• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Cave Passive Pedal Tour Box

caeman

The Root Master
Sep 17, 2008
7,334
345
Ohio
Now that I have settled on the G4 as my solitary pedal for a while, I have a few other Cave Passive pedal sitting here, beggin to be used: Octa-Bass (OB), Bass Ming-Rodulator (BMR) and B-Drive Grunt.

TourBox002.jpg


"So," said my inner voice, "maybe since you aren't actively using them right now, you can let some others try them out." I told me self that was a great idea, so here we are.

The OB is an octave-up effect. It is not a clean octave-up, and is very fuzzy, but an octave fuzzy. Blended in with your clean sound, it adds an interesting texture. It sounds like like it loses volume due to the loss of low end.

The BMR is a ring modulator. To be honest, I don't have much experience with ring modulators and don't know what they are supposed to sound like, but I can hear a distinct octave up with this pedal. It is very fuzzy with my Gretsch. It is a cleaner with single coils.

The B-Drive Grunt is a overdrive. Drive and Level controls. As you increase the drive, there is a slight drop in the level. With the drive at minimum and the level as max, there is a small boost to the signal. Depending on your bass' output, you start hearing a small bit of breakup at minimum, but there is a definite thickening of the sound.

All of the Cave Passive Pedal's knobs work in the opposite direction that you get with Boss and similar. Minimum setting is at 7:00 heading counter-clockwise to Max at 5:00.

So, who is interested in giving them a try?

This is my first time to organize a tour box, and these are my personal pedals, so I figure I should keep the list small, 12 or less. And, give each person a week or two to run the pedals through their paces with different placements in the effects chain, different pickups, in loops, out of loops, fruit loops, etc.

Potential testers will need to have been active here already, someone I have seen posting in this section before. I will need real names, postal address and phone numbers PM'd to me. And I figure we can give it a week and send the box off to the first person.

Critical reviews are welcomed, but not required. The builder, Heath Cave, enjoys getting feedback so he can fix future versions and improve them where possible.
 
I am taking the tour box to the post office today. I am going to take the hit for the more expensive of the shipping costs and send the box to Karter2000 first -- darn Canadian border.

From there, Karter2000's next recipient, which is kind a close to Mudd's Cali address. Kinda. None of y'all are close. :D

Anyone else that wants their name in, send me your postal address.

When you get the box, feel free to take a week or so to check the pedals out. Please, not longer than two weeks. Make sure to use delivery confirmation and let me know the tracking code.

As these are passive pedals, they respond to different pickups differently. I won't guarantee that they work with all pickups and effects. Being passive, they are especially sensitive to those kind of differences with buffers, high power signals, etc. They love boosted signals.
 
:D No comment.

As for reviews of the pedals, feel free to be as honest as you wish. I merely ask for comments to be constructive, and make sure to describe your instrument, pedal and amp setup that was used. We can treat this like a science experiment. Passive pedals are weird. A good weird, but weird none the less. Those tiny monkeys inside them must be getting tired by now.