I really like the One Control Blackberry. A lot.
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BjFe Blackberry OD
- Thread starter tflk
- Start date
I just got a One Control Blackberry. On sale.
Seems a bit touchy and strange. I watched the demos in Japanese so got some idea of sounds but didn’t know what they were saying. After fiddling with it, the clues are there in the demos I see.
You’d think everything at noon would be a default standard but that just gives a huge volume boost. I found it’s better to start at noon for volume, everything else “off” i.e. counterclockwise. As you increase the gain, you quickly have to decrease the volume down to about 9:00. There’s way extra volume on tap. Also, the bass tone drops out as gain increases, so you add it back in with the depth knob. Strangely the depth/bass knob has much more effect on overdrive than does gain. It tends to overdrive the bass frequencies quicker while leaving the treble more clean, which is the opposite of normal, or a Darkglass X series especially. But great job of retaining bass in an OD. There is a real danger with too much depth of getting a funny brrap sound out of low notes. The body knob is a more subtle boost for the mids. I just have passive basses, and it doesn’t overdrive a lot quickly, but I can tell it’s really sensitive to input volume, and an hotter input would overdrive it much quicker. Decreasing volume on the bass itself quickly takes away the overdrive.
At any rate a bit touchy and finicky, but sounds great at some settings, especially if you want your OD to hit the low notes more than high notes and frequencies.
Seems a bit touchy and strange. I watched the demos in Japanese so got some idea of sounds but didn’t know what they were saying. After fiddling with it, the clues are there in the demos I see.
You’d think everything at noon would be a default standard but that just gives a huge volume boost. I found it’s better to start at noon for volume, everything else “off” i.e. counterclockwise. As you increase the gain, you quickly have to decrease the volume down to about 9:00. There’s way extra volume on tap. Also, the bass tone drops out as gain increases, so you add it back in with the depth knob. Strangely the depth/bass knob has much more effect on overdrive than does gain. It tends to overdrive the bass frequencies quicker while leaving the treble more clean, which is the opposite of normal, or a Darkglass X series especially. But great job of retaining bass in an OD. There is a real danger with too much depth of getting a funny brrap sound out of low notes. The body knob is a more subtle boost for the mids. I just have passive basses, and it doesn’t overdrive a lot quickly, but I can tell it’s really sensitive to input volume, and an hotter input would overdrive it much quicker. Decreasing volume on the bass itself quickly takes away the overdrive.
At any rate a bit touchy and finicky, but sounds great at some settings, especially if you want your OD to hit the low notes more than high notes and frequencies.
New to me is the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] (OC-BBB0Dn). The copy at that product page looks to be identical to the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] page (OC-BBB0D). If you played both, please tell us what differences you heard, if any.
In other news, a new BJFe Blackberry should be delivered to me tomorrow.
In other news, a new BJFe Blackberry should be delivered to me tomorrow.
New to me is the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] (OC-BBB0Dn). The copy at that product page looks to be identical to the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] page (OC-BBB0D). If you played both, please tell us what differences you heard, if any.
In other news, a new BJFe Blackberry should be delivered to me tomorrow.
So far as I am aware, there are no circuit differences in the new version, it's just a new enclosure. Kaz Kawamura has been on a tear redesigning all the One Control enclosures with the new manufacturing technique.
Thank you. It would be great to get confirmation of that from One Control. But yes, 1. the recent proliferation of revised One Control pedal cosmetics, plus 2. the identical copy in the Blackberry V1 and V2 product pages, suggests that 3. Blackberry V2 differs only in its appearance.
In other news, a new BJFe Blackberry should be delivered to me tomorrow.
It arrived a day late. But it arrived! Today I arranged them in a test harness, with one/other/none switching.
Whereas I agree with @tommyeadg about them both being great sounding, I found my two 3BOD4K variants to sound less similar to me than his sounded to him.
