregmon79 said:
If youre looking for a more inexpensive alternative that is along the same lines, and much smaller, the Green Hookers Bassmachine by One Control is a great alternative. It is also designed by BJFE. It is very awesome. I really liked it when I had it. I sold it somewhat hastily though. It is a very nice tubey OD. I also had a JohnK BBBOD clone which was quite awesome as well. They are all great ODs. Some are quite different from others though. Like the Mad Prof, is NOT the BB that Barefoot makes. At all. So make sure you get all that straight beforehand if you move on something.
Click to expand...

Heck, when I ordered my JohnK Foundry (which contains a BBBOD clone), he said he could do three different Blueberries and asked which one I wanted.
 
#14
the only thing to stay away from (read...not personally heard) is the Mad professor version. I love my Bearfoot BOD. it's very versatile. both in how much warmth you want to add and how much dirt. I use mine for heavier OD and my barbershop for a very light transparent OD. i find the barbershop cannot give you as much "oomph" as the blueberry. i also tried out the solidgoldfx Beta. but found it to be too sensitive when trying to dial it in.
 
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#15
robbroncs said:
the only thing to stay away from (read...not personally heard) is the Mad professor version. I love my Bearfoot BOD. it's very versatile. both in how much warmth you want to add and how much dirt. I use mine for heavier OD and my barbershop for a very light transparent OD. i find the barbershop cannot give you as much "oomph" as the blueberry. i also tried out the solidgoldfx Beta. but found it to be too sensitive when trying to dial it in.
Click to expand...

The Barbershop for sure is really only for low gain. You can get a couple of different flavors of it depending on where you have the drive and the sag. I also tried the beta, and it sounds great as long as you don't mind it not being touch sensitive (at all) and having a baked in high cut that is present even with the tone knob dimed clockwise. it's pretty awesome for motown, but not much else. IME, YMMV, etc.
 
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