As I reported elsewhere, my Blueberry Futura has V-D-N-T controls, where N is a tilt EQ with a low mid center and T is cut or boost of rather high frequencies. This compared to his having V-D-B-T controls, where B is a low shelf boost and T is a high shelf cut (if I recall correctly).
Probably because of those differences, my BJFe Blueberry Futura and Blackberry had quite a bit of overlap, but also had enough divergence in timbre that I thought of them as having characteristically different voices.
Keeping in mind that the B and N controls in the respective Blueberry Futuras, and the M and B controls in the Blackberries, are pre-drive, and that the T control in my Blueberry Futura is post-drive (I'm not sure about the T control in his), it's not just timbre, but also drive texture that the various sets of controls are affecting differently.
Lastly I should say that, using a Jazz Bass for this test, I noted that pickup selection was very impactful, such that the matrix of possible sounds between adjustments of the bass and the pedal (either pedal) controls together was pretty large.
Sadly I didn't have my One Control Blackberry to test with the BJFe Blackberry in this harness, since it is on consignment. But I feel confident in saying that the difference in drive texture between it and the BJFe and One Control versions of the Blackberry was similar to that between the BJFe and Bearfoot FX versions of the Blueberry: the BJFe versions have more ragged and fluttering texture at any given degree of drive.
If I were forced to choose only one of my BJFe Blueberry Futura and BJFe Blackberry, it would be the Blueberry Futura because of its post-drive treble control (which is the same choice I made when I compared it to the One Control Blackberry. So no surprise there, but a reaffirmation).
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Now 14 months on: But if I were not forced to choose, I would say that BJFe Blackberry simply is an excellent pedal in its own right.
Playing it yesterday I discovered more about it in use. Its voice can be profound. Also I stumbled on something. "I know that sound. What is it? Oh, it's like 'Red'." And so it was. In its extents, is the BJFe Blackberry an overdriven Hiwatt/Cerwin Vega stack in a box? Channeling John Wetton of those years as best I could, I set about playing "Red" and found the idea credible.
do you have a photo of your settings ? I’d like to try
Are you on a PB type or JBass type of pickups ?
thanks
Hello. Sorry, but I don't share patches or settings. In any case, it wouldn't matter for this kind of device. The sound of your basses and mine must be somehow different, as must our monitoring systems be. Thus the pedal settings for acheiving any given result also would differ for each of us.
My advice is to consider these things when doing sound design with the BJFe Blueberry family of pedals:
Bonne chance !
In my notes re: One Control Blackberry I have Body as “flat” at 0 and Depth as “flat” at noon.
Process: Set “flat”, dial in Drive, dial in EQ, adjust Drive, repeat as necessary, then set Volume.
If you want less touch sensitivity, a good *clean* comp or other source of volume attenuation (volume knob on the instrument?!) before any drive pedal is the way to go.
Love this pedal. Seems all OC products are excellent.
Process: Set “flat”, dial in Drive, dial in EQ, adjust Drive, repeat as necessary, then set Volume.
If you want less touch sensitivity, a good *clean* comp or other source of volume attenuation (volume knob on the instrument?!) before any drive pedal is the way to go.
Love this pedal. Seems all OC products are excellent.
I sold my Blackberry….. Just not the favorite overdrive but sounds good, airy and open. So to speak. I didn’t like the way it tended to overdrive the low notes more than the high. Probably a post drive bass boost control I would like better. Sorry, oh well!
The isolated Jamerson tracks, also Ramble On (Led Zeppelin) you can hear the DI was overdriven on the low notes the most. Kind of interesting. There might be an advantage to that in making the low notes more audible in a mix by spitting out more distortion harmonics. Theoretically.
The isolated Jamerson tracks, also Ramble On (Led Zeppelin) you can hear the DI was overdriven on the low notes the most. Kind of interesting. There might be an advantage to that in making the low notes more audible in a mix by spitting out more distortion harmonics. Theoretically.